For the past 20 years, the Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale’s Desert Course has played the role of the “weak sister’’ to the highly regarded TPC of Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, which is the home of the FBR Open.
But that image of the Desert Course could change dramatically in the coming year if a $10 million rebuilding project is passed by the Scottsdale City Council in early June.
The proposed redesign by architect Randy Heckenkemper, which would close the course in 2007 from January until it reopened in early December, was previewed on Wednesday during a meeting of the Scottsdale City Council’s Budget Subcommittee at City Hall.
According to David Pillsbury, the president/CEO of the PGA Tour’s Golf Course Properties division, the project would not only add 600 yards to the golf course and include a new clubhouse, it would also “reposition the TPC Desert Course as a high-quality yet affordable golf facility.’’
“This golf market has grown up in the past 20 years, and while we have kept pace against stiff competition on the TPC Stadium Course, the Desert Course began to slip in 2001 after 9-11, and has continued to slip through 2005,’’ Pillsbury noted. “This is a bold, new vision, in which we want to reposition the course, reverse that trend, and make (the Desert Course) very, very special. . . . ’’
Pillsbury said the plan is to have the Scottsdale resident pay the same price, but receive a more quality experience.
“We would then use revenues from the nonresident golfers, which would be higher, to subsidize the project,’’ he said.
Bill Grove, the general manager of the TPC of Scottsdale facility, pointed out that the TPC Desert Course at 6,390 yards is now perceived more as an “executive experience,’’ and due to price erosion at other high-end facilities has lost its position in the local market.
“What we want to do is make it the best affordable public golf in the Valley, period’’ said Grove of the proposed 7,019-yard layout. “It opens up all kinds of possibilities, from pro-ams in conjunction with the FBR Open to hosting some of the state’s top tournaments for amateurs and juniors, which we haven’t been able to do in the past.’’
Pillsbury and Grove both emphasized several times that the green fee for the Desert Course that ranges between $35 and $60 on a year-round basis would stay intact. And that the project would be financed through 20-year bonds, with the money from green fees and other sales at the TPC golf courses paying the final $10 million tab rather than the tax payers’ dollars.
As it stands now, the City of Scottsdale is in its 20 th year of a 70-year lease for the land with the Federal Bureau of Reclamation. The TPC Stadium and Desert courses are then leased through the city to the PGA Tour, which manages and operates the facility.
According to the records for annual rounds of golf played at the Desert Course, there has been a notable decline since a high of 70,000 rounds in 1999 to 42,500 rounds in 2002. Last year, 52,500 rounds were played there.
Part of the decline was due to aftermath of 9-11, Pillsbury noted. But part of the decline comes from increased competition from other high-end golf courses lowering their green fees over the past five years.
“We have an incredible piece of land in an excellent location,’’ Pillsbury explained. “The early vision of (former PGA Tour commissioner) Deane Beman and (former Scottsdale mayor) Herb Drinkwater was in incredibly bold; you talk about rolling the dice, but look what’s followed. . . .
“Right now, the TPC Desert is an OK course, a good course. But unfortunately, its status is slipping. And regardless of whether we go through with the redesign or not, there still will be a lot of work – and money – poured into it because the facility is getting older and in need of repair.’’
Several City Council members had questions about the funding, which calls for $8 million to $8.5 million being spent on the golf course, and $1.5 to $2 million being needed for the clubhouse. Specifically, they wanted to know how much the PGA Tour would be kicking in.
Pillsbury said the PGA Tour plans to keep paying on the lease, approximately $1.5 million annually, during the course closure, as well as spend about $500,000 to $700,000 “rebranding’’ the facility, which would have a new name rather than TPC Desert.
“The most important thing the PGA Tour has is its brand, and we were actually thinking about taking the TPC brand off this golf course,’’ Pillsbury said. “But if we can get all parties to agree and go forward, we’d really like to redo it instead.’’
The proposed TPC Desert project must go through one more round with the Budget Subcommittee before it goes before the full city council at its Tentative Budget Adoption meeting May 15. From there, if further recommended, it would go before the City Council for final approval on June 6.
If approved, the planning would begin immediately with construction due to begin the week after the FBR Open in early February. And while the course would follow the basic routing done by architects Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish in 1986, it would be a total redesign of greens, bunkers, tee boxes and other features by Heckenkemper, who originally did the land planning on the project.
How different would a new TPC Desert Course be? According to Pillsbury, “It will be so good, it will blow the local guys away.’’
To which Grove added, “The new 15 th, 16 th, 17 th and 18 th holes at the Desert Course are as exciting and as effective as the finishing holes on the Stadium Course, which is saying a lot.’’
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