By Design - Spring 2020

24 | By Design part of a development team that will endeavor to re-brand the community and repurpose the decommissioned golf course into a different facility, with golf as the primary feature. In return, homeowners will have to confront a new reality. The proposal is in its infancy. No votes have taken place, no court battles have been fought, no rezoning hearings so far. But potentially, the plan represents a way forward. Without any sort of golf course, the negative effects are tangible. Not only do locals lose a major aesthetic and recreational benefit, but research shows that they lose community value as well. Upon the closure of a golf course, the potential loss in value to homes in the development is between four and 18 percent, even as much as 30 percent for a property located directly on the course. Analysis of a nearby development which lost its golf course witnessed home prices negatively impacted by an average of 9.5 percent. Thus, there’s certainly financial incentive for homeowners to preserve a golf footprint. Richardson’s solution is a USGA- rated, 18-hole, par-60 layout to replace the existing par-72 tract. Supplementing the precision course will be a driving range, putting course and a short-game area. In addition, the plan calls for a banquet/wedding/ corporate hosting facility, restaurant, coffee shop, gathering area and community area. “The plan is to reduce the golf turf parcel from 162 acres to 110,” said Richardson. “It’s a precision course. On the old course, 40 percent of the land available for golf was covered with turf—about 70 acres. The rest was natural desert and native. We’re taking that down to 30 acres, so roughly 30 percent of the 110 acres will be golf turf. The new percentage of golf turf is pretty close to the old one, so the new course will be just as playable for everybody as the old one.” Richardson recognizes that not all community members are on board with precision golf as a substitute for championship golf. “A par-60 works because we’re giving people everything,” he said. “The plan is for 13 par-threes, one par-five and four par-fours. You can play in three to three-and-a-half hours. That’s a good thing. But you still have those four par-fours, so you can whale away with your driver. And on the par five, you can take your chances for an eagle. You still have all the fun you want.” To pay for all of this—new course, new state-of-the-art irrigation, drought- tolerant turfgrass, new practice facilities and a new clubhouse, homeowners would yield three existing vacant parcels to a well- respected local homebuilder for the development of 168 new single-family homes. The revenue generated from There is new hope for homeowners alongside the abandoned Club West course in Phoenix. Forrest Richardson, ASGCA, has created a solution that will transform the landscape (see visualisation above and, inset, the same hole as it is now) and is also helping to rebrand the club