Once upon a time, in a remote village just down the road, a beautiful ActiveAdult Community of 1264 homes was built surrounding one gorgeous golf course. The name of this community, Vistoso Highlands, and the name of the golf course was simply,Vistoso Golf Course.
Upon visiting this remote property on a snowy January day in 1995, professional golfer, Tom Weiskopf, announced that this remote property with this fledgling golf course wassure to be a “golf Mecca” like that in Scottsdale, AZ.
Vistoso Highlands was advertised as an exclusive golf community and only residents could be members and only members could play. The only other amenity of this community was a clubhouse.
Life was good in VH with very few homes turning over for quite a few years. Residents loved their communityand their golf.
But, alas, age took its toll on members and costs rose to maintain the course beauty.
Fewer members…more costs…larger HOA fees…Vistoso Golf Course (Golf Club of Vistoso) opened to the public.
In 2014 Vistoso Golf Course was sold to Romspen, a Canadian mortgage firm, whose goal was to fix it up and then flip it, bank the profit, and let the next ownerworry about the future of golf in Southern Arizona.
Well, the future of golf… was that competing golf courses within a 15 mile radius had grown from 5 (with waiting lists to play) to 17 (with no waiting). Greg Hansen, columnist for the AZ Daily Star, wrote in 2018, “That’s Russian roulette with a Titleist.”
On June 10, 2018 the once-shining Golf Club of Vistoso turned off the water.
Developers began circling like hungry vultures. But volunteer residents created a ground-swell and got the attention of a group called The Conservation Fund. The Oro Valley fathers felt the ground-swell and listened to the residents.
The 202-acre former Vistoso Golf Course had been rescuedby it’s Fairy Godmother, The PreserveVistoso. Nature trails, wild life, birding, and the beauty of the Sonoran Desert will now be enjoyedfor generations to come. Ribbon-cutting for the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve was July 11, 2022.
Once upon a time, just over a hill, nestled up against the Catalina Mountains lies SaddleBrooke HOA#1 and SaddleBrooke HOA#2…ormaybe…the Community of SaddleBrooke?
The future of SaddleBrooke is ours to write.
United SaddleBrooke supports the long-term goal of unifying the two SaddleBrooke HOAs. For information about our mission, monthly meetings, blogs, articles, membership, and upcoming events, please visit: www.UnitedSaddleBrooke.org.