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.
I wonder if the HOA's have considered a really nice (physically easy but skills challenging) executive course that people could walk, if able, and actually get some exercise. It wouldn't take 4 hours to play and those who need to can drive their carts. I've heard it said that some of the golf members don't actually play golf anymore because the courses are too strenuous for them but the memberships help them keep up their social networks. With the new pricing that will only increase in the future, golf memberships might be iffy for many of the aging players.
Any body have an idea what the Preserve golf course renovation project estimate will cost? Will it be another $5M, $6 M or more? The company doing the work told me the Preserve is next although our HOA may wait a short while before starting that project. Will the Preserve transition to a upscale 9 hole course?
Has anyone walked vistoso?
I have. The place is not pretty. No greens to enjoy. Dried buff color. Home owners see strangers - the public- skateboarding, biking, as well as walkers all peering into their backyards. No privacy.
All these comments accomplish is get homeowners to share their frustrations and concerns which irritate others. I don't think anyone thinks "golf is bad for our our community' or restaurants are "bad for our community", or "Pickleball or Pop Tennis has taken over" and we should close amenities. I think what's evident here is that we should combine our two HOA's so we would have an organized look at what amenities exist and make sound decisions accordingly. With everything combined, maybe closing 9 holes of golf, some tennis courts, not build some buildings, combine HOA Boards, and combine staff, (and get rid of outside companies managing certain aspects of our staff functions), just might give us property to add amenit…
Close the golf courses? Home value will decrease significantly according to a friend who lives on the old Vistoso golf course, now the nature preserve. We would be the among the first to leave this community should that happen.