New owners promise better golf to come at Legend Trail

By Tim McDonald, Contributor

Those who know the Legend Trail Golf Club in north Scottsdale can expect one the better courses in the area to get even better, if the new owners stay true to their word.

The club was sold last week to Scottsdale Golf Group, which will also manage the club for its financial partners, the J.E. Roberts Company of MacLean, Va.

Founder and CEO of Scottsdale Golf Group, Shelby Futch said the upscale public course facility will keep the green fees at their current level -$160 in peak season and $90 in the summer - while upgrading much of the course and its services.

"We're going to move in a Golf Digest School site with a state-of-the art learning center, which is already in,"Futch told Travelgolf.com "We're going to be improving the technology as summer goes on, and we're going to be doing some work on the golf course itself to re-do all of the bunkers which are overdue for maintenance."

The new school replaces the McLean Golf Academy. Futch also said the club plans to work on the greens over the summer, expand the clubhouse to accommodate a tournament field of 144 golfers, as well as put in new nurseries.

No sale price was announced, but the new owners reportedly got the property for considerably less than the $18 million price tag put up by the original owners, the Ziff Brothers of New York, a year ago.

"We just thought it was a very good golf course," Futch said."Everything that goes on in buying a golf course, there have to be certain standards.Its net operating income has to fit into the market price. It's not sold on asset value; it's sold on cash flow value."

Still, it is unlikely many more courses will be built in the area, considering Arizona water rights issues.

"The water issues in Scottsdale are going to be prohibitive," Futchsaid."The number that's floating around to connect, and be able to hook upforwater is $7 million for the cap fee. When you start doing the economics,it doesn't make any sense - there probably won't be any more golf coursesbuiltup in that direction."

The sale means Troon Golf will no longer completely rule the roost when it comes to Scottsdale golf. Troon began managing the club when it was opened for play in 1995, and still manages Troon North in Scottsdale, whose two courses, the Monument and the Pinnacle, have won too many awards tolist,though many golfers say they find it not worth the high greens fees.

Scottsdale Golf owns or manages four other properties in the area, including the Red Mountain Ranch Golf and & Country Club and Painted Mountain Golf Club, both in Mesa, and the Hill crest Golf Club in Sun West City.

"It's a premier product for anybody, whether it be Troon or anyone that's a developer or operator of golf courses," Futch said. "We certainly consider it to be our crown jewel."

The par-72, 6,872-yard course in the high Sonoran Desert has drawn consistently high marks for its service and playing conditions, as well asits vistas of Pinnacle Peak, the McDowell Mountains, Camelback, Mummy Mountains and the city of Phoenix.

The wide fairways are offset by large, but difficult to read greens.Designed by Rees Jones, Golf Magazine ranked it 88th in 1998 in its "top100courses you can play in the U.S."