(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) Aug. 20, 2011 — A breakout of greens fees and concessionaire revenues generated by the four Albuquerque municipal golf courses shows the 27-hole Arroyo del Oso complex leading — no surprise for the region’s busiest golf facility.
What is surprising is that the 9-hole Puerto del Sol Golf Course is not far behind 27-hole Los Altos complex in non-greens fee concessionaire revenues — cart fees, range ball sales, pro shop merchandise sales, snack-bar revenues and other ancillary revenues, including banquet-room rentals and catering.
Puerto does not have a banquet room, only a stand-up microwave snack bar. Los Altos got a banquet room, plus a new kitchen and a spacious dining room, as part of it clubhouse renovation several years ago.
City figures show the struggling Ladera course handily outpaced Los Altos in concession sales by nearly 3-to-2 in both of the last two years.
The city gets all greens fees from rounds played, plus a portion of all other sales and rentals at its four municipal golf courses. So, the better the concessionaires perform, the bigger the city’s take, which is supposed to offset course maintenance costs, which recently have been run at a deficit.
Even more surprising, Ladera’s greens-fee revenues are only 19.5 percent behind those of Los Altos, even though Los Altos has been in good condition in recent years and Ladera was a wreck until only recently, when it experienced a turnaround with the arrival of a new superintendent..
The city keeps records by fiscal year. The fiscal year starts on July 1 of each year and ends on June 30 of the next year.
To see for yourself the rounds played, month by month and year to year, at all four facilities, plus green-fee revenues and golf concessionaire revenues for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years, click here for a spreadsheet presented by the Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department at the Aug.18 meeting of the Golf Advisory Board.
Partial city figures for last month, the first year of the current 2012 fiscal year, are contained in this spreadsheet.
— Dan Vukelich
In other news:
The Portland Sports Tribune calls 16-year-old Alexis Thompson the LPGA Tour’s next great hope for a superstar.
President’s Cup Captain Fred Couples could discredit the off-year alterative to the Ryder Cup if he picks Tiger Woods over PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley, writes former Albuquerque Tribune sports writer Edgar Thompson, now covering the PGA Tur and NFL football for the Palm Beach Post.
