![]() ![]() “We want to inject this youthful energy into the course,” Wilson said. When complete, Rolling Hills will be a family destination hosting concerts, farmers’ markets and food truck events. The driving range, pro shop, existing greens and cart path also will be improved. In addition to adding bright lights on all 18 holes at the par-62 course, Grass Clippings is investing $13 million to renovate the clubhouse with a new restaurant and menu, build a new outdoor bar and a hilltop bar called Top of the Rock near the lofty eighth hole, and add a family-friendly event lawn with a jumbotron and concert venue. There are 225 golf courses in the Valley, but this will be the most unique one of all.”Įlias Weiss Lions, cheetahs and camels - oh my! “It’ll be the greatest executive golf course in the world. “We’re making a major investment in the viability of public golf in metro Phoenix,” Hoselton said. ![]() Grass Clippings also is bringing aboard PGA winner Parker McLachlin and former Phoenix Open greenskeeper Scott Hebert, whom Grass Clippings CEO Jake Hoselton calls “the best greenskeeper in the Valley.” “The goals of the public-private partnership are to ensure the long-term viability of public golf, address capital improvement needs at the course, provide revenue to the city, and expand golf and recreational amenities to wide and diverse audiences,” Tempe spokesperson Savannah Harrelson said. The company currently is partnered with Scottsdale real estate development company DMB Associates, Phoenix-based Jackson Kahn Golf Course Design and Troon Golf in Scottsdale to design and renovate the venue. The payments to the city over the first 30 years of the contract are expected to reach $9.7 million, according to city documents. Grass Clippings will collect all revenue from the course and pay $250,000 in rent annually plus a 2.3% yearly adjustment. “The ability to tee off at night in the summer when it’s 120 degrees is something crazy. “We didn’t give up because we’re the right guys to run the course,” Wilson said. The company inked a 50-year lease on the property with Tempe. That's why Wilson and Grass Clippings set their sights on turning the location into Arizona’s first lighted golf course that will stay open and serve drinks as late as 1 a.m. But Rolling Hills Golf Course, which is nestled in Papago Park, is the exception. is virtually impossible because most public courses abut residential neighborhoods and light ordinances prohibit them being illuminated at night. ![]() Securing a tee time at any traditional golf course in Phoenix after 5 p.m. “It misses what golf really is - the early mornings, the smell of coffee in the maintenance shed and chatting with the greenskeeper,” he said. Wilson visited TopGolf once and never went back. And in June, Puttshack will bring its upscale, tech-infused golf experience to Scottsdale. He’ll open another location in Scottsdale this year. On March 2, Tiger Woods debuted PopStroke in Glendale, a 36-hole late-night golf and entertainment venue that also pours cocktails course-side until midnight. 2, Putting World opened in Scottsdale, offering an 18-hole indoor course that serves liquor until midnight. Dallas-based TopGolf built three of its boozy, colorfully illuminated driving ranges around metro Phoenix and rolled out augmented reality games featuring characters from popular mobile games, such as Angry Birds. In its stead, gamified and gimmicky golf attractions are cropping up all over the Valley. Players are getting older - three-quarters of golfers are men older than age 45 - and younger generations are losing interest in the sport. ![]() Nationally, traditional golf has declined in popularity yearly for the past two decades. The tournament was a success, and it led Wilson to tell his friends, “We should probably go get our own public golf course.”Īlthough there are more than 220 golf courses in metro Phoenix, most are private and offer pricey member-guest tournaments. One year later, they held the inaugural Grass Clippings Open - the first two-person amateur tournament in Arizona - at the Short Course at Mountain Shadows in Scottsdale, one of the area’s few public courses. Frustrated by the lack of quality golf clothing, they founded the golf apparel brand Grass Clippings in 2018. Wilson's dream of reinventing Arizonan golf started with four college friends - one pro and three scratch golfers - who lived together after graduation. ![]()
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