Peace of Work

In a place so beautiful and serene that even the “Golden Arches” are turquoise, noisy utility carts won’t do.

by Joe Barks (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
May 2007
 

Everything related to life in Sedona—the popular destination two hours north of Phoenix—revolves around preserving and fully enjoying the beauty and serenity of its stunning array of red sandstone formations.

Even when McDonald’s came to town to officially mark modern civilization’s arrival, the fast-food giant had to change its trademark color scheme to blend in with the surroundings. So the “Golden Arches” here are a far less garish turquoise, and the restaurant itself is an earth-toned, flat-roofed adobe-like structure.

A place with such natural beauty, challenging terrain and recreation-friendly weather also provides a perfect setting for residential clubs offering golf and other activities and amenities. So a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based firm, Cavan Real Estate Investments, received prompt and exceedingly positive response after it acquired 200 spectacular acres at the edge of the Coconino National Forest, a few miles from Sedona, and opened Seven Canyons Golf Club in 2003.

When it is fully developed, Seven Canyons will be a private residence club with 395 private golf club memberships, 32 private estate home sites, 30 golf villas, 30 shared-ownership villas and a mix of other shared- and whole-ownership products. The final touch, for which ground was broken this year, will be a highly amenitized “Club Village” that will include both indoor and outdoor casual and fine dining, pools, retail shops, an outdoor theater, a family center, meeting rooms, a fitness facility, a five-bedroom villa for corporate or family use, and “casitas” for member use on a daily-fee basis.

But developing all of this while fully respecting the surroundings does present some special challenges to the club’s operational staff, reports Tyler Koser, Director of Golf Course Maintenance.

“This is an incredibly tight property,” says Koser. “For course maintenance, we have one loop, with no shortcuts or turnarounds. Our vehicles come into very close proximity to the villas and other [public areas] while we’re working.”

And with the primary emphasis always on ensuring full enjoyment of the natural surroundings for members and guests, maintenance crews have to take special care to be as unobtrusive as possible as they make their rounds.

“One of our biggest selling points is the incredible feeling of peacefulness that you get here,” says Koser. “Whether you’re playing golf or just sitting outside a villa, the stillness can be incredible. So we have always put an emphasis on eliminating any noise; for example, crew members can only listen to radios with earpieces.

“But when we had people stay—as a test—in some of the first villas we opened on the property,” Koser continues, “they said they could hear our utility vehicles early in the morning. So, as our original fleet came up for [lease] renewal, we made it a priority to find vehicles that could do the needed work, but without any noise.”

Just at that time, a Club Car representative called on Koser and offered to let him test one of the manufacturer’s Carryall Turf 2 utility vehicles equipped with its IQ Plus Electrical System.

“We really put it through the wringer,” Koser reports. “We purposely didn’t charge it, and pulled our heaviest mowers with it.” And at Seven Canyons, “the wringer” involves a little more than a cursory test spin. Traversing the Tom Weiskopf-designed course includes a hole with an 80-foot drop from tee to green, and  countless other steep climbs over rugged terrain, to altitudes as  high as 4,800 feet.

And if the Seven Canyons crew didn’t give the Carryall Turf 2 enough of a workout on the course itself, there were the five-mile round trips, up and down winding canyon roads, that Course Superintendent Cliff Stewart, Assistant Super-intendent Lou D’Ambrosio and Equipment Manager Fred Pickering decided to take in it to and from Stewart’s house in the hills, without any recharging. “That’s what really sold us,” says Stewart. “Using it to pull a mower cart is one thing, but to take guys on that route—when it wasn’t fully charged—was pretty impressive.”

Today, Seven Canyons has a full fleet of several varieties of Carryall utility vehicles, as well as Club Car Precedent golf cars. Koser reports that all are performing reliably—and quietly—through all of the extremes of Sedona’s climate, from significant snowfalls and frosty mornings to midsummer’s most searing heat.

“They’re starting up reliably, holding their charges well, and showing no lack of power,” he says. “And now, the only sound anyone hears when we’re out doing our work are the birds and maybe a howling coyote. But that’s just another part of the great experience here.”