Golf committee hears trouble calling frost delays; resident urges formal study

The Sun City West Golf Committee heard staff describe a difficult winter for calling frost delays and restrictions and agreed to seek more data about the financial and scheduling impacts.

Todd Patty, environmental services staff, told the committee that localized temperature swings made frost-delay calls “tricky this year,” noting that some holes at the same course registered substantially different temperatures on the same morning. Patty said December 2024 had three cart-path restrictions (compared with eight in 2023) and that January 2025 had five cart-path restrictions and nine frost delays, while the prior January had eight restrictions and ten delays. He said staff believes the community is nearing the end of the frost season but that “it won't be long” before restrictions stop.

The practical effect has been disrupted schedules and an uneven day-of-play ripple, committee members and residents said. Jim Scott asked how long a frost delay can push the day behind; Patty answered that some days the ripple extended “as far behind as 2 hours at 02:00 in the afternoon.” Committee member Tim Hurley and others asked staff to quantify the operational impact and revenue loss tied to delays.

Resident Tom Wilgamuth urged the committee to form a policy study: “I would like to recommend to the golf committee that a rather in-depth study be done sometime in the spring or before next fall,” he said, volunteering to serve on a working group. Committee members endorsed getting more information. At the meeting’s committee-comments section, committee member Kathy (last name not specified in the record) asked golf staff to do “more than look into it” and to return next month with findings on how frost delays affect rounds and revenue; Pat O'Hara, golf operations manager, said staff would look into cancellations and use available logs to estimate lost rounds and revenue.

Staff described steps they can take operationally (staffing the call center differently, continuing to encourage members to use the portal, and maintaining cart-path protocols), but emphasized that the underlying weather variability requires a clearer, data-driven policy so the committee and membership can understand trade-offs between course protection and lost play.

The committee did not take a formal vote. Members directed staff to report back with quantified data on canceled or lost rounds and revenue tied to frost delays at the next meeting.