By Tom Blakeman, December 26, 2019
Our Village Digest email has announced the ending of the Hot Springs Village relationship with Troon effective December 31. To quote the announcement: “We wish to thank the entire Troon team for their professional partnership.”
Really? Is that all there is? Do we not have anything else to thank them for?
Our contract with Troon began in 2014. The deal was announced with great fanfare and high expectations. Among the promises: Great savings in bulk purchases of equipment, fertilizers, pesticides and materials; brand identity; increased membership value; and access to management resources.
On August 26, 2014, The Village Voice reported and quoted:
Board of HSVPOA – “unanimously- and enthusiastically- approved” [the deal].
David Twiggs – “We are extremely pleased to become part of the Troon family of destinations. Hot Springs Village committed to changing business models in 2013 when I was brought in to restructure the 26,000-acre community into both a leading tourism destination and a great place to live, work and play.”
John Paul (outgoing Golf Director) – “We don’t have the marketing budget – or the expertise – and Troon can do more in 30 days than we can do in a year.”
Keith Keck (board President) – “Partnering with the leader in the golf management world definitely opens a new chapter for Hot Springs Village golf.”
So, what happened? Since 2014: Golf green fees have gone up 18% (annual player) and 20% (daily player). Daily cart rental fee has gone up 24%. Total golf rounds declined from 247,000 to 217,000 (2018) and will be less than 210,000 for 2019. That’s about a 15% decline. Losses skyrocketed from $1.53 million in 2014 to $1.84 million in 2018 and are already at $1.6 million as of November 2019. We have a new ‘surcharge’ of $2.50 per round taking effect in 2020 with no idea how it will impact anything. Last, but not least, we have one golf course needing a $4 to $7 million re-do (depending on how you do the numbers) and other courses waiting in the wings. Wow!
Funny thing. No one I know has a clue how much the Troon contract cost us or how much, if in any way, it saved or helped us. It would appear to have been a colossal failure.
Isn’t it time for our POA to calculate and publish a reconciliation of this project? Maybe they have one but they aren’t telling?
If the facts are not known how will we (they) keep from making such a big mistake again?
By Tom Blakeman, December 26, 2019
Julie
12/26/2019 — 4:41 pm
It was a total and absolute failure. Almost all Troon contracts are not renewed after the expiration date. That we even considered such a stupid move only reinforces the fact that our board and our poa are both woefully unprepared to conduct business.
We lost money on the contract no doubt. And none of the benefits ever materialized.
Whenever the costs of anything go up the result is always less activity. Thus we do know the result of the new surcharges. Less revenue. Guaranteed.
The sheer incompetence of these people would be comical if it was their money they were losing. Sadly it is ours.
A day of reckoning is fast approaching. Trust me on this.
Anonymous
12/27/2019 — 4:08 pm
How do you know?
Julie
12/28/2019 — 4:44 am
How do you not know????
Anonymous
12/28/2019 — 10:06 am
Since you know, how much did it cost HSV ?
How could you not know.
Anonymous
12/28/2019 — 10:09 am
What were the terms, how much did the Troon deal cost HSV
Julie
12/30/2019 — 5:29 am
They have kept it secret to avoid the embarrassment of the abject and total failure of the contract.
What is it you don’t understand about that??
Ken
01/20/2020 — 6:43 pm
Hey anonymous are you afraid to post your name or are you embarrassed about supporting failing management? You are the one always tossing out red herrings or asking questions but never adding any facts of refute. I suggest if you want to ask questions why don’t you provide the information to refute what you don’t believe to be true? I will not respond to your comments/questions until you provide hard facts supporting your position of support for management.
Janet Hronek
12/26/2019 — 7:05 pm
At one of the public meetings in late summer, I asked for an “exit report” of the results of our association with Troon. I thought one was going to come out, but I’ve never seen anything.
Anon
12/26/2019 — 7:07 pm
Green fees are almost double since 2004, up 20% in last 5 years. Watch rounds and annual players drop more in 2020. Have these geniuses never heard of a price/demand curve?
Sue
12/26/2019 — 7:28 pm
I’m positive that if this contract had been a success we would not have to be asking for an after action report. In fact, it probably would have been published in the Voice.
Their silence on the topic is deafening and speaks volumes. Sue
Anne Shears
12/27/2019 — 9:22 am
If it had been successful, the contract would have been renewed.
Sue
12/27/2019 — 1:42 pm
Good point! Sue
Anonymous
12/28/2019 — 10:08 am
This was a great post
Vicki
12/26/2019 — 7:33 pm
Does anyone in a management capacity have any idea what they are doing? I see large salaries for a top heavy organization with a long line of failures! So now what?
Anonymous
12/26/2019 — 8:32 pm
Tom, are you comparing fees from 2014 or is 2004 a typo?
Tom Blakeman
12/26/2019 — 8:59 pm
So sorry. YES, the comparison is to 2014. Typo. Otherwise more than double but we’ll never know for sure since there are no records available.
Cheryl, please edit fit me. My mistake.
Tom Blakeman
12/26/2019 — 9:07 pm
Sorry my mistake. YES the comparison is from 2014 not 2004. Otherwise the changes would probably be doubled or more but we’ll never know since those older records are not available.
Jayne
12/27/2019 — 10:46 am
If it had benefited us in any way, we would have heard about it. So we all know the answer–another waste of OUR money!!!! I wonder what their next money losing idea will be?
Gene Garner
12/27/2019 — 11:50 am
The Troon contract can be read, if you sign an NDA, at the POA Admin Office. I read it in 2015 during the “Two-Tier” trial.
Buying fertilizer in bulk can save a lot of money and nothing stops the POA from partnering with other communities, like Bella Vista, and taking advantage of the savings. I’m not an expert on golf course maintenance but CCI might be a good source to help reduce the ever growing deficit on our courses. And Cooper would be a lot cheaper than “for profit golf course management companies”.—Gene
Anonymous
12/27/2019 — 4:12 pm
Does Cooper run golf courses for fee.
Julie
12/30/2019 — 5:30 am
You sure ask a lot of silly questions. Are you so ill-informed that you need our help????
Man up.
Ken
01/20/2020 — 6:58 pm
I agree Julie…Mr anonymous needs to do his own research.
Anonymous
12/27/2019 — 4:13 pm
Cooper manages golf courses for a few?
Anonymous
12/27/2019 — 4:13 pm
Fee
Minn Daly
12/27/2019 — 1:54 pm
Gene, you are so correct! If the so called smart people on the BOD in 2013 & Keith Keck & the horrible CEO TWIGGS, had bothered to contact the developer COOPER for advice & consult we would not have had TROON or the problems we have today. Let’s hope things change in 2020. Minn Daly
Bob
12/27/2019 — 6:03 pm
Great post Tom! Unfortunately we owners will never find out about the true cost to the Association.
This whole folly was allowed to happen because of the secrecy policies surrounding everything the POA and BOD does. This was a TOP SECRET venture and contract. So we were told. Only a few people could know about it, so there was little vetting and thorough due diligence conducted. All anybody saw was the savings in chemicals and a person to take John Paul’s place (at our expense) who actually had experience with the golf course industry.
How could this contract not be a good deal for HSV? Every one of the extremely costly screw-ups by leadership starts out in the “can’t fail; is definitely best for HSV” category. Most all of the bunglings were/are hidden by secrecy and lack of good, detailed due diligence
Anonymous
12/27/2019 — 9:07 pm
What Board actually hired Twiggs?
Anonymous
12/28/2019 — 10:03 am
Frank Leeming
Anonymous
12/28/2019 — 10:05 am
Maybe Frank Leeming hired Twiggs
Tom Blakeman
12/28/2019 — 9:12 am
Yes Bob. And nobody pays the price for their failures except we the Members. Who got fired for letting the pipes freeze in the old DeSoto club? Who got fired for the ongoing gate Debacle? Who got fired for losing the road crack sealing machine for two years? Who got fired for the geothermal fiasco at Coronado some years back? Who got fired for not having reliable village wide broadband almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century? Who got fired the totally losing the greens on our so-called ‘flagship’ golf course a.k.a Granada? And the list goes on and on.
Scott
12/28/2019 — 10:13 am
Tom, Did the Troon deal a financial burden to HSV
Bob
12/28/2019 — 10:55 am
Scott, the answer is yes. That is part of the problem. Back when the contract was signed, it was a huge secret. No one could see it. After many months and much complaining, the POA allowed the contract to be viewed, under heavy scrutiny and one having to sign a non disclosure clause. Those restrictions are in place today.
I have not seen the contract, but one could easily surmise that with the secrecy and restrictions surrounding the document, it was not something that Troon gave us for nothing and that there was a significant cost involved. What ever the cost to HSV, it was never recouped by what they gave to us. The chemical savings were minor and the additional play was even less. And it certainly cost us money to get Troon’s name and logo on our pencils, scorecards, golf carts, etc. among other things.
Tom Blakeman
12/29/2019 — 7:23 am
Scott, if it had not been a burden you can bet we would have been getting a “victory lap” report every month since 2014. We got nothing of the sort.
What we got was a highly paid Czar running the golf operation for a couple of years. He was disliked by most. But worse he brought us the abject failure of “flex pricing” for our daily pay resident golfers which helped lead to the huge decline in rounds played. He also gave us “breakfast at every course” which led to the demise of Paradise Grill at Cortez and Tanners at Granada.
No one knows or is telling what the real cost and results of Troon were. That was the point of this article. We should know and POA should be telling us. . . good, bad or otherwise.
Lloyd Sherman
12/29/2019 — 3:36 pm
In addition to the secrecy that PREVIOUSLY existed when it comes to contracts, I find it curious that no one to my knowledge has ever produced whatever the recommendations were that Troon brought to the table. On page 116 of the CMP it states: “continue to address golf-related issues per Troon recommendations.” What were they?
What many don’t get that just baffles me is that by performing an autopsy on a failed project, you have a much better chance of getting it right the next time if you take the time to analyze and recognize the good and the bad.
None of this information can any longer be withheld from the membership (unless they classify it as legal or personnel-related), so going forward it would be shame on us if we are not doing our job to hold our elected officials and the employees we pay for to a higher standard. This is our home and it is our money that drives this machine.
George Phillis
01/20/2020 — 8:52 pm
Excellent points Lloyd Sherman. Property owners and those who are running for a position on the board should be afforded all information regarding projects/deals management has done…good or bad.
If they have done anything decent or that has made money for HSV I’m sure they would be shouting from the rooftops….hmmm I hear absolute silence…very telling.
Anonymous
12/29/2019 — 7:56 pm
Too many people have not paid attention to the presentation made at the New Board Member Orientation meetings that had the display showing the condition of our POA budget when the Coopers were in control. We were definitely not in good shape financially. You can blame David Twiggs all you want, but he had a real mess to start cleaning up. Scott Randall was brought in to start cutting staff and budget. He was basically doing what he was told, but his unbecoming lifestyle got in the way and he had to be fired. I have been told that David Johnson was fired in part because of the screw-up of the geothermal system at the Natatorium and also because he was controlled by John Cooper. So, our BOD did the best they could by recruiting David Twiggs. I really doubt Mr. Twiggs was fired from his previous job as I couldn’t find a thing on the Internet indicating that and I’m sure our BOD looked very closely at him so as not to repeat the mistake made in hiring Scott Randall.
HSVP C
12/29/2019 — 8:15 pm
Anonymous, are you ashamed of what you have to say? If this is valid, why don’t you post with your name? We do. – Cheryl
Anonymous
12/29/2019 — 8:33 pm
What fact presented do you dispute?
George Phillis
01/20/2020 — 9:00 pm
Exactly Cheryl. Notice there is no answer to you….only a throw back question….a red herring. An anonymous post is worthless, especially when it produces no facts or information. They are either embarrassed, don’t want it known they are a supporter of management or both.
Julie
12/30/2019 — 5:33 am
Wow. You sure know a lot of stuff. I only wish I could know half as much.
Sam Taylor
01/22/2020 — 9:16 am
Their name would probably do a lot to offer some credence to their claims. My suggestion is to just ignore anonymous or ridiculous name replies.
James (Jim) Bryan
01/22/2020 — 3:10 pm
Prior to moving to HSV I was involved in Projects Management. Every project I worked required an upfront “Project Plan” to identify project scope; roles and responsibilities, schedule, budget, deliverables, method of oversight (EVMS), performance measurement and reporting.
It appears our POA/BOD and CEO don’t know or understand how to manage a project. The Troon debacle is just another example of issues I’ve become aware of since moving to the Village, CMP and gate security come to mind.
Perhaps they’re embarrassed by their failures or they don’t care due to lack of accountability. If I had known the CEO and HSVPOA/BOD were this inept prior to buying property here the decision probably would’ve have been different.
Lynda Narug
03/14/2020 — 1:46 pm
I was at the meeting when Twiggs made the announcement and sales pitch for Troon to us. When asked how much it cost us, his reply was “it’s confidential”. the audience had a good laugh.