The grass is green again at Forty Niner Country Club in the Tanque Verde Valley.
Sprinklers are chugging, ponds are full and new mowers are on their way.
Neighbors are sighing in relief.
They are especially delighted that their benefactor is one of their own: a neighbor whose own windows overlook the fairways, which were, until very recently, yellow and apparently dead.
"We were very fortunate that Ron McKenzie stepped up and saved the (golf) course," said Mike Schneider, a retired Army general and current Realtor who lives along the course. "You would not believe the difference in one month."
IRI Arizona LLC sold the course at 12000 E. Tanque Verde Road to McKenzie's Macco LLC for $250,000 in cash in May, Pima County records show.
People are also reading…
IRI, a division of San Diego-based IRI Golf Management, had bought the course for $3.4 million in 1999, according to the Pima County assessor's website.
The company had been looking for a buyer for the property for months. It's also seeking buyers for two other Southern Arizona golf courses, IRI founder Jeff Silverstein said.
As negotiations dragged on, the Forty Niner course fell into disrepair, dismaying those who bought houses along its lush Midwestern-style border.
IRI had already been struggling for years. In 2008, it failed to pay the final $327,500 principal installment required under a 2003 deal with the city.
The city built a pipeline to bring reclaimed water to the course for irrigation. In exchange, IRI agreed to stop pumping groundwater and pay about $1 million.
IRI ultimately ceased paying its water bills altogether, and Tucson Water turned off service in January.
After that, the greens were watered with the remaining contents of the ponds. Dust began to blow. Neighbors began talking about dividing the course by hole and switching uses. Rumors of failed deals circulated.
Then McKenzie quietly stepped forward.
"We are all super appreciative," said Anthony Mastrangelo, the homeowners group president. "Anything that they do is an improvement."
McKenzie, the retired founder and CEO of Colorado heavy industry contractor TIC Holdings, is lying low. He declined an interview and has communicated with neighbors mostly through emails. But his actions are getting around, and nobody's complaining.
McKenzie renegotiated the water deal with the city. Under the agreement the City Council approved in June, Macco will pay about $3,163 a month including 3 percent interest on the remaining pipeline principal for 10 years.
Clubhouse staff stayed on. In addition to watering the course, McKenzie is installing new water-cooler stations, tee holders, divot-mix boxes and flags for the pins, an email from the club's management to its members said.
The clubhouse is to get a new roof, kitchen improvements, driving range fencing repairs and additions, new parking lot lighting and asphalt and a new executive chef, according to the email.
Did you know?
Since it was designed by William Francis Bell more than 50 years ago, Forty Niner Country Club played host to the PGA Tour in 1963 and 1964.
It's the only Tucson course that Jack Nicklaus played competitively and has been one of the top golf properties in Southern Arizona.
Its mesquite, giant cottonwood, eucalyptus and weeping willow trees make it something of a wooded oasis on the far east side.
Source: Star archives, Forty Niner Country Club website
Contact reporter Carli Brosseau at cbrosseau@azstarnet.com or 573-4197.