GCU TODAY • 7
r golf
G
ood decisions are a win-win. Great
ones are a win-win-win. So what do
you call one with 18 wins?
You call it Grand Canyon
University Golf Course.
The oasis at 59th Avenue and
Indian School Road is scheduled
to reopen soon after an 11-month
transformation that has rejuvenated venerable but no
longer viable Maryvale Golf Course. Just like that, a
54-year-old facility is far more than a nice, little “muni” —
it’s now a championship layout that’s challenging for the
best players and yet playable for the less skilled.
“The course had gotten tired and really needed an
update,” said Rick Navratil, president of the Maryvale
Men’s Club. “I’m not sure how long it would have survived
if GCU hadn’t come in.”
The University came in as more than just a $10 million
investor to renovate and manage the course — it came in
with a plan. President Brian Mueller is an avid golfer who
turned all four of his children into excellent players, and
he was passionate about making much more than minor
adjustments.
“That’s a 130-acre piece of property with mature trees,
lakes — a total parkland course,” he said. “But it was
decaying, losing $250,000 a year, people talking about
shutting it down. That would be a huge loss to the west side.
And then, obviously, it’s about three miles from campus.
“We could have built a golf course someplace. We could
have used that $10 million to buy a course and invest in a
course and own it, and some people would have said long
term that would have been a smarter strategy. But we’re
trying to do things and invest in things that are not just
good for us, they’re good for the community.”
That’s just the start of all the benefits, however. What
makes GCU Golf Course a win for every hole out there? Let
us count the 18 ways.
Many of the attractive features of Grand Canyon University
Golf Course can be seen in one shot: the elevated green, the
championship-style bunkers and, maybe most important,
the mature trees that provide plenty of shade.
