January 19, 2026 News

Team member
5 hours ago
5 min read

Photos courtesy of golfer Laura Adams. Taken Dec. 21, 2025, on hole number 3 tee box.

Happy New Year Friends of Pusch Ridge Golf!

We hope this newsletter finds you happy and healthy and off to a good start with 2026!

The FOPR Golf Board and Advisors are focused on many projects throughout the community that we would like to share with you. Let’s start with some good news about the golf course!

The course is in incredible shape. We would like to extend a big thank you to Josh Reese, our hardworking groundskeeper. Beyond his ongoing weekly maintenance, he has been working his way around the perimeter of the fairways cleaning up dead cacti and trees in an effort to improve playability. He has found countless lost balls – Kirkland seems to be the top brand for errant slices and hooks! We would also like to recognize a very special neighbor and volunteer, who continues to spend countless hours working on “Back-Breaking” projects throughout the course! On any given day, you will find Scott Creeger quietly working away! Thank you for your contributions, Scott!

Drumm Roll Please – 6,229 rounds have been played on this little piece of paradise since opening day this year!

Our marketing and referral programs are in full swing. Local hotel and apartment team members are referring guests and residents to the course – creating awareness and bringing the community together. We are appreciative of our local restaurant partners, and our leagues rotate their celebration events between them on a weekly basis! You will find us at The Landing, Fork n’ Fire, DiBella’s Brunch N Booze and Colibri at The El Conquistador Hilton. We are living our mantra…” Connecting the Community Through the Game of Golf.”

Our four leagues are thriving. The Monday Men’s League is currently closed for new members – filling the course with over 40 players every week. The Quails continue to welcome new members on Tuesday’s. The Prickly Pairs, Mixed Casual on Wednesday afternoon has a wait list, and Thursday’s Flycatchers has doubled in size!

The Prickly Pairs have chosen to donate their winnings (and additional contributions) to a local children’s non-profit each quarter. They gave a $500 check to Courtney’s Courage, an organization focused on the many elements of pediatric cancer: Family support, research, and fundraising. Learn more about this incredible organization: https;//courtneyscourage.org

Guy Cook – One of the original Friends of Pusch Ridge donated 2000 golf balls for the practice range, putting green and kids who need a few balls! Kudos, Guy!

A subgroup of our Board is researching opportunities for harvesting water run-off and conservation activities. They will be partnering with the three HOA’s on this possibility. We will report more in a future newsletter. We believe this is an exciting initiative with numerous benefits for the course, community and Town of Oro Valley.

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Adopt a Hole Opportunity!

We have an opportunity for you! Less than an hour a week, peaceful, calming, productive… Sound appealing?? Become a volunteer in the Pusch Ridge Golf Course Adopt-a-Hole program! Adopt-a-Hole provides an assist to maintaining our beautiful course — particularly important during the busy peak season.

The pro shop staff will provide volunteers with divot mix and, if needed, a cart to do course maintenance either before or after golfers are on the course.

It is a lovely way to enjoy our gorgeous course in the evening, after golfers but before dark. The course is beautiful that time of night, and you get to visit with residents on their patios or people walking the cart path.

The priorities for the Adopt-a-Hole program are:

• Repair ball marks on the green

• Fill divots on the fairway and tee boxes only

• Rake bunkers if needed

• Pick up broken tees on the tee box as the mower blades don’t like them.

We currently have at least one volunteer on 8 of the 9 holes. Our goal is to have coverage on all holes and at least two people per hole. So, please consider joining our team!

If you would like to contribute to this effort, please contact Cindy MacNider, our Pusch Ridge Golf pro (cindy.macnider@gmail.com) or Jeannee Yermakoff, Thursday League manager (thursday.puschridgegolf@gmail.com).

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Pusch Ridge Golf Course Continues to Work Towards Audubon Certification

Efforts to certify the Pusch Ridge Golf Course as an Audubon Certified Sanctuary Program (ACSP) course are in full swing as we turn the calendar page to 2026. Volunteers, led by a Resource Advisory Group, and the El Conquistador Golf Course staff are whittling away at 18 identified projects that will hopefully see the course gain full certification over the next couple of years.

The Audubon effort was launched last June and thanks to the November 7 fundraising golf tournament organized by the Friends of Pusch Ridge Golf, the Audubon project now has funds to pursue several of its identified initiatives.

Some projects underway:

1) New signage is appearing in multiple locations, raising awareness of the efforts to enhance the course as a haven for wildlife and improved environmental practices.

2) Volunteer carpenters are lined up to build bat, bird and/or owl houses on the course.

3) A volunteer team is ready to start planning a butterfly garden.

4) A U of A Extension horticulturalist helped identify the cacti in the cactus garden near #1 and signage will soon be added to share that information with golfers and visitors to the course.

5) Golfers are being asked to submit photos of wildlife seen on their round, and those photos are being displayed in the pro shop and shared with Audubon.

6) A required inventory of wildlife and foliage is being maintained.

7) The Resource Advisory Group, led by volunteer coordinator Jim Schilling, has visited two other Audubon Certified courses to glean advice and counsel.

8) The Advisory Resource Group will address the El Conquistador Patio Homes Annual HOA meeting in February as part of an Outreach and Education certification effort, communicating the environmental goals, objectives and projects to many of the neighbors who live on the course.

9) A bird expert will soon walk the course with Schilling, helping build the birding inventory.

10) The Resource Advisory Group also plans to speak at a future Oro Valley Town Council meeting, raising awareness among the council and the community at large of the environmental efforts being made on the course.

While volunteers are involved in the above initiatives, the El Con Golf staff is focused on creating a property map, creating an integrated pest management plan and developing a water quality database - requirements for certification.

The Audubon certification undertaking is a joint effort of the Friends of Pusch Ridge Golf, the El Conquistador Golf Staff and the Town of Oro Valley. The Resource Advisory Group includes Darryl Janisse of El Con Golf; Roz Epting from the Town’s Parks & Rec Department; FOPRG board members Dan Talsma, Carolyn Weinig and Schilling; and volunteers DeeAnn and Peter Leuzinger. Jason Wolf, former golf superintendent of El Con Golf, was instrumental in the certification planning phase, but has taken a new position with a golf course in the Phoenix area. His replacement has not been announced, but his expertise will be missed.

The environmental Planning Phase was completed in October and 6 categories for certification remain: Wildlife and Habitat Management; Chemical Use Reduction and Safety; Water Conservation; Water Quality Management, Outreach and Education; and an Environmental Case Study. There is much work to be done, but momentum is building. Volunteers are always welcome. Please send your interest in participating to puschaudubon@gmail.com.

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