How a 1959 golf course transformed ranchland, reshaped the community, and inspired the town’s name.
Written by Devon Sloan, January 2023
Birdie, Bogey, Chip Shot and Fore! were words heard more frequently than ever in Oro Valley when in January 1959, the Oro Valley Country Club opened the golf course. No more did cattle roam the washes and foothills on that land!
In the mid-1950’s, Lou Landon, a developer from Chicago, visited Tucson frequently and loved playing golf. The only courses at that time were Tucson Country Club, El Rio Country Club, and Reid Park. He thought a course needed to be added northwest of Tucson for the golfers in our area and worked with Hank Leiber and Joseph Timan to purchase part of the Canyon del Oro Ranch from the Rooney family. 365 acres were purchased in May 1958, and a contract was signed in July of that year to have the course completed by December 31 of that year. Golfers definitely celebrated on New Year’s Eve!
The original plan for the area was to include a huge subdivision with trailer park, guest ranch, hotel, shopping, professional buildings and more. We can only imagine how happy the current 234 homeowners in the Oro Valley Country Club Estates are that those plans never came to fruition.
And thanks to the homeowners in 1974, when Oro Valley was incorporated, we adopted the name of Oro Valley for our town instead of Palo Verde! To learn more, read How Did Oro Valley Get Its Name.
Other resources: 2.5 SQUARE MILE Oral History Project, “You don’t have to be famous for your life to be historic.”