Edinburg inks deal with Arizona golf management company to run Ebony Hills, Los Lagos golf courses

The city of Edinburg signed a new deal for the daily operation of its two municipal golf courses to an Arizona company in a move meant to reduce the golf courses’ reliance on taxpayer funds and increase economic development opportunities for the community. 

Edinburg city leaders approved Troon Golf Inc.’s contract to manage and operate Los Lagos and Ebony Hills Golf courses on Wednesday after receiving a request for proposals from seven companies and conducting interviews with four finalists. 

Edinburg lost its former golf director about a year ago, and that’s when the city began considering alternative models, including hiring an outside operator. 

“We wanted real worldwide expertise, so Troon Golf was the easy choice,” Edinburg Mayor Omar Ochoa said at an MOU signing on Thursday. “All the users of the golf courses, I think, are going to see a great increase in quality. The city of Edinburg is going to continue to own the golf courses so these will continue to be public golf courses, but now the city is having a professional worldwide company run them for us.” 

The Ebony Hills Golf Course is celebrating its 100th anniversary next year, so in the lead-up to that, the city is building a new clubhouse and workforce development center at Ebony Hills. 

“We’re talking to South Texas College to finally bring classes into the city of Edinburg; they don’t have those right now. And we’re also talking to UTRGV as well and the Texas Workforce Commission to have some really unique offerings of workforce development on that second floor,” Ochoa said. 

For example, Troon Golf, headquartered in Scottsdale, is among the largest golf course management businesses across the globe with hundreds of courses in its portfolio, including 16 across Texas and about 80 municipal contracts nationwide. The company has been managing the La Cantera golf course in San Antonio, which is a premier location in the Texas Hill Country, for years. 

Jeff Thomasson, vice president of operations for Troon Golf, said the company is at the beginning of its analysis, so big changes are expected. The current employees at both courses will be offered jobs with Troon, which is a larger company and can offer upward mobility within the business, Thomasson said. 

“The nice thing is that there’s a lot of upward mobility inside our company; we’ve got 35,000 associates managing over 800 properties across 40 countries, so we can transfer people in and out; they are not at one facility,” Thomasson said. 

The worker pay is expected to be comparable to existing pay schedules, but the analysis has not yet been completed. 

“There’s no reason any golf course should not be self-sufficient,” Thomasson said. 

The golf courses use a combination of reclaimed and potable water for their infrastructure, something that Troon will explore to ensure sustainability. 

The golf courses operate as enterprise funds, which means they are supposed to break even on an annual basis without subsidy, but they have relied on taxpayer funds from other areas of the budget to continue operating. 

“They need to stand on their own two feet [and] run on their own revenue generated by green fees, by food and beverage sales, and by merchandise sold in our pro shops,” Ochoa said. 

In the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the golf courses required subsidies totaling $1.17 million from the city’s solid waste management fund. Los Lagos, the 18-hole championship course, received $989,590 — an increase from $874,734 from the previous year — while Ebony Hills, a 9-hole course, was allocated $183,722 — down from $253,395 in the 2024-2025 fiscal year. 

The contract, nor its fee schedule, was immediately available because it has not yet been inked. The city council has only approved the city manager to negotiate a deal. However, the agreement is expected to last five years.

The council previously approved an interlocal agreement with the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation for a $7.1 million workforce resources center. 

The new 12,000-square-foot multi-purpose center will be built inside of the Ebony Hills Golf Course near West Freddy Gonzalez Drive and U.S. Business 281, across from the city’s public library. 

The existing golf course clubhouse and cart barn will be demolished, and the new building will house the golf clubhouse and simulated indoor golf bays on the first floor. The second floor will offer meeting space for a new workforce resources center. 

The project is funded in part by Edinburg EDC bond money, stemming from its 2019 bond plan, of which $1.8 million was earmarked for the center. Another $2 million from the EDC’s budget will be allocated to the project. 

The goal of the workforce center is to connect residents with career opportunities through job training and recruitment, and will include new meeting rooms to host job fairs and offer space for South Texas College and Hidalgo County Workforce Solutions to work with job seekers.

City leaders expect to break ground on the new facility on Monday.