"This will be devastating for everyone, cause that's just the center of Vail, that's where you go to meet, celebrate, you know, have fun." That is how Dr. Denise Bowls, President and CEO of the Vail Chamber of Commerce, described Del Lago Golf Club to KOLD in August, right after the club said it would close.
Golf ended on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026, after 26 years. The Pro Shop closed, and Hacienda Del Lago was expected to close by Aug. 31. Now the fall season is here, and that leaves a practical question. If Del Lago was the center, where does Vail's calendar go?
The organizations that run Vail's events have kept nearly all of them on the calendar, but they lost the one shared address that used to hold them. This fall, Vail's gatherings are scattered across borrowed rooms, and some of the biggest ones are a long drive from Rancho del Lago.
What Del Lago actually held
Del Lago was more than a course with a restaurant beside it. In 2016, The Vail Voice called it the only 18-hole golf course in Vail, a property that runs through several communities and includes nine large ponds. In 2019 the paper reported that ownership had put $1.5 million into course upgrades, at a time when the local housing boom was bringing in new golfers.
Bowls told KOLD the club was where people went for birthdays and social gatherings, and that it drew visitors during golf tournaments and events. A Hacienda Del Lago bartender told the station that winter was the restaurant's busiest season, with visitors coming in from Colorado and elsewhere. So the closure lands right before the months when the building was busiest.
General Manager Ken Bensel said in a statement that the owners had spent years investing time and money to keep the course running, but "due to rising costs and decreasing demand, it is no longer feasible to continue operating the course."
The fundraiser that had to leave town
The clearest example of how this changes Vail's calendar is the ReSources Vail Golf Challenge.
Greater Vail Community ReSources runs the Resources Vail Food Bank, and its fall golf tournament has a long history at Del Lago. The Vail Voice covered the 2019 ReSources Golf Challenge there, when 87 golfers showed up on a windy Nov. 9 morning, and again in 2020, when the event was set for Del Lago on Nov. 14.
This year, Executive Director Callie Tippett found out about the closure from an email Bensel sent as a courtesy. She told The Vail Voice the closing has affected the residents in need that her nonprofit serves. She found a new venue, Forty Niner Golf Course on Speedway.
Here are the details for the 2026 Golf Challenge:
- When: Saturday, Oct. 24, with an 8:00 a.m. shotgun start
- Where: Forty Niner Golf Course
- Cost: $125 for a single golfer or $475 for a foursome, with optional raffle and mulligan packages at $20, $40 and $80
- Divisions: An Open division and a Military & First Responders Division
- Where the money goes: The food bank's Emergency Food program, the weekend "Meals to Grow" program and Home Bound Senior Meals
You can still register on the ReSources Vail golfer registration page, and raffle packages will be sold on tournament day. A Vail food bank fundraiser that used to happen inside a Vail neighborhood now happens across town.
Others lost local access too. The Vail Voice reported that the Cienega High School golf team no longer has a nearby place to practice.
This fall's calendar, room by room
Most of Vail's other fall gatherings never depended on Del Lago, and they continue in a variety of spaces. Here is what's coming up from this week through Nov. 18:
| Date | Event | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 22, 4–6 p.m. | Ribbon Cutting & Trunk or Treat | Goodfellas Air Conditioning & Plumbing, 6907 Linda Vista | Free entry, food and drinks |
| Sat., Oct. 24, 8 a.m. | ReSources Vail 2026 Golf Challenge | Forty Niner Golf Course on Speedway | $125 single, $475 foursome |
| Fri., Oct. 30, 7 a.m.–5 p.m. | Sprouts grand opening pop-up party | 10015 E Old Vail Rd. | Free |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | VailFest 2026 | Check the Chamber listing | See listing |
| Wed., Nov. 18 | November Breakfast 2026 | Check the Chamber listing | See listing |
The Greater Vail Area Chamber's Trunk or Treat falls on the day this post goes up. The listing promises a vendor fair and a costume contest, plus free food, drinks and adult beverages.
The Chamber's monthly breakfasts are a good example of the borrowed-room pattern. The October Breakfast met at Pima Community College East Campus, in the L101 Community Room at 8181 E Irvington Rd. Tickets were $30 for members and $40 for non-members. That's a full program run by a Vail organization, held outside Vail.
VailFest 2026 on Nov. 7 is the biggest date on the calendar. The Chamber says it started in 2009 as a small hometown country fair and now draws thousands of people from around the region. Check the listing for the location and schedule before you go.
A new daily stop on Old Vail Road
The largest new opening this fall is a grocery store, which will figure into everyday errands more than special occasions.
Sprouts Farmers Market's Tucson-Rita Ranch store, at Old Vail Road and Houghton Road, opens Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. According to the Sprouts store page, the ribbon-cutting is at 6:45 a.m. and doors open at 7:00 a.m. An outdoor pop-up party runs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The first 200 shoppers get totes and the first 400 get a rose, while supplies last. Grand opening events continue through Nov. 1.
Getting around the southeast side also got easier this month. The RTA and the City of Tucson celebrated the completion of the nearly four-mile stretch of Valencia Road from Kolb Road to Houghton Road on Oct. 9. Construction began in November 2024. The corridor now has six lanes, signal upgrades at Old Vail and Nexus roads, bicycle and ADA-compliant pedestrian facilities, and dark-sky lighting. When more of the calendar happens west of Houghton, that road matters more.
The in-Vail room that's already there
If you're planning a group outing or a celebration and want to stay close to home, Colossal Cave Mountain Park has options that Hacienda Del Lago never offered. At La Posta Quemada Ranch, guided one-hour trail rides cost $55, sunset rides cost $65, and wagon rides are $7.50 per person with a $75 minimum. The park says the wagon is available for weddings and special events. In May 2026, the park announced it had received Tripadvisor's 2026 Travelers' Choice Award.
What's still unsettled at Del Lago
The course's future hasn't been decided in public. Within weeks of the last round, The Vail Voice described the grass as drying out, stiff and brown. The paper reported that the greater Del Lago Homeowners Association had held at least one meeting and planned to form a committee to study the issue and work with the owners on what options, if any, exist.
Residents who spoke to local outlets wanted answers. One resident pointed out to The Vail Voice that the sign at Colossal Cave Road and Mary Ann Cleveland Way reads "Rancho Del Lago, A Golf Course Community," and said, "That won't be true if you don't even have a golf course." The same resident added, "we hope someone will buy it and take good care of it and it can be a beautiful golf course again." KVOA reported that the course's general manager said the restaurant and the pond did not come up in his meeting with the owner, and that the owner maintains the pond.
As of The Vail Voice's Sept. 2 report, no buyer or new operator had been announced, and the paper called the course's chapter "closed, at least for now." Until that changes, the ReSources tournament is on Speedway, the Chamber's breakfasts are at PCC East, and the first new gathering spot of the season is a grocery store parking lot on Old Vail Road.
I've lived and worked around Tucson since 1989, and I know how much a place like Del Lago becomes part of a neighborhood's routine. If you live in Rancho del Lago and want to talk through what the closure means for your own plans, or you just want a local sounding board while the course's future gets sorted out, Michelle Bakarich and The Bakarich Team are glad to sit down with you. Let's Connect.
