{"id":51471,"date":"2025-08-01T02:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T02:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/51471\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T02:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T02:18:08","slug":"how-a-maricopa-golf-club-bistro-survives-the-summer-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/51471\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Maricopa golf club bistro survives the summer slump"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The BLT sandwich is served with a half-pound of bacon and a side of French fries and ranch dressing at the Duke at Rancho El Dorado’s Silver Spur Grill on July 30, 2025. [Monica D. Spencer]<\/p>\n

The facts don\u2019t lie.<\/p>\n

Fact 1: It\u2019s hot in Maricopa in the summertime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fact 2: Many snowbirds flock to cooler northern locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fact 3: Higher temperatures and a smaller number of people equal fewer golfers and, in turn, less customers for the Silver Spur Grill<\/a> at The Duke at Rancho El Dorado.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Business is \u201cdown quite a bit, at least 75% between June and August,\u201d Terry Duggan, CEO of the local operation, told InMaricopa earlier this month. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty normal. You just have to get a little more creative, and we continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the traditional methods to try and encourage golfers to brave the heat is The Duke Summer Punch Pass. For one price ($299 plus tax), golfers get 10 rounds, an equal number of drink tickets, a dozen golf balls and 10 small buckets for use on the driving range.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The passes are good through Sept. 28, just prior to the course closing for two weeks for its last grass overseeding before the busy season commences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get early golfers [in the grill] until about 9:30 a.m.,\u201d Duggan said. \u201cWe\u2019re trending up a little this year [in both golf rounds and restaurant guests]. At lunch a few more come in. The afternoon is pretty sparse right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The chef salad served at the Duke at Rancho El Dorado\u2019s Silver Spur Grill is a dish that light but not overly so. It features a hefty mix of vegetables, bacon, turkey, salami, pepperoni, cheese and boiled eggs. [Monica D. Spencer]With golfers hitting the tees at first light, one special offers the opportunity to play the back nine holes (starting before 6:30 a.m.) followed by breakfast. \u201cWe get a few of those every morning,\u201d Duggan said.<\/p>\n

Three summer tournaments with early morning shotgun starts typically attract about 100 golfers each with lunch and drinks following.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Enticing the non-golfers to come out to the grill and bar is where the creativity comes in. A few examples:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Special showings of the Love Island USA<\/a> reality dating show. The idea: Get fans of the program to gather to watch the \u201caction\u201d together and enjoy some food and drink specials while doing so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A recent prime rib night, with another possible, as well as an Italian themed dinner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Staying open a little later (past the normal closing times of 7 p.m. for food and 8 p.m. for drinks) to attract an evening crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duggan said the efforts are successful at times, while other days find the grill shutting down in the late afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJuly is typically the slowest. We have the most humidity, the highest temps and a lot of people on vacations,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen people are back in school, it starts to pick up a little. September picks up a little more. By October, we\u2019re at full strength again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"During a commercial break, friends Saria Becerra, Crystal Cuarenta and Alex Alvarez discuss the happenings of the first segment of \u201cLove Island\u201d during a watch party at Silver Spur inside The Duke at Rancho El Dorado on July 8, 2025. [Monica D. Spencer]The busy season will continue through the end of April, with Duggan noting that May of 2025 was particularly strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe golf course is in really good shape right now. The greens are the best they\u2019ve ever been.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And whether or not you do a little putting on the golf greens, Duggan and staff are happy to serve a few greens \u2014 or meats or other menu items \u2014 at the Silver Spur. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Silver Spur Grill\u00a0<\/p>\n

42660 Rancho El Dorado Parkway\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hours<\/p>\n

Kitchen: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bar: 6:30 a.m.-8 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friday Fish Fry: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Happy Hour: 2-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BLT sandwich is served with a half-pound of bacon and a side of French fries and ranch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,39669,39670,39671,39672,39673,39674,39675,39676,39677,39678,99,39679,39680,39681,39682,39683],"class_list":{"0":"post-51471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-golf-grill-hours","10":"tag-golf-offseason-strategies","11":"tag-golf-punch-pass","12":"tag-golf-tournaments-maricopa","13":"tag-love-island-watch-party","14":"tag-maricopa-golf-course","15":"tag-maricopa-summer-business","16":"tag-maricopa-summer-heat","17":"tag-prime-rib-night-maricopa","18":"tag-silver-spur-grill","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-summer-golf-deals","21":"tag-summer-golf-slump","22":"tag-summer-golf-specials","23":"tag-summer-restaurant-specials","24":"tag-the-duke-rancho-el-dorado"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}