Briarwood Country Club 20800 N 135th Ave Sun City West, AZ 85375
Swing First Golf was founded in 2004 when Dave Ashton and Jeff Lundgren bought the Golf Club at Johnson Ranch (now San Tan Highlands). Since 2021 we’ve acquired five additional clubs in Arizona. Our daily objective is to grow an increasingly healthy business, make every club a place we want to be, and have a great time.
Swing First has a simple structure. Our teams are intentionally small and cohesive, led by people we work with closely. We make all acquisitions and improvements with capital reserves and our debt partners, and all key strategy decisions are made jointly. We have been friends since 1983 and remain close both personally and professionally. And we like jokes.
At Swing First Dave focuses on corporate finance, acquisitions, and asset development, as well as overall operations. He went to Horizon High School in Scottsdale and has an MBA from Stanford. He and his wife Stasha have four children, whom they raised in France before moving back to Arizona in 2021.
Jeff oversees daily and overall operations. He works with each Swing First leader to ensure we meet operational goals, which include improving the clubs we own for ourselves and the communities we serve. Jeff grew up next to Scottsdale Country Club and went to Chaparral High School. He and his wife Jennifer have three children. Few will ever admit to being a good golfer and Jeff is no exception. But his swing is as beautiful as Fred Couples’.
We’re both passionate about the joy a golf community brings to people, and ask our leaders to subscribe to our Swing First Ethos. Our goal for the future is the same as it has been since 2004: acquire courses we can enjoy improving and operating, enhance the golfer/member experience, and do all we can to ensure Swing First clubs are a place everyone feels they belong.
December 2022
Swing First Golf started in 2004 when Dave Ashton & Jeff Lundgren bought San Tan Highlands Golf Club. This was Swing First’s only club for 17 years until we acquired Coyote Lakes in 2021. During the ensuing years – and as Swing First has grown to include multiple courses in Arizona – we haven’t forgotten our roots: we love working every day with those who make each golf club a place people want to be.
Each club and team is unique, and teaches us things we could only have learned thanks to that club and team. Applying learned best practices to all our courses makes us better operators overall and collectively helps us create a better experience for both customers and team members.
Through that, we’ve learned certain attributes are core to our style and philosophy, and represent who we are. We want all in the Swing First family to reflect that ethos, outlined below:
