Winter is in full swing here in northern Utah. Ski resorts are humming and there’s snow on the golf courses. Happy holidays! For those like me who may want to get out of the cold and play some golf in some warmer weather, I’ve got some suggestions for you in the Phoenix/Scottsdale Arizona area. Here’s where to play and where to stay!
Play
Here’s a short list of awesome golf courses in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area I highly recommend. Below is my top five, but there are many more great courses one can experience.
Quintero Golf Club
Quintero is a par-72 Rees Jones design roughly a 45 minute drive from Scottsdale. Rees Jones is the son of one of golf’s all-time greatest golf architects, Robert Trent Jones.
Quintero is a mountainside course featuring challenging and scenic elevation changes. Rees Jones does a great job with desert/mountain golf course terrain. The fairways are generous but strategic bunker placement puts a premium on accuracy.
Boulders Golf Resort
The Boulders Golf Resort offers fantastic golf and resort accommodations, renowned as one of the best in the U.S.A. Boulders features 36 holes of golf, the North Course and South Course.
The North Course was designed by Jay Morish and features dramatic panoramas as it winds through huge boulder formations. The South Course, also Jay Morrish, is slightly more challenging than the North. The South requires more accuracy off the tee and better course management.
We-Ko-Pa Golf Club
We-Ko-Pa Golf Club offers 36 holes of highly popular and challenging Arizona golf in the Cholla and Saguaro courses. We-Ko-Pa is located on Indian land and the natural terrain is the foreground to views of the area’s mountains in the distance. No homes on the courses.
Cholla is designed by Scott Miller and provides a tough test with narrow fairways and thick desert to eat up errant shots. The Saguaro is the newest course, designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. “Crenshaw and Coore” are two of the top modern golf architects whose style tremendously routes their courses through natural, rugged styling. If you haven’t had a chance to play a Crenshaw/Coore course, you really should do it. They’re fantastic.
Grayhawk
Grayhawk boasts 36 holes of fantastic Arizona desert golf in the Talon and Raptor courses. The Raptor course was designed by famed golf architect Tom Fazio and features large fairways and highly undulating greens. The errant approaches at the Raptor are often met by deep bunkering. The Talon Course was designed by David Graham and Gary Pranks. The Talon is ranked as one of the “Top 100 in You Can Play U.S.” Tee shots are very challenging at the Talon, especially in the back nine which features many holes in box canyons.
Grayhawk is also known as professional golfer Phil Mickelson’s home course in Arizona.
Troon North
Troon North features two courses, the Monument course by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, and the Pinnacle Course by Tom Weiskopf.
Below is a shot of the Pinnacle course from one of the last HOG World Tour Arizona trips.
The Monument is rated the #1 public golf course in Arizona. Both courses epitomize Arizona/desert target golf. The Pinnacle course is rated the 3rd best course in Arizona.
Stay
I recommend staying at Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain in Paradise Valley, Arizona. The resort is tremendous, featuring spacious individual accommodations, restaurants, and nearby activities including hiking, swimming, golf, tennis and more.
Above is a photo of my fantastic accommodations from the last HOG World Tour trip to Sanctuary. Winning.
Put It All Together
Scottsdale is a great golf destination, with year-round great weather and very enjoyable and interesting golf courses. Get out of the cold this winter and join your golf buddies for a fantastic golf trip to the desert. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of putting your trip together, I recommend taking advantage of one of the Scottsdale golf packages from Phoenix Scottsdale Golf. Not only will they help you put together a great golf buddy trip to Scottsdale, they’ll save you money.
I’ve had some requests for advise for the best courses to pick in the Phoenix/Scottsdale Arizona area for a golf buddy trip. I thought this would be a fun topic, and I plan on doing a few others too, like Nevada, Michigan, Oregon, Utah and so on. For now here are the Hooked on Golf Blog Phoenix/Scottsdale Golf Buddy trip recommendations below. Arizona is a great golf destination with great weather nearly all year round. If you can handle the very high summer temperatures, golf can be very inexpensive.
Troon North
Troon North features two courses, the Monument course by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, and the Pinnacle Course by Tom Weiskopf. The Monument is rated the #1 public golf course in Arizona. Both courses epitomize Arizona/desert target golf. The Pinnacle course is rated the 3rd best course in Arizona.
Here’s a shot below of the Pinnacle course from the last time the HOG World Tour visited:
Troon North Pinnacle Course – Click for more images
Grayhawk
Grayhawk also boasts 36 holes of fantastic Arizona desert golf in the Talon and Raptor courses. The Raptor course was designed by famed golf architect Tom Fazio and features large fairways and highly undulating greens. The errant approaches at the Raptor are often met by deep bunkering. The Talon Course was designed by David Graham and Gary Pranks. The Talon is ranked as one of the “Top 100 in You Can Play U.S.” Tee shots are very challenging at the Talon, especially in the back nine which features many holes in box canyons.
Grayhawk Talon Course
Grayhawk is also known as Phil Mickelson’s home course in Arizona.
We-Ko-Pa Golf Club
We-Ko-Pa Golf Club offers 36 holes of highly popular and challenging Arizona golf in the Cholla and Saguaro courses. We-Ko-Pa is located on Indian land and the natural terrain is the foreground to views of the area’s mountains in the distance. No homes on the courses.
Cholla is designed by Scott Miller and provides a tough test with narrow fairways and thick desert to eat up errant shots. The Saguaro is the newest course, designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. “Crenshaw and Coore” are two of the top modern golf architects whose style tremendously routes their courses through natural, rugged styling.
Boulders Golf Resort
The Boulders Golf Resort offers fantastic golf and resort accommodations, renowned as one of the best in the U.S.A. Boulders features 36 holes of golf, the North Course and South Course.
The North Course was designed by Jay Morish and features dramatic panoramas as it winds through huge boulder formations. The South Course, also Jay Morrish, is slightly more challenging than the North. The South requires more accuracy off the tee and better course management.
Quintero Golf Club
Quintero is a par-72 Rees Jones design roughly a 45 minute drive from Scottsdale. Rees Jones is the son of one of golf’s all-time greatest golf architects, Robert Trent Jones.
Quintero 9th Hole
Quintero is a mountainside course featuring challenging and scenic elevation changes. The fairways are generous but strategic bunker placement puts a premium on accuracy.
Final Thoughts
Golf in Phoenix/Arizona is some of the funnest, most challenging, and certainly most scenic golf in the U.S.A. Desert target golf is extremely fun. Check here for great Arizona Golf Packages.
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