Arizona Golf Courses – Arrowhead Country Club
Conceived from acres of orange groves in 1986, Arrowhead Country Club has attracted members from many corners of the United States. Created by golf legend Arnold Palmer and his right-hand man Ed Seay, who also designed the nearby Legend at Arrowhead, the private Arrowhead Country Club is a traditional design with lots of grass, 63 strategic (and often large) bunkers and 12 scenic lakes bringing water into play on nine holes.
The course offers generous, rolling fairways and large undulating greens that place a premium on accuracy and claim their fair share of three-putts. Leave your approach shot on the wrong tier, and these greens will take a toll. Palmer likes to say that he hopes his course designs are distinctly different but they have one common characteristic that is true in this case – you can see what you’re facing when you stand on a tee without having to guess about what might lay in wait. There are five sets of tees ranging from 5,282 to 7,001 yards, with a rating of 73.2 and slope of 124 from the tips.
Arrowhead offers another option, called “The Players Course,” which combines three holes from the back tees, six from the middle, seven from the front and two from the ladies tees. This popular rotation plays at 6,474 yards with a rating of 70.5 and slope of 122. The course starts strong with a 396-yard par 4, where your tee shot must contend with a lake on the right and fairway bunkers on the left. The second shot requires good distance control with bunkers guarding the front and back of the green.
Three of the par-3s play longer than 200 yards from the back tees, including the testy third hole at 202 with its undulating green protected by a lake in front and bunkers to the left and rear. No. 8, also at 396 yards, is an excellent risk-reward hole because the further you hit your tee shot, the more the lake on the right comes into play. With its undulations, this is one of the toughest green surfaces to read.
Arrowhead has a great finishing hole with more risk-reward characteristics. At 477 yards, the green is reachable in two shots but they better be well placed because a large lake comes into play all along the left side and a deep bunker guards the right side of the fairway. The approach shot must carry over a lake and bunker and avoid the water that wraps around both sides of the green. Eagles and triple bogeys are both common here.
Arrowhead is a non-equity private club with a complete country club experience in which full members receive access to golf, a sports club, fitness center, swimming and tennis facilities and fine dining. There are other memberships available, including junior executive for those under age 35, tennis, fitness and social. Members also can join the Eagle Elite program that offers reciprocal privileges at 40 private and 150 public courses across the country.