Category: Southern Arizona

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Oro Valley Southern Arizona Tucson

The Views Golf Club at Oro Valley

Arizona Golf Authority AZGA Arizona Golf Course Review: Built in 1986 as a private course called Sun City Vistoso north of Tucson, the Views Golf Course now operates as a public facility that was renamed to reflect the panoramic views of the sprawling Santa Catalina Mountains.

The Views, designed by Greg Nash and Jeff Hardin, is a community-owned facility that blends well with its scenic surroundings north of Tucson with large, rolling greens that are slightly elevated.

The front nine meanders through dry washes and arroyos, while the back climbs to higher elevations up to 2,600 feet with elevated tee shots, sharp doglegs and excellent mountain views. Four sets of tees range from 5,111 to 6,715 yards, with a rating of 72.4 and slope of 137 from the tips.

Each nine has an excellent finishing hole. The ninth, a par-4 of 399 yards, has been voted as one of Tucson’s “18 Dream Holes.” It features a split fairway on a hole where the best play is to lay up as close as possible to the edge of large bluff in order to shoot for a green that is surrounded on the right side and behind by a series of large bunkers.

Right behind it, the par-4 10th, at 408 yards, is the only hole with water in play; a lake threatens the left side of the fairway, a smaller pond lurks on the right.

The par-4 18th plays at just 349 yards from the back tee, but a pot bunker at the end of the fairway seems to attract more than its share of shots. The approach shot must be precise as bunkers guarding the entire front portion of the green swallow up anything short and a large bunker positioned in back grabs everything long.

The Views offers annual passes as well as daily-fee rates and has popular 9- and 18-hole leagues for men, women and couples that play weekly events. Members are allowed to use private carts. Amenities include an all-turf driving range and complete short-game practice area. The full-service restaurant called The Café, offers a patio that overlooks the course and provides an excellent spot for post-round libations and scenic mountain views.

Read the Arizona Golf Course List AZGA Player’s Arizona Golf Course Review for every golf course in Arizona at www.arizonagolfauthority.com/coursedirectory.

It’s “All Things Arizona Golf” from the Arizona Golf Authority.

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Oro Valley Southern Arizona Tucson

Stone Canyon Golf Club

Stone Canyon Golf Club - Oro Valley

Arizona Golf Authority AZGA Golf Course Buzz: If you would like to experience the true beauty of Arizona’s rugged desert landscape and play a little golf while you’re at it, Stone Canyon is just the place for you.

Stone Canyon Golf Club - Oro Valley

This private club, nestled against the Tortolita Mountains just north of Tucson in Oro Valley, is one of those layouts where you’ll wish you had a camera in your golf bag.

The panorama is dominated by a combination of spectacular mountain ranges, boulders as big as houses, virtual forests of towering saguaro cacti, flora and fauna with colors you didn’t think possible in a desert climate. You’ll be up close and personal with the native furry and feathered inhabitants as well, including mule deer, gila monsters, bobcats, roadrunners, javelina and desert quail. The whole property is a nature preserve that happens to be home to a golf course ranked the second-best in the state, #68 overall in the country and #2 for residential courses by Golf Digest magazine in 2010.

On the flip side, a struggling economy has made it difficult for this high-end, non-equity property to attract members in recent years, and the amenities package has taken a hit as a result. Stone Canyon opened in 2000 and although still doesn’t have a permanent clubhouse as of yet, its fitness facility is first-rate and the attendant indoor and outdoor dining is exquisite.

The course was designed by Jay Morrish, the famous understudy of Robert Trent Jones, George Fazio and Jack Nicklaus, who later teamed with Tom Weiskopf to create some of Arizona’s finest courses. Morrish said he was “overwhelmed by the site” and agreed to do the project “in about 14 seconds,” adding, “Nature designed the course. I was just the custodian.”

Stone Canyon offers five sets of tees, ranging from 7,353 to 5,133 yards, with a rating of 73.9 and a formidable slope of 145 from the tips. Just 78 acres of turf are in play, placing a premium on accuracy, while undulating greens, slopes, vast bunkers and thick rough put a golfer’s short game to the test.

Highlights of the round are two-hole stretches at Nos. 9-10 and 17-18. The ninth is a par-3 playing 227 yards from the elevated back tee; the tee ball falls some 75-feet to the green complex below. The 10th is a brutish par-5 of 622 yards, with another significant drop to the fairway, and plays to a smallish green with an approach over water. No, it’s not the longest hole on the course – that would be par-5 15th stretching 632 yards.

The finish at Stone Canyon is a pair of thrilling par-4s that vary in length by nearly 200 yards. No. 17 plays just 306 yards and is named Ambush Canyon because it swings down through a series of nefarious bunkers that will make you feel like you’re riding shotgun on a stagecoach with outlaws lurking behind every rock. The 18th, stretching 503 yards and a par-4 on the card, serves up the best mountain views on the course. If you can finish par, par here, your partners should carry you off the course on their shoulders.

Practice facilities are ranked among the best in the country, with about 12 acres of game-improvement area, and right behind it is a true 19th hole – a par 3 nicknamed “Double or Nothin” – that’s a lot of fun to play, even if there are no holdover bets to settle.

Read the Arizona Golf Course List AZGA Player’s Arizona Golf Course Review for every golf course in Arizona at www.arizonagolfauthority.com/coursedirectory.

It’s “All Things Arizona Golf” from the Arizona Golf Authority.

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Southern Arizona Tucson

Skyline Country Club

Arizona Golf Authority AZGA Golf Course Review: If you’re in Tucson and like playing private country club golf on dogleg fairways, you’ll love playing Skyline Country Club. Absent the par-3s, you’ll only find one “dead straight” hole on the entire course; all the rest require a left or right turn and in most cases those turns are sharp and dramatic.

While it is a relatively short course, there are plenty of challenges to test your best: narrow fairways and plenty of O.B. stakes, sharp elevation changes, uneven lies and multi-tiered greens. In other words, shot-making is the key to success here.

Built alongside the picturesque Santa Catalina Mountains, Skyline is one of Tucson’s oldest private country clubs. Built in 1961, it is believed to be the only course ever designed by one Mr. Guy S. Greene. Tom Clark of Ault, Clark and Associates oversaw a re-design in 1989 and the company also handled a renovation in 2003.

Mr. Greene’s original design took advantage of the topography at 3,000 feet of elevation, creating holes that weave their way through the mountainous terrain, using them as backdrops and providing excellent views of the Tucson skyline in the distance. The par-71 layout has five par-3s and four sets of tees that range from 4,951 to 6,138 yards, with a rating of 69.5 and slope of 129 from the tips.

Water appears on just two holes and fewer than 40 bunkers threaten play, but the design still puts a premium on accuracy rather than length. Several risk-reward holes titillate here, starting with the fifth. The 478-yard par-5, a sharp dogleg left, can be reached in two shots by many golfers, provided they successfully cut the corner with out of bounds on both sides and can keep their approach on the smallest green on the course.

The seventh and ninth holes are excellent par-3s, which play 146 and 181 yards from the back tees. Both play uphill over lakes. The 7th has four bunkers surrounding a green that slopes back to front. No. 9 is considered one of the best par-3s in the Tucson area and features a pair of large bunkers behind a wide-but-shallow green; yardage control is paramount here.

Thrilling golf begins early on the backside. The 10th hole is a drivable par-4 of 256 yards, but your tee shot better be accurate because there are four large fairway bunkers to negotiate, along with three large, deep greenside bunkers.

The best par-5 is the 16th, which plays at 519 yards; a double dogleg routing and a two-tiered green guarded by bunkers front-left and front-right provide all the fun.

Skyline has limited practice areas with putting and chipping greens but no driving range. Other amenities include state-of-the-art tennis courts and swimming, plus fine and casual dining with an excellent Sunday brunch.

Read the Arizona Golf Course List AZGA Player’s Arizona Golf Course Review for every golf course in Arizona at www.arizonagolfauthority.com/coursedirectory.

It’s “All Things Arizona Golf” from the Arizona Golf Authority.

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Southern Arizona Tucson

Silverbell Golf Course

Silverbell Municipal Golf Course - Tucson
Silverbell Municipal Golf Course - Tucson

The Buzz: Built along the west bank of the Santa Cruz River in the northwest corner of Tucson, Silverbell opened in 1979 and underwent a major renovation in 2004 turning it into the most popular of the five courses in the city’s recreation system. Originally built on an uncapped landfill, the land began to sink prompting a total makeover directed by hometown course architect Ken Kavanagh, who also oversaw renovation of city courses Randolph Park and El Rio. Holes 7-10 are the only ones that remain from the original design by Arthur “Jack” Snyder and three of those were lengthened by adding extra tees. The course is a traditional design, defined by open fairways, large greens and relatively flat terrain. At nearly 7,000 yards, it is now the longest of Tucson’s five “munies” and has surpassed even Randolph in the number of annual rounds played.

“It took a few years for the grow-in to be complete and there were some rough spots during that time, but it turned out absolutely beautiful,” said city golf director Mike Hayes. “It’s hard to explain if you’re not familiar with the old course, but the transformation is pretty impressive. Ken did a wonderful job with the design.”

Along with the new holes, many of Silverbell’s nine lakes were enlarged, bringing water into play on 10 holes. Adding to the challenge are 40 bunkers strategically placed around the greens. The course was changed from par 72 to par 70 and there are four sets of tees at 6,936, 6,391, 5,843 and 5,285 yards, with a rating of 71.7 and slope of 126 from the back tees.

The course has three par-5 holes and five par-3s, and if you play from the tips, only one of those – the par-3 third at 152 yards — can be considered an easy par. The par 5s, which measure 555, 559 and 595 yards, are ranked as the hardest three holes on the course and the other par 3s are set at 195, 200, 220 and 237 yards. With its traditional design, errant drives often remain in play from adjacent fairways and greens are open in front, allowing golfers to run shots up to the putting surface.

The back nine is a fun challenge with several good holes, starting with the 11th, a 395-yard par 4, where the green is separated from the end of the fairway and positioned at a 90-degree angle. Then comes a par 3 over water, followed by a pair of par 4s with sharp doglegs left and right.

No. 16, a par-3 at 237 yards over a lake, is the new signature hole. The same lake comes into play on the 17th, a 410-yard par 4. The 18th, formerly a par 4, is a slight dogleg right par 5 that is rated as the No. 2 handicap hole at 555 yards with bunkers guarding both sides of the green, and the Tucson Mountains providing a distant but scenic background.

Practice facilities here include a driving range, large putting green, chipping and bunker areas and a 100-yard wedge practice area. Combined with its low green fees, many locals think Silverbell now ranks as the best value play in the Tucson area.

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Pearce / Sunsites Southern Arizona

Shadow Mountain Golf Course

Arizona Golf Authority AZGA Arizona Golf Course Review: Located just north of the Mexican border in southeastern Arizona, Shadow Mountain golf course is the reason the Sunsites community became known as “The Little Town That Could.”

Shadow Mountain, built in 1963, is the social and recreational center of this retirement community of 1,500 residents and visitors located in the heart of one of Arizona’s most historic and picturesque areas.

So, they were stunned when the course owner informed residents in 2008 that he would need to shut it down due to failing finances. Almost overnight, they came up with a plan in which they would lease the course for $1 per year and residents would pay $50 each per month to keep it open, with four one-year options to renew the lease.

Within a matter of weeks, their offer was accepted and the course is now operated and maintained by volunteers, who are entitled to a 50 percent discount although most continue to pay the full cost of golf, which is about 25 bucks during peak season.

While the course is a relatively simple, traditional design, the surroundings are spectacular. Shadow Mountain climbs to elevations of 4,500 feet with wonderful views of the surrounding Dragoon and Chiricahua Mountains and Wonderland Rocks.

From most fairways, golfers find a panorama of Cochise Stronghold, where the great Apache chief made his last stand for more than a decade. That adds up to some pretty special scenery on a course that has three sets of tees at 6,632, 6,324 and 5,432 yards. Men’s par is 72, women’s par is 70 and the course is rated at 70.2 and 73 respectively.

Water is in play on five holes, including two on the front nine that are the favorites of most local players. No. 2 is a 142-yard par-3 that requires a tee shot over a pond to a bunkered green. The fifth hole, a 383-yard par-4, also requires a shot over a lake on the approach.

The finish is the strongest part of the course with a 200-yard par-3, a 549-yard par-5 that is the No. 1 handicap hole and longest on the course, and a tough 406-yard par-4.

Shadow Mountain offers putting and chipping greens but the range is limited and located away from the clubhouse. The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch daily and for dinner on Saturdays. The clubhouse also serves as the site of many social activities such as frequent parties and dances.

The surrounding area features pistachio and pecan groves and some of the best hiking, camping and birding in the state, along with museums displaying early American Indian artifacts.

The nearby Chiricahua National Monument offers beauty rivaling that of the Grand Canyon. A good lodging choice is the quaint Mountain View Motel near the golf course which is modern, clean and comfortable and has reasonable rates.

Read the Arizona Golf Course List AZGA Player’s Arizona Golf Course Review for every golf course in Arizona at www.arizonagolfauthority.com/coursedirectory.

It’s “All Things Arizona Golf” from the Arizona Golf Authority.