Tag: arizona golf course

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Central Arizona Mesa

Augusta Ranch Golf Club

Augusta Ranch Golf Club - Arizona Golf Course Reviews - Arizona Golf Authority
Augusta Ranch Golf Club

Arizona Golf Courses – Augusta Ranch Golf Club
You won’t drive up Magnolia Lane, but you will enjoy the Magnolia Room at Augusta Ranch Golf Club, which offers a golf experience that’s well above the norm for executive courses. This 18-hole, par-61 layout is well known for its family atmosphere, friendly service, great playing conditions and a traditional design that offers plenty of challenges.

Augusta Ranch Golf Club - Arizona Golf Course Reviews - Arizona Golf Authority
Augusta Ranch Golf Club

For several years, it has been the host course for the Arizona Golf Association’s East Valley Short Course Championship and drew rave reviews from the Arizona Women’s Golf Association after holding its Short Course Championship at the Mesa facility.

Augusta Ranch, which tries to have fun with its name and namesake, has billed itself as “The Augusta that welcomes women,” and the AWGA supported that notion by naming it their “host course of the year.”

The AWGA praised the course’s facilities, condition and hospitality as a tournament host. Augusta Ranch has endeared itself to its golfers and community through its various programs, such as night golf, free movie nights, enrollment in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program and charity events, which have raised more than $230,000.

Most important to golfers, of course, is the layout that was completed in 1999, takes pride in its condition and requires the type of strategy and shot-making they might face on longer, championship courses.

Augusta Ranch bookends the challenge with the first hole, a 379-yard, par-4 being the No. 1 handicap hole and the 18th, a 316-yard, par-4, being the No. 2 handicap hole. Designed by Bill Phillips, who also designed Lake Powell National in Page, the front nine features four of the six par-4 holes on the course. Between the 1st and the 18th plan on using every club in your bag, because all the shots are here.

When your round is finished, sample the fare at the Magnolia Room, where you will find prints of magnolia blossoms and Amen Corner on the walls, then relax at the outdoor pavilion, which provides splendid views of the picturesque surroundings. It’s always great golf, great service and great fun at Augusta Ranch Golf Club.

Click Arizona Golf Courses Guide List Directory and read the AZGA player Arizona golf course reviews for all 350 golf courses in Arizona at www.arizonagolfauthority.com/coursedirectory.

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

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Central Arizona Glendale

Arrowhead Country Club

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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.

arrowhead-country-club-18-photo 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.

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Southern Arizona Tucson

Arizona National Golf Club

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Arizona National Golf Club – Arizona Golf Courses
Designer Robert Trent Jones Jr. is known for creating golf courses that make good use of their natural terrain and has shown respect for their historic highlights in the process. That was the case at Arizona National Golf Club, originally known as Raven at Sabino Springs, in north Tucson.

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Nestled in the foothills of the picturesque Santa Catalina Mountains and adjacent to the Coronado National Forest, Jones took full advantage of the natural flow of the terrain and designed the course around nine natural springs, intimidating craggy rock outcroppings, mesquite-lined arroyos and some of the most spectacular scenery in the Southwest.

In the midst of it all, more than 1,000 years of history are represented by an old Hohokam Indian dwelling. The green for the par-3 12th hole was built on top of that dwelling and a pond, which was created by Native Americans for their livestock, was preserved as a water hazard off to the right of the 12th tee.

arizona-national-14-desert-photograph-arizona-golf-authorityAt 6,780 yards, it isn’t exceedingly long for a championship course, but its fangs deliver a nasty bite to those who dare tease its tees. Wayward shots, literally, end up between a rock and a hard place guarded by giant saguaro cacti.

The round concludes with the spectacular, yet scary, par-5 18th hole, which plays at 513 yards with a 200-foot drop from tee to green and was voted by the Arizona Daily Star and Arizona Republic as the best finishing hole in the state.

On a clear day, you can see Mexico from the tee, but don’t let it distract you too much because there is water down the left side waiting to grab your attention. In fact, this is a course where you are well advised to think before you swing on pretty much every shot, and laying up isn’t always the best strategy.

The AZGA “Local Hang” for Arizona National is the on-site patio bar, located lakeside where you can keep watch over both the 5th and 18th holes.

Click Arizona Golf Course Reviews for the player’s review of every golf course in Arizona. It’s just a part of “All Things Arizona Golf” from the Arizona Golf Authority.

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Central Arizona Phoenix

Arizona Grand Golf Course

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The Buzz: Originally it was called The Pointe Golf Club at South Mountain and later was known as Phantom Horse, but by any name, this picturesque layout is one memorable golf experience. Created by Forrest Richardson, a well-known Arizona architect who has a passion for design history, Arizona Grand dazzles golfers with its blend of traditional links, desert influences and strategic routing.

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Due to legal challenges over a land swap between the developer and city of Phoenix, it took five years to complete the course that opened to great acclaim in 1989 and sets hard on the edge of South Mountain Park. That is no small matter. In fact, at more than 13,000 acres, it is the largest municipal park in the world and provides a spectacular setting for the course that wends its way through the natural desert preserve with arroyos, craggy, rock-covered hills and dramatic elevation changes. The hike alone is worth the price of admission, but Richardson also offers up some memorable golf holes at Arizona Grand, which plays to par-71 at a manageable 6,336 yards from the back tees. The front nine has a more classic approach and the back nine more of a desert-target feel, and it’s not particularly long but has plenty of strategically placed targets to create challenges.

With captivating surroundings, it is fitting perhaps that the two most memorable holes are nicknamed “Jailhouse Steps” and “Alcatraz.” The former is a 538-yard par-5 with a fairway that narrows in the landing area. The nickname refers to three rows of stacked bunkers that guard an elevated green, which isn’t very deep and starts just 15 yards from the crest of the hill where it rests. The approach shot requires an extra club to reach the green.

Alcatraz gets its name from the island green that concludes the round on the 362-yard, par-4 18th hole. It was created when Arizona Grand Resort underwent a $52 million re-development project in 2009 that also created a massive water park. The hole caps off an excellent finishing stretch that offers birdie opportunities with other par 4s at 353, 325 and 307 yards. Sandwiched among them is the par-3 17th at 202 yards, with a tee box perched high on a bluff that provides some of the most expansive views available of the Valley of the Sun.

The surrounding resort offers plenty more activities, including that water park, which features a 10,000-square-foot wave pool, three water slides up to 83 feet high, a lazy river with rapids, a hot tub large enough for 25 adults, an area called Wild Cat Springs dedicated to young guests, speakers throughout the park and a bar and grill serving a variety of treats and libations.

For dining, you can choose among: The Lobby Grill (with an open wood-fired grill and rotisserie kitchen); Aunt Chilada’s Mexican-style cantina; Rustler’s Rooste (with Mesquite-broiled steaks, chops and chicken and hearty chili) or Phantom Horse Sports Bar, with plenty of TVs and video games to complement the bar menu.

The course and resort have received numerous accolades from the likes of Golf Digest, AAA and the Zagat Survey.

Visit our Arizona Golf Course Reviews and enjoy our take on every golf course in Arizona. It’s just a part of “All Things, Arizona Golf” at the Arizona Golf Authority.

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Northern Arizona Prescott

Antelope Hills Golf Course

Antelope Hills Golf Course - Arizona Golf Course Reviews from the Arizona Golf Authority
Antelope Hills - North Golf Course

Arizona Golf Courses – Arizona Golf Authority Golf Course Reviews

Located on the eastern outskirts of Arizona’s “Mile High City’’ – Prescott (5,300 feet above sea level) – Antelope Hills is where the locals play. And they’ve been playing here for quite some time.

Antelope Hills Golf Course - Arizona Golf Course Reviews from the Arizona Golf Authority
Antelope Hills - North Golf Course

The North Course was built in 1956 by one of Arizona’s architectural pioneers, Lawrence Hughes, and embodies traditional values like tight, tree-lined fairways, strategic bunkering and roller-coaster, bent-grass greens.

Avid club players consider the North Course to be an Arizona golf treasure and routinely make the 90-minute drive north from the Scottdale – Phoenix metro area to savor its long-protected and preserved aura from a time gone by.

If stately elms and old school golf is not your thing, tee it up on the Gary Panks-designed South Course, where the links-style fairways and greens are wide open and expose awe-inspiring views of the surrounding Chino Valley and surreal Granite Dells rock formations.

Before and after your round, the on-site Manzanita Grille will handle any food and beverage needs you may have. The patio overlooks the South Course and the Bradshaw Mountains beyond. It’s a full service bar and restaurant affair that’s so good, it serves just as much local traffic that’s not playing golf that day, as golfers who are.

Arizona Golf Authority AZGA “Local Hang” – If you plan to stay in town a few days, just make sure you “camp out’’ downtown at the 100-year-old Hassayampa Inn, just a pitching wedge away from Prescott’s infamous saloons on Whiskey Row.

Who knows? A couple of shots at the Palace Bar or Cadillac Saloon and perhaps you’ll see the Hassayampa Inn’s notorious ghost, fondly named “Faith,’’ who keeps an eye on things around the hotel. You wouldn’t be the first to say you did!