Tag: arizona golf courses

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Central Arizona Glendale

Bellair Golf Club

Bellair Golf Club - Arizona Golf Course Reviews from the Arizona Golf Authority

Arizona Golf Courses – Arizona Golf Authority Golf Course Review

Bellair Golf Club offers one of the best executive golf courses in Arizona. The design is definitely head-and-shoulders above the usual pitch-and-putt affair as this Bellair features five par-4 holes, genuine strategic bunkering and several tight, tree-lined fairways.

Bellair Golf Club - Arizona Golf Course Reviews from the Arizona Golf Authority
Bellair Golf Club No. 13 - 160 Yard - Par 3

If you are adept at playing long irons and fairway metals, this course will fit your game nicely. If not, Bellair is the place to hone that part of your game. The course is an enjoyable and thorough test, throughout the bag, that will help fine tune your short game as well.

Bellair’s golf course, which opened in 1973, was sculpted by Red Lawrence, Greg Nash and Jeff Hardin, all of whom are well known for their course design work throughout Arizona, and they created a nice variety of holes with this layout. From the tips, par-4 holes range from 254 to 354 yards and par 3s vary from 121 to 217 yards.

The tips are set 3,493 yards and play to par 59. From here, the course is rated at 56.2 with a slope of 90. If there is a signature hole, it might be the 13th, which plays at 160 yards over water. Most of the greens are well protected challenging bunkers, and two water hazards come into play.

Bellair Golf Club features plenty of variety that appeals to all skill levels, and the affordable rates and friendly atmosphere also add to its good reputation. After your round, relax at the IronWorks Restaurant, which overlooks the first hole of the course and its adjoining lake. It offers good food at reasonable prices and has a full-service restaurant and lounge, open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If you prefer something a little spicier, the nearby Sesame Kitchen serves up some of the best Thai food in the Valley of the Sun. For lodging, the Red Roof Inn and Comfort Inn are good budget choices and within three miles of the course.

If you’re a baseball spring training fan, this is a great place to slip in a quick round on a good course before or after a game, and there are several teams that train nearby. Seattle and San Diego are over at Peoria Sports Complex and Texas and Kansas City train at Surprise Recreation Center. Both complexes are within a 15-minute drive.

Visit the Arizona Golf Authority, it’s “All Things Arizona Golf.”

Click Friends Hole Back-to-Back Aces at Bellair Golf Club’s 12th and 13th for a great hole-in-one story.

Our all Arizona Golf Courses Reviews and Guide List directory has an AZGA Player’s Arizona golf course review for every golf course in Arizona, click www.arizonagolfauthority.com/coursedirectory.

 

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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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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!

Categories
Central Arizona Mesa

Alta Mesa Golf Club

Arizona Golf Courses – Alta Mesa Golf Club
Built in 1985 in the shadows of scenic Red Mountain, this is an equity-owned private club for true golf lovers. Yes, it has an impressive clubhouse befitting its membership, but you won’t find tennis courts and other facilities common at many country clubs.

Alta Mesa GC was built for golfers, it’s operated and maintained by golfers, and it shows.

Along with equity, it offers non-equity, junior and senior memberships and one-time-only seasonal memberships, giving prospective members a chance to take the club for a one-year test run.

Alta Mesa features a traditional design created by architect Dick Phelps with tree-lined fairways and six lakes that bring water into play on eight holes. The par-72 layout has five sets of tees ranging from 5,498 to 7,093 yards with a rating of 73.9 and slope of 132 from the tips.

While it presents an open feel, water hazards, trees and strategic bunkers add up to a formidable challenge, and then there are the well-kept mini-verde greens, which roll smooth but are extremely fast. If you’re going to play it from the tips, take ample time to loosen up because Alta Mesa hits you right out of the gate with a 556-yard par 5, 424-yard par 4, 204-yard par 3 and a 442-yard par 4.

The par-4 ninth is among the most memorable holes at 425 yards with water running down both sides and bunkers along the right edge. Phelps also created an impressive finishing stretch, starting at the par-4 15th hole. It is 405 yards from the back tees with an open fairway but bunkers come into play on both sides of a green with three tiers, and with the speed of these greens, three-putts most definitely are lurking.

No. 16 is a 247-yard par 3 from the back tees that plays into a prevailing wind with little margin for error because desert hugs the left side of the green and trees and shrubs guard the right.

After the par-4 17th (428 yards) comes a daunting finish; the 18th is the longest par 5 on the course at 564 yards. Your tee shot toward the clubhouse needs to avoid a lake along the right side that runs all the way to the green, with bunkers guarding the left side and a narrow neck to the undulating surface, which slopes toward the water.

Many of the holes feature picturesque backdrops provided by Red Mountain and Superstition Mountains in the distance. The overall quality is evidenced by the fact that Alta Mesa has hosted several U.S. Golf Association and mini-tour events, as well as tournaments sanctioned by the Arizona Golf Association and Southwest Section of the PGA.

The 160-acre property also has expansive practice facilities, which cover 10 acres and include two driving ranges, two putting greens, chipping green and practice bunkers. The clubhouse grill and restaurant render fine dining in a scenic setting overlooking two lakes, and the club offers dining memberships for non-golfers.

Visit our Arizona Golf Course Reviews and read the AZGA Player’s 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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Central Arizona Glendale

Adobe Dam Golf Course

adobe-dam-golf-course-photograph
Arizona's "Best Little Golf Course by a Dam Site"

Adobe Dam Golf Course
This place bills itself as the “Best Little Golf Course by a Dam Site” and hey, who’s to argue? It’s not a golf course where you are going to spend your day, but one where you can spend an enjoyable part of a day while you take in the surroundings and activities of this area northwest of Phoenix.

adobe-dam-golf-course-photograph
Arizona’s “Best Little Golf Course by a Dam Site”

This nine-hole executive course is located at the southern end of the Adobe Mountain Recreation Area, which is managed by Maricopa County Parks and Recreation and offers a host of family activities. The course, which most golfers walk, plays at 1,756 yards with one par-5 hole, two par 4’s and six par 3’s, which range in length from 97 to 168 yards. Played twice, it measures 3,512 yards at par 62 with a rating of 58.1 and slope of 87. It’s a good place for newcomers to learn the game and experienced players to work on their short game in a relaxed atmosphere but one that respects the traditions of the game and stresses etiquette.

Designed by Les Gullickson and head pro Pete Julsrud, it opened in 1993 and features arroyos and desert areas that can add to the challenge along with deep rough and small greens, and finishes with a tricky water hazard. The finishing par-3 holes, at 168 and 144 yards, both are testing and can make or break your round. Other amenities include a lighted, grass driving range, putting green, pitching green complete with bunkers, and the Phoenix Golf School. This facility is known for having a quality junior program.

Green fees are about as low as you can find in the Phoenix metro area at around 15 bucks or less. Because you can move around this course quickly, it leaves plenty of time for other activities and you will find lots of them in the nearby park that sets at the base of the Hedgepeth Hills and spans 1,526 acres.

Among other things, it is home to the Arizona Model Pilots Society, Maricopa Live Streamers and Arizona Model Railroading Society, two go-cart racing clubs and the Fort Adobe Paintball Complex. The Maricopa Live Steamers Railroad Heritage Preservation Society operates out of the park and offers free train rides on Sundays (excluding June-August).

There also are numerous athletic fields, hiking trails and the highly popular Wet ‘N Wild waterpark. It is also close to Cactus League spring training baseball complexes and the home arenas of the NFL Arizona Cardinals football team and NHL Phoenix Coyotes hockey club.