Arizona Golf Authority AZGA Golf Course Buzz: Troon Country Club is considered by many to be the finest golf course in Scottsdale’s stable of premiere golf offerings. As you make your way around Troon Country Club and ponder the accolades it has received, it might surprise you to know that it was the first design effort of former PGA Tour pro Tom Weiskopf and only the second for his former partner Jay Morrish, who had left Jack Nicklaus’ design team one year before the Troon project appeared.
Before they went solo, Morrish and Weiskopf teamed up on 28 course designs, most of which have received rave reviews. That comes as no surprise considering Troon Country Club, their maiden voyage in Scottsdale, was named by Golf Digest as the best new private course in America for 1986.
The duo admittedly had a quality North Scottsdale canvas on which to create their masterpiece with a plot of land at 2,400 feet surrounded by the McDowell Mountains and Sonoran Desert, massive boulder formations, jagged rock outcroppings, and striking views of Pinnacle Peak, Troon Mountain and the Phoenix metro skyline.
Troon Country Club was purchased by its members in 1995 and remains financially sound. In Golf World magazine’s “reader’s choice awards,” it was named one of the top 50 private clubs in the country. It also was named “Best in State” by Golf Digest in 2007-08 and has been named “Best Private Club” in Arizona by Scottsdale Magazine.
Troon has six sets of tees and can be one tough nut if played from the tips, which are set at 7,041 yards with a rating of 73.9 and slope of 146; the Club frequently hosts serious tournament competition, including the Southwest Section of the PGA’s Championship.
Troon is a desert layout with gently rolling fairways that provide ample room, but the transition areas are rugged and can be penalizing for golfers who miss the short grass. Drivable par-4 holes are a Weiskopf trademark and this course has an excellent one with the fourth playing at 296 yards from the tips. What makes it a little different is that there are no bunkers or water in play, but the desert is a prominent hazard lurking for those who choose to gamble.
The back nine, overall, is the stronger of the two, highlighted by a three-hole stretch starting at No. 14, a 440-yard par 4, named “The Cliff”. The fairway ends at the edge of a cliff some 275 yards from the tee. The deep and narrow green complex beckons from the valley below and is severely bunkered everywhere but in front of the green, that’s wide open, and due to the elevation change, the second shot plays about 15 yards short of the actual yardage. The dilemma here here is all about the tee ball; the tendency is to lay well back from the edge of the cliff, but for the most comfortable second shot, you need to knock it far enough up the fairway so you can see the green below. But no matter where you hit it at the 14th, the spectacular scenery wins the hole every time.
The 15th is named “Troon Mountain”, a 139-yard par 3 featuring a tee shot over a canyon to a deep and severely sloping green guarded by seven bunkers. The green is contoured into 3 distinct tiers and a shoulder-mound encroaches from the left side. When the pin is back-left, a 2-putt par from the middle of the green is the only sane play.
To many, the signature hole is the 16th, a 347-yard downhill par 4. It is called “Gunsight” because the tee shot target line requires you to hit the cross-hairs and thread the tee ball between two natural rock outcropping directly in front of the tee. On your second, a long, narrow bunker guards the left side of the green. The severe swale in front of the green runs off at a sharp angle and has carried many a golf ball into the desert, left of the green complex.
Weiskopf won his British Open title at Royal Troon and was against naming the course Troon, which was the idea of developer Jerry Nelson. Turns out Jerry was right, Troon Country Club has been warmly embraced, is widely recognized and continues to stand the test of time in impressive fashion.
Amenities at Troon Country Club are first-rate elegant, including a 50,000-square-foot clubhouse that features architecture influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and amenities that reflect attention to every detail. Among other things, members enjoy tennis, swimming, fitness facilities, a massage and wellness service and social clubs. Golf is limited to members and their guests.
(Don’t confuse the exclusive Troon Country Club with the other outfits using the name; this club is not associated with Troon Golf or their Troon North public golf course which is located a few miles north of the club).
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