{"id":3388,"date":"2010-11-16T16:38:25","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T16:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/golftriparizona.com\/coursedirectory\/?p=3388"},"modified":"2013-04-09T14:25:41","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T21:25:41","slug":"tpc-scottsdale-champions-golf-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/tpc-scottsdale-champions-golf-course\/","title":{"rendered":"TPC Scottsdale Champions Golf Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arizona Golf Authority AZGA Golf Course Buzz:<\/strong><\/span> Randy Heckenkemper, who assisted Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish when they built the Stadium Course at the TPC Scottsdale, came back to redesign the Champions Course in 2007. Heckenkemper\u2019s redo turned out so well that many in the Valley of the Sun consider the Champions as the most reasonably priced golf course in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area. Without a doubt it does deliver views, variety and value, coming in with a green fee that can be less than half the cost of its big brother, the TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course.<\/p>\n

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Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale – Champions Course<\/p><\/div>\n

Even though it\u2019s tighter and shorter than the Stadium, the Champions is a stern test, evidenced by the fact that the Arizona State Stroke Play Championship is held here each year and it gives the best amateurs in the state all they can handle. The challenge starts early too.When you tee it up on the 371-yard par-4 1st now, you\u2019ll be playing what was originally the 10th. In those days, the green hugged the pond that borders the left side of the fairway.<\/p>\n

The green has been relocated away from the water, elevated and placed above and beyond a desert arroyo that cuts across the fairway. Your first drive of the day must be placed between the water, left and a series of deep, menacing fairway bunkers on the right. Welcome, to the Champions Course.<\/p>\n

At the 477-yard par-4 5th, you\u2019ll be tempted to cut the right-to-left dogleg and launch your tee ball directly over the native desert foliage toward an inviting landing area peninsula glistening in the distance, located left of the primary fairway. That\u2019s fine, just be prudent in the amount you choose to bite off; all those plants have stickers and needles of one sort or another. The green is elevated above the fairway and anything short or left will run down the slope, into the lush desert growth. Putts on this green, as is common in this part of town, move northeast to southwest, towards downtown Phoenix and the Salt River.<\/p>\n

The Champion\u2019s course provides an uphill workout in the home stretch as well. The par-3 16th plays 215 yards and a bit uphill; doesn\u2019t look like it, but you\u2019ll find it\u2019s a tough par.<\/p>\n

The 17th continues up the hill, which your eyes can now perceive. The 605-yard par-5 travels due west, directly into the prevailing breeze in this locale. Two serviceable shots will bring you to the real test here, your crucial third. You\u2019re still looking somewhat uphill at the green and the horizon beyond provides no definition, so depth perception and your “feel” for the yardage can be problematic. Trust the yardage markers and add a bit for the slope when you pull your club.<\/p>\n

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No. 18 – TPC Scottsdale Champions Course<\/p><\/div>\n

You\u2019ve completed the climb when you reach the tee box at the 460-yard par-4 18th, but this finisher requires two perfectly placed shots, each threatened by water. The lake on the left is in play from the tee and extends all the way home to hug the entire left side of the green. Your tee ball must be fit between it and a large bunker in some mounding pinching the right side of the fairway landing area. Find the right side of the fairway and your second is an all-turf carry to the green, a tee ball in the fairway\u2019s left side leaves a thrilling all-water carry, especially when the pin is set in tournament Sunday\u2019s back-left position.<\/p>\n

The course hosts the Champions Tour qualifying tournament for the 50 and over crowd each year. Another cool thing about the Champion\u2019s course – it\u2019s often paired with the Stadium Course at a very reasonable price for a 36-hole day ; it\u2019s the best high-quality golf 1-2 punch you\u2019ll find anywhere!<\/p>\n

Be sure to read the Arizona Golf Authority AZGA Golf Course Buzz<\/span><\/strong> about the Champion\u2019s famous big brother across the street TPC Scottsdale Stadium Golf Course<\/a>, the home of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.<\/p>\n

Arizona Golf Authority AZGA “Local Hang”<\/span><\/strong> for the Champions Course is the TPC Grille, across the street at the TPC Stadium Course Clubhouse and Four Peaks Grille and Tap, located in the retail center just south of the course on the southeast corner of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard and Hayden Road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arizona Golf Authority AZGA Golf Course Buzz: Randy Heckenkemper, who assisted Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish when they built the Stadium Course at the TPC Scottsdale, came back to redesign the Champions Course in 2007. Heckenkemper\u2019s redo turned out so well that many in the Valley of the Sun consider the Champions as the most reasonably priced golf course in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88891,"featured_media":4652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[165,133],"tags":[170,173,171,172,175],"class_list":["post-3388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-arizona","category-scottsdale","tag-arizona-golf","tag-arizona-golf-authority","tag-arizona-golf-course","tag-arizona-golf-courses","tag-azga-arizona-golf-authority"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3388"}],"version-history":[{"count":49,"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8396,"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions\/8396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arizonagolfauthority.com\/coursedirectory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}