Category Archives: Top Golf Courses

The Raven At South Mountain

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It has received a 4.5 star rating from Golf Digest and has been recognized as the number one in Guest Service in North America – these are just some of the numerous awards that makes The Raven At South Mountain a must-visit golf course in North America. What makes it more fascinating is one of its makers is a former golf Champion Tom Lehman. Its background alone makes it very interesting, what more personally experiencing this premiere golf vacation destination?

The Raven At South Mountain should be on top of the list when planning a golf vacation for those who seek the very best that Arizona golf has to offer. The place is surrounded by tall, refreshing trees circling the rolling fairways. A chain of desert mountains makes it more captivating. Raven provides on-site meeting facilities good for 200 people. Situated just minutes away from the Sky Harbor Airport and downtown Phoenix, this golf club a perfect place of businessmen and golfers on the go. A meal, a snack, and a drink are included with every green fee.

Because of its reputation as one of the top courses in the area, the Raven At South Mountain has been given the honor of hosting such huge events as the Arizona Stroke Play Championship. Raven is proud to be associated with their 2001 World Series Champions and Arizona Diamondbacks, serving as their official home golf course. Effortlessly, the Raven lives up to the prestige of its maker, and of everything good said about it. For a superb golf trip experience, there’s just no thinking twice about choosing the Raven.

Las Sendas Golf Club

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Golfers always thirst for challenging courses. Aside from that, they seek golf trips which would feed relaxation to their spirits. These qualities can be experienced at Las Sendas Golf Club. Also known as the “green and brown course” because of its desert and grass fields, the place also serves guests with convenient rooms, dining, and other necessities that are surely satisfying.

 Giving golfers eighteen superb holes of challenge and fun, Las Sendas Golf Club greatly attracts many golfers, both amateurs and highly experienced players to develop and improve their golfing skills. As expected from a Robert Trent Jones design, fairways move spontaneously on the constructed swales and contours, and main lay of the land. Las Sendas requires critical thinking and strategy to play it well. Mere ball-hitting would never be enough. Therefore, players must have their best angles through correct positioning. The greens are very subtle. It requires precision to avoid the balls to slip past the hole. So much for the great challenge it gives, Las Sendas also brought the entire club to a higher level by giving its visitors the first class experience they deserve. Brand new carts with the latest braking technology, full cart paths to lessen the wear and tear on the desert, and on-course facilities such as halfway house and new bathrooms were also added to take the supreme golf experience to the optimum. Only Las Sendas defines the golf vacation that professional golfers dream of.

 Las Sendas Golf Club has been rated as one of the top 100 golf courses in the nation, top 10 in Arizona, and ranked 12th as the most challenging. What makes it unique from other courses is because its true desert course quality. Accuracy and consistency are the keys will make every round fulfilling. Las Sendas, indeed, has all the qualities and characteristics for an ideal golf trip.

ASU Karsten Golf Course

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The Karsten Golf Course at the Arizona State University was built to mold champions. The world class golf course designer Pete Dye was commissioned specifically to create a golf course that could provide enough challenge to hone the skills of ASU’s athletes. Pete Dye delivered exactly that. And since its opening in 1984, the Arizona State has sent countless of championship contenders and bagged home several trophies from the collegiate golf tournaments. It is not surprising why countless golfers choose to spend their golf trips here. Everyone becomes a champion, or at least feel like one.

Pete Dye and his firm had to totally overhaul an empty piece of land at the ASU grounds, 156 acres in size, to create this championship golf course. The 18-hole par-72 ASU Karsten Course bears its designer’s signature of railroad ties, huge mounds, hidden greens, and dramatic bunkering. The course could play to as long as 7,026 yards from the longest tees. Pete Dye’s wife, Alice, contributed a lot in the designing of the course to ensure that the course is playable and friendly with the lady golfers. The result is a golf vacation destination that will pose challenge to every single champion in the making, regardless of handicap.

Because of the taxing job of making champions out of their athletes, the ASU Karsten Course also goes through rigorous maintenance measures. No wonder it is one of the best maintained courses in the entire state of Arizona, and perhaps in the entire United States. Its superb conditioning and excellent playability earned it 4 ½ stars from Golf Digest’s Best Places to Play rating. The ASU Karsten is a champion in itself, and only it can deliver a golf vacation fit for a champion.

TPC Champions Course

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A golf course owner never would spend some millions of dollars on a golf course for nothing. A lot of work, money, and results are expected to come out of a major course renovation – expecting the old one to come out better than anything it has ever been. The $12million overhaul on the TPC Champions Course delivered. The golf vacation destination that used to quietly stand behind the shadow of its more famous sibling course Stadium (home of the FBR Phoenix Open) as the Desert Course, now stands as its equal in both beauty and playability.

The former Tom Weiskopf and Jay Moorish design was revamped by Randy Heckenkemper, keeping the original beauty of the golf trip haven, only adding a little more edge to the play. It meanders through the desert following its natural edgy contours giving a little more than an upbeat of the heart on the closing four holes. The TPC Champions Course was made in such a way that golfers cannot trust a single type of play but approach each shot in so many different ways. This makes it a versatile course that can accommodate players of various handicaps.

Not a single cent has gone to waste in the renovation of the TPC Champions Course. The former easy Desert Course has elevated its status into one of the most exciting sites for golf vacations in all of Arizona. The now challenging layout coupled with the naturally breathtaking scenery of the Arizona desert have created a championship layout worth more than a single visit.

TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course

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The pro-tournament that draws the largest crowd attendance in all of the world finds its home in a golf course surrounded by the Sonoran desert and the McDowell Mountains in Arizona. Every year, a huge following of golf fans flock the TPC of Scottsdale’s Stadium Course to cheer and jeer for their favorite pros for the FBR Phoenix Open. The Stadium Course, along with its sibling course, Champions, make up the 36-hole Tournament Players Club (TPC) of Scottsdale operated by PGA Tours. The Stadium Course, because of the Phoenix Open fame, also draws so many golf trip enthusiasts during post tournament season.

Pro- or not, the Stadium Course‘s par-3 16th hole never fails to make a lasting impression and a heart-wrenching impact. Course designers Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish have intended the hole as just a bridge from the 15th to the 17th, but it’s simply the most exciting hole there is on the course. The holes at the Stadium seem easy, like the 17th, but could break any champion’s heart if taken all too easily. The golf vacation destination was made exactly with the FBR Phoenix Open in mind and so the level of difficulty should never at all be surprising.

The best thing about the Stadium Course is its perfect, unparalleled views of the Sonoran desert and the McDowell Mountains. Anyone who visits the course is treated to such breathtaking vista all the while enjoying a fun round of golf or any of the course’s amenities while being serviced by its excellent staff. With or without the tournament, the Stadium course will, without a doubt, be a best seller in golf vacations because of its unique offer of desert golf – complete with a challenging layout and the best of desert scenery.

The Boulders – North Course

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The beautiful Sonoran desert has been made even more beautiful by the many tourist destinations built here. Countless golf resorts dot the area all making use of the stunning golden sands of the desert and its many splendor of mountains and natural vegetation. One of the more famous golf vacation destinations in the area that stands out among the others is The Boulders located at the foothills of the Black Mountain. The Boulders is home to two of the most scenic golf courses in all of Arizona, the North Course and the South Course. The Boulders North Course combines a challenging layout that follows nature’s dictates to bring out a top-caliber golf course like no other.

The Boulders – North Course, like its sibling course, is designed by  Jay Moorish. It is an 18-hole, par 71 course that is considered to have one of the most demanding layouts in the Southwest. The course is accommodating to golfers of all handicaps, and they shall each be afforded a different sort of fun-challenge. The North Course is surrounded by huge desert boulders and the most beautiful view of the Sonoran desert, both serving for aesthetic as well as playability purposes. The course and the entire resort were designed to bring out the best in desert golf without doing too much intervention on the natural desert terrain. Golf trips here would bring the visitor in union with nature while playing their favorite sport.

The Boulders Golf Resort completes the golf vacation experience. World class golfing at the Boulders North Course, a relaxing session or two at the famous Golden Door Spa, and an even more pristine communion with nature, viewing the golden sunsets at the Sonoran desert – there is nothing more a nature-loving golfer would want.

Whirlwind Golf Club – Cattail Course

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The brains behind the creation of the Whirlwind Golf Club had one thing in mind:FLEXIBILITY. They wanted a golf course that goes beyond the usual scenic, slightly challenging course layout. What they wanted was a golf course that can accommodate players of various handicaps whilst providing the most scenic vistas and the best of services and amenities – a complete and top of its kind course both for the resident golfer and the golf trip enthusiast. And they got that with the Cattail Course of the Whirlwind Golf Club.

Located in Chandler, Arizona, its designer Gary Panks did very minimal and mild intervention to the natural desert terrain of what now holds the Cattail Course of the Whirlwind Golf Club. The golf vacation destination boasts of 5 sets of tee areas, each offering a different golfing experience for the determined player. It stretches to almost 7,300 yards at the championship tees. The Cattail course meanders through natural Arizona wetland areas and canyons that provide natural hazards for the game. The holes at the course have names on the scorecard, written both in English and in Native American language of the Gila River Indian tribe to pay homage to the heritage of the land it belongs to. Twice in the past has the Cattail hosted the Gila River Nationwide Tour Classic – in 2003 and 2004.

Another feature of the Cattail Course of the Whirlwind Golf Club are its superb quality service and world-class amenities. The staff of the course are all friendly, knowledgeable, and bears the same accommodating stance of the course. Every visiting golfer will feel easily at ease at the course and enjoy the wonderful clubhouse and all its many offerings that are even more wonderful. This place makes for the perfect golf vacations for anyone and everyone.

Sanctuary Golf Club at Westworld

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The Sanctuary Golf Club at Westworld is indeed a sanctuary. It is – for desert wildlife and flora, as was certified by the Audubon International when it awarded the club its Audubon Signature Status – the first one in Arizona, and the 17th in the world. But to golfers who want everything easy breezy, and get a good scorecard without so much as raising an arm, the extra challenging desert layout of this golf course is just not for them. There is just nothing pretentious about desert golf in this golf vacation destination. It’s difficult, it’s hot, it’s real. IT’S FUN.

Its course architect, Randy Heckenkemper, worked on the Bureau of Reclamations’ Storm Water Retention area to come up with the Sanctuary Golf Club. The 6,624-yard, 18-hole, par 71 Sanctuary Golf Club is built on the western slopes of the McDowell Mountains adjacent to the Westworld equestrian center. Heckenkemper followed the natural topography of the land, thus creating a purely desert landscape of large saguaro cacti and desert washes. The most prominent feature about this golf vacation spot is not the scenery though, it’s the multiple forced carries off the tee. There’s just no other way to get past the thick desert vegetation.

Nothing is so ordinary about golf trips at the Sanctuary Golf Club. The layout is too challenging to be that. But not to worry, the golf club’s staff will compliment the difficulty with their superb and friendly service. For the real toughie of a golfer, who finds spells fun with C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E, then this is indeed, a sanctuary.

Kierland Golf Club

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Sun, sand, supremacy – these are three words that would come to mind when talking about Kierland Golf Club. The three nine-hole facility in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona is by far one of the best in the area. Designed by the renowned Scott Miller, Kierland Golf Club is part of the grandiose Westin Kierland Golf Club, offering only the finest amenities and warmest of services to its guests making it one ideal golf vacation destination.

Kierland Golf Club‘s three nines each have qualities very distinct from each other but could combine to create one of the best golf experiences this side of the planet. The three nines, Acacia, Mesquite, and Ironwood, each have one water hole apiece – all on the closing nines, to keep with the ultimate desert experience. The three nines all have a total of 300 bunkers. Not 3, not 30. 300 huge, steep bunkers are all over the golf vacation favorite to up your playing level. The Acacia nine features hilly fairways and a most captivating view of the McDowell Mountains. The Mesquite nine, on the other hand, features bunker-guarded open fairways and a view of three of Arizona’s most scenic mountains, the Camelback , the McDowell Mountains, and the Pinnacle Peak. Meanwhile, the Ironwood’s main features are its open fairways and natural desert washbeds.

Golf trips will never be mediocre at the Kierland Golf Club. Apart from the finest golf facilities they offer, they also have one of the best qualities of service. Guests would not have to ask for more – it has everything they could need and want in a golf resort. They have the heat and the sand of the Arizona desert, and the most challenging layout to go with it. It’s always a superb desert golf experience.

Grayhawk Golf Club – Talon Course

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The Talon Course of the Grayhawk Golf Club is a most fitting example of perfect combinations. Every single element – from its creators down to the smallest detail of the course – is made of many different combinations that worked perfectly alongside each other thus creating one of the best and most beautiful golf vacation destinations in Arizona, and perhaps, in all of the United States.

Standing in the midst of the golden Sonoran desert in Northern Scottsdale, the Talon Course is only one of the two premiere golf courses at the famed Grayhawk Golf Club, the other being the Tom Fazio-designed Raptor Course. The Talon Course at the Grayhawk Golf Club is the brainchild of US Open and PGA Tour Champion David Graham and architect Gary Panks. They have successfully blended their layout of a stunning landscape and natural desert vegetation with the breathtaking vistas of the desert and the Phoenix and Scottsdale skylines surrounding the area, thereby making the Talon a sight to behold. Golf wise, the designers have come up with just the right amount of difficulty in the shots, narrowness of the fairways and landing areas, as well as the undulation of the greens to make every game and every golf trip at the Raptor as pleasant as it is challenging.

A series of four par 3’s, ten par 4’s and four par 5’s dot the 18-hole par-72 championship golf course. Visitors at the Talon Course of the Grayhawk Golf Club would never regret spending their golf vacations here, as they shall be treated to world-class service from the course’s friendly staff. That, and being conveniently located 40 minutes from the Sky Harbor Airport just makes it even more ideal. The Talon Course is one place that offers a perfect breed of golf all-out goodness – from fun to challenge, to scenery.