Headed to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area for the annual giant party that is the WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour? Maybe you scored a ticket to watch the Eagles square off against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in nearby Glendale? Perhaps you’re one of the truly lucky ones planning to attend both?
Then pack your golf clubs because the Valley of the Sun offers plenty of great public-access golf courses. For most of the year, we recommend you start with these top 10 in the area. Of course, only nine are really options for the week of the Super Bowl and WM Phoenix Open, as TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course is booked to host the pros, but you get the idea.
Golfweek’s Best ranks courses around the world, utilizing a pool of more than 800 course raters. The most popular rankings list in the program is the Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts in each state. To analyze the top 10 public-access courses around the Phoenix and Scottsdale area, we started with those rankings for all of Arizona. Then we included only those courses within a 90-minute drive of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which sits about halfway between TPC Scottsdale and State Farm Stadium.
But don’t consider these your only options. Check out even more great courses in Arizona on the state-by-state public-access list. But be ready to pay a premium for a tee time the week of the Super Bowl and PGA Tour event, as many courses in the valley utilize fluctuating on-demand pricing all year, and all the courses will see a spike in demand on what will be the busiest week of the year.
Quintero Golf Club in Arizona (Courtesy of Troon)
Ranking in state: No. 3 public-access in Arizona
Where: Peoria
The drive: 50 miles northwest of of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Designer: Rees Jones
Opened: 2000
More: Golfweek’s Best Top 100 Courses You Can Play
Wickenburg Ranch’s Big Wick in Arizona (Courtesy of Troon)
Ranking in state: No. 2 public-access in Arizona
Where: Wickenburg
The drive: 72 miles northwest of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Designers: Wendell Pickett, Bill Brownlee
Opened: 2015
More: Golfweek’s Best Top 200 Residential Courses
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