Arizona is home to a great selection of desert golf courses, and most of those are centered around Phoenix and Scottsdale. But which are the best?
Thanks to Golfweek’s Best annual rankings of top public-access courses in each state, we can break out the highest-ranked layouts in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area. For the purpose of this exercise, we limited driving time to about an hour from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. (We used Google Maps for its drive times, keying in the courses on a mid-afternoon – take all drive times around the Valley of the Sun with a grain of salt, of course.)
There are other options not included here, courses that were beyond that hour limit. If you have a little more time for the drive, Wickenburg Ranch’s Big Wick course ranks No. 2 among all public-access courses in the state, but it’s about 90 minutes northwest of the airport. Similar story for several strong options in Tucson about two hours to the southeast.
A little background on how we do this: The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.
The courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required.
Keep scrolling to see how they stack up, and check out the accompanying map to get a handle on roughly where everything is located.
(Google Earth/Golfweek)
The Faldo Championship Course at Wildfire Golf Club at Desert Ridge in Arizona (Courtesy of Wildfire Golf Club)
Where: Phoenix
State Ranking 2023: T-29 public-access in Arizona
Designers: Nick Faldo, Brian Curley, Lee Schmidt
Distance: 25 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Camelback’s Ambiente Course in Arizona (Courtesy of Camelback Golf Club)
Where: Scottsdale
State Ranking 2023: T-29 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Jason Straka
Distance: 25 minutes northeast of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Legacy Golf Club in Arizona (Courtesy of Legacy Golf Club)
Where: Phoenix (m)
State Ranking 2023: T-26 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Gary Panks
Distance: 12 minutes south of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Where: Fountain Hills
State Ranking 2023: T-26 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Keith Foster
Distance: 30 minutes northeast of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Where: Chandler
State Ranking 2023: T-24 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Gary Panks
Distance: 20 minutes south of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Las Sendas Golf Club in Arizona (Courtesy of Las Sendas)
Where: Mesa
State Ranking 2023: T-24 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Robert Trent Jones Jr.
Distance: 20 minutes east of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Longbow Golf Club in Arizona (Courtesy of Troon Golf)
Where: Mesa
State Ranking 2023: No. 23 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Ken Kavanaugh
Distance: 20 minutes east of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course in Arizona (Dennis Scully/ D Squared Productions Inc.)
Where: Scottsdale
State Ranking 2023: T-21 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Randy Keckenkemper
Distance: 25 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Verrado Golf Club’s Founders Course in Arizona (Courtesy of Verrado)
Where: Buckeye
State Ranking 2023: T-21 public-access in Arizona
Designers: John Fought and Tom Lehman
Distance: 35 minutes west of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Whirlwind Golf Club’s Devil Claw in Arizona (Courtesy of Whirlwind)
Where: Chandler
State Ranking 2023: No. 20 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Gary Panks
Distance: 20 minutes south of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
The North Course at Boulders Resort & Spa in Arizona (Courtesy of Boulders Resort & Spa)
Where: Carefree
State Ranking 2023: No. 19 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Jay Morrish
Distance: 40 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Where: Gold Canyon
State Ranking 2023: T-16 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Ken Kavanaugh
Distance: 35 minutes east of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
The South Course at Boulders Resort & Spa in Arizona (Courtesy of Boulders Resort & Spa)
Where: Scottsdale
State Ranking 2023: No. 15 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Jay Morrish
Distance: 40 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
The Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona (Courtesy of Communication Links)
Where: Scottsdale
State Ranking 2023: No. 12 public-access in Arizona
Designer: Tom Fazio
Distance: 25 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Troon North’s Pinnacle Course in Arizona (Courtesy of Troon)
Where: Scottsdale
State Ranking 2023: No. 11 public-access in Arizona; T-137 among all resort courses in the U.S.
Designer: Tom Weiskopf
Distance: 35 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Troon North’s Monument Course in Arizona (Courtesy of Troon)
Where: Scottsdale
State Ranking 2023: No. 10 public-access in Arizona; T-130 among all resort courses in the U.S.
Designer: Tom Weiskopf
Distance: 35 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
We-Ko-Pa’s Cholla Course in Arizona (Courtesy of We-Ko-Pa/Lonna Tucker)
Where: Fort McDowell
State Ranking 2023: No. 9 public-access in Arizona; T-122 among all resort courses in the U.S.
Designer: Scott Miller
Distance: 25 minutes northeast of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
The Talon Course at Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona (Courtesy of Communication Links)
Where: Scottsdale
State Ranking 2023: No. 8 public-access in Arizona
Designers: Gary Panks and David Graham
Distance: 25 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Arizona (Courtesy of Ak-Chin Southern Dunes/Allan Henry)
Where: Maricopa
State Ranking 2023: No. 6 public-access in Arizona; No. 100 among all resort course in the U.S.
Designers: Brian Curley and Fred Couples
Distance: 34 minutes south of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course in Arizona (Courtesy of TPC Scottsdale)
Where: Scottsdale
State Ranking 2023: No. 4 public-access in Arizona; T-75 among all resort courses in the U.S.
Designers: Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish
Distance: 25 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Quintero Golf Club in Arizona (Courtesy of Troon)
Where: Peoria
State Ranking 2023: No. 3 public-access in Arizona; T-93 among all public-access courses in the U.S.
Designer: Rees Jones
Distance: 50 minutes northwest of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
We-Ko-Pa’s Saguaro Course in Arizona (Courtesy of We-Ko-Pa/Lonna Tucker)
Where: Fort McDowell
State Ranking 2023: No. 1 public-access in Arizona; T-60 among all resorts in the U.S.; T-79 among all public-access courses in the U.S.
Designer: Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw
Distance: 25 minutes northeast of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
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