Golf in the State of Arizona
Those of us who live in the Grand Canyon State of Arizona, with its desert climate and mild winters, know it abounds with top-rated golf venues. Designers such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones Sr., Tom Weiskopf, and Fred Couples, just to name a few, have crafted signature courses at various locations throughout the State including Palmer's Wildfire Golf Club, Couple's AK-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club, and Nicklaus' six Desert Mountain Golf courses in Scottsdale. Sadly, they are all private but for those interested include, Apache, Chiricahua, Cochise, Geronimo, Outlaw, and Renegade.
With more than 300 courses to choose from, residents and visitors alike can find a diverse menu including challenging and stunning, unique settings. The Sedona region at greater elevation provides relief from the intense summer heat, being at least 15 degrees cooler. Worth mentioning is The Tubac Golf Resort & Spa with it's unique claim to fame as the setting for the movie "Tin Cup." Scottsdale's Coronado Golf Course is rated as one of the best public golf courses in the nation. Our state's oldest, Turquoise Valley Golf Club, is just a stone's throw from the Mexican borer and has been open since 1908. To round out our featured courses, over 100,000 rounds annually are played at The Papago Golf Course, owned by the City of Phoenix.
Speaking of Phoenix, it is home to the Junior Golf Association of Arizona and the Arizona Women's Golf Association. Scottdale hosts the Southwest Section PGA offices and the Arizona Golf Association, established in 1923 as the governing body of Arizona amateur golf. The annual Waste Management Phoenix Open, at TPC Scottsdale is historically the best attended golf tournament on the planet, with over 200,000 fans in attendance in 2016.
The Arizona State University's golf course is Papago Golf Course where Arizona college programs have fostered careers of the likes of Swedish born Annika Sorenstam, Phil Mickelson, born in San Diego, and Phoenix-local, Billy Mayfair. Many pros, including Kevin Streelman choose to live in Scottsdale to take advantage of the year-round playing conditions in the Valley of the Sun.