The Best Golf Courses in Arizona: Desert Golf at Its Finest
Desert golf is its own category. The visual drama of Sonoran Desert courses — the saguaro cactus, the red rock formations, the dramatic elevation changes — combined with the technical demands of desert-specific hazards (cactus, gravel, hard-pan lies) creates an experience that parkland and links golf can't replicate. Arizona has assembled the strongest collection of desert courses in the world.
TPC Scottsdale — Scottsdale
TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course hosts the WM Phoenix Open every February — the PGA Tour's loudest and most attended event, with gallery numbers that rival major championship week at any other venue. The 16th hole is a par 3 surrounded by stadium seating for 20,000 spectators; the crowd noise when a player makes an ace at 16 is audible from the practice facility. The course is accessible to the public and is the most famous layout in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Troon North Golf Club — Scottsdale
Troon North in north Scottsdale has two courses — the Monument and the Pinnacle — both designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish in the late 1990s. The Monument Course is the stronger, routing through desert washes and granite boulder formations with elevation changes that produce views across the entire valley. It is consistently ranked among the top public courses in the country.
Whisper Rock Golf Club — Scottsdale
Whisper Rock is the most exclusive private course in Scottsdale — a Tom Fazio design (East Course) and a Gary Panks design (West Course) that attracts a membership disproportionately represented by tour players who winter in the area. Access without a member invitation is essentially impossible, but its existence explains why Scottsdale has the golf infrastructure it does: the best players in the world practice and play there in the winter.
Estancia Club — Scottsdale
Tom Fazio designed the Estancia Club on the boulders and ridgelines of Pinnacle Peak in north Scottsdale — a private course that uses the dramatic desert terrain more aggressively than any other course in the market. The property is genuinely mountainous by Phoenix standards, producing elevation changes of hundreds of feet across the routing. It is extremely private.
Tucson: Golf in a Different Desert
Tucson's desert is higher-altitude and more varied than the Phoenix basin — the Santa Catalina Mountains are visible from most courses, the vegetation is different, and the temperatures are slightly more forgiving. Ventana Canyon Golf Resort's Canyon Course (Tom Fazio) and La Paloma Country Club (Jack Nicklaus) are the strongest resort-accessible options in the Tucson market.
Best Time to Visit
October through April is the Arizona golf season. Temperatures from November through March are mild and perfect. Phoenix summers — June through September — regularly exceed 110°F, making golf genuinely dangerous outside of early morning rounds. The Phoenix Open in February is the optimal week for a golf trip that includes a tour event.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best public golf course in Arizona?
TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course and Troon North's Monument Course are the most acclaimed public-access courses in Arizona. Kierland Golf Club in Scottsdale and The Boulders Resort in Carefree are strong alternatives.
What is the Phoenix Open golf course?
The WM Phoenix Open is played at TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course. It is the most-attended PGA Tour event with over 700,000 total attendance during tournament week, driven largely by the party atmosphere at the 16th hole stadium.