“Desert is desert.” So say the Tucson golf packagers when comparing their offerings to those pricier ones in Scottsdale. And they’re right. Visually, the northern Sonoran doesn’t differ much from the southern Sonoran. Scottsdale has the McDowell Mountains; Tucson has the Santa Catalinas. Both areas have attracted the world’s top golf-course architects. Tucson is, however, filled with presumably impecunious college students, and premium-priced golf seems incongruous to the area’s hardscrabble history of gunfights, gambling and smuggling.
But Tucson is far from a poor man’s Scottsdale. For that you’d have to head to Albuquerque. The green fees at Tucson courses such as Vistoso, Ventana Canyon and Tucson National rival those at Troon North and TPC Scottsdale. And a stay at any of the resorts will similarly set you back. Tucson is just a little more, well, grounded, and far less crowded than that more celebrated desert golf burg up the interstate.
When you come to Tucson in winter, pack both your sticks and skis. You can get in some good morning runs at Mount Lemmon, which perches only a few miles from the course you’ll take on in the afternoon. And don’t forget your hiking boots because in between the pistes and putting surfaces wind some of the most intricate canyons and ecologically diverse nature enclaves in the southwest. Hummingbirds, butterflies and bats flit among the cholla, ocotillo and saguaro, leading you to appreciate the “desert solitaire” observations of Tucson’s most famous iconoclast, Edward Abbey.
The man-made enclaves, known as resorts, all have their own characters. The most popular—the Westin La Paloma Resort, Lodge at Ventana Canyon and Omni Tucson National—are all connected to golf courses and restaurants.
La Paloma’s relaxed atmosphere belies the difficulty of its 27-hole Jack Nicklaus design. Played from the tips, any combination of the target-golf nines carries a slope of 155. You not only have to crank your tee shots but properly place them to have a decent second shot. The greens, burnished to a slick 11 on the stimpmeter, often nest between sandboxes and/or cacti-filled desert. Après-golf, nothing beats dinner at Janos at La Paloma, for years regarded as the finest eating establishment in Tucson. One of its menu items, tournedos of beef tenderloin, is indeed splurge-worthy with its foie-gras butter and truffle sauce. Then again, you can’t go wrong with chef Janos Wilder’s peppered pork loin with fresh bing cherry sauce and blue-cheese orzo.
You’ve got to love the Mountain and Canyon courses, the two Tom Fazio layouts at Ventana Canyon, which run through dramatic elevation changes in and below the spectacular canyons at the foot of the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. Bordered by steep, boulder-encrusted slopes and punctuated with gangly Chilean mesquites and ancient saguaros, the twin layouts affiliate with two world-class resorts, the intimate Lodge at Ventana Canyon and the more elegant Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, both of which give guests preferred tee times.
Of the two courses, the Mountain is more challenging, especially its itty-bitty par-three third, 104 yards over an impassable ravine to a green hung between walls of huge boulders. The equally dramatic and photogenic Canyon Course presents panoramic views of Sabino Canyon, the ubiquitous Santa Catalina Mountains and the 1.7-million-acre Coronado National Forest. The 18th, a reachable par five, finishes with a green set against a pond in front of the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort.
The Ventana Room at Loews Ventana Canyon houses one of the most artistic prix-fixe menus you’ve ever seen, courtesy of head chef Philippe Trosch, who hails from the French resort town of Biarritz. You’d swear you were in the South of France, not southern Arizona. A five-course meal here ($105 without wine) might include such delicacies as royal Osetra caviar on brioche toast, Muscovy duck with an apple beignet, lamb tempura, roasted partridge or pheasant, and, for dessert, steamed orange cinnamon pudding or almond soufflé.
As surreal as haute French cuisine may seem in the desert, you might say the same thing about the 36 parkland holes at the Omni Tucson National. The 7,148- yard Catalina Course, designed in 1961 by Robert Bruce Harris, hosts the PGA's Chrysler Classic of Tucson every February. After negotiating the eight lakes, strategic sand bunkering and deep, hollow grass bunkers, you’ll appreciate the pros even more. The Omni recently added nine Tom Lehman-designed holes to the existing Sonoran Course, introducing a bit more desert and sage into a layout that doesn’t play weak understudy to the resort’s high-profile star.
Speaking of stars, check out Starr Pass Country Club, an Arnold Palmer design located on the edge of the 17,000-acre Tucson Mountain Park overlooking the city from the west. Originally designed as a Tournament Players Course, Starr Pass now aligns itself with the luxe JW Marriott. It’s still a tough but not radical desert-style layout that demands thought, shot placement and restraint. Long-hitters can blaze away on the par fives, but should forego the driver on most of the par fours. Phil Mickelson fans should remember that when Lefty won the Tucson Open as an undergraduate at Arizona State, it happened at Starr Pass.
Phil’s alma mater’s rivals at the University of Arizona hone their game at one of the NCAA’s toughest home courses, Arizona National Golf Club. Previously known as The Raven Golf Club at Sabino Springs, this Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed test abounds with risk-reward opportunities, precipitous elevation changes and fairways pinched by rock outcroppings, jagged arroyos, natural springs and stunning groves of 200-year-old saguaro cacti.
One of Tucson’s more imaginative layouts, the Golf Club at Vistoso, lies just northwest of town in the Tortolita Mountains. Tom Weiskopf’s design weaves through mesquite, cholla and yucca, and across gaping arroyos, and includes generous bailouts and landing areas, multiple tees, square tee boxes, illusory bunkering and massive, multi-tiered greensites. Vistoso commands views of the distant Catalinas, which spend much of the winter dusted in snow. The nearby Miraval-Life in Balance Resort & Spa, rated the top spa in the nation by readers of both Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler, specializes in European-style therapies, including a “golf treatment.”
Not far from Vistoso is The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain, which will host Feb. 19-25 the Accenture Match Play Championship, the first event in the 2007 World Golf Championships series. Watch Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, defending champion Geoff Ogilvy and 60 other golfers take on the 7,315-yard John Fought-designed South Course. You can play it yourself, even though the gallery is private, as it’s currently open for limited public play. You’ll find the South faster, firmer and more traditional than the North Course, with tight fairways, crowned greens and ample bailout areas. The North, which Fought co-designed with Tom Lehman, offers more eye candy as it meanders up and over the Tortolita foothills, ascending through canyons before returning to a broad, high-desert terrain.
Of the private clubs in the area, the most talked-about is Stone Canyon, a 1,400-acre, master-planned community located in Oro Valley, near Vistoso and The Gallery. Dreamy mountain views, lush desert vistas and deep boulder-encased canyons conspire with world-class amenities to create as exclusive an environment as you’ll find in the area. Stone Canyon’s architect Jay Morrish apparently liked the site so much he built an extra par-three "betting hole" to settle any ties. And the other 18 holes are as memorable as the foreboding, indigenous terrain.
That terrain is desert, and it ranks as one of the most mesmerizing on earth, whether you’re playing golf on it, watching a hummingbird alight on a yucca flower or just swimming up to the bar for a margarita at the pool at La Paloma. In Tucson, it’s all good.
Arizona National Golf Club
9777 E. Sabino Greens Drive, Tucson
The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain
14000 N. Dove Mountain Blvd., Marana
Golf Club at Vistoso
955 W. Vistoso Highlands Drive, Oro Valley
The Lodge at Ventana Canyon
6200 N. Clubhouse Lane, Tucson
Loews Ventana Canyon Resort
7000 N. Resort Drive, Tucson
Omni Tucson National Golf Resort & Spa
2727 W. Club Drive, Tucson
Starr Pass Country Club & Spa
3645 W. Starr Pass Blvd., Tucson
Stone Canyon Country Club
14200 N. Hohokam Village Place, Oro Valley
Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa
3800 E. Sunrise Drive, Tucson