Tee Time: Tucson City Golf, Green Valley Courses, and More – Page 4

by Jack Rickard

Southern Arizona courses

Located in the fast-growing community of Vail, Del Lago Golf Club has nine lakes that come into play. The most difficult shot on the course is off the first tee, which must carry through a natural wash. It’s the perfect way to make golfers play the correct tee for their ability. The new clubhouse offers one of the best 19th holes in Southern Arizona.

Esplendor Resort at Rio Rico in Rio Rico, Arizona – Jeff Bonner

Santa Rita Golf Club, some seven miles south of Interstate 10 on Houghton Road, has the most challenging par 3s in Southern Arizona. If you arrive at the 240-yard 12th hole with a good round going, it’s best to play it safe and hit an iron off the tee because out of bounds lurks right and a deep brush-filled canyon awaits left for an errant wood.

San Pedro Golf Course in Benson has become a popular spot for Tucson golfers. Only a 45- minute drive from downtown Tucson, the course lays claim to the best bentgrass greens in Southern Arizona.

Quail Creek Country Club, just northeast of Green Valley, is the centerpiece of a Robson retirement community. The two nines, built several years apart, have contrasting personalities, part of architect Ken Kavanaugh’s long-range plan for two separate 18-hole courses.

Tubac Golf Resort & Spa comes with some wonderful history. When it opened nearly 50 years ago, Bing Crosby was a member of the ownership group. A third nine was added three years ago, with an island green resembling the famed 17th hole on the Stadium Course of the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass in Florida.

Many golf courses boast of being championship courses without ever staging a major event. That’s not true of San Ignacio Golf Club in Green Valley. Designed by noted architect Arthur Hills, who also designed Heritage Highlands in Marana, San Ignacio has been selected by the Arizona Golf Association for several championship tournaments. As the saying goes, you must have game to earn this honor.

Esplendor Resort at Rio Rico has one of the best, if not the best, overall golf course layouts in Southern Arizona. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the par-4 Number 17 is regarded as one of the best holes in the state, a 410-yard test that calls for a perfect tee shot between out of bounds and an orchard with a frightening approach shot to a green guarded by water and bunkers.

The Country Club of Green Valley doesn’t get much outside acclaim since it’s the only full-service private club in this retirement community. However, visitors find that it’s a fair and challenging layout, especially once the paved cart paths that used to often cross the fairways were removed. They could be quite damaging to golf balls, even though one did get some extra distance in return.

When the wind is up, Canoa Hills Golf Club in Green Valley sets the perfect stage. Most of the fairways wind through canyons, providing relief. For those who venture to the back tees, a mere 6,610 yards, straight, not long, is the formula.

Palo Duro Creek Golf Club in Nogales, Arizona, was a nine-hole layout for years. Now with a full 18 holes to the course, the original nine have been upgraded with new greens to match the newer back nine. Palo Duro is more than a thousand feet higher than Tucson, and makes a popular daytrip during the summer months.

San Ignacio Golf Club in Green Valley, Arizona – Gill C. Kenny

Canoa Ranch Golf Club, Green Valley’s newest course, plays to a par of 70. The key: how well one does on the six par 3s. The restaurant, part of the McMahon’s roster, serves up great cheeseburgers and a wonderful view.

Kino Springs Golf Club, just north of Nogales on the back road to Patagonia, has two distinct looks. The first four holes are flat and wide open. Then you play nine holes once described as "a trip to the moon." The driver may stay in the bag during this nine. Then you finish with another five holes that are flat and wide open. The clubhouse was once the ranch house of movie star Stewart Granger. It has a John Wayne cabin, as he was a frequent visitor.

Jack Rickard has covered golf in the Tucson area for some 35 years. He’s played all of the mentioned golf courses many times, mostly without success.

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