AZ Golf Guides

GREATER PHOENIX/SCOTTSDALE & CENTRAL AZ

McCormick Ranch Golf Club

SCOTTSDALE

Through the 1970s, before there were desert-style golf courses, golf du jour meant an oasis in the Southwest mimicking the tropics. Protected from the sun by palm trees and refreshed in a setting of sprawling lakes and ponds, golf in the desert didn’t come any better. But the McCormick Ranch developers raised the bar on the lifestyle when they hired the inimitable golf course designer Desmond Muirhead to create the Palm and Pine Courses. Their vision, combined with Muirhead’s style, launched Scottsdale’s next golf growth phase, north of Lincoln Boulevard.

At that time, McCormick Ranch was cutting-edge. Known for his eccentricities, Muirhead seized the opportunity to create a grand oasis with bigger lakes and more sand than any Phoenix golfer had seen up to that point. Given the quirkiness of some of Muirhead’s later inventions, McCormick Ranch just may be one of his best (and last) straightforward efforts.

Today, after several progressive refurbishments, McCormick Ranch Golf Club offers traditional-style resort golf at its finest. It basks in stately maturity and is still one of the most popular venues in the Scottsdale area—particularly as a host course for group outings and tournaments.

Over the past several years, improvements and upgrades have been made to the clubhouse, irrigation system, and staging areas to best accommodate the tremendous number of events held at this facility—1,200 golf tournaments per year, sometimes four a day. It is enough to say the entire staff has the art and science of group golf entertainment down pat, and they can deliver a top quality event on command.

Centrally located off Scottsdale Road on McCormick Ranch Parkway, the golf club accommodates guests from all the nearby Scottsdale resort hotels and is open to the public. This place was "upscale daily-fee" before there was such a phrase.

Of the two layouts, the Palm Course best fits the image of golf in the oasis, with water in play to some degree on 10 holes and the spectacular award-winning island fairway at McCORMICK RANCH GOLF CLUB Number 9. More than a few fairways encounter water en route to well-guarded, elevated greens.

The name of the Pine Course denotes the stately stands of trees that line the fairways of both nines. Contending with only a little less water, the play is bold and pure. However, at Number 4, a hefty 536-yard par 5, the lakes and streams threaten off the tee and down the entire left side. Also, club selection off the tee at Number 15 is critical, where the lake impinges twice on the approach to an island green. For the other holes on the Pine, there’s not much to do but keep the ball in play away from the trees and sand bunkers.

McCormick Ranch Golf Club is the Arizona home to the renowned Advantage Golf School. And the immense practice facilities—double-ended range, expanded putting green, and short-game areas—make an ideal setting to come work out any remaining flaws in your overall game.

McCormick Ranch Golf Club serves all wants and needs—from beginner to professional—in an urban oasis.

DAVID HUBBARD