AZ Golf Guides

METROPOLITAN TUCSON

Tucson’s 5 Municipal Courses

TUCSON

Municipal golfers in the Tucson area have two newly renovated courses to enjoy. Tucson City Golf has undertaken a complete makeover of the Silverbell Golf Course as well as a restoration project on the El Rio- Trini Alvarez Golf Course. On the latter, the city has returned the venerable layout to the same look it had years ago when it was the city's first all grass golf course, built in 1929.

El Rio now hosts the national First Tee program, providing on-site instruction and practice facilities for juniors. Youngsters start on a short-game practice area that includes a putting green, a chipping green, and a bunker. They then graduate to three target greens constructed in the driving range, giving juniors three separate "holes" to play. From there it's on to the regulation course, although juniors have separate tees 50 to 100 yards in front of the regular teeing areas.

The facelift for El Rio and the redesign of Silverbell are projects of Tucson golfcourse architect Ken Kavanaugh, who made his mark locally when he designed a complete makeover of the Dell Urich Golf Course for flood-control purposes a decade ago. For that project Kavanaugh turned what was then called Randolph South Golf Course into a much more challenging and interesting layout.

"El Rio was a different project from Dell Urich," Kavanaugh says. "From the start we made a commitment that this was going to be a restoration job. We wanted to de-modernize it. There are few opportunities to play an old-style golf course." Kavanaugh found old aerial photos of El Rio and visited with golfers who had played the course years ago. He restored old bunkers that had been covered up over the years. During the restoration, a new irrigation system and new cart paths, without curbs, were installed. The complete makeover of El Rio was helped by a $1 million donation by the local civic group the Tucson Conquistadores.

Greg Hansen, longtime sports columnist for the Arizona Daily Star and now an avid golfer, plays regularly at the municipal courses. "El Rio snuck up on me," Hansen says. "As I played it each week, I came to appreciate all of its challenges, its history, and its difficulty. You've got to play a different game there, a British Open kind of game with running shots and more low balls to hit those tiny greens."

That's the way golf courses were built in the 1920s—tree-lined fairways, small greens. Now El Rio is a retro course. For those who love history, El Rio was the first host course for the Tucson Open, starting in 1945 when the course was private. Winner Ray Mangrum pocketed $1,000 from the $5,000 purse. El Rio remained the tournament site until 1963. Sam Snead and Ben Hogan competed in a number of Tucson Opens at El Rio, but neither managed a victory.

Tucson City Golf's flagship course is Randolph Golf Course, one of the two golf courses in the city to stage both PGA Tour and LPGA Tour tournaments. Seven Tucson Opens and 24 LPGA tournaments have been played on Randolph, with a list of champions that includes the likes of Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, and Annika Sorenstam. David Frost managed to tame Randolph with a 12-under-par 60 in one tournament round in 1990, but it still wasn't enough to win the Tucson Open.

Randolph is not tricky. It offers treelined fairways and generous greens. When one reaches the sixth and seventh holes, the nearby busy traffic on Broadway reminds one of the old saying "work is for people who don't play golf." Randolph's neighbor to the south, Dell Urich, has what Hansen says "has evolved into Tucson's most popular golf course over the last three or four years. It's probably a mix of the trees, the mountain views, and no dirt or desert. It just has a cool feeling to it. It's a getaway in the middle of town."

Kavanaugh is also in charge of the redesign of the Silverbell course on the west side of the city. Five holes that were built on an old landfill have been moved. In fact, all 18 holes have undergone some modification, including the removal of in-course out-of-bounds stakes. "It's somewhat longer than the old layout at 6,800 yards from the back tees, with a par of 71," Kavanaugh says. "I think people will really like it."

So what's happening at the Fred Enke Golf Course on the east side? Mike Hayes, director of Tucson City Golf, says that Fred Enke will also undergo some major changes within two to three years. Don't be surprised if Ken Kavanaugh is hired to oversee the changes. He's become the prime architect for Tucson City Golf. Enke is the only "target" or desert golf course in the city lineup. It's a course that demands accuracy off the tee. If you hit it off line, you'll probably end up in the desert. It's also a course where it's important to play off the tees that suit your game. Fred Enke is not the golf course to go play off the back tees if one does not have the game for such a challenge.

Residents of Pima County receive reduced rates at all five municipal golf courses with the purchase of a Resident Card for $20, available at the pro shops at each of the courses. Tucson City Golf is at full force again, and with two new and exciting challenges for the muni player.

JACK RICKARD