Local golf association members and Arizona golf writers select their “Best of the Best”
TUCSON, ARIZ. – In time for the start of winter golf season in Tucson and the new year, Visit Tucson called upon a group of local golf association members and veteran Arizona golf writers to create a 2017 Bucket List of spots to visit on your golf vacation.
The Bucket List was compiled after a roundtable discussion of must-play-and-stay places in the Tucson area. It includes:
• Best Opening Hole – Par 4, 437 yard, Arnold Palmer-designed opening hole at the Coyote Course at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa.
• Best Finishing Hole – Par 5, 513 yard, 18th hole at Arizona National featuring a 200-foot drop from tee to green.
• Best Muni – William “Billy” Bell’s north course at Randolph Park, the longest of the City’s five municipal options. Randolph Park is a straightforward layout with good bunkering, tree-lined fairways that run parallel, and has water in play on five holes.
• Best 18 Holes – The North Course at the Gallery Golf Club, a Tom Lehman/John Fought design at the tip of the Tortolita Mountains that can be diabolical at times and yet a fun challenge with a roller-coaster ride across terrain that features wide fairways, large, elevated greens, deep bunkers and some holes that never seem to end. The latter is represented by the ninth hole, a par 5 at 725 yards, and, no, that’s not a typo, 725 yards from the tips.
• Best Private Club – Skyline Country Club, built in 1961 by Guy S Greene and redesigned in 1989 by Tom Ault. On this course, absent the par 3s, you’ll only find one “dead straight” hole on the entire course; all the rest require a left or right turn and, in most cases, those turns are sharp and dramatic. According to one local player, if you want to be aggressive with your opening tee shot, you can take the line directly over the swimming pool.
• Best Desert Flora & Fauna – The Tom-Fazio designed Canyon course at Ventana Canyon, laid out through Esperro Canyon and sits at an elevation of 3,013 feet in Tucson. It boasts incredible Sonoran Desert backdrops and stately saguaro cacti and it’s not commo to see deer, coyote, quail, red-tailed hawks, bobcats and roadrunners roaming the terrain.
“Tucson has so many great choices for golf,” commented Visit Tucson’s CEO Brent DeRaad. “When you combine that with the great weather, world-class resorts and amazing food choices, it’s a hole in one.”
Tucson’s other golf choices are equally compelling. From Omni Tucson National, home to the Tucson Conquistadores Classic PGA Tour Champions event and Arizona’s newest tract, Sewailo Golf Club, to resort-style golf options that include The Westin La Paloma and Ventana Canyon, there is no shortage of courses to test your skills and enjoy fun in the sun.
You won’t go wrong with after-golf dining options either. The New York Magazine called Tucson “the Southwest’s next foodie destination.” Tucson’s dining options feature an array of original local restaurants, as well as a James Beard Award-winner, a wide variety of international spots and an area known as “The Best 23 Miles of Mexican Food.”
When you combine more than 300 days of sunshine, the Bucket List of golf options, service-oriented resorts and great food, it’s easy to see why a golf trip to Tucson should be your #1 New Year’s resolution in 2017.
About Tucson
Tucson is the second-largest city in Arizona with a population of 500,000 and more than 300 days of sunshine. Located in southern Arizona, 110 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the international border, Tucson is surrounded by five mountain ranges in the heart of the Sonoran Desert region of the Southwestern U.S. www.VisitTucson.com
Contact:
Linda Dillenbeck
480.460.5650
linda@theimagegroupaz.com