[Bill_McBride]

My brother and one of his Oregon Duck buddies and I will be in Tucson the last weekend in January.  lf interested in making our fourth, send me an IM.  There will be free lodging in brother Bob's house there, heavy drinking and one round a day.  Not sure where we'll play and open to suggestions.

It's guaranteed (at our ages) that there will little Tiger-esque activity in the evenings!

[Jason Topp]

Here was  a Tucson overview I gave in a thread from a few years ago  http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,23091.0/



  Top Tier - views and golf - price no object:

AZ National
Gallery
Ventana Mountain
Stone Canyon (I have not played it)
Tucson Country Club - solid old Billy Bell design.
Ventana Canyon

Vistoso is a good tough, tight course but not on as dramatic of a setting as the others.  I find I feel worn out after playing there.




Interesting but not necessarily good:

Heritage Highlands - Arthur Hills, some goofy holes

Starr Pass - used to be beautiful, but I understand that housing has gone up all over the place.  Nonetheless an interesting design you will either love or hate.

Kino Springs - Red Lawrence design on the ranch of one of the movie cowboys.  Nothing real meritorious about the course but a great remote setting in the mountains where you feel a million miles away from civilization.

Tucson National - boring course but site of PGA Tour tounament

On a budget:

Randolph North - straightforward 60's style design

Fred Enke - Quirky city desert course.  I like it, but have played it 40 times.  It is a bit disorienting if you have not played it and play can be slow. 

Rio Rico - 50 miles South of Tucson, good front nine on a 60's style course discussed recently by me if you look up my last 50 posts.

[Bill_McBride]

Here was  a Tucson overview I gave in a thread from a few years ago  http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,23091.0/



  Top Tier - views and golf - price no object:

AZ National
Gallery
Ventana Mountain
Stone Canyon (I have not played it)
Tucson Country Club - solid old Billy Bell design.
Ventana Canyon

Vistoso is a good tough, tight course but not on as dramatic of a setting as the others.  I find I feel worn out after playing there.




Interesting but not necessarily good:

Heritage Highlands - Arthur Hills, some goofy holes

Starr Pass - used to be beautiful, but I understand that housing has gone up all over the place.  Nonetheless an interesting design you will either love or hate.

Kino Springs - Red Lawrence design on the ranch of one of the movie cowboys.  Nothing real meritorious about the course but a great remote setting in the mountains where you feel a million miles away from civilization.

Tucson National - boring course but site of PGA Tour tounament

On a budget:

Randolph North - straightforward 60's style design

Fred Enke - Quirky city desert course.  I like it, but have played it 40 times.  It is a bit disorienting if you have not played it and play can be slow. 

Rio Rico - 50 miles South of Tucson, good front nine on a 60's style course discussed recently by me if you look up my last 50 posts.

Thanks, Jason. I played Rio Rico a few years ago, very solid RTJ with some good holes, mostly on the front nine as you say.  I really liked the dogleg left uphill short par 4 followed by the long par 4.

[Jason Topp]

Thanks, Jason. I played Rio Rico a few years ago, very solid RTJ with some good holes, mostly on the front nine as you say.  I really liked the dogleg left uphill short par 4 followed by the long par 4.

The holes along that stretch are terrific. 

Incidentally - my list of courses to avoid:

Tubac - course used to have a kind of worn out quirky charm but now has been carved up for housing and to add a new nine.  My brother lives between Tubac and Rio Rico.  Unless someone else chooses the course I always choose Rio Rico.

Del Uhrich (Randolph South) - online you will find some rave reviews of the course.  I do not think they are deserved.  To me, it is the same course as always existed except artificially lumpy.  Play the North instead.

Canoa Hills - fairways are largely valleys in between housing with ob stakes lining both sides of the fairways.  If going to Green Valley play Canoa Ranch.

San Ignacio - I like it better than Canoa Hills but not by much.

El Conquistador (Sunrise and Sunset)(I think it has a different name now) - charges premium prices but for the price there are better options.

[Tom Yost]

Bill, I sent you a PM.   Would be interested in cruising down from Phoenix for the day to join you guys for a round.

I have sadly been neglecting the Tucson area for golf and would welcome an excuse to visit.


 

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Jason,

You missed a few courses:

1. Preserve at Saddlebrook by Dick Bailey. Under the radar newer course with some very good holes.

2. Saddlebrooke Ranch. Another newer course on flatter terrain and very windy at times.

3. Del Lago in Vail by Nugent. I played there before the housing. http://dellagogolf.com/GOLF/golf_del_lago.htm

All are reasonably priced and should be found on golfnow.com

What about Lehman's Sonoran Course at Tucson National?

Bill,

Depending on circumstances, I could be available to make the trip from Phoenix.

[Brent Hutto]

When we were there a couple years ago I had decided to make it a no-golf trip since we were only in the area for three nights and had some other sightseeing to do. Once we were there I got bored so I showed up at Starr Pass which IIRC is an older course that the Palmer company renovated a decade or so ago. Rented a set of lefty Callaways, wore my hiking shoes and hopped in a golf cart paired up with a twosome of older guys who had played the course before.

It was a fun morning out. Lovely dry, sunny weather and the course was just about immaculate. Reasonably firm and fast, even. The greens were still a little punchy from having been aerated recently but they putted decently true. I won't claim it's great architecture but for a pleasant resort-golf experience it was great. My first and still only exposure to Desert Golf and I liked it fine. Better than Condo Golf at the beach, I'll tell you that. Easier to play off a cactus than out of someone's living room.

[Rick Shefchik]

I just played the Ritz-Carlton resort course at Dove Mountain in the first week of December. I recommend it very highly. It's about a half-hour drive northwest of Tucson in Marana, where they played the Accenture match play championship last February.

It's a Nicklaus design, and as I mentioned in an earlier thread, that often means you must hit high, soft approach shots. Jack might love St. Andrews, but he just doesn't seem to appreciate open greenfronts. There's a lot of ground game to be had on the firm, fast fairways, however; your ball is always rolling towards, past or into one of the numerous fairway bunkers. Choosing a line -- and sometimes a club -- off the tee is really important. In particular, beware the baranca that crosses the ninth fairway at about 270 yards. I hit my best drive of the day there, a hot, low runner that split the gap between the centerline bunker and the right rough, and ended up suspended in a desert bush just beyond the end of the fairway.

The greens are easily the best and most interesting I've played in Arizona -- immaculate, with tons of movement.

[Jason Topp]

Jason,

You missed a few courses:

1. Preserve at Saddlebrook by Dick Bailey. Under the radar newer course with some very good holes.

2. Saddlebrooke Ranch. Another newer course on flatter terrain and very windy at times.

3. Del Lago in Vail by Nugent. I played there before the housing. http://dellagogolf.com/GOLF/golf_del_lago.htm

All are reasonably priced and should be found on golfnow.com

What about Lehman's Sonoran Course at Tucson National?

Bill,

Depending on circumstances, I could be available to make the trip from Phoenix.

Thanks Steve:

My father moved away from Tucson a few years ago so I am a little out of date.

[Jason Topp]

I just played the Ritz-Carlton resort course at Dove Mountain in the first week of December. I recommend it very highly. It's about a half-hour drive northwest of Tucson in Marana, where they played the Accenture match play championship last February.

It's a Nicklaus design, and as I mentioned in an earlier thread, that often means you must hit high, soft approach shots. Jack might love St. Andrews, but he just doesn't seem to appreciate open greenfronts. There's a lot of ground game to be had on the firm, fast fairways, however; your ball is always rolling towards, past or into one of the numerous fairway bunkers. Choosing a line -- and sometimes a club -- off the tee is really important. In particular, beware the baranca that crosses the ninth fairway at about 270 yards. I hit my best drive of the day there, a hot, low runner that split the gap between the centerline bunker and the right rough, and ended up suspended in a desert bush just beyond the end of the fairway.

The greens are easily the best and most interesting I've played in Arizona -- immaculate, with tons of movement.

Rick - I know they blew up the greens and redid them after the match play last year.  Sounds like they did a good job.

[Tom Yost]

I just played the Ritz-Carlton resort course at Dove Mountain in the first week of December. I recommend it very highly. It's about a half-hour drive northwest of Tucson in Marana, where they played the Accenture match play championship last February.

It's a Nicklaus design, and as I mentioned in an earlier thread, that often means you must hit high, soft approach shots. Jack might love St. Andrews, but he just doesn't seem to appreciate open greenfronts. There's a lot of ground game to be had on the firm, fast fairways, however; your ball is always rolling towards, past or into one of the numerous fairway bunkers. Choosing a line -- and sometimes a club -- off the tee is really important. In particular, beware the baranca that crosses the ninth fairway at about 270 yards. I hit my best drive of the day there, a hot, low runner that split the gap between the centerline bunker and the right rough, and ended up suspended in a desert bush just beyond the end of the fairway.

The greens are easily the best and most interesting I've played in Arizona -- immaculate, with tons of movement.

Rick - I know they blew up the greens and redid them after the match play last year.  Sounds like they did a good job.

I played it this summer and like most of the Nicklaus courses I've played, it is very demanding. 

Talking with someone in the proshop, they explained that some of the bolder contours were softened by peeling back the turf and shaving down the humps.  Not really blown-up per se...   Most of the greens still retain some good movement.  I thought the greens were the most fun.  Missing the green by more that a few yards however... not fun.   

 

[Tom Yost]

My notes indicate that Randolph North is a William P. Bell that dates back to the 30's. 

[Rick Shefchik]

Re: Randolph Park -- I also played RP North on my quick trip to Tucson, having played Del Urich a couple of years ago. I was under the impression that RPN was the better of the two courses from what I'd been told, but the guys I played with earlier this month said they much preferred Del Urich. This was during the round, so I reserved judgment, but by the time we were finished, I agreed with my local companions: I think Del Urich is better, too. There seems to be more movement and contour, whereas RP North seemed mostly flat and long. (We played from the blues, about 6900 yards.)

I suppose my evaluation could change from visit to visit, however. If you're right in Tucson and looking for something nearby, play both and make up your own mind. There's really not that much difference. (By the way, my local companions said San Pedro was a better and cheaper option if you don't mind a half-hour drive. I haven't played it yet, so I don't know.)

[Tom Yost]

Randolph South was a 60's WF Bell.   Ken Kavanaugh did a major remodel in the 90's and it reopened with the new name Dell Urich.

[Jason Topp]

Re: Randolph Park -- I also played RP North on my quick trip to Tucson, having played Del Urich a couple of years ago. I was under the impression that RPN was the better of the two courses from what I'd been told, but the guys I played with earlier this month said they much preferred Del Urich. This was during the round, so I reserved judgment, but by the time we were finished, I agreed with my local companions: I think Del Urich is better, too. There seems to be more movement and contour, whereas RP North seemed mostly flat and long. (We played from the blues, about 6900 yards.)

I suppose my evaluation could change from visit to visit, however. If you're right in Tucson and looking for something nearby, play both and make up your own mind. There's really not that much difference. (By the way, my local companions said San Pedro was a better and cheaper option if you don't mind a half-hour drive. I haven't played it yet, so I don't know.)

They eliminated some of the better features on the North 10-15 years ago (water on 2, the par three 6th used to be a good tough par 3 but now is a wedge to a goofy green).  Nonetheless, I think several very good holes remain (3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 and 18). for a $40 round.  

Do you think that all of the artifical mounding makes Del Uhrich interesting?  A better comparison would be to play the North from the whites, which makes it more comparable in terms of length.  

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