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Scottsdale

Desert golf at its most refined, October through April.

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Scottsdale

Scottsdale

Desert golf at its most refined, October through April.

Pinehurst

Pinehurst

The cradle of American golf, still teaching the game its manners.

Courses Worth the Trip

Troon North Golf Club (Monument Course)
Bucket List

Troon North Golf Club (Monument Course)

The granite monolith at the third hole is the most photographed feature, but the lasting impression is subtler: a sense that the course belongs to its landscape rather than occupying it.

Pinehurst No. 2
Bucket List

Pinehurst No. 2

The greens. There is nothing else like them in American golf. The convex surfaces reject anything less than the correct shot, and the chipping and putting around them is the most demanding short game examination in the country.

TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course)
Championship

TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course)

Playing the 16th hole in silence, knowing what it becomes each February, is a quietly surreal experience. The course is better than its party reputation suggests.

We-Ko-Pa Golf Club (Saguaro Course)
Premium

We-Ko-Pa Golf Club (Saguaro Course)

The absence of development around the course creates a quality of solitude that is increasingly rare in Scottsdale golf. The Coore and Crenshaw design rewards repeated play in ways that the more visually dramatic desert courses do not.

Pinehurst No. 4
Championship

Pinehurst No. 4

The strategic options from the tee. Hanse designed a course where the best shot is not always the longest shot, and the width off the tee creates genuine decision-making on almost every hole.

Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club
Premium

Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club

The restoration brought back the strategic ground game that Ross designed. Approaches that land short and release onto the greens are rewarded in a way that modern courses rarely permit, and the connection between fairway position and green accessibility is as clear here as anywhere Ross built.

Where to Stay

The Boulders Resort & Spa
Resort

The Boulders Resort & Spa

The geological setting has no equivalent among Scottsdale resorts. The casita format and the sheer acreage create a sense of space and solitude that the larger Scottsdale properties cannot match.

The Carolina Hotel
Resort

The Carolina Hotel

The integration between the hotel and the golf operation is seamless in a way that only a century of practice can produce. The walk from breakfast in the Carolina Dining Room to the first tee of No. 2 takes three minutes and passes through the same landscape that Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan crossed.

Hotel Valley Ho
Boutique

Hotel Valley Ho

The mid-century architecture gives the hotel a character that the large resorts lack, and the Old Town location means the evenings are as good as the golf days.

Pine Crest Inn
Hotel

Pine Crest Inn

Donald Ross lived here while building the courses that defined American golf architecture. The bar serves better cocktails than any lobby lounge in the resort corridor, and the nightly rate leaves budget for an extra round.

Off the Fairway

The best trips extend beyond the course. Dining, wellness, and experiences for the full travel picture.

Camelback Mountain Hike
Hiking

Camelback Mountain Hike

The most popular hike in the Phoenix metro, and the views explain why.

Old Town Scottsdale Dining
Dining

Old Town Scottsdale Dining

A restaurant scene that outperforms its resort-town expectations.

Village of Pinehurst Walking Tour
Cultural

Village of Pinehurst Walking Tour

A planned community from 1895, still arranged exactly as Frederick Law Olmsted drew it.

Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve
Hiking

Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve

Old-growth longleaf pine forest, ten minutes from the first tee.