Tom Fazio's Arizona contribution and former NCAA Division I Championship host. Consistently ranked among the top daily-fee courses in the state.
Tom Fazio's body of work spans more than 200 courses, and his reputation rests on a particular kind of design: balanced, visually impressive, and rigorously fair. The Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club, opened in 1995, exemplifies that approach. At 7,135 yards from the back tees, the course hosted the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Golf Championships for several years, a venue selection that speaks to the quality of the test it provides for elite-level play.
The Raptor rewards the complete golfer. The course asks for length off the tee but does not punish the shorter hitter who places the ball in the right sector of the fairway. The approaches demand accuracy but offer bail-out areas that prevent a missed green from becoming a double bogey. The greens are large, well-contoured, and honest: they break predictably and putt true. Fazio's design philosophy has always been that golf should test every skill without brutalizing the player, and the Raptor is a clear expression of that belief.
The desert integration here is more restrained than at Troon North or We-Ko-Pa. Fazio sculpted the terrain rather than following its natural contours, creating a course that feels groomed and deliberate. The native desert vegetation provides visual framing and defines out-of-bounds areas, but the forced carries are minimal and the landing areas are generous. This is not a criticism. The Raptor achieves its difficulty through the quality of its green complexes and the strategic placement of bunkers rather than through the threat of lost balls in the desert scrub. For golfers who find target-golf courses stressful, the Raptor offers a premium Scottsdale experience without the anxiety.
The conditioning is consistently among the best in the corridor. The maintenance team keeps the overseeded winter surfaces at a standard that reflects the course's tournament pedigree, and the practice facility is comprehensive enough to serve as a warm-up for competitive rounds.
Peak-season rates of approximately $475 through dynamic pricing place the Raptor at the upper end of the Scottsdale market, comparable to TPC Stadium. The price reflects the Fazio pedigree, the conditioning, and the facility quality. Off-peak rates drop to an estimated $100 to $200, which shifts the value equation considerably.
The Talon Course at Grayhawk, designed by David Graham and Gary Panks, offers a less expensive companion round at the same facility. The Raptor is the flagship, and for golfers willing to pay the peak-season rate, it delivers a round that is technically demanding, visually polished, and fairly designed. Those three qualities do not always appear together, which is why Fazio's courses command the prices they do.
Links-style golf on 320 acres of Ak-Chin Indian Reservation in Maricopa. An annual U.S. Open qualifying site that plays nothing like the desert courses nearby.
A short, scenic par-71 at Arizona Grand Resort with lush semitropical landscaping and South Mountain Park as a backdrop.
Jay Morrish's desert design among iconic granite boulder formations. No other course in the area looks anything like it.
Golf Magazine ranked it among the Top 10 You Can Play in the U.S. Bent grass greens and a slope of 149 provide a test that does not suffer by comparison with the Raptor.
Golf Digest Four Star Award for nine consecutive years. A hillside design at Hilton Phoenix Tapatio Cliffs with elevation changes that earn the name.
Twenty-seven holes of Ted Robinson design in Chandler with water features on most holes, a Golf Digest 4.5-star rating, and complimentary replay and range balls.
A City of Phoenix municipal course that plays 7,380 yards with Papago Buttes as a backdrop. Renovated in 2008 at a cost of $5.8 million.
Dramatic elevation changes on 7,249 yards of Rees Jones desert design, 45 minutes northwest of Scottsdale in Peoria.
A Carolina-style layout with 6,000+ imported Georgia pines, five miles from Sky Harbor Airport. Scottsdale desert golf, this is not.
Flat, links-style Coore-Crenshaw design with views of the McDowell Mountains and Pinnacle Peak. Consistently top-5 in Arizona by Golfweek.
The more traditional counterpart to the O'odham. Tree-lined fairways, raised greens, and a Coore-Crenshaw design that rewards accuracy.
The quieter sibling at TPC Scottsdale. Same facility standards, less than half the green fee, and a par-71 layout that measures 7,235 yards.
Home of the loudest tournament in professional golf and a par-3 16th that seats 20,000. The rest of the course rewards strategy over power.
British links principles transplanted to the Sonoran Desert. Firm greens, bump-and-run approaches, and four par 5s exceeding 500 yards.
Desert target golf through steep arroyos and saguaro forests. The signature par-5 16th measures 609 yards through a natural wash.
Named one of the ten best new public courses in the world upon opening. Scott Miller's bolder, longer counterpart to the Saguaro.
Ranked number one in Arizona by Golfweek for 15 of the past 16 years. Coore-Crenshaw minimalism on Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation land.