Troon North Golf Club (Monument Course)

Par: 72
Yardage: 7,028
Designer: Tom Weiskopf (1990)
Type: Public
Green fee: USD 150–USD 350 (Cart included. Lowest rates in late spring and early autumn.)
Know before you go: Located in far north Scottsdale, roughly 35 minutes from the airport and 25 minutes from Old Town. Book peak-season rounds two to three weeks in advance. The course closes for overseeding in late September or early October. Bring more golf balls than you think you need if your tee shots tend to stray. Desert areas are out of play and ecologically sensitive; do not retrieve balls from natural areas.
What stands out: 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.

Troon North sits at the base of Pinnacle Peak in north Scottsdale, and the Monument Course is the reason it became one of the most photographed desert courses in the country. Tom Weiskopf designed the layout in 1990, threading fairways between granite boulder formations that predate any notion of golf by several hundred million years. The scale of the landscape dwarfs the course, which is precisely the point.

The design philosophy is restraint. Weiskopf moved remarkably little earth, letting the natural contours of the terrain dictate the routing. The result is a course that feels discovered rather than constructed. Fairways follow the natural grades of the desert floor. Greens sit in clearings between rock formations. The carries over desert scrub from several tee boxes are visually intimidating, but the landing areas are wider than they appear. The course rewards trust in your line more than exceptional execution.

The signature moment arrives at the par-3 third, where the tee shot carries over a wash to a green tucked against a massive granite monolith that gives the course its name. It is a hole that exists because the rock was already there, and the design had the sense to use it. This philosophy repeats throughout the round. The boulders are not decorative. They shape sightlines, create blind angles, and influence wind patterns in ways that become apparent over repeated play.

The back nine is the stronger half, with the 14th through 16th forming a stretch that rivals anything in Arizona desert golf. The elevation changes are moderate but persistent, and the mountain views from the higher points on the course extend to Four Peaks and the Superstition Mountains to the east.

Conditioning is consistently excellent. The Pinnacle Course, the second 18 at the facility, is a fine course in its own right, slightly less dramatic in setting and more forgiving in design. Playing both in a single day is possible and provides a useful study in how the same architect approached two different pieces of desert terrain.