Papago Golf Club

Arizona is one of the premier golf destinations in the country, and the Scottsdale-Phoenix corridor is ground zero. The Sonoran Desert provides a setting that no other golf region can match - saguaro cacti, red rock formations, McDowell Mountain backdrops, and over 300 days of sunshine a year. But the quality goes beyond scenery. Arizona’s best public courses feature designs by Coore & Crenshaw, Tom Fazio, Tom Weiskopf, and Jay Morrish, built across terrain that produces dramatic elevation changes, canyon carries, and strategic desert-wash hazards. The GolfPass 2026 Golfers’ Choice rankings analyzed nearly 20,000 reviews of Arizona courses to compile their annual list. Golf Digest and Golfweek also rank multiple Arizona courses nationally. Scottsdale and the East Valley Scottsdale is the capital of desert golf, with more top-ranked public courses per square mile than almost anywhere in the country. TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course plays 7,261 yards at par 71 and is home to the WM Phoenix Open - the best-attended event on the PGA Tour. The course is defined by its par-3 16th hole, which transforms into a 20,000-seat stadium during tournament week. The rest of the year, it plays as a well-conditioned resort course with risk-reward holes throughout. Golfweek...

Golf courses are not all built the same way. The terrain, climate, ownership model, and intended audience of a course shape everything about how it plays, how long a round takes, and how much it costs. Understanding the major types of golf courses helps you pick the right one for your skill level, schedule, and budget. Links courses The original form of golf was played on linksland, the sandy, wind-swept coastal ground between the sea and inland farms in Scotland. True links courses share a set of defining features: firm, fast-running turf; very few trees; deep pot bunkers with steep sod-wall faces; and constant exposure to ocean wind. The terrain is usually rolling and uneven, with natural dunes shaping the holes rather than heavy earthmoving. In the United States, genuine links-style courses are rare because the right combination of coastal land and sandy soil is hard to find. The most celebrated example is Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on the Oregon coast, where multiple courses including the Sheep Ranch sit on rugged bluffs above the Pacific. On the East Coast, Kiawah Island Golf Resort Ocean Course in South Carolina plays along the Atlantic with wide-open sight lines and relentless wind. Whistling...