I am blasting emails out to Desert Mountain and Desert Forrest. Got an email back form Mesa CC but they are closed during my dates. I’m going to keep trying until I find somewhere.
Question for all the Phoenix knowers:
If someone was relocating to the Phoenix metro area; and were trying to decide where to live based on access to public golf.
Priority rankings are:
- Practice facilities
- Way to book in advance for preferred tee times
- Looking for some level of “value”
Where would you recommend living?
Other pertinent details would be:
Single, no kids, mid 30s, low cap, enjoys outdoor activities, walkable parks, and local feeling restaurants and coffee shops.
Thanks!
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I’ll chime in, but it would be good to get other folks’ perspectives who live elsewhere in the valley.
- There is no easy way to say this: wherever you are coming from will likely have easier access to practice facilities than in Phoenix.
There are a lot of golf courses in the Phoenix metro. A ton. But the problems start if you a) want to hit off grass (most courses rotatate mats and grass on a hard to understand and often conflicting schedule) b) want to practice anytime not during work hours (most course shut down their ranges between 3-4:30 pm to discourage people from actually practicing there 3) want a nice putting green to practice on.
I have to rotate between 3-4 practice facilities because they all have different grass schedules and close early on different days and the general ‘vibe’ is that practicing is pretty discouraged. Not to mention that ‘small’ buckets here are like 18 balls and large buckets start at around $20. And often you’ll go somewhere and the grass will be so torn up that you wonder why you even tried.
- Ha!
To get a tee time at the city courses, you now have to pay a $10-15 fee in order to book more than a week in advance. Most city tee times before 1pm during the winter are booked out as soon as the fee window is open.
Most of us either take the city slop tee times we CAN get, or pay to have a have one of the ‘cards’ that courses or Troon offers that gives you the privilege of paying slightly less for your tee time, but only if you book within 3-5 days.
- Double HA!
The value is that you get to play golf year-around. Coming from basically anywhere else besides maybe Hawaii or Southern California, prices here are…elevated. One of the things that absolutely grinds my gears here is that nobody offers after work 9 hole tee times, everything is just ‘twilight’ rates, and most courses require your carts in the milisecond that the sun crests the horizon, so ‘value’ is not necessarily there.
Okay, so all that being said, rant over. My actual advice would be to try to live near one or two courses/practice facilities that you actually like, and aren’t resort destinations.
Other people may disagree, but I have no desire to live anywhere near the Phoenix Metro or Scottsdale area. Most courses in the Scottsdale area are outrageously overpriced, don’t allow public practice, and are generally filled with barstool bachelor parties and 150 year olds golf tourists who don’t mind playing 5 hour rounds.
My advice: the best city course in the Metro is Aguila. I would personally not want to live very close to it, but YMMV. I live in the East Valley in Gilbert. I play with other folks who live in Chandler, Tempe, and Scottsdale. I think that I have good access to a bunch of different ‘second tier’ public tracks, that don’t necessarily cater to the tourist crowds. Chandler or Tempe could be good options too, Tempe has a more vibrant city-life feel, Chandler has a cute downtown area, and you won’t be too far from any golf courses really. There are hundreds. Avoid Glendale, Peoria, Anthem. Old people central. Very meh golf courses.
Sorry for the novel.
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I’m in a similar boat to you (age and lifestyle-wise) and live in Midtown Phoenix. Close enough (<10 mins) to both Encanto and Palo Verde for practice, but neither has a short game area. I do most of my practice at an indoor facility nearby.
Good luck on the other two 
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Agree with all of the above.
Certainly golf has exploded in popularity in price everywhere since Covid. I don’t think it has been as extreme anywhere as it has been here. This has always been more of a resort-friendly environment and it has only gotten worse.
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Tucson is pretty good for all of these things lol
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I will be in town on May 4th for work. I am staying in the Biltmore area so was going to try and play Biltmore Links around lunch time if anyone would like to join!
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Preach brother
On paper this place seems like golf heaven, until you read the fine print.
Getting a net, mat, and/or indoor practicing makes up for some of the suck. But it still sucks
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A bold choice. Do you run an account devoted to terrible courses? Or are you just into self harm?
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Bold is in my name, I can’t help it. But it will be walking distance from the hotel and the office so figured as I am already using my only Phoenix connection this week for a work trip I would keep it simple.
Open to paying a guest rate but most good courses are closed on Monday
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They do have another course at the Biltmore. It’s not a great course, but unlike the Links it isn’t one of 4 courses in the state that I actively try to discourage anyone from playing.
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Oh come on everyone has to see that par 3 where you hit over someone’s house
(At least I think that’s the one on the links course )
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Indeed. That’s #5.
Blind wedge over some guy’s backyard (and I don’t mean Brough Creek).
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You’re not making me want to play there any less
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I had a coworker who loved that course (he had some screws loose literally) I’ve played it more than enough for this lifetime. I don’t remember a ton of details but thought that was right
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You deserve better bby
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Other highlights (by which I mean lowlights) include:
- 7 road crossings
- A short par 4 where the drive is just blind enough that you can’t tell that the fairway runs out into water at around 240.
- A 90 degree dogleg where the only way to have a clear shot to the green is to play your tee shot 200 yards down the fairway (there’s a gap in the trees) or 240 (all the way to the corner). Otherwise trees will block you out.
- The entire course is as narrow as they come. On the front most of the properties are expensive with big yards, but the back nine pretty much plays through condos and office parks.
- And if all of this sounds kind of sick in a stupid way, it’s worth noting that despite being attached to a high end resort and charging high green fees as a result, I have never seen the course in decent condition.
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The road crossings I 100% remember as well as the tight property and housing/condos. Just a bad place
The first time I played there it was with this nice if very out of place lady from New Jersey who had come to Arizona with her husband while he had some kind of business going on and she was staying at the hotel. She had only ever played golf at her club back home and only with a caddie and she was so scared to just be thrown on a cart and given free reign. We got to the first road crossing and she had no idea what to do or where to go. Had to assure her after a while that actually most resort courses at nice resorts are actually nice.