With winter temperatures in the 70s and an average of 300 sunny days per year, Phoenix, Arizona, is a natural golf mecca. And while the PGA Tour’s raucous and most attended golf tournament – the WM Phoenix Open, held annually on TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium course – enters its 91st edition this week, the area is teeming with golf-mad locals and seasonal visitors.
But the Phoenix/Scottsdale area has much more to offer than just good weather and sunshine. With more than 200 facilities to choose from, it is one of the most populous golf destinations in the world, and a sought-after home base for anyone who loves the game, including a number of athletes and celebrities.
“We have the best golf courses in the world, especially the best public golf courses in the world,” said NBA star and analyst Charles Barkley, who found his way to Phoenix in 1992 when he was traded from Philadelphia. Barkley has lived in Arizona for almost 34 years — a distinction he doesn’t expect will ever change.
“If I leave here, I will be cremated,” he said. “I’m never leaving Arizona.”
So what makes Arizona’s public golf so great? We tackle that question in the latest episode of Destination GOLF: Phoenix, where four featured courses offer a revealing perspective on what the Phoenix/Scottsdale public golf experience is like. Real like. Our team visited Grass Clippings in Rolling Hills, home to Arizona’s only fully lighted 18-hole golf course; Papago, a beloved muni that serves as the home course and practice facility for Arizona State’s men’s and women’s golf teams; Troon North, a luxury daily allowance that has become a coveted start time for buddy trips and bachelor parties; and We-Ko-Pa, a pristine property where you can enjoy stunning panoramic views of the surrounding Sonoran Desert.
NBC/Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee has traveled the world during his decades-long professional career, but has long called Arizona home. During a spin on We-Ko-Pa’s Saguaro course with his wife Bailey, Chamblee artfully described the appeal of the desert.
“You look at Scottsdale — or Phoenix in general, but Scottsdale in particular — and you say, OK, it doesn’t have the best golf courses in the world — maybe Scotland does — but it’s close,” Chamblee said. “If you want to say it doesn’t have the best food in the world – maybe that’s Paris or Rome – but it’s close. You want to say it doesn’t have the best spas in the world, I don’t know where that is – but it’s close. If you want to say it doesn’t have the best hotels in the world – maybe that’s London – okay, but it’s close.
“When you put all these things together, Scottsdale wins,” Chamblee concluded. “It’s not even close.”
To experience what Chamblee and Barkley are talking about, watch the first of two episodes of Destination GOLF: Phoenix, which showcases some of Arizona’s best public golf courses.
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