Building and designing golf courses in the desert presents a unique set of challenges. Two well-known golf course designers, Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, were able to overcome these obstacles and build two stunning courses. Talking Stick Golf Club is planted in the East Valley near Phoenix, the North Course is a tribute to traditional Scottish links style layouts while the South Course has a more parkland-style layout.
The North Course
Classified as having a minimalist design, the North Course has wide fairways, no trees, seemingly naturally located bunkers and offers a real opportunity to score well. With no surrounding tree lines and a flat landscape, North Course delivers unaltered views of Camelback Mountain, the McDowell Mountains and Pinnacle Peak.
Since there are no natural blockades, the course is consequently inundated with many cross winds which will encourage you to play many different shots to adjust. The bunkers on North Course are steep and treacherous and must be taken seriously. On almost any approach you can run your ball on to the green, but use caution on the approach because the greens are slightly crowned and deceiving.
The South Course
Described as being much friendlier to the average hacker, the South Course is very revealing, what you see on the tee is what you get. However, this more straight-forward course has both trees and water hazards present which its rival sibling lacks. Featuring subtle elevation changes and fingered bunkers, the South Course is not void of all challenges.
Playing only 6,833 yards from the back tee, the South Course is a relatively harmless par-71. The water hazards are only present at 4 holes on the back nine and 4,500 native cottonwood and hardwood trees present do not seem to cause as much trouble as you would expect.
South Course has another distinctive feature that sets it apart from other courses in the Southwest; is its walkability. Other than being flat, which clearly makes it easy to walk, the distance between each green and the next tee is rarely more than 50 yards.
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