Tag: scottsdale

Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Arizona offers night golf on newly lighted par-3 course

The lights on the #miniDunes short course can sync with music, offering a new cool experience in the desert.

Golfers looking to beat the heat this summer have a new option just south of Phoenix: Ak-Chin Southern Dunes has lit its par-3 course, named #miniDunes.

The six-hole short course sits on the range at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, where the main 18-hole layout was designed by Brian Curley and Fred Couples – the course ranks No. 6 on Golfweek’s Best public-access course list in Arizona.

Holes on the short course stretch from 60 to 115 yards, and the layout features 15 lighting poles. The 88 LED lights can be synced to flash to music. Tee times become available April 26, and walk-ins are welcome.

The range serves as a normal practice area in the morning, then it is picked and holes are cut for afternoon play on the short course that was introduced in 2014 with new greens dotting the range. Night golf ramps it up another level in the desert setting, and the club’s restaurant will be represented at the short course with the Arroyo Grill – On the Go food truck/trailer.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5JlHjmPo8U/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

“We are proud to offer the lighted #miniDunes as just the latest example of the commitment the Ak-Chin Indian Community has to creating memorable golf experiences for not only our local communities of Ak-Chin and Maricopa, but also for all of the region and its visitors who can now experience a taste of what Ak-Chin Southern Dunes has to offer at night,” Ak-Chin Indian Community Chairman Robert Miguel said in a media release announcing the night option. “I can’t wait to play golf under the lights with my friends and family.”

Check the yardage book: TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course for the 2024 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour

No. 16 is famous, but how does the rest of TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course shape up?

There’s a lot more to the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale than the famed 16th, the par 3 lined by grandstands and site of this week’s party at the WM Phoenix Open. Here’s your chance to see how the rest of the course sets up for the 2024 version of the PGA Tour event.

The Stadium Course opened in 1986 with a design by the team of Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. It was renovated in 2014. The site of a Tour event since 1987, the layout will play to 7,261 yards with a par of 71 this week.

The layout ranks No. 4 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access layouts in each state. It also ties for No. 83 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

Gary McCord flipped this Scottsdale condo for a $2.5 million profit after buying it just four years ago

The former CBS Sports commentator was a winner in a recent real estate transaction in Arizona.

Although Gary McCord played in more thana 400 PGA Tour events, he never found the winner’s circle. But the former CBS Sports commentator certainly turned up on the right side of a real estate transaction in his adopted home of Arizona.

According to a blurb in the Arizona Republic, part of the same USA Today Network that runs Golfweek, McCord and his wife Diane recently sold their condo in the Kierland area of Scottsdale for $5 million.

Drs. Christopher and Irene Biggs paid cash for a Scottsdale penthouse in the Kierland area. The 4,059-square-foot condominium with three bedrooms and 3 ½ bathrooms has a private elevator, a 210-bottle glass wine wall, electronic window shades, custom chandeliers, floor-to-ceiling windows and a waterfall marble kitchen island. Gary and Diane McCord sold the home. Gary is a professional golfer and commentator.

The sale netted a 100 percent profit since the McCords purchased the home for $2.5 million in 2019. The property overlooks Kierland, a 27-hole spread in North Scottsdale.

At the recent Arizona Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony for the Class of 2023, McCord was among the attendees as he was on hand to support his former CBS colleague and current podcast partner Peter Kostis, with whom he runs the Kostis/McCord Learning Center.

“I brought him here to Arizona,” McCord told Golfweek of his relationship with Kostis. “I knew him from the Tour and him teaching a lot of the guys. He got tired of Florida so I called him and I said, ‘You wanna come down [to Arizona]? I got a new place called Grayhawk. I’m going to start a golf school there, and I have no idea what to do.’

McCord and Kostis both left CBS after the end of 2019 after their contracts were not renewed. These days, the duo has a YouTube channel called “Kostis and McCord: Off their Rockers.”

Here’s a look at the property that McCord recently sold:

Where to play golf around Phoenix and Scottsdale: Golfweek’s Best 2023 public-access courses

Phoenix and Scottsdale are stacked with great public-access golf options. Which are best?

Arizona is home to a great selection of desert golf courses, and most of those are centered around Phoenix and Scottsdale. But which are the best?

Thanks to Golfweek’s Best annual rankings of top public-access courses in each state, we can break out the highest-ranked layouts in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area. For the purpose of this exercise, we limited driving time to about an hour from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. (We used Google Maps for its drive times, keying in the courses on a mid-afternoon – take all drive times around the Valley of the Sun with a grain of salt, of course.)

There are other options not included here, courses that were beyond that hour limit. If you have a little more time for the drive, Wickenburg Ranch’s Big Wick course ranks No. 2 among all public-access courses in the state, but it’s about 90 minutes northwest of the airport. Similar story for several strong options in Tucson about two hours to the southeast.

A little background on how we do this: The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

The courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required.

Keep scrolling to see how they stack up, and check out the accompanying map to get a handle on roughly where everything is located.

Phoenix golf map 2023
(Google Earth/Golfweek)

Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 casino golf courses in the U.S.

Up for a great mix of casino fun and golf?

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 Casino Courses in the United States. This list focuses on courses owned and/or operated by or in conjunction with casinos, with data pulled from Golfweek‘s massive database of course rankings.

The hundreds of members of Golfweek‘s course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each that is then used to compile the Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

Listed with each course below is its average rating, location, designer(s) and whether the course is modern (m, built in or after 1960) or classic (c, built before 1960).

* New or returning to the list

Bobcat shows stunned golfers proper way to score a birdie

Video footage captured recently at an Arizona golf course shows a bobcat masterfully stalking ducks from an expansive bunker and executing a perfect ambush.

Video footage captured recently at an Arizona golf course shows a bobcat masterfully stalking ducks from an expansive bunker and executing a perfect ambush.

The “birdie massacre” footage was captured by Instagram user River Pig Saloon during a round at Silver Leaf Country Club.

As viewers will note, the bobcat used the deep bunker to remain hidden until it could strike from the nearest possible point.

“Oh, he got one!” someone in the group exclaims as the bobcat leaps from the bunker, scattering the flock, as other golfers react with giddy laughter.

ALSO: ‘Massive’ lion forces standoff with safari vehicle; video

The footage was shared by the popular Instagram page, Nature Is Metal, which began its post, “For playing out of turn, this bobcat incurs a fowl.”

Check the yardage book: TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course for the 2023 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour

StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps of TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, including its famous 16th that becomes the scene of a giant party.

TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, site of the 2023 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour, was designed by the team of Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish and opened in 1986. It was renovated in 2014.

The Stadium Course has been the site of a Tour event since 1987. It will play to 7,261 yards with a par of 71 this week.

The layout ranks No. 4 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access layouts in each state. It ties for No. 75 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the U.S., and it ties for No. 94 among all public-access layouts in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

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The Super Bowl, the WM Phoenix Open and you: Check out the top 10 public-access courses near Phoenix-Scottsdale

The Valley of the Sun offers plenty of great public-access golf courses.

Headed to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area for the annual giant party that is the WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour? Maybe you scored a ticket to watch the Eagles square off against the Chiefs in Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in nearby Glendale? Perhaps you’re one of the truly lucky ones planning to attend both?

Then pack your golf clubs because the Valley of the Sun offers plenty of great public-access golf courses. For most of the year, we recommend you start with these top 10 in the area. Of course, only nine are really options for the week of the Super Bowl and WM Phoenix Open, as TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course is booked to host the pros, but you get the idea.

Golfweek’s Best ranks courses around the world, utilizing a pool of more than 800 course raters. The most popular rankings list in the program is the Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts in each state. To analyze the top 10 public-access courses around the Phoenix and Scottsdale area, we started with those rankings for all of Arizona. Then we included only those courses within a 90-minute drive of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which sits about halfway between TPC Scottsdale and State Farm Stadium.

But don’t consider these your only options. Check out even more great courses in Arizona on the state-by-state public-access list. But be ready to pay a premium for a tee time the week of the Super Bowl and PGA Tour event, as many courses in the valley utilize fluctuating on-demand pricing all year, and all the courses will see a spike in demand on what will be the busiest week of the year.

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Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private golf courses in Arizona

The top public-access offerings in this stacked golf state go on for miles, especially in the Phoenix-Scottsdale region.

Arizona is a gifted golf state, with desert courses of all kinds to suit any budget or taste. Especially in the region of Phoenix and Scottsdale, there are miles and miles of fairways to welcome residents, visitors and seasonal snowbirds alike.

Tops among the public-access offerings is We-Ko-Pa’s Saguaro Course, designed by famed architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. One of two courses at the facility operated by a casino next door, the Saguaro Course ranks No. 1 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for each state.

MORE COURSES: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 Resort |
Top 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play

Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with the list of top public-access courses among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list is likewise included below.

How to watch WM Phoenix Open, live stream, TV times, Featured Groups, live scores, tee times

The Waste Management Phoenix Open will get underway with Round 1 on Thursday morning from the beautiful TPC Scottsdale. 

The Waste Management Phoenix Open will get underway with Round 1 on Thursday morning from the beautiful TPC Scottsdale.

This is one of the best and most rowdy weekends in golf including the famous 16th hole which is always a good time. Brooks Koepka will return to TPC Scottsdale after winning the 2021 WM Open title and will be amongst some of the best golfers in the world.

Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action, including Featured Groups for PGA TOUR LIVE and expanded coverage on ESPN+.

WM Phoenix Open

  • When: Sunday, February 6
  • Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: CBS
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)

WM Phoenix Open TV Schedule

ESPN+ will have exclusive coverage in the mornings and will also have coverage in the afternoons. You can follow all the action here with expanded and extended coverage for PGA Tour Live. Click for more details.

Thursday, February 10:

  • Main: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Marquee Groups: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Featured Groups & Holes: 9:45 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Friday, February 11:

  • Main: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Marquee Groups: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Featured Groups & Holes: 9:45 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Saturday, February 12:

  • Main: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Marquee Groups: 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Featured Groups & Holes: 11:45 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Sunday, February 13:

  • Main: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Marquee Groups: 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+
  • Featured Groups & Holes: 9:45 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+

PGA Tour Odds and Betting Lines

PGA Tour odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook. Odds last updated Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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