Desert Mountain (Chiricahua)

The Desert Mountain Club, located less than an hour’s drive north of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport, in the foothills of the Apache and Lone Mountains, is one of the biggest and best golf and residential developments in the United States.

The first 18-hole layout at Desert Mountain opened in 1987 and, when the Chiricahua course debuted twelve years later, it became the fifth Nicklaus-designed track to be laid out by the Golden Bear and his associate Phil Smith within an absolutely massive 8,000-acre property.

Routed over the hillier sections of the estate, a number of dramatic elevation changes have been integrated into the design and, as a consequence, eight of the holes play downhill and nine play uphill – overall the fairways rise and fall more than 600 feet during a round.

The toughest hole on the card is undoubtedly the 482-yard 10th, where the green sits above a dry wash, but the most memorable hole may well be the 159-yard 14th, inspired by Riviera’s 6th hole, which George C. Thomas Jnr. designed with a bunker in the middle of the green.