One of six Jack Nicklaus-designed courses at Desert Mountain, the Chiricahua is routed over the hillier sections of the property, allowing the Golden Bear to incorporate some dramatic elevation changes into the design.
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One of six Jack Nicklaus-designed courses at Desert Mountain, the Chiricahua is routed over the hillier sections of the property, allowing the Golden Bear to incorporate some dramatic elevation changes into the design.
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.