Desert Mountain (Geronimo)

The Desert Mountain Club is located in the high Sonoran Desert to the north of Scottsdale, nestled in the foothills of the Apache and Lone Mountains and it’s one of the most successful residential golf developments in the United States.

The Renegade was the first 18-hole layout to be unveiled at Desert Mountain in 1987, with the Cochise and Geronimo courses following a couple of years later. Since then, a further three Nicklaus-designed tracks have been set out within a massive 8,000-acre property.

The Geronimo has been described as “the most visually intimidating of the six courses at Desert Mountain” and its fairways occupy rather vertiginous terrain to the west of the Cochice course, with holes routed through a number of dramatic gullies and gorges.

The outward half is the easier of the two nines - even though it might not appear that way when playing the two very strong par fours at holes 2 and 3. To fit the landscape, the round concludes with a par three at the 197-yard 18th, where the two-tiered home green is benched into a spectacular rocky hillside.