Troon North Golf Club (Monument)

The Monument course was the first of two 18-hole layouts to be unveiled at Troon North and it was laid out across the rugged landscape of the Sonoran Desert by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish in 1990, five years before its sister course (the Pinnacle) made an appearance.

Measuring just over 7,000 yards in total length from the tips, the lush Monument fairways wind their way through a dusty desert landscape where they skirt arroyos, dry washes and a variety of cacti and mesquite on their way to generally large, raised greens.

The 556-yard par five 3rd is the most memorable hole on the card. As the fairway doglegs right towards the green, golfers must negotiate an enormous rocky edifice in the middle of the landing area. It’s said that construction crews attempted to remove this stone "monument" but decided just to build around it in the end.

On the back nine, the 13th is a feature hole, with pushed tee shots punished by the large irrigation pond that sits to the right of the fairway. The other par three on the inward half, the 244-yard 16th, is another terrific one-shot hole that plays downhill to a green that’s protected by two front bunkers.