Troon North (Pinnacle) - Arizona - USA

The Pinnacle course at Troon North Golf Club was filled with views in the Scottsdale area. Having played both the Monument and Pinnacle course, the Pinnacle course is a more challenging course. The course offers plenty of challenges and strategy type shots. The fairways are a lot tighter but you don't need to use driver on most holes because of fairway waste down the fairway and split fairways. With the monument course their were more memorable holes, after my round at Pinnacle the holes just all blended and seemed the same. The course was maintained nicely and the vibe at Troon North is always the best. Worth going out to play for the experience and vibe but the course itself is just another golf course.

I showed up to Troon North the other day for my first go around at the two highly regarded public tracks of Scottsdale. The Pinnacle course, a Tom Weiskopf design, was my introduction to the property, as my group teed off at 7:55 in the morning. It was chilly for an Arizona morning, but that did not take away from our golf experience. On Pinnacle, you are greeted right away on the the first hole, a dogleg left par four, aware of the dangers of errant shots at Troon North: desert sand, bushes, and boulders are every which way off the fairway. The whole course is fairly gentle if you keep your ball in play, but in typical desert golf fashion is penal if you miss fairways off the tee. The third tee box provides the best view from the Pinnacle course and is a downhill two shotter with a two tiered green that slopes back to front. The collection of par threes, especially the eighth and the 17th, are tremendous and the highlight of the golf course. My favorite hole might be the par four 10th because of its two forced carries and the tough uphill approach to a thin, undulating green. Who says the best holes on a golf course have to be the easiest? I don’t love the houses everywhere and wish I could have played Pinnacle—as well as Monument—before they stood there, but that is the epitome of the ever changing, growing mini golf mecca of north Scottsdale. If you are on a golf trip in the area, it’d be a disservice to Troon North’s Pinnacle course to skip it. Its sibling might be the more famous 18, but Pinnacle is arguably the more consistently good track.

I would describe this as corporate golf. Clearly, a real estate play and while there a few good holes, overall underwhelming. Good not great. I would not go out of my way to play it.

Second best to Monument course among public golf in the greater Scottsdale area.

I can remember playing Troon North in its very beginnings via the Monument Course. The course was free of major housing intrusions and there was a real communal feeling when playing in the desert.

The Pinnacle Course is done well by the quality twosome of Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish but the experience is tempered because of the close proximity to housing. The design is impeded by the claustrophobia.

The outward half is clearly the lesser of the two nines. The holes are straightforward but the architecture is rather vanilla with little real nuance leading to mental engagement.

The inward side is a far different situation. The terrain is more striking and while housing is prevalent it just seems to be less intense and therefore less of a distraction.

The closing two holes are especially well done. Both are lengthy par-4 holes and the need for power and accuracy are required in equal measure.

In summary, the Pinnacle, like its older brother the Monument 18, changed the conversation regarding what upscale public courses could be. Weiskopf and Morrish provided a number of quality holes and the greens are suitably contoured without being excessive. I know full well how important housing plays in terms of the money needed to even get these type of facilities started in the first place. No question that's a marriage based on reality but the architecture must then be slotted accordingly and with that comes a slew of compromises. The Pinnacle has its moments -- it's too bad there could not have been much more for the duration of the 18 holes.

M. James Ward