The Ventana Canyon Golf & Tennis Club is one of those lucky golf institutions that can base almost all of its marketing around a singular golf hole. We’re specifically looking at No. 3, which — for all of its advertising value — is also the shortest hole on the course, at just 107 yards from the back tee.
Fazio did not need to travel too far up the mountain outside of Tucson to find the signature hole at his “Mountain” course: He located a platform just large enough to hold a small green while a cast of cacti and large boulders look on. At the front, Fazio included several deep bunkers. Seemingly penal, they actually prevent short shots from rolling back into nature. Visit the club’s website and the first thing you’ll see on the golf page is the header “a picture-perfect par three.”
That hardly gives the rest of Fazio’s layout its due, however. The 100-yard hole is immediately followed by a 600-yard par five that features church pew-style bunkers, and the view from the No. 17 tee may be even better than that at No. 3, offering long views across the Sonoran Desert, all the way to Mexico.