Travel Top 10: Best Golf Courses in Scottsdale (2026)

There isn’t a better spot for an abundance of golf in the world - at least in the winter. The Valley of the Sun is chock full of golf. 200+ courses stretching from West Valley in Glendale to the East, where We-Ko-Pa beckons. From October-April, there are few, if any, more golf-crazed places in the world. Snowbirds in the Midwest come down for at least a weekend or at best for six months.

The resorts here know their stuff. Five-star luxury suites to glamorous spas, stylish restaurants, shopping, dining, and nightlife make this area a hotbed for buddies trips for dudes, gals, or couples. Old Town Scottsdale is a scene. Years ago I had my bachelor party at Talking Stick over Labor Day weekend and it was a blast.

I’ve been to Phoenix-Scottsdale at least a dozen times for golf. I enjoy every trip. Rarely is there bad weather (besides a brief monsoon in September and that freak snowstorm in 2013). Your buddies trip itinerary can go between lodging at lively casino resorts like Talking Stick, or entertainment and more at Westin Kierland, or choose a vacation rental property close to the city center or well out into the desert.

Scottsdale golf isn’t cheap. Unless you’re there in the summer, which kind of defeats the purpose. Low-end golf will still cost a visitor $100+. Prime-time, A-list courses run north of $300-400. Hey, keeping grass Midwestern green in the desert ain’t cheap.

For the purposes of this article on the best courses to play, the term “Scottsdale” essentially refers to the entire valley. In fact, a lot of the best courses are a drive well beyond the urban core, where you’re closer to the mountains and at a higher elevation.

But it's pretty easy to get around and you should be able to cook up a fantastic desert golf trip with plenty of options within 20-30 minutes of where you choose to stay. Here are my favorite golf courses in the Scottsdale area:

1. Saguaro at We-Ko-Pa

Located east of the valley on Yavapai Nation reservation land, We-Ko-Pa checks all the boxes: outstanding, dramatic desert land, no accompanying development beside the course, and a magnificent routing by the design team of Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw. There are birdie holes with risk-reward short 4s and par 5s, and tough holes. It's also possible to walk if you'd like. Facilities here are also first-rate, with a huge driving range, clubhouse with indoor-outdoor dining and a resort across the street. It's a solid 30 minutes east of Scottsdale, but absolutely worth the trek.

2. Monument at Troon North

Troon North is in many ways the first real modern destination course to come to the valley. Opened in the 1990s and since refreshed a few times, the Monument is a show-stopper with dazzling natural beauty and iconic rock formations like the namesake Monument in the middle of the par-5 3rd fairway.

3. Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale

You've seen it every year on Super Bowl weekend; TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course is exciting and raucous. Once the pros leave and grandstands come down, it's the most expensive green fee in town for visitors (thanks to both its high profile and central location), but it's a very fun course for buddies trips and be sure to have some money on the line coming down the finishing stretch. And the best part of TPC compared to some of the pure desert courses in the area, the landing corridors are actually pretty wide. With mounding separating fairways and lots of rough, It plays more like a midwest parkland than a desert course in many spots. Depending on when you come, the 16th hole will either be all natural or surrounded with grand stands. Either way, you'll be surprised how tricky this short par 3 is. You may reconsider your boos at the next Waste Management Phoenix Open.

4. Raptor at Grayhawk Golf Club

Grayhawk Golf Club is an institution in Scottsdale. It's a 36-hole members club that offers daily fee play. Tom Fazio-designed Raptor is the better course here over Talon, featuring the show-stopping par-3 8th hole, beautifully sculpted complementary to the mountain backdrop. Grayhawk is a NCAA National Tournament host and hosts all sorts of high-level local tournaments and pro tournaments. This is very much a players club and has the off-course facilities to match.

5. Cholla at We-Ko-Pa

The Cholla Course, designed by Chris Miller, is more manicured and shaped compared to the more natural looking Saguaro. It's also longer and a little tougher - you've been warned. The 8th hole is one of the valley's best par 5s: a gorgeous elevated tee box that plays downhill and doglegs right to a green guarded closely by native areas.

6. Pinnacle at Troon North

Unlike the different stylings of We-Ko-Pa Cholla and Saguaro, the two courses at Troon North blend together, so much so in fact today's routings are different and holes from each were traded to one another. Designed by Jay Morrish and Tom Weiskopf, it is desert golf design at its best, sculpted beautifully through the landscape, and a very interesting, always sensory routing. Keep an eye out for the namesake Pinnacle Peak formation.

7. South Course at Boulders Resort

This was one of the first courses I played in Scottsdale and I was simply mesmerized by the rock formations out here. Getting to the 36-hole Boulders Resort is a hike, well north of Scottsdale into Carefree. The boulder piles, massive, small, balancing, and otherwise, steal the show. This is more of a target-style desert layout than some of the other courses on this list. But even if the corridors can be a little narrower when you're dusting the cobwebs off a swing that's been holed up in Detroit all winter, the scenery is worth it.

8. Ak-Chin Southern Dunes

Here's another Native American reservation property worth the drive south of Scottsdale. While We-Ko-Pa had a gorgeous palette to build on, Ak-Chin's property is dead flat, which gave architects Schmidt-Curley the task of making something interesting. They succeeded with an Aussie sandbelt-style layout full of huge, naturally sculpted bunkers and wispy grasses. Shot-for-shot, true Phoenix-Scottsdale players know this course stacks up with any in town.

9. Quintero

Northwest of Phoenix-Scottsdale, Quintero is one of the most photogenic courses around by far. Tucked into the Hieroglyphic mountains, there are lots of elevated tees, but be warned, quite a few elevated greens as well. This Rees Jones design is not easy and features plenty of bunkers and mounding - not to mention some long par 3s. With beauty comes some very difficult looks.

10. Devil's Claw at Whirlwind Golf Club

Part of the Wild Horse Pass resort in Chandler, Devil's Claw is the better of two pleasant 18s on Native American Reservation land. The Gary Panks design features tougher, more undulating greens than the sister Cattail course. Both courses are comparable in quality and the facility has hosted a variety of high-profile tournaments over the years.

A few Honorable Mentions: The Phoenician, Wigwam Gold, Raven at Verrado, Raven Golf Club Phoenix, McDowell Mountain, Papago

The Best Private Clubs in the Phoenix-Scottsdale Area

Have a connection? Then you can avoid stacked peak season tee sheets and play some primo desert golf. Desert Mountain is one of the largest clubs in the world with six Jack Nicklaus Signature courses spanning 108 holes.

Scottsdale National has received a lot of acclaim since being purchased by PXG owner Bob Parsons for its splashy "Bad Little Nine"

Whisper Rock is the home club of Phil Mickelson and many other tour professionals.

Stay and Play: Talking Stick Resort

While there are flashier courses in the area, the Talking Stick Resort is more or less the epicenter of a Scottsdale golf trip, with a massive hotel, casino, pool parties, as well as TopGolf Scottsdale nearby and easy access to spring training. While it used to be Top 100 Public-worthy, it's been passed up by flashier projects in the 21st century. But you should still consider playing a round or two here. They are among the most accessible and affordable Coore-Crenshaw designs. And if you're not an architecture buff, just understand the fairways are wide and there's no homes and little O.B. to deal with.

A Few More Travel Tips for a Scottsdale Golf Trip

Prime time is January-April. You can find deals in the fall, but be mindful of overseeding schedules. Almost every course worth playing overseeds at least partially and can close for 1-2 weeks. And the weeks after are cart-path only and good luck getting any rollout on fresh rye grass.

Just because you see the sun on TV, you should still anticipate cool evenings and mornings and frost delays. Pack layers.

If you're willing to postpone your trip until late April or May, you can usually save significantly. The turf will be a mix of Bermuda and Rye, depending on how hot the spring has been. I played some golf around Labor Day and that is also an affordable time to play and bearable if you can get out early.

It won't be long before you spray a drive into the desert area. Consider bringing a "desert" club or just don't be a hero and drop back into turf. And DO NOT touch the jumping Cholla.

If you want to plan your trip during the WM Phoenix Open, it's a great event and certainly worth experiencing. But book well in advance, and be aware that all courses with dynamic pricing will jack their rates to the highest of the year.

You're going to spend some money when you're out there. So make sure you're earning points when you play with the GolfN app. Use my promo code BTUCK for a free month of Silver, and in just one golf weekend, you can earn enough points to redeem something pretty sweet, maybe even a new wedge or two if the desert nicked your current gamer up good. Get the app here.