TEMPE, Arizona – Sign of the golf times: May 5, 2019 marks the final day to play at ASU Karsten Golf Course before permanently closing after 30 years of public golf as well as serving as the home course for Arizona State University’s golf teams since opening in September 1989. The parcel of land where the Pete Dye-designed golf course currently sits is scheduled for future development, athletic fields and other university facilities.
“ASU Karsten was built in an era when high-end daily fee golf in the Valley really took off,” said Mike Conner, original general manager of the golf course and vice president of OB Sports, the facility’s management firm. “The golf course not only hosted ASU’s golf teams and Phoenix-area residents. It also hosted hundreds of thousands of winter visitors looking for a quality golf experience.”
Anticipating the closure, the ASU golf teams already made the move to nearby Papago Golf Course where a public/private partnership between the City of Phoenix, Arizona State University and the Arizona Golf Community Foundation significantly upgraded the golf facility.
ASU Karsten Golf Course was built September 15, 1989, and this links-style Pete Dye course has been the home to one of the strongest collegiate golf programs in the country. Awarded 4 1/2 stars by the prestigious Golf Digest Rating Panel, this well maintained and challenging design features Dye’s signature mounding and creative bunkering – making proper club selection essential for low scoring. Top PGA and LPGA TOUR professionals such as Phil Mickelson, Billy Mayfair, Grace Park and Anna Nordqvist have all sharpened their skills at this premier facility.
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