FORT MCDOWELL, Arizona – The Scottsdale, Arizona area is quite clearly a golfing mecca, with a seemingly endless number of championship courses to choose from on any given day. Two of the finest layouts, at We-Ko-Pa in Fort McDowell, about a 20-minute drive from Scottsdale, are consistently rated among the best public courses in the state.
With unobstructed mountain views and the Sonoran Desert as the backdrop, the Saguaro and Cholla courses offer a pristine landscape of native trees, brush and cacti, with not a house or condo anywhere in sight. The property is surrounded by the McDowell Mountains, Red Mountain, the Verde River and the Matazal Mountains, leaving you with the feeling that civilization is far, far away.
That’s not to imply that the property is without amenities. The We-Ko-Pa Casino Resort is a short golf cart ride away, and the restaurant/bar at the golf courses includes a beautiful shaded patio area for post-round lunch, dinner or drinks.
There are two expansive driving ranges, two practice putting greens and a short game area with bunkers. We-Ko-Pa is a public course, but it feels private from the moment you arrive on property and your golf clubs are placed onto a cart and driven to the pro shop.
As for the golf courses, Sagauro is generally ranked higher than Cholla, but each has its own charm and challenges and I didn’t feel like one stood out from the other. Saguaro was designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, who have always been adept at allowing the landscape to shape the design. It’s no different here. The course blends seamlessly into the native desert areas, which come into play on nearly every shot. But the layout is relatively open, with wide fairways and not many forced carries.
After opening with a short downhill par-5 as a warmup, you come to a 288-yard par-4 (from the white tees) that has nine bunkers, including five surrounding the green.
The fourth and fifth holes are framed by a mountain backdrop, with the fifth, a 595-yard par-5, ranked as the No. 1 stroke hole. But the two holes that stood out to me were the par-5 14th and the par-3 15th. The 14th features a split fairway, with a rocky creek winding through the middle of the entire fairway. If you hit it right, you will have a better angle to the green, but it’s a longer carry over the creek. Take the conservative approach to the left and the layup on the second shot is more difficult, with a severe slope leading toward a ditch.
The 209-yard 15th, at one of the highest points on the course, is rightfully considered the signature hole. It plays downhill and offers panoramic views of the valley. It demands a precise shot, for there is little room for error right or left of the green.
Overall, I found Saguaro to be relatively forgiving, with most of the holes allowing you to play run-up shots to the greens, even though I scored better at Cholla the following day. That might have been more to do with shaking off the winter rust, as it was my first round of golf in five months.
Cholla definitely is tighter, more of a target-style layout, with a number of narrow fairways, a mixture of doglegs, more than a few blind shots and rugged green complexes. Like its neighbor, spectacular mountain views are everywhere and native vegetation frames immaculate fairways.
The white tees measure 6,114 yards, but if that’s too short for you, there is a composite layout of the purple and white tees that stretches it out to 6,436 yards. From the white tees, the par-4 holes are relatively short, with six coming in at less than 350 yards, including the 265-yard 7th hole and the 272-yard 15th hole. But the par-3’s are demanding, especially the 187-yard 11th.
There are strategic decisions to be made on the first tee, which plays only 312 yards. You can aim right at the widest portion of the fairway, which will leave a longer approach, and take a shot left over a desert transition area. There will be multiple such decisions during the round.
The par-3’s are all interesting and dramatic, especially the 3rd hole, which plays 178 yards and demands a carry over the desert and a stone wall, with a hillside left and bunkers right of the green.
You will definitely remember (and perhaps rue) the par-5 8th hole. The tee shot is uphill to a fairway that runs into the desert, and the approach demands a forced carry that could be manageable or not depending on how well you hit your layup. The green has a ribbon-thin opening, with a deep, almost pot-like bunker to the left and the desert on the right.
The 18th hole is a superb downhill 432-yard par-4. A pond runs down the right side of the fairway for the final 100 yards, providing beauty, challenge and one final decision on whether to risk getting wet by having to then carry the hazard or play to the narrow left side.
In the final analysis, I found Saguaro to be more of a course for longer hitters, while Cholla is designed for those who depend on accuracy. Whichever course you play, you will find an unspoiled desert landscape filled with endless mountain views, free of houses and roads and anything that would distract you from nature.
