Arizona Grand Golf Course

Overview: Arizona Grand Golf Course is an 18-hole resort course at the Arizona Grand property beside South Mountain in Phoenix. Forrest Richardson’s design plays to par 71 and approximately 6,300 yards, combining a links-inspired front nine with a more open desert-style back nine. The official course description highlights elevation changes, mountain views, water and carefully preserved Sonoran Desert surroundings. That contrast is the defining experience: the opening holes feel lush and semitropical, while the later holes expose more of the desert and the mountain backdrop. The result is a compact resort round with more visual variety than its yardage suggests.

History: The course was completed and opened in 1985, originally as part of the development near South Mountain. Richardson’s project history records earlier names including The Pointe Golf Club and Phantom Horse Golf Club, before the property adopted the Arizona Grand identity. The design has remained tied to the site’s natural drainage and stepped terrain, including the unusual uphill 12th hole. Current operator material continues to present the course as a Phoenix resort experience for golfers of varying abilities.

Did You Know? The 12th hole is known for its stepped “Jailhouse Steps” bunkers, which Richardson says were shaped around a naturally eroded cliff. The feature is a good example of the design’s central idea, using the land’s existing drama instead of manufacturing a completely artificial obstacle.