Conestoga Golf Club

Overview: Conestoga Golf Club is a Gary Panks design in Mesquite's Sun City community, where rugged landforms, canyons, rock outcrops and water elements shape an 18-hole desert course. The current profile lists 7,232 yards and par 72. Panks worked with the existing contours rather than smoothing them away, so the routing rises and falls through the community with changing views and a sense of separation between holes. The course's appeal comes from the balance between broad desert scenery and the precise lines demanded around its rocky and watery hazards.

History: Conestoga opened for public play on January 31, 2010, as part of the Del Webb Sun City Mesquite active-adult community. The project was funded and developed as a major amenity for the new community, but the course was also intended to welcome golfers from beyond it. Gary Panks's design preserved the character of the site's landforms, creating a modern Mesquite course that reads as if it was fitted into the desert rather than imposed on it.

Did You Know? The course is named for Conestoga Creek, which winds through the property. The name is a clue to the design: the water elements are part of the site's natural and visual structure, alongside the canyons and exposed rock outcrops.