Desert Mountain (Chiricahua)

Overview: Chiricahua is one of Desert Mountain's Jack Nicklaus Signature courses in Scottsdale, where the high Sonoran Desert is shaped into broad, mountain-framed corridors and strategic desert golf. The course uses changes in elevation, natural rock and native vegetation to give each hole its own setting, while the scale of the property keeps the views open toward the surrounding ranges and the city beyond. As the fifth Nicklaus course at Desert Mountain, Chiricahua carries the club's signature variety but has its own expansive, western character.

History: Desert Mountain was established in 1986 on land that had been the Carefree Ranch, and the club's courses were built one at a time in partnership with developer Lyle Anderson and Jack Nicklaus. Chiricahua opened in 1999, following Renegade, Cochise, Geronimo and Apache. The clubhouse came later, and the course became part of the largest collection of Jack Nicklaus Signature courses at one location. The sequence matters: Chiricahua was not an isolated resort project, but a later chapter in a carefully staged desert community.

Did You Know? Chiricahua was the fifth of six Nicklaus Signature courses built at Desert Mountain. Its opening completed the club's main sequence of championship layouts before the links-style Outlaw course added the sixth chapter in 2003.