My Quest to Check Off Golf's Best Experiences

#3, Par 4, 383 Yards


After a long par 4 and a short par 4, the third hole is more of a conventional length par 4 with a bend to the left.  There is a fairway bunker on the outside of the dogleg that needs to be avoided, and then two bunkers that straddle the front portion of the green.

#9, Par 3, 130 Yards


C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor are famous for their template holes and always put a "Short" par 3 on each of their courses.  The hole is a little pitch shot with ample trouble around the green for a shot that isn't precise.  The 9th at Saguaro is a version of a Short hole in the eyes of Coore and Crenshaw, and it's a good one.

#15, Par 3, 233 Yards


The last one-shotter on the course presents a beautiful vista where you can see for miles out into the desert and toward the mountains.  If you can focus on the task at hand and ignore the view, you're faced with a long shot into a large green that is best attacked with a right-to-left ball flight.  The slope to the right of the green will carom a ball toward the green as well.  It plays a bit like a Redan.

#14, Par 5, 527 Yards


With the 10th, this is another of the great holes at Saguaro.  A double fairway with desert wash in between makes the player make a decision from the tee.  The right side presents the shorter shot with a better angle into the hole and yields the easiest way to get home in two--however, it's also the narrower target.  Playing on the safer line, and to the left fairway from the tee, makes it more of a three-shot hole for most players.

#16, Par 4, 315 Yards


One last short par 4 at Saguaro plays uphill.  The safe play is just to get it out in the wide fairway.  However, some will be tempted to aim at the green or close to it by cutting the corner over a collection of bunkers and desert.  It's a risky play for sure, and I didn't think the reward was worth the risk.

#10, Par 4, 322 Yards


One of the best holes at Saguaro (in my opinion) is the short par 4 10th.  The hole can be played with essentially any club in your bag off the tee.  It's a 215 carry over a bunker on line with the green, but a safer line exists off to the left if you wish to play the hole with something like two 7-irons.  If you want to pull driver off the tee, and I did, three bunkers linger around the green with the most dangerous one a small pot bunker that sets front and center.  Avoid those traps and it's a pretty easy up-and-down or two putt for birdie.

My morning at Saguaro was my first experience with golf in Arizona and it far exceeded my expectations, which were mostly flat house-lined courses.  Saguaro is the opposite of that and is in quite a serene, natural, and beautiful environment.  What's more, during the time we played (early-June), the club offers fantastic prices to play 36 holes at We-Ko-Pa that don't even have to be played on the same day.  During the summer, if you can bear the heat (which isn't all that awful in the morning) it's a tremendous bargain.  I would definitely recommend driving out of the city a bit to any vacationers in Phoenix/Scottsdale to see what We-Ko-Pa has to offer...it's well worth the drive.

#7, Par 4, 305 Yards


Another short par 4 here, but this one is an uphill and blind drive to a wide landing area with pot bunkers waiting to catch a drive.  One pot bunker sets at 250 yards from the Purple Tees, with two other bunkers to the right of it and two pot bunkers fronting the green.

Sitting on hundreds of acres of land of barren Sonoran Desert east of Phoenix sets the We-Ko-Pa golf club.  Owned by the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, We-Ko-Pa, which means "Four mountains," boasts two 18-hole golf courses.  While both have the vague look of a typical desert course, their origins are actually quite different.  The Cholla Course, which we'll cover in a separate review, was built by Scott Miller and opened in 2001.  Miller, who learned the trade under the tutelage of Jack Nicklaus, moved lots of dirt in the construction of the Cholla course...over 500,000 cubic yards in fact.  In contrast to the "constructed" Cholla course, is the "found" Saguaro course, which was designed by famous architects and minimalists Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.  While a half-million cubic yards felt the rumble of heavy equipment at its sister course, the Saguaro course opened in 2006 after less than 25,000 cubic yards of dirt were moved!  Having never been to Arizona before this trip, I would have expected a course with little earth movement, located in the middle of the desert, to be quite flat.  However, the land that We-Ko-Pa occupies actually has good natural movement, as do many courses in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area that abut the mountains that surround the city.


Coore and Crenshaw are known for building courses with ample width to allow the player to spray their shots a bit, while rewarding the player who plays to and from the correct angles.  A task that like isn't as easy in the Phoenix area, where water use and turfed grass acreage is highly regulated.  The Arizona Department of Water Resources dictates that an 18-hole golf course in the Phoenix Active Management Area much have less than 90 acres of turfed ground.  Amazingly, the Saguaro course only has 68 acres of grass!  Stray off of the preferred zones of play and you're faced with desert washes, rocks, lizards, snakes, and the namesake saguaro cacti that litter the surrounds.  So close are the cacti in spots that you can see holes in them where golf balls impaled their flesh.  As is typical at most desert courses, the We-Ko-Pa courses practice the "Desert Rule," which states "In order to speed play, preserve our desert's natural beauty and provide relieve for shots hit into the desert, the player may, under penalty of one stroke, drop a ball within two club lengths of the point where the ball last crossed the turf line."  In other words, every hole is surrounded by lateral water hazards.  If you decide to go hunting for a ball in the desert, here's a piece of friendly advice.  Never enter the desert without a golf club in hand and make plenty of sound by scuffing your feet and banging the club on the ground.  The last thing you want to do is to scare a snake by sneaking up on it.  If it knows you're coming, it will alert you of its presence...from there, it's up to you whether you want to extend your experience with that snake.


Another commonality of many Coore/Crenshaw courses are their walkability.  A walkable course in the Scottsdale area is fairly uncommon as many tracks weave their way through housing developments, so there can be long walks from green to tee as you cross streets and ride through yards.  The Saguaro course was built to be walked...however, I'm not sure how many people actually take advantage of it.  Playing in early June, where temperatures easily stretch into the 110's, I'd be riding, with tons of complimentary water in my cart to keep me hydrated along the way.


There are four colors of tees at Saguaro, with a composite of the two forward tees offering a fifth choice.  The tips are called the Saguaro Tees, and extend to 6,966 yards, playing to a par 71 rating and slope of 72.4 and 138.  I would play the Purple Tees.  A bit emasculating perhaps, but plenty of distance to keep me occupied, and the Saguaro course has more forced carries than its neighbor Cholla (one way they kept the turfed area low).  The purples play to 6,603 yards, and have a rating / slope of 70.7 and 135.  I'll quote those yardages below:

#11, Par 3, 194 Yards


Playing at the left half of the green is the play on this longish par 3.  Bunkers are waiting on the right but a large area of closely mown turf will collect a shot a bit to the left and is a relatively easy up-and-down.

#4, Par 5, 609 Yards


For me, anytime a par 5 stretches over 600 yards, it's a 3-shot hole, and that means three GOOD shots.  Unfortunately, I only took one picture on this hole.  The drive is semi-blind and over a fairway bunker that is just slightly right of center.  There is ample room on either side to spray a drive a bit.  To get home in three, you just need to keep it out of the desert and hit the ball solidly.

#1, Par 4, 443 Yards


No "gentle handshake" to open your round at the Saguaro.  This one is a long opening hole with fairway bunkers down the right side, but plenty of width to land your first driver of the day in play.  The approach plays over a desert wash and into a green that allows a run-up shot but is flanked on the right by a bunker.  An opening par would be a great start but there's nothing wrong with dropping a shot right off the bat either on this tough par 4.

#12, Par 4, 461 Yards


A half-par hole here where par is a very good score and bogey is not a poor score.  There is quite a bit of width off of the tee, and the main hazard on the second shot is a large bunker that sets short and toward the right half of the green.  The best line into the hole, and the line that will allow a run-up shot into the green is from a drive on the left side of the fairway that hugs the fairway bunkers down the left side.  From the right size of the fairway, it's just a tougher line into the hole that must be played over that large bunker.

#13, Par 4, 457 Yards


The second of two back-to-back long par 4's.  Make a score of 9 on these two holes is basically par.  Avoiding a bunker in the fairway is the key from the tee with tons of room on either side of it.  The bunker is 275 yards from the Purple Tees, so hit a long one, making sure you avoid it.  Depending on what side the pin is on, you want to stay on that side of the fairway bunker to have the best angle into the hole.  From the wrong side, you'll need to potentially carry a shot over a small bunker that is front and center of the green.

#8, Par 5, 498 Yards


Another example of the distance varieties that Coore & Crenshaw provide.  After playing the third hole at 609 yards, the next par 5 is a more manageable 498 yards and definitely provides a birdie chance.  The hole goes uphill with a steady bend to the left with on the left off the tee and then on either side in the layup zone.  Being on the right side of the fairway provides the best angle into the green.This is the only hole at Saguaro with even a drop of water in site, though it's well off to the left and not really in play.

#2, Par 4, 299 Yards


One of the things I really like about Coore/Crenshaw courses is that you'll always find an incredible amount of variety in distance across the par 3's, 4's, and 5's.  They'll always provide long, short, and medium versions of each hole, so for every hole par 4 that stretches past 440 yards (there are four of them at Saguaro), you'll get some shorties to even it out too (Saguaro has four par 4's that play to 299, 305, 322, and 315 yards).  So, right after playing a long opener, you get a short par 4 next.  Given the length of the hole, the target zone is much tighter from the tee with bunkers straddling the fairway much of the way.  Unless you're very comfortable with your driver this early in the round, keep it in your bag and just get the ball in play.

View into the green from the right side

We-Ko-Pa Golf Club (Saguaro)

Fort McDowell, Arizona


https://wekopa.com/golf/saguaro/


Checked Off The Bucket List June 3, 2013


Golf Magazine:
#41, Top 100 Courses You Can Play (2014)
#2, Best Public Golf Courses in Arizona (2014)

Golf Digest:
#21, Best in the State of Arizona (2015-2016)

#5, Par 3, 159 Yards


A sharp looking par 3 here with two bunkers on either side of the front of the green.

#18, Par 4, 490 Yards


The last hole at Saguaro is a real bear and makes you feel like you're playing a finishing hole in the US Open.  There aren't many 490-yard par 4's out there from a set of tee that plays only 6,600 yards.  However, this is the punishment you get for being handed four par 4's less than 325 yards.  A huge bunker is on the right side of the fairway, but is out of reach for most players.  If you're not long enough to get to the green in two, there is a small bunker on the left side of the fairway that must be avoided in the layup zone.  A par is a tremendous score on this finishing hole and earns a cocktail at the 19th hole.

#6, Par 4, 406 Yards


An uphill par 4 here with a dogleg to the left and awesome mountain views in the distance.  Bunkers line the inside of the dogleg to a drive out to the middle or right side is the safest play.  There is no trouble around the green and an ample area to the right of the green to collect balls that miss the target.

#17, Par 4, 372 Yards


A wide and undulating fairway that kicks right to left makes it a bit trickier to get on the right side of the fairway, which is the preferred side.  From that right side, it's an open line into the green that avoids the greenside bunkers that guard the left half.