Arizona National Golf Club

Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed Arizona National Golf Club in 1996, set in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains and abutting the Coronado National Forest. The course is an environmentally-responsible classic Sonoran desert layout, RTJ Jr. followed the rugged natural flow of the land across shady mesquite-lined arroyos and around craggy rock outcroppings rather than bulldozing them flat. 6,785 yards par-71 with bentgrass greens and Bermuda fairways. The course serves as the home course for the University of Arizona golf program and has been voted Best Public Golf Course in Tucson. RTJ Jr. is sometimes called 'the Frank Lloyd Wright of golf course architecture' for his ability to design courses in harmony with their natural settings, Arizona National is a textbook example. Peak green fee runs $115-185 depending on season. Fits a Tucson trip as the 'RTJ Jr. desert minimalist' card alongside the parkland Catalina at Omni Tucson National and the Palmer/Cupp 27-hole complex at JW Starr Pass.