DeSoto

DeSoto is the original of Hot Springs Village's nine-course portfolio, a 1972 Edmund Ault design that opened with the gated community itself and still sets the tone for the rest of the Village's golf. The 6,664-yard par-72 layout is player-friendly, wide corridors, modest slope (131), and firm-but-generous greens on Champion Tif-Dwarf bermuda that roll out better than most expect. Ault, one of the most prolific Mid-Atlantic architects of his era, worked through the rolling Ouachita foothills rather than against them. The finishing stretch is the memorable stretch: a par-5 at the 16th, a strategic mid-length par-4 at the 17th, and a stunning par-5 at the 18th that closes the round with a genuine reachable-or-lay-up decision. For the Hot Springs Village trip visitor who is rotating through the nine courses, DeSoto is the right introductory round, playable, scenic, and quintessentially Arkansas parkland. The POA-run operation keeps green fees accessible, which makes a three-to-five-course Village sampler realistic on a long weekend.