We-Ko-Pa: Saguaro Course

Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw opened the Saguaro Course at We-Ko-Pa in 2006, one of the most walker-friendly designs in Sonoran Desert golf. Coore and Crenshaw routed it across gently rolling desert scrub on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation with minimal earthwork, letting the land dictate the holes. Wide fairways, clever angles, and short-grass chipping areas around greens make it a thinker's course. Golfweek ranks Saguaro the #1 Best Course You Can Play in Arizona, a position it's held 15 of the last 16 years. Golf Magazine places it #61 Best Public Course in America (2024); Golfweek has it at #92 (2025) and #78 on Best Resort Courses (2026). Saguaro is also #6 Best Casino Course in America (Golfweek 2025). Previously a Golf Digest 100 Greatest Public honoree. For a Scottsdale trip that wants something different from Troon North's manicured desert-target feel, Saguaro is the walk-in-the-desert alternative.