Legend Trail Golf Club

Legend Trail GC is a stunning golf oasis in the middle of the high Sonoran desert that features great conditioning, wide fairways, perfectly level, island tee boxes, bent grass greens, strategically placed bunkers and crushed granite cart paths. Small wonder it has been chosen as one of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 courses. Also rated by Golf Digest magazine as one of the "Best Places To Play." In addition (pay attention ladies) they were rated by Golf For Women magazine as one of the Top 100 Woman-Friendly Fairways. 

Owned and managed by the Scottsdale Golf Group (better known as owners of the John Jacobs Golf Schools) this is a course that delivers on it's promises. Meandering through desert washes and arroyos it features breathtaking panoramic views of the high Sonoran desert and Pinnacle Peak and is always in immaculate condition. I think their back nine is one of the most interesting nine holes of golf in the state of Arizona, no two holes are alike and it's just a fun course to play. With the "Long Trail" playing at a distance of 6,845 yards, it's a fair test of golf and challenging for high and low handicappers alike.  I think one of the things most high handicappers (like me) enjoy about the course is that while it is definitely a desert, target style golf course, it is not as penalizing as some. It is a course that was designed to challenge players of all skill levels.

I will never forget when I first played the course. I don't remember the exact date but it was in the summer sometime in the early 90's. The original owners were about two weeks away from opening to the public when they invited a friend and golf writer, Mike Cox, who at the time was writing the Golf & On The Move section of Golf Magazine, to play the golf course. He invited me to join him and who could refuse the opportunity to play a new course, before anyone else, and have it all to themselves? It's a golfers dream, right? Now you have to understand I was still in my late 30's at the time, still what you would consider young and playing in the heat never really bothered me. Of course I always took the usual precautions, plenty of sun screen, hat, loose and light colored clothing, rode in a cart, drank lots of water, etc. However, what us two desert rats did not realize, was that since the course was not yet open, there were no water coolers on each hole like you see on every other desert course here. Without realizing what we were doing we teed off on the first hole - waterless! Well, this was July you see and it was about noon when we teed off and if I remember correctly it was about 117 degrees in the shade that day. About the fourth hole we realized that duh, there was not going to be any water. Somehow we managed to get through the front nine but I remember almost falling over as I picked my ball out of the cup on the 9th hole. Hey, we thought, we'll just go over to the clubhouse and fill up like a couple of camels, right? Wrong! The clubhouse was still under construction and the water was not turned on yet! None of the workers  would part with their bottled water for any amount of money, all we could get were a couple of cups of ice! So did we quit like sane people would and come back another time, nooooo, not us. Thankfully as we were making our way to the 10th tee we passed the maintenance shack and saw a garden hose laying on the ground next to it. Could it be? YES!, there was water there!. We drank that hot water like it was ice-cold champaign, filled our cups and continued on. 

I have played the course many times since then, even hosting my own tournament, The National Team Championship, with a practice round there in December of 98. That year it snowed! But that's another story.

Legend Trail Golf Club, 9462 E. Legendary Lane, Scottsdale, Arizona 85262