Kierland Golf Club

Another of Scottsdale's fine courses open to the public. Designed by Scott Miller and managed by Troon Golf, this facility with three distinctive nine hole golf courses, named after the dominant vegetation on each, Mesquite, Ironwood and Acacia is different from any other desert golf experience you will find in Scottsdale. I have heard it described as a "Parklands" course, yet it also features desert terrain making it the first of it's kind in Scottsdale. Emerald green fairways are in direct contrast to the natural desert grasses, spread out over ever-changing elevations to almost perfect tif-eagle, bermuda greens. There are more than three hundred bunkers laid strategically amongst the three courses, each offering it's own risk-reward approaches. There are lakes, dry desert washes, Mesquite, Palo Verde and many other colorful desert flora.

At Kierland Golf Club, following the Troon Golf mantra, each guest is treated as a member. Customer service is second to none and the staff is first rate. It is also home to the Golf Digest Golf School under the direction of Mike and Sandy LaBauve, two VERY knowledgeable golf instructors and VERY nice people. I have known them both for over 20 years and they are just about a Scottsdale institution all to themselves. (Mike might not remember but he fixed a flaw in my swing when he was a Pro back at Stonecreek, MANY moons ago and I was there when Sandy announced that she was expecting her first child). The club also offers a state-of-the-art teaching and practice facility, a beautiful clubhouse/pro shop/restaurant decorated in Southwest motif, complemented by a first-class pro shop. 

One of the many things I like about Kierland is it's central location in North Scottsdale. This happens to be a facility located in the neighborhood where I live and is just a block west of Scottsdale Rd at Greenway-Hayden (I still can't get used to the lights of the Westin as I approach home from the west at night). The course came first, built in the mid 90's and the rumor at the time was that there was to be a 700 room resort, shopping complex, restaurants and all kinds of neat stuff to be built there. It was hard to believe but over the years I watched it all happen! Now in the year 2008 it seems as if it was always there. From where I live it's a about a three minute commute to Barnes & Noble, Tommy Bahamas, Artifax, Smith & Hawken or any of the other wonderful shops located there. The Kierland area operates as it's own community with condos, office space (Troon Golf is there), lofts, high-end shopping at Kierland Commons, great restaurants like PF Changs, Mortens Steakhouse, Ocean Club and a slew of others. It's a great place to stroll and people watch.

But I digress, we were talking about the golf courses. My favorite nine at Kierland is the Acacia course. It starts out with a great par 5 and ends with an even better one. From the tee atop the ninth hole you can see forever and it's an amazing thing about Scottsdale. It's relatively flat in the more populated areas so if you get up high at all, even on the roof of your house, you can see a long way. This is particularly true of the Acacia course at Kierland. You would never know it until you were out on the course that there were that many elevation changes and that makes for some fun golf, especially like #9 where you tee off down the hill and it feels like a hundred foot drop. Ironwood and Mesquite are great courses as well but without the dramatic elevation changes. Solid designs and immaculate conditions makes for fun golf. The greens are pure and roll very true which is another mark of the Troon Golf Experience.

Kierland Golf Club 15636 N. Clubgate Drive, Scottsdale, Arizona 85254