While the Phoenix area gets the majority of visiting golfers coming to Arizona, Tucson definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. While it lacks in timely direct flights from certain places, there are some spectacular golf courses and the green fees and room rates are usually lower than its neighbor to the North.
The newest golf course is the Troon-managed Sewailo Golf Club at the Casino del Sol Resort. Native American Notah Bejay, a former PGA Tour player, teamed with Ty Butler to turn a relatively flat piece of Pascua Yaqui tribal land into a dramatic course that now winds through rolling terrain now.
Seven lakes, totaling 14 acres, and a mile-long feeder stream that winds through the 18 holes makes Sewailo different from other desert courses. Water comes in to play on more than half of the holes.
Sewailo, pronounced say-why-lo, means “flower world” in the Yaqui language. Thousands of native flowers will indeed make that obvious.
No doubt an homage to Begay’s favorite course, the Old Course at St. Andrews, there’s a massive double green shared by the first and eighth holes.
It’s a course where you probably need to play it one time to get to know it better or otherwise you will find some well-hit shots rolling more than you thought, finding water you really didn’t see from the tee or thought was not in your range. I heard many saying they would have played a certain hole differently if they had known the best line to take.
I can testify about how tough the par 5 10th—600+ yards from back tee—can be as I made a triple bogey, hitting a great drive over the water, but into a deep bunker guarding the safer left side of the fairway. Then I thought I hit good shot to lay up short of the water crossing the fairway, but it rolled too far. Taking a drop, I then tried to hit a 3-wood to reach the green. Oops, I topped it into the water. My second attempt ended up in the greenside bunker where I did get on the green and was conceded an 8 by my opponent, who had just made a net 7 with a stroke.
However, golfers should be able to find proper tees for their ability levels with five other sets to select from. Just be careful as driver is not always the best choice off the tee if you play a tee too close to the green
The bentgrass greens did tend to be a little too soft on the day I played them last December and even with no spikes they showed plenty of rough softs that made putting difficult except for the 25-footer I made on the final hole to win my match.
The target time for getting around the Sewailo resort course is a 4:26 round, but on a day where 70+ golf writers were playing their own stroke play event, it took my foursome more than five hours. Of course, that’s not the norm.
With green fees ranging between $69 to $89 this past winter and spring–even cheaper in thesummer–this means you’ll have more money when you venture to the casino adjacent to the lobby at the resort, featuring a high-rise 215-room hotel that has a spa and fitness center. The resort also has a large entertainment showroom and an international buffet plus a great steak house, The resort is located conveniently south of the city, 15 minutes from the airport.
With more than 30 other golfing options, golfers should find no trouble finding one that fits their budget when visiting Tucson.
