Stone Canyon in Tucson AZ

I just played a wonderful golf course down in Tucson (actually Oro Valley) called STONE CANYON CLUB. My friend Mike Assum introduced me to Dan Gleason, who is a career writer (unlike me, a one book wonder). It is just down the road from THE GALLERY AT DOVE MOUNTAIN where on this Sunday, Tiger Woods was beating Stewart Cink in the final round of the Accenture Match Play. I have not been to Dove Mountain, but from what I understand these courses couldn’t be much different.

As I was playing the top 100, one of my favorite design teams was Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. I was so sad to see them break up. But Jay Morrish designed this one by himself and it is terrific. Jay Morrish said himself, “This is by far the best desert golf course site I have ever seen.” And I think I may agree. And I have played some pretty wonderful desert golf courses.

It is in a community snuggled up against the nearby Tortolita Mountains. It has wild elevation changes, strips of emerald fairways winding through boulders, cacti and cascading waterfalls. Stone Canyon has an intriguing collection of par threes. One across an abyss framed by one of the courses waterfalls and three others that start out on majestic tee boxes and give you mostly down hill looks at magnificent green complexes.

The par-fives also have captivating character. Up hill, down hill and relatively level. Number 15 for example, plays almost like a triple dogleg with out cropping and bunkers defining the meandering fairway. Number 10 on the other hand is closer to a double dogleg with a very generous driving area and then it tightens down (chokes down may be a better term) from there, forcing you to hit your next two shots around a large lake. (and they better be precise)

The course finishes with a very long par- 4, but on the tee box, we stood so high above the fairway that our tee shots produced hang time that would make an NFL punter proud.

My new friend Dan Gleason, reminded me several times before we teed off that he had not picked up a golf club in over 5 weeks, but that did not stop him for shooting a lights-out 35 on the front 9. Not quite that good on the back, but hey that is nothing to sneeze at. I had 6 pars on the day, which is good for me but I also had 4 holes where I drove it into the desert, which quickly made my score much higher than I had intended. All in all it was a wonderful day. This is a very expensive housing development and the homes we saw were magnificent. Take a look for yourself at www.stonecanyon.com.
Oh I almost forgot to mention, Jay Morrish has a very challenging way of presenting short, challenging par 4’s. Like number 17 a devilish 275-yard par 4. Don’t confuse this with the 280-yard par three that Oakmont threw at the U.S. Open this year. I doubt there are many pros who could bring one in high enough and soft enough to hold this green, so it’s really drivable in distance only. Seems like it ought to be easy, but it’s a beauty cloaked in danger. I did manage to get a par here however.