Ritz Carlton At Dove Mountain golf club

RITZ CARLTON AT DOVE MOUNTIAN

It’s luxury personified.

Come for the golf, stay for the elegance, the comfort,
the cuisine—and the desert.

The Ritz Carlton at Dove Mountain, with 209 guest rooms and 44 casitas, opened for business less than a month ago. This beautiful resort is luxury personified, its design a stunning balance of contemporary and southwestern elements. We stayed on the Club level, where we enjoyed cocktails and appetizers in the evening, and Guava juice and a pineapple-banana smoothie for breakfast—the perfect way to start the day. If you want elegance combined with an active outdoor lifestyle, topped off each evening with great dining, then this is the place for you.

Golf course
The Ritz Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain is world-class. In February, it will host the Accenture Match Play Championship for the second time. Jeff Ogilvy, the defending champion, told us about changes to the course, a Jack Nicklaus design nestled against the Tortolita Mountains and routed through a forest of saguaro cactuses. (MIGHT MENTION CHANGES HERE—IF THEY ARE IMPORTANT)
In typical Nicklaus style, there are many uphill approaches to elevated greens with lots of undulation and a wide variety of pin placements. They will be a true challenge for the top 64 players in the world, and are a fair challenge for you too—if you play from the right tee boxes. The choices range from 7800 down to 5300 yards. The fairways are firm, so the length is not as harsh as it appears on the scorecard, but watch out for those rolling greens. One thing surprised me—no yardage book and no GPS on the carts, so you have to pay close attention to where you are going and work out distances for yourself. There are actually 27 holes of golf here, but the third nine is not open yet.

Cuisine
There were 14 travel writers on this trip. The first night, we all had dinner at Cayton’s in the golf clubhouse. It may be the most spectacular clubhouse I have ever been in, and I saw some good ones while playing the top 100 golf courses in the U.S. It’s 45,000 square feet of pure luxury. For the second year in a row, I had the short rib sliders, Cayton’s to-die-for signature dish. Short rib sliders?! You’ll be begging for the recipe after the first bite.

The second night we had dinner in Chef Joel Harrington’s Core Kitchen, the hotel’s most elegant restaurant. I had the Sweet Potato Puree, an outstanding soup, and Wyoming buffalo medallions with garlic fries. Never had buffalo before, but this was outstanding. Joel is a creative, passionate and exuberant chef who visits all the tables and explains just why his dishes taste so great. If you didn’t believe in his gastronomical magic before, you will after you talk with him. He even graced our table with a side of avocado fries. New to me . . . but yum!

Spa

The 17,000 square-foot spa and fitness center offers a selection of treatments that reflect Dove Mountain’s peaceful natural surroundings, including wellness counseling, body (IS SOMETHING MISSING HERE?) and anti-aging therapies. The fitness center is open 24 hours a day. I had a massage from Edward, who is strong and specializes in deep tissue sports massage. He dug deep into muscles that were tightening up after a round of golf.

Hiking trip and desert jeep tour
At 7 A.M. we took a one hour hike into the foothills to learn about desert wildlife and see a beautiful sunrise over the Sonoran desert. Our guide was superb.
This was followed by a 90-minute jeep tour through the desert, where we learned about the medicinal values of various cactuses and even tasted some of their flowers. Then our guide found a tarantula, which we held in our hands. That was an experience. I had come for the golf, but the hike and jeep ride are not to be missed
LocationDove Mountain is 30 minutes north of the Tucson International Airport, 80 minutes south of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, or 15 minutes from Marana Regional Airport. Just a few miles away is the Pinal Airpark, where the major airlines are parking excess planes as they cut capacity. There are thousands of planes there, but don’t try flying in—unless it’s to deliver a plane for storage.

Oh, did I mention the pools? You will just have to go see them for yourself!
for more information visit
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/DoveMountain/Default.htm?om_a=map