Golf At Chaparral Pines

Our day began with a 70 mile drive up hwy 87 from Phoenix. We are climbing 4000 feet in elevation and winding through high sonoran desert with hundreds of Suguarros, followed by stacked boulders and finally reaching the Pine forest of Payson Az.


The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines is a bit of northern Minnesota dropped in Payson Arizona. It was opened in 1997 and designed by David Graham and Gary Panks. It was awarded best private modern design by Golf Digest the year it opened and is consistently ranked #12 in Arizona.

Chaparral Pines is private with an almost completely built out housing development in Payson AZ, just 75 miles north of Phx. It is open year round but its high season is May- Oct just the opposite of Phoenix. That is because it sits at over 5000 ft of altitude (Phx is 4000 feet lower) and in the summer days are 8-12 degrees cooler and the evenings are 20-30 degrees cooler-- You can sleep with the windows open and no AC. Quite the contrast to Phoenix, 70 miles away.

This course winds its way through the mountains, cutting its way through the pine forests of Payson. It has lots of elevation changes and rarely a flat lie or a flat hole. Today was very windy, calling for 2-3 club variations not to mention the club variations based on up-hill or downhill shots. I played with my friend Todd the dir. of golf at Blackstone CC here in AZ and we had a terrific time--- twice today (not just once) Todd drove the green on a par 4 (he 3 putted one and birdied the other)
One fascinating architectural feature is there are 5 par 5s and 5 par 3s which, to me, makes for a much more interesting design because usually signature holes tend to be par 5’s and par 3’s

There are lots of trees, rock outcroppings and water hazards on this course which makes accuracy a premium (a big challenge when its windy)
Number 4 is a par 3 over water with a creek running along the right side, flowing into a waterfall just right of the green. A fantastic hole.

This is Elk country and herds of them inhabit the area. Several of the greens, like # 4, have wire elk fences around them. Many of the greens have deep elk hoof marks from when they come through at dusk and dawn and this damages to the greens.
Hole #7 winds its way down the hill just like #13 at Augusta National, one of the more beautiful par-5’s on the course.

Scenic views are everywhere up here, some that sweep for miles but none better than the tee box at #12, where the yardage book says
“Enjoy the view, now turn around and face the hole” You can see the Mogollon rim stretch for miles.
Even the cart paths are notable because it had to take some imagination, the way they wind their way up and down these mountains. We had to cross many bridges over ravines and washes, so many that I lost count.

This must have taken some imagination to route this course through this terrain, and make no mistake about it its not an easy place There are 7 sets of tee boxes ranging from 7019 yards down to 5197
The tips are rated 73.4 and sloped at 142. That is up there.

There is Tennis, a fitness spa and a beautiful lodge-like clubhouse, and plenty more to do in the area, fabulous hiking thru the mountains
Picnics hunting,fishing and horseback riding are widely available. Payson is even home to the oldest continuous running rodeo in the nation which began in 1884.

For more information visit www.chaparralpines.com