2022 Desert Tour - Scottsdale & Palm Springs

DAY 1: Arrive Palm Springs – transfer to hotel.

Arrive  Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport (PHX)

Make your own way to:

The Scott Resort & Spa

4925 N Scottsdale Road                        SCOTTSDALE AZ 85251

The Resort is 12 Miles from the Airport—approx. a 20 min drive.

Check In : The Scott Resort & Spa

Less than 5 minutes’ drive to Old Town Scottsdale, this friendly hotel and spa boasts a torch-lit pool, a sandy beach pool and a sun terrace. All rooms include plush bathrobes and premium spa-inspired bath amenities. A flat-screen TV, iHome docking station, and an in-room laptop safe are provided in each room. All rooms at The Scott Resort & Spa are air-conditioned, non-smoking and offer an honour bar. The Canal Club serves Caribbean-inspired cuisine daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner and accommodates guests with special dietary needs. During the day, lighter meals and cocktails are available at the Canal Club Poolside Bar. The Scott Resort & Spa is truly an oasis in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale.

Evening: Welcome Dinner including Drinks

DAY 2:  Golf: GRAYHAWK GOLF CLUB—TALON COURSE

The Talon at Grayhawk Golf Club, designed by past US Open Champion David Graham and architect Gary Panks, is one of the most exciting and dramatic tests of Sonoran Desert golf in the Southwest.

It has been included on Golf Magazine’s prestigious list of the “Top 100 You Can Plan in the US”.  The Talon course provides breathtaking views of the nearby McDowell Mountains as well as the Phoenix/Scottsdale skyline. The course blends into the desert. And uniquely, Talon’s back nine is built around a series of deep box canyons with a handful of holes laid out along steep drop-offs and thick stands of Mesquite, Palo Verde and Ironwood trees.

Most of the greens are quite large with distinctive tiers.  The areas around the greens are typically generous, giving golfers a fair shot at salvaging par after wayward approaches. Challenging play for golfers of every skill level.

Evening: By Own Arrangements

DAY 3: Golf: GRAYHAWK—RAPTOR COURSE

The Tom Fazio designed Raptor course, which opened in 195, is one of the most beautiful courses in the region with spectacular panoramic views of the McDowell Mountains and the surrounding desert dotted with large saguaro cactus.

The layout features generous, rolling fairways with beautiful large ben grass greens. There are few forced desert carries with most holes having fairway the entire route between tee and green. The Raptor has numerous swales and bunkers many of which are large and deep and must be avoided in order to score well.

The Raptor has been listed in Golf Magazine’s “Top 100 You Can Play” and Golf Digest’s “Top 100 Public Courses”. The fairways on the Raptor are giving, though strategic bunkers make bogeys your best bet if you don’t shoot true.

Evening: By Own Arrangements

DAY 4: Day at Leisure

Take the opportunity to explore Scottsdale  or simply relax and enjoy all of the facilities offered at your resort.

Few cities in the Southwest offer the range, diversity, and innovation of the Scottsdale culinary scene. Scottsdale is home to over 600 restaurants. Award winning chefs, along with a large population of young kitchen apprentices, means that there’s no shortage of raw talent in this foodies’ paradise. You’ll find some of Arizona’s most upscale restaurants in Scottsdale, as well as the Southwest’s most adventurous techniques and creative use of indigenous ingredients. Traditional Southwestern flavors provide a basis for bold culinary experiments that fuse traditional Continental, California, and Latin American cooking with Scottsdale’s own unique take on regional and global cuisine. 

DAY 5: Golf: We-Ko-Pa  – Saguaro course

The Saguaro Course at We-Ko-Pa Golf Club combines distinctive desert golf traits with the timeless traditions of golf course design. For example, it’s built for walking with greens situated near to the next tee. It follows the natural movement of the land; they didn’t move much dirt. And the playing corridors are wider when compared to target golf design.

Like its sister course, Saguaro has garnered numerous awards and accolades from golf industry leading publications. Golf Digest give it the 4th spot in its 2020-2021 list of the “Best in State Rankings: Arizona,” which considers both public and private courses across the state. And, Golfweek magazine honored Saguaro with three “Golfweek’s Best” ranking: 5th on the “Casino Courses” list for 2020; No.1 for 14-15 straight years “Best Courses You Can Play: State by State” most recently in 2021; and No.44 on Golfweek’s 2020 list of America’s “Best Resort Courses.”

Like many of the courses in Scottsdale, the terrain is spectacular with a scenic layout offering a great desert golfing experience in the shadow of Red Mountain, Four Peaks and Superstitions.

Don’t miss out on Saguaro at We-Ko-Pa.

Evening: By Own Arrangements

Day 6: Golf: Troon North – Monument Course.

Another Arizona club with a global reputation, Troon North is a truly special place to play. Monument remains one of the most highly regarded layouts in the area, demanding great accuracy and a fine touch on the lightning fast greens. Tom Weiskopf has recently renovated both the Pinnacle and the Monument courses, making them even better than ever.

Day 7: Transfer to Palm Springs

Palm Springs is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert’s Coachella Valley.  Palm Springs has been a hip and happening hotspot for decades, for good reason. It has a storied history as Hollywood’s desert playground, just two hours drive from Los Angeles. While most people imagine sitting by the pool and drinking cocktails, there is so much more to do than that 

Check In : La Quinta Resort & Club
This luxury resort features 41 pools, 53 hot tubs, 23 tennis courts, and spacious rooms with a flat-screen TV. It is 3.2 km from downtown La Quinta. Dining options at La Quinta Resort & Club, range from fine dining at Morgan’s in the Desert to authentic Mexican cuisine at the Adobe Grill. Ernie’s Sports Bar and Twenty6 also have full bar menus.

Free Wi-Fi and a refrigerator are standard in every room at the La Quinta Resort & Club, Curio Collection. All rooms are decorated with 1920s-inspired décor and include air conditioning.

Evening: By Own Arrangements

Day 8: Golf: PGA WEST—NICKLAUS COURSE

Challenge, beauty and drama permeate every Jack Nicklaus-designed course, and this masterful design is no exception. Around every corner you will find a new challenge, including the rare feature of two island greens. At 7,204 yards long, The Nicklaus Tournament Course has a stroke rating of 75.3 and a slope rating of 143.

A true ball strikers’ golf course, The Nicklaus Tournament along with The Stadium Course is the bi-annual host of the PGA TOUR’s final round of Q-School, which is attended by some of the best players in the world. Nicknamed by Members as the Nick Tourney, it is both very forgiving off the tee and extremely demanding around the greens. Without a doubt, a “must play” for not only a great test of golf, but for its magnificent desert setting.

DAY 9: GOLF: PGA WEST—STADIUM COURSE

When you think of PGA WEST®, it is the Stadium Course that first comes to mind. Rated one of the “Top 100 Courses to play” (2016-2017) by GOLF Magazine and 4th toughest course in America in Golf Digest’s “Top 50 Toughest Courses in America” (2007), there may be no greater challenge or excitement in the game of golf .

A Pete Dye golf course, Stadium delivers multiple adrenaline rushes throughout the round. Stadium is the Host course for the PGA TOUR “Q-School” Finals every other year. Golfer’s must navigate the island green of hole #17, known as Alcatraz, as well as the menacing water-lined 18th as they end their golfing journey. Imagine needing to make par-par on two of the toughest finishing holes in golf to win a PGA TOUR tournament or to earn the coveted PGA TOUR card!

Named “Stadium” thanks to Dye’s ingenious plan to sculpt spectator seating into the natural terrain, many historic moments in golf have occurred here, including Lee Trevino’s unforgettable hole-in-one on Alcatraz. This won him a carry-over Skin worth $175,000 in the 1987 made-for-TV “Skins Game,” hosted at PGA WEST from 1986-1991. With five sets of tees, the Stadium lures all skill levels.

DAY 10: GOLF: LA QUINTA

La Quinta Country Club is not your typical desert course.  It’s described as being a tighter course, well bunkered with mature trees.  It requires strategic course management, which is why both pros and amateurs alike favour it. 

The fairways have been a virtual walk of fame.  The elite of Hollywood, Monarchs, Presidents and The King – Arnold Palmer – have matched their wits and talents with the famous 18 holes LA Quinta Country Club passed the test of time. 

Walk the course and be in the presence of others who voted it the “Best Private Golf Course in the Coachella Valley”, awarded by Palm Springs Life magazine.
Whether you’re a scratch golfer, a beginner, or fall somewhere in between, you’ll soon realize why this is a paradise for all player levels. PGA Tour players have expressed that La Quinta Country Club is one of the best courses they play on tour all year and enjoy coming back. Also, Golf World has named us #26 of “Where PGA Tour Pros Like to Play”. has been called home to many familiar names. 

 Evening: own arrangements

Day 11: GOLF: LA QUINTA—MOUNTAIN COURSE

The Mountain Course, nestled at the base of the picturesque Santa   Rosa Mountains, is famed for its Pete Dye design, playability and stunning visuals. This ultra-challenging course features pot bunkers, rock formations, elevations of tee boxes and well-bunkered greens. The Mountain Course truly steals the show. This is target golf under and sometimes right up against mountains. The No. 1 handicap hole isn’t some long, boring par 5, numbing even as it messes up your scorecard. Dye defies that convention and gives you a 400-yard, par 4 (No. 6) with two forced carries and water to right, the better to gobble up any wayward approach shots that somehow miss rocks. “This is a course worth working into any Palm Springs area trip,” TravelGolf.com West Coast Bureau Chief Chris Baldwin said. “It doesn’t receive the acclaim and disdain of its close neighbour and fellow Dye TPC Stadium course, but it’s actually a more consistently enjoyable play. It wows you with its views and then forces you to make shots. Nothing’s given in game. Those mountain vistas are earned with your shot-making sweat.”

 Evening: Farewell Dinner including Drinks

DAY 13: Check Out and depart Palm Springs. TOUR ENDS

10.00am—Check Out and Depart La Quinta—Transfer to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for Departure.  Suggested flight departures LAX / SYD between 2230 and 2305