Grayhawk Golf Club - Scottsdale, Arizona

- Surrounded by great golf courses in every direction, the Grayhawk Golf Club in golf-crazy Scottsdale continues to stand above the crowd.

The Grayhawk Golf Club’s ability to attract golf stars – who, of course, attract TV cameras – keeps the 36-hole club in the national limelight. Both the Talon and the Raptor courses are good enough to be considered among the top dozen public courses in Arizona, and the top 30 overall in the state. However, it’s the excitement and drama that the pros deliver which makes Grayhawk more likely to end up on must-play lists for many traveling golfers.

Grayhawk has been hosting world-class events almost since its inception. One year after opening, the Talon course hosted the first of several renditions of the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf (now the Accenture Match Play).

Greg Norman won the second edition of the tournament in 1996 by making birdie on the final hole to beat Scott Hoch, 1-up. Colin Montgomery landed a rare victory on U.S. soil in the event in 1998 on the Raptor course. Tom Lehman won the first Williams World Challenge (later the Target World Challenge) to benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation in 2000 by birdiing five of the last six holes to beat David Duval.

During the tournament, Ernie Els once brushed up against a tennis ball-sized cactus flower called a jumping cholla and required a paramedic to remove it. Now that’s a good reason to keep the ball in the fairway. The 2004 and 2005 Tommy Bahama Challenges featured up-and-comers like future major champions Geoff Oglivy and Zach Johnson.

The PGA Tour has called Grayhawk home the past two years. The 2007 Fry's Electronics Open showcased the comeback of Mike Weir, who made two clutch pars on the last two holes on the Raptor to get his first win since The Masters. Cameron Beckman captured the 2008 Frys.com Open in a playoff over Kevin Sutherland after a blistering final-round 63. 

No matter who wins these tournaments, though, the star of Grayhawk will always be Phil Mickelson, the local hero who played college golf nearby at Arizona State University. The club celebrates Mickelson’s every move, and even named its stylish Phil’s Grill after Lefty. This bar, tucked inside a lavish 40,000-square-foot clubhouse, recently ranked among the nation’s top 50 “19th holes” by Golf Digest.

“I just can't say enough about how great it has been for our facility to have an ambassador like Phil represent us everywhere he plays,” Grayhawk general manager Joe Shershenovich told www.pgatour.com earlier this year. “He's had our club logo on his bag for over 10 years - and it's been a privilege and honor for us to have had such a relationship with one of the premier players in the world. We all celebrate his success and are excited about his continued ties to Grayhawk.”

There’s no questioning who is Grayhawk’s favorite son, but there is plenty of debate about which is the best course, the Talon or Raptor. Another debate played out regularly in Phil’s Grill: What is the best hole? Both the 6,973-yard Talon and the 7,135-yard Raptor provides wondrous views of the McDowell Mountains with holes that skirt thick stands of Mesquite, Palo Verde and Ironwood trees. Ancient Saguaros and numerous species of native flowering plants dot the out-of-play desert areas.

Former U.S. Open and PGA Champion David Graham and golf course architect Gary Panks built the Talon’s back nine around a series of deep box canyons. Graham and Panks made the fairways appear smaller than their true size. Most of the greens are quite large, although multi-tiered, an element that effectively reduces their size. The par-5, 465-yard third hole finishes with “the three sisters,” a stack of ominous wooden-planked bunkers guarding the green’s right side. These are three girls which no golfer would wish to meet.

The 17th hole is “Devil’s Drink,” Grayhawk’s answer to the famous island green at the TPC of Sawgrass. It plays to an island green just 126 yards away, even shorter than No. 17 at Sawgrass, but the water is just as formidable. The round finishes with a par 5 of 552 yards, requiring a 180-yard carry to the fairway. A scenic waterfall sits near the green.

The Raptor, sculpted by Tom Fazio, meanders over gentle hills and a dozen or more subtle canyons, offering generous fairways pinched by more bunkers than its sister course. Fazio perched his greens above deep sand pits and grass collection areas. A natural creek empties into a man-made lake between holes 10 and 18.

Highlights crescendo throughout the round. The 156-yard eighth hole, which plays downhill with water on the left, is called “Aces and Eights” for a reason. Players either hit the two-tiered green or they’re in trouble. Much like Talon, the Raptor ends with a risk-reward par-5 with water all along the right side, a slicer’s nightmare.

A Peter Kostic-Gary McCord Learning Center is a first-class amenity at the club, just another feather in Grayhawk’s cap. For more information, visit www.grayhawk.com.