My Quest to Check Off Golf's Best Experiences

#18, "Club House," Par 4, 414 Yards


Unfortunately, while searching for one of my playing partner's balls on the 17th, we were informed by a rules official that we were a hole behind and needed to catch up or face a penalty.  Though this warning was ridiculous, and unwarranted, we basically ran on the 18th hole and I had no time to take any pictures.  It's a tough dogleg left and not one you want to play in a rush!  Keep it left of the first fairway bunker on the right and you'll have the best line into the hole.  The best miss into the green is long or short, with trouble on either side.

The Pinnacle Course is solid and there are a lot of breathtaking views throughout.  One of the main differences between Pinnacle and Monument are the number of washes that come into play and need to be carried on the Pinnacle.  I counted nine holes that have them in play, not counting three other par 3's with forced carries of some form or another.  This one just felt more like target golf than the Monument with fewer ways to play each hole.  I'm not sure it lives up to the #20 public course in America, as Golf Magazine says, but regardless, it was a fun course to play, and I'd recommend it to anyone in the Phoenix area.

#14, "Cross Country," Par 5, 565 Yards


After a couple breathers, you're back to work at #14.  This long dogleg right has a pretty small landing area off the tee.  288 yards will put you through the fairway off the tee.  265 will carry the right-hand fairway bunker, but there's not much space to land it over that trap.  The landing area opens up a bit for your second shot, with only a fairway bunker about about 50 yards from the green that gets in your way.

#15, "Mira Vista," Par 4, 363 Yards


Straight away par 4 here.  No bunkers surround the fairway, so you can let it fly.  Two nasty bunkers are around a very small green, but avoid them, and it's smooth sailing on this one.  

#16, "Post Card," Par 3, 132 Yards


A great looking par 3 here.  Water to carry, but it's only a wedge or short iron, so it only punishes a pretty bad shot.The green is very shallow on the right and deeper on the left, so take that into account when determining how aggresive to be depending on where the pin is.

#17, "Soap Tree," Par 4, 409 Yards


Two fairway bunker are in the middle of the fairway, similar to a UK links hole.  They need to be avoided obviously.  No trouble around the green.  The hole is pretty wide off the tee and a bit tighter up by the green.

#11, "The Saddle," Par 5, 528 Yards


A hard dogleg right, you can hit driver off this tee.  However, the hole tightens up significantly where you would land a second shot and a smaller wash crosses the fairway just short of the green as well.  Be careful here and keep the ball out of trouble to score well.  Only one bunker on this hole is through the fairway off the tee and a 311 drive from the gold's.  Other than that, just grass and desert.

#12, "Cinder Cone," Par 4, 409 Yards


Driver is the right play here and there are no bunkers in the fairway to get in your way.  Another wash to carry between you and the green, but a wide green awaits your approach.  A relatively easy hole for the Pinnacle Course.



#13, "Saguaro," Par 3, 170 Yards


All right in front of you with three bunkers protecting the front and back of the green.  No real penalty for missing right or left.  Take advantage of #12 and #13, because they're pretty good scoring opportunities with less trouble than much of the rest of the course.

#10, "The Pinnacle," Par 4, 385 Yards


Named for its view of Pinnacle Peak in the distance, the first hole of the back side is a par 4 that requires placement off the tee.  A drive of 270 or longer from the gold tees will find itself in the cross bunker,   Beyond that, a large wash crosses the fairway.  With bunkers surrounding much of the landing area from the, whatever you can hit straight it what you should hit.  You don't want to be coming into this green from trouble.

#9, "Chuparosa," Par 4, 383 Yards


The last hole of the par-35 opening nine.  This one bends to the left, with another wash crossing the fairway between the drive and approach.  It's a pretty small fairway, and a fairway wood isn't a bad play.  The further to the right you go with your drive, the better the approach angle into this green.

#6, "Carefree," Par 3, 190 Yards


The first par 3 at the Pinnacle, but not really a hole to relax and let your guard down.  This is the easiest hole on the side by handicap, but it's still a mid-to-long iron to a wide but fairly shallow green with a nasty bunker fronting it.  As you can maybe see, the pin was all the way left when I played it...the toughest spot on this hole.

#7, "Deer Crossing," Par 4, 416 Yards


This one goes to the right around a bunch of boulders.  It's about 225 yards to get to the boulders, and obviously you don't want to hit into them.  Taking driver is probably the right play here to get past them.  A wash juts out at about 300 yards from the right side.  The green sits on a diagonal away from the player from left to right with a bunker in the front.  A high fade is the right play into this green.

#8, "McDowell Vista," Par 3, 176 Yards


Not a large green here and it looks even smaller than it is from the tee.  with the bunker on the front, it's all carry to the hole.  There's more room to the right of this hole than you can see from the tee.

#2, "Bobcat Hill," Par 4, 388 Yards


Up and hill and potentially to a blind landing area, this is another whole where I'd advise just getting the ball in play.  The fairway narrows as you get closer to the green, so a shot of 230-240 is plenty to leave yourself a manageable approach.  The approach carries another desert wash area and has bunkers surrounding the green and protecting the front half.

#3, "Sunset Peak," Par 4, 430 Yards


I didn't have my "photographer" with me today, and playing in a tournament, my selection of photographs wasn't terribly good.  Basically one just record shot per hole.  No major sources of trouble on the drive here as long as you keep it short of a piece of desert that juts out into the fairway at about 290 yards from the gold tees.  It's a downhill tee shot, so you could probably reach the trouble with a good drive.  Greenside bunkers are only on the right side.  Being a longer par 4, this hole is more conducive to running the ball up if need be.  No wash to carry or other trouble in front of the green.

#4, "Tomahawk," Par 4, 399 Yards


The fourth consecutive par 4 to open up the Pinnacle Course.  It's 255 yards to fly the right-hand bunker and reach the fairway.  The hole bends to the right roughly at that distance.  Two bunkers front the green, but shouldn't come into play for an approach that has enough distance to carry to the middle.

#5, Dos Caminos," Par 5, 500 Yards


Target golf at its finest.  The fairway gets a bit wider in the landing zone if you pull drive, but it's still fairly tight.  You'll need to make a decision on your second shot.  It's not a long hole, so going for it is possible.  However, it requires you to carry a wash area, and land it in a pretty tight area.  Rather than turn the corner to this dogleg left, you can also choose to hit a layup shot straight away, and then come in with a wedge to the green.  As you name of the hole says, there are two roads.

The Pinnacle Course is the second of the Troon North courses, and many think the better of the two courses.  My opinion is necessary in agreement with them, but nevertheless, this is a very good golf course.  It was the last course I played on my Arizona trip, which included seven consecutive days of golf, so it's possible I was a bit burned out and didn't appreciate it as much as some of the others.


Rather than repeating everything I said about Troon North on my review of the Monument Course, please just go to that page to read some generic stuff about Troon North and Arizona golf.

 

The Pinnacle Course is a bit harder than the Monument, with very a slightly higher rating/slope, but playing to a par of 71 rather than 72.  There are more carries of desert washes and I felt like some of the shots were a bit tighter than on the Monument.  It's 7,009 yards from the tips, and 6,635 yards from the gold tees, which will likely get more play.  73.0/149 from the tips and 71.7/137 from the golds.  Plenty of difficulty for a course with a par of 71.  I'll quote the distances from the golds:

#1, "Mackenzie," Par 4, 378 Yards


The first hole is a sharp dogleg left with an uphill approach into the green.  The key to the drive is really just to get your ball in play, and on a first hole, that's not always all that simple.  A fairway wood can be plenty of club to leave yourself an 8 iron or less into the green.  It's 248 to carry the fairway bunker on the right and 262 to reach the bunker on the left, so staying short of them is the safest play.  No bunkers up by the green, but plenty of desert and boulders to intimidate.

Troon North Golf Club (Pinnacle Course)

Scottsdale, Arizona




Checked off the Bucket List June 9 2013



Golf Magazine:

#20, Top 100 Courses You Can Play (2012)

#1, Best Public Golf Courses in Arizona (2012)


Golf Digest:

#23, Best in the State of Arizona (2013-2014)