DOVE VALLEY RANCH GC

The high Sonoran Desert delivers one of Arizona's most underrated tests, where elevated tees launch drives across arroyos studded with towering saguaros and palo verde trees. Robert Trent Jones Jr.'s routing maximizes the dramatic elevation changes of the McDowell Mountain foothills, creating approach shots that play significantly longer or shorter than the yardage suggests. The par-3 17th epitomizes desert golf at its finest—a nerve-testing carry over a deep wash to a green framed by massive granite boulders that seems to float against the Four Peaks backdrop.