The Ritz Carlton Golf Club Dove Mountain

Dove Mountain is 45 minutes northwest of downtown Tucson, in the Sonoran Desert and the foothills of the Tortolita Mountains. The course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, opened in 2009 and hosted the Accenture Match Play tournament. There's a total of 27 holes here with the two tournament nines—the Saguaro and Tortolita measuring 7,833 yards, 147 slope from the tournament tees, but have 4 other sets of tees. The other two courses here by John Fought and Tom Lehman are private, but you can play Dove Mountain if you stay at the Ritz. It's a desert style of course, but there seemed to be plenty of room off the tee, the course's main defense is the greens, small and with a lot of sloping and undulations, surrounded by bunkers. They provide you with a forecaddie here, which is a nice touch, that helps when you loose a ball in the desert scrub. Some good elevation change, beautiful scenery, especially in the late afternoon, and very expensive. Dove Mountain is a gigantic master-planned golf resort community that seems like it's not taking off as planned, but as long as the Ritz is affiliated with the course, it will be in excellent condition.