Rio Rico Resort & Country Club

Robert Trent Jones Sr. laid out this desert mountain course in the early 1970s as the centerpiece of a planned resort community in the Santa Cruz River valley, roughly 15 miles north of the Mexican border. The routing takes full advantage of the high Sonoran Desert terrain — elevation changes are genuine and dramatic, with views that sweep across the borderlands into Sonora on clear days. RTJ's characteristic blend of demanding par 4s and reachable par 5s translates particularly well to this topography, where the course plays through rolling high desert rather than the flat scrubland more typical of Phoenix or Tucson.

Rio Rico sits in Santa Cruz County, Arizona's southernmost and least-traveled golfing corner. The climate here runs cooler than the Valley of the Sun, making it playable well into summer afternoons when Scottsdale courses are genuinely punishing. The surrounding landscape is a mix of mesquite, sycamore along the creek drainages, and the iconic saguaro and ocotillo of the Sonoran Desert.

The resort setting gives the course a relaxed, unhurried character — a far cry from the high-production tournament venues to the north. Visitors tend to come specifically for the experience rather than passing through, which keeps the atmosphere low-key and the pace comfortable.