Encanto Golf Course

Few municipal courses in the American Southwest carry the kind of civic history that Encanto does. Opened in 1935 as part of Phoenix's Depression-era public works investment, it stands as one of the oldest public courses in Arizona — a place where generations of Valley residents have learned the game, played their first rounds, and kept coming back long after their handicaps led them elsewhere.

The course occupies a shaded, mature stretch of Encanto Park in central Phoenix, one of the city's oldest and most beloved green spaces. Ancient trees line the fairways and create a rare sense of canopy and enclosure that feels genuinely apart from the surrounding urban grid — a quality that's increasingly hard to find in a desert metropolis built around width and sun. The layout plays to a par of 70, which signals a shorter, tighter design that rewards accuracy and course management over raw power.

For visitors to Phoenix, Encanto offers an honest, unhurried round at a price that reflects its public mission. For locals, it's simply part of the fabric of the city.