Gold Canyon Golf Resort's Mine Shaft Course takes its name from the area's 19th-century copper and silver mining history, a past still visible in the rugged terrain of the Superstition Mountains that form an unmistakable backdrop to the east of Phoenix. This is desert golf in a distinctly Arizona mold — exposed rock, saguaro cactus, arroyos, and elevation changes that make the course play very differently from what its yardage alone might suggest.
Gold Canyon sits on the far eastern edge of the Phoenix–Scottsdale metro, which means the resort sees real quiet compared to the glitzy resort corridors closer to Old Town. The Mine Shaft is the longer and more demanding of the resort's 2 layouts, built to move through natural desert washes and around rock outcroppings that would look at home on a film set. Shot-shaping and course management reward the patient player.
For visitors to the Scottsdale area who want desert scenery without the crowds of the more publicized resort names, Gold Canyon offers a genuine sense of the Sonoran landscape doing the heavy lifting.
