Whirlwind Golf Course

Devil's Claw, in particular, has earned a strong regional reputation as one of the better resort-style desert tracks in the Phoenix-Chandler corridor — a stretch of the East Valley that quietly became one of America's most golf-dense communities during the Sun Belt boom of the 1990s and 2000s. The design uses arroyos and natural desert waste areas as both hazard and scenery, demanding strategic ball placement off the tee.

Playing Whirlwind means reckoning with the Sonoran Desert's particular brand of consequence: miss the short grass and recovery is rarely simple. The warm, dry climate makes this a year-round destination, though the shoulder seasons — spring and fall — bring the most comfortable conditions and the region's peak golf traffic.