TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course

Few American golf courses carry the electric atmosphere of TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course. Designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish and opened in 1987, it was built from the ground up to host professional tournament golf — and it shows. The course is the permanent home of the WM Phoenix Open, one of the PGA Tour's most attended events, drawing crowds that routinely exceed 200,000 for the week. The par-3 16th hole, a short iron into an amphitheater surrounded by roaring grandstands, is unlike anything else in professional golf: part stadium, part spectacle, part carnival.

The course sits within the McDowell Sonoran Desert landscape north of Scottsdale, and the design makes full use of that setting — saguaro cactus, desert scrub, and sandy waste areas frame virtually every hole. The terrain is relatively flat, but strategic bunkering and firm Bermuda turf demand precision.

Playing here means stepping into a course that was engineered to perform under a spotlight. Even during a quiet Tuesday morning round, the bones of that tournament pedigree are everywhere.