Saddlebrooke/Tucson

Tucson sits in the Sonoran Desert at roughly 2,400 feet of elevation, where the air is dry, the light is sharp, and the surrounding Santa Catalina and Rincon mountains make almost every round feel cinematic. The name "Saddlebrooke" points toward the master-planned retirement community of that name on Tucson's northern edge, a part of the Valley that has developed a surprisingly rich golf culture over the past few decades. If this is that course, rounds here unfold against one of the more dramatic backdrops in Arizona golf — saguaro-studded hillsides, desert washes, and mountain panoramas that reward looking up as much as looking down at your lie.