Our Incredible Day at Troon North Golf Club

We all have our golf course bucket lists.  Each list compromised with those once-in-a-lifetime courses that we have seen on television, read about on-line, or perhaps sit just beyond our financial reach.  They are unique in both their beauty and in their design.

The Pinnacle Course at Troon North Golf Club, located in Scottsdale, Arizona, is one of those golf courses.  If it isn’t there already, you should immediately add it to your own bucket list.  In fact, you should put it at the top of your bucket list.  This is a special place.

Pinnacle has been ranked as one of the top five open-to-the-public golf courses in all of Arizona by Golf Digest.  It has been ranked among the top 100 golf courses in America by Golf Week.  And Golf Magazine has it listed as the very best public course in all of Arizona.

If those rankings don’t have you sold maybe my own experience will convince you.  I use the word experience deliberately.  This is because our day at Troon North was about far more than just a round of golf.

To say my father, two brothers, and I were excited about playing this course would be a gross understatement.  This was a “Christmas-Eve as a seven-year-old” level of anticipation.  Brand new golf balls were being acquired just for the outing, my brother was contemplating what attire he should wear, and my dad was up at the crack of dawn for a 12:15 tee time.

And despite all the hype and excitement, Troon North far exceeded expectations.

It started as soon as we pulled up to drop off our clubs.  Of course, an attendant was there to take them, load them on carts in the pairings you specify, and advise you on where to go to check-in. That was expected to happen.  But something was different.  When we told the attendant it was our first time to Troon North, his face lit up.  He was genuinely happy for us.

It happened again when we checked-in at the front desk in the clubhouse.  Well, technically, the first thing the guy behind the counter did was give my brother a hard time about his pants.  And deservedly so. But, again, he welcomed us to Troon North and seemed legitimately happy to see us.  Everybody was happy to see us.  It was amazing.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking at this point. “Kris, you’re not at your local muni course, you’re at one of the nicest golf clubs in the country, that’s why they’re treating you like a VIP.”

But that’s kind of the point, at a lot of golf courses, be it a municipal course or country club, you don’t always feel genuinely welcomed.  In fact, I would say oftentimes I’ve been made to feel as if I should feel thankful just for the privilege of playing the golf course.  I’m sure we all have had that feeling while checking into a golf course.

This was never the case at Troon North. Even when our pace was slipping by about five minutes, the course marshal could not have been any more polite to us. Like he said, “there’s no better place to be than right here.”  No one on the course that day was in a real hurry to get through their round.

Which leads me to the course itself.

What an absolutely stunning golf course.  Admittedly, I haven’t played many rounds of golf on upper-echelon golf courses like this one, but I will happily and confidently put this one up against any of them.

The views alone from hole to hole are breathtaking.  The combination of mountains and desert vistas with the almost emerald glow of the fairways and greens makes it almost difficult to concentrate on the task at hand.

This is why no one on the golf course is in a hurry.  Many of the tee boxes act as pedestals for golfers to take in the incredible views.  Sometimes you just need to take a moment to appreciate where you are and what is around you.  This is perfection.

From tee box to green, you would have thought we were the first to ever play the course.  It was in absolute immaculate condition.  While there isn’t much room off the fairways, the fairways themselves are fair and allow for different club selections off the tee. The bunkers are soft and deep. The greens can be tricky but they roll true and aren’t too fast or hard that a good approach shot won’t bounce or roll off. This is a course maintained at a PGA TOUR level, but still fair enough for the rest of us to enjoy playing.

This is the best golf course I have ever played. And although I still have a few courses to cross off my bucket list, this may very well end up being the best golf course I ever play.

Now let’s talk about dinner at Dynamite Grill at Troon North.

Dynamite Grill, which is open to the public, is not your typical golf course bar and grill. In fact, you could take Dynamite Grill and drop it in Old Scottsdale and it would easily hold its own.

That being said, Dynamite Grill’s current location has a huge advantage over anything in Old Scottsdale, or anywhere else, for that matter. The view.

Whether sitting indoors along the floor to ceiling windows or at a table on the patio, you get to look back over Pinnacle’s signature 18th hole.  Golfer or not, it’s beautiful.  I highly recommend the Kobe beef sliders or their ridiculous basket of French fries.  So good. And, of course, a cocktail or two.

Again, from check-in to dinner and drinks, our day spent at Troon North Golf Club was much more than just a round of golf.  This was a day, thanks to the people of Troon North, that we will always look back on with fondness and an experience to which all others will be compared.