TPC Scottsdale: The People’s Par 3

Like many big-name golf destinations, it pays to prepare if you want to play TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course

By Jim Bebbington

For six months every year the corner of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard and Hayden Road in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a bustling community with tidy homes, challenging golf courses, delicious restaurants and well-executed resort hotels.

The vibe for the most part is quiet efficiency. The golf courses there – the TPC Scottsdale pair of Stadium and Champions – fit right in. They are immaculate, with lush emerald fairways lying among the light brown of the Sonoran desert.

But then every fall, workers descend and start building one of the most iconic structures in golf – the WM Phoenix Open Coliseum stadium. It takes months to prepare, but when the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open finally rolls into town in early February – dubbed ‘The People’s Open’ – the coliseum helps the neighborhood become the rowdiest, most crowded and arguably most fun golf tournament on earth.

When it comes to visiting or playing the TPC Scottsdale courses, golfers can choose their energy level. Feeling ready for a rowdy blast? Wade in with the crowds around the time of the WM Phoenix Open. Want a wide-open tee sheet and willing to endure eye-watering heat?  Come during the searing hot summers for the best deals. Want a fun combo of quiet anticipation that is ramping up for the February bacchanalia? Visit in the Fall.

Stadium Course

First things first: they don’t let you just run out and play hole No. 16. You have to earn it.

Designed by Jay Moorish and Tom Weiskopf, the Stadium Course was built to host the WM Phoenix Open and opened as the sixth club in the TPC network. This was in the era in which courses vying for PGA Tour events all built in slopes beside greens to enable crowds to sit in stadium-like configurations.

At Scottsdale, that configuration became the ‘Coliseum’ built each year around No. 16.

But before you get there you will navigate a creative, mostly flat, winding course that uses the natural desert environment to narrow landing zones, protect green complexes and intensify the importance of shot-making.

Balls can roll through the natural spaces and leave a player plenty of room to swing or can nestle down among the landscaping for a long winter stay. Washes protect the greens on No. 3,4,5, 6and 12.

No. 11, the No. 1 handicap hole, is where water enters your calculus. The natural wash area protects the right side of the long par 4 while a rare water hazard protects the left.

The same lake comes into play on No. 15 – the warmup to the stadium course’s signature hole. This hole requires focus; a 550-yard par 5, the hole’s narrow fairway runs between a lake on the left and a natural wash on the right. The fairway narrows considerably right at the point at which the biggest hitters would like to land their tee shots. Then the island green is fronted additionally by bunkers.

Then it is on to No. 16. In the spring and summer when the stadium scaffolding is packed away, the hole is a simple experience. It’s 160 yards to a narrow, deep green protected by four bunkers front and middle.

For six months of the year, players must enter through a tunnel in the gigantic temporary stands that are built. Inside the sense of drama spikes immediately, even when there are only a handful of workers installing seats.

Shots to the left of the green can run off up against the stands. Just landing on the green feels like an accomplishment, and there is nowhere a par feels more earned.

The TPC Scottsdale experience also includes the Champions Course – less expensive and across the road from the Stadium Course. The TPC Scottsdale Champions course lacks the televised fame of its neighbor but still provides and elite experience.

The course gives numerous options to play from, with four tee boxes and combinations offering lengths from 5,300 yards to 7,115. The course features well-kept, rolling holes with more trees nestled among the natural desert washes and large greens.

Getting out

Like with many big-name golf destinations, it pays to prepare if you are interested in playing TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course. Spur-of-the-moment rounds can be booked, but they will cost you. The best deals benefit players who spend significant time each year near Scottsdale or are willing to come off-season.

Apres Round

The bar/restaurant Toro by Chef Richard Sandoval bills itself as ‘Latin Without Borders.’ It is managed by the neighboring resort Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, the restaurant received a full makeover in 2024. It provides an elegant dining experience at a level of execution equal to its golf surroundings. Executive Chef Gage Smit is the former Chef de Cuisine at The Fitz Bar and Restaurant in Vail.

The lunch and dinner menus include Nikkei-style sushi rolls, sashimi and nigiri.

Menu sampler

Starters: Short rib tacos ($22), Grilled octopus ($22), Sweet corn empanada ($19)

Specialties: Pork shank ($46), Cusco chicken ($34), Lobster fried rice ($46)

Off the grille: Churrasco steak, lamb, chicken and chorizo (feeds 2-3) ($125), New York Strip ($56)

TPC.Com/Scottsdale

Scottsddaleprincess.com/Scottsdale-restaurants/toro