What you’ll find at Apache Gold is a course with some of the most stunning scenery in Arizona including views of the Chiricahua, Aravaipa, Superstition and White Mountains. The vistas are unspoiled: no condominiums, no subdivisions, no shopping centers. This is the high desert in all its glory, the West as it used to be. The elevation here is 3,200 feet so it can be several degrees cooler than Phoenix in the summertime; balls will also carry farther here than back in the Valley of the Sun. You’re also going to experience desert-style golf, but on a course that is more playable than many located in Arizona. Architect Doak says that one of his goals was to “reinvent desert golf on friendlier terms.” “Wider than normal grassed areas buffer recreational golfers from the desert, minimizing the use of the desert rule which encourages players to take illegal free drops,” Doak says. “A special feature of the course is the desert washes, which are maintained like rugged natural bunkers, but staked as hazards to give players the option of taking a penalty drop instead of trying to play out.”