Omni Tucson National Resort, Tucson. Sonoran Course by Tom Lehman, 2005.

Lehman reworked the nine holes that were the non-tournament holes here and added nine more (plus made a few tweaks to the tournament course) to give the resort two 18-hole courses. The totally new holes on the far side of the wash are definitely the best of the bunch. The reworked old holes mostly run up and down some steep hills and some of them work and some don’t and a couple really have homes too close, but probably none of that is Lehman’s fault. As best I can tell the changes made improved from what was there previously.

The new holes are quite good however, with much more room and some interesting angles. I quite like the ninth where a nasty bunker at the left corner sits right where you’d like to put your tee ball. You can play as far right or short of it as you want, but the angle gets worse the safer you stay. And the payoff is that the green is demanding enough that there is a real reward for a shorter approach from a better angle.

Unfortunately, there are only seven new holes out there and though they’re pretty good they’re nothing worth going out of your way to see.

Arizona 5th Decile [2018]