TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course)

Par: 71
Yardage: 7,261
Designer: Tom Weiskopf & Jay Morrish (1986)
Type: Resort
Green fee: USD 125–USD 325 (Cart included. Peak pricing January through March.)
Know before you go: The Stadium Course is closed for several weeks before and after the WM Phoenix Open (typically late January through mid-February). Book peak-season tee times at least two weeks in advance. The Champions Course remains open during the tournament closure. Pace of play can be slow during peak season. An early morning tee time avoids the worst of it and the afternoon wind.
What stands out: Playing the 16th hole in silence, knowing what it becomes each February, is a quietly surreal experience. The course is better than its party reputation suggests.

TPC Scottsdale is two courses in one, depending on when you visit. During the WM Phoenix Open each February, the Stadium Course becomes the most attended event in golf, with the par-3 16th enclosed by a purpose-built colosseum that seats 20,000. The atmosphere has more in common with a football stadium than a golf tournament.

The rest of the year, the stands are gone, and the course settles into something closer to its architectural intentions. Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish designed the layout in 1986 with professional competition in mind, and the routing rewards strategic positioning over raw length. The fairways are generous by desert standards, but the approaches demand precision. Greens are large, with subtle contours that become less subtle when the pin positions tighten.

The 15th through 18th stretch is the course at its best. The 15th is a reachable par 5 where the risk-reward calculus shifts with every ten yards of tee shot. The 16th, stripped of its grandstands, is a straightforward par 3 playing 162 yards to a green surrounded by desert scrub and quiet. The contrast with its tournament persona is part of its charm. The 17th and 18th close the round with water in play and enough length to demand two quality shots.

Conditioning is excellent year-round, maintained to tournament standards even outside the event window. The practice facility is among the best in the region. The resort offers stay-and-play packages that bundle the Stadium Course with the Champions Course, a less dramatic but well-maintained alternative that provides a useful contrast in design philosophy.