In the winter of 1888, army chaplain and Civil War hero Winfield Scott paid
$1,600 for a 640-acre tract east of Phoenix in the Salt River Valley. The same
year, nearly a continent away in Yonkers, just north of New York City, Scotsman
John Reid established Saint Andrew’s Golf Club, generally acknowledged as the
birthplace of golf in America. More than a century later, Scott’s foreboding
landscape and Reid’s transplanted game have come together in a way neither man
possibly could have imagined. Today, the challenging desert layouts, beautiful scenery and fabulous weather
of Scottsdale, Arizona, the city that bears Winfield’s name, attract more than
two million golfers a year. They stay at newly refurbished resorts like the
Fairmont Princess and Four Seasons, along with iconic mainstays like the
Boulders, Phoenician and Camelback Inn. They flock to play new courses like the
Saguaro course at We-Ko-Pa Golf Club, redesigned ones like the Champions course
at TPC Scottsdale and the reconfigured Troon North layouts, as well as longtime
favorites like Grayhawk and Legend Trail.
But as good as the golf is, there
is a lot more to the town than little white balls arcing against cobalt skies
and landing on pristinely maintained emerald turf framed perfectly against the
stark desert terrain. No doubt you caught some of the star-studded Super Bowl celebrations or the “Greatest Party on Grass,” a.k.a. the FBR Open—the final
round took place on the same day as football’s biggest game. Clearly, the Wild
West is alive and well in Scottsdale.
Princess of Scottsdale
If the town is a golf mecca, the spiritual center
is the Fairmont Princess, home to TPC Scottsdale, host of the FBR Open.
While the pros play the Stadium course, the Randy Heckenkemper-redesigned
Champions course is a tremendous improvement over the former Desert course that
used to occupy the site, a low-lying floodplain.
Strategic bunkers, rippled
fairways and an interesting mix of holes, including five par 3s, distinguish the
layout. It’s a tough but fair test: Hole locations tucked behind bunkers, for
instance, always seem to have a backstop. The best part: cushiony “shade sand”
in the waste areas that makes hitting shots from it a lot easier than the
hardpan desert floor.
The Spanish colonial-style Princess has also undergone
a remodeling, including the addition of Fairmont Gold, 66 secluded rooms and
three parlor suites with highly personalized service. There’s also a new
restaurant, Bourbon Steak, by acclaimed chef Michael Mina, to join La Hacienda,
which has some of the best tequila drinks in town. For sheer entertainment
value, order one of La Hacienda’s postprandial coffee drinks like Café Acapulco.
Watch the fireworks ensue after a waiter lights the 151-proof rum and sprinkles
cinnamon and sugar into the flames to caramelize the thick glass goblet
before mixing in Bailey’s, Frangelico, Grand Marnier and, of course, a
little java.
The hotel also offers 119 luxury casitas, and the grounds are
gorgeous, especially at night with the palm trees lit and the sweet scent of
juniper in the air from one of the five outdoor fireplaces. But the hotel’s
highlight is the 44,000-square-foot Willow Stream spa, an elegant fusion of
glass, stone, water and wood. (It took two workers a year to lay the dry-stacked
blond rock wall in the reception area.) The Golf Performance Treatment, a
combination of massage, stretching and acupressure, and Fit to a Tee, a
golf-specific strength and flexibility program, do a wonderful job of
alleviating the worries of spa-phobic men.
The spa’s architecture is
reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright, which is appropriate since the Wisconsin
native lived in Scottsdale during the winters starting in 1937. His home,
Taliesin West, which also served as his studio and architectural laboratory, is
set on a 600-acre compound in central Scottsdale, and showcases Wright’s theory
of organic architecture and his brilliant ability to blend outdoor and indoor
spaces. As a working design school, Taliesin is no staid museum and is
definitely worth a visit.
