Tuesday turned out to be one of the 36-hole golf days on our trip to Arizona. I guess I’m older and wiser now as I wasn’t looking to play 36 holes on all of my days off in this Arizona heat, ha ha! We got started early on Tuesday with a round at Kierland Golf Club.
The 27-hole golf course is associated with the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa (a Marriott property) but still allows outside play. We booked our tee time online for $80 and played the Mesquite nine followed by the Ironwood nine. The nine we didn’t play was Acacia and although I only looked at it on the satellite image, it looked like the Mesquite/Ironwood combo we played.
Kierland was designed by Scott Miller and this was my first experience with his work. His portfolio of courses looks to be around twenty and we actually played another course of his in the afternoon (Eagle Mountain). That was unintentional, but turned out to be pretty interesting.
Kierland is in the middle of Scottsdale, not far from where the Loop 101 starts heading west (think near TPC Scottsdale). So, when compared to other courses closer to the edges of the Phoenix metro, the landscape at Kierland is not all that dramatic. However, for an in-city course I thought it presented well!
What you’ll find at Kierland is beautiful bunkering and a sharp, clean desert look to every golf hole. The course has many large bunkers and crushed rock lines most of the fairways and tees. The bunkers are unique because they have gnarly grass growing around the edges and a handful of them even had trees overhanging them!
I played the cinder tees which are 73.1/127/7017. Both of the nines we played felt similar with wide fairways, long par-3’s and reachable par-5’s. I’d probably give the edge to the Ironwood nine because it occupies more of the interior part of the property. Mounding separates holes and tricky green complexes are probably going to be the biggest challenge.
Each nine that we played had a fun closing hole with water in play. Mesquite’s 9th hole is a 427 yard par-4 where water and/or a half dozen bunkers can grab an approach shot. With a mid-iron in the hands of many golfers that green won’t be the easiest to find!
Ironwood’s 9th is a good finishing hole. It is a shorter par-5 with a man-made creek on the right side that feeds into a pond. There are a couple bridges that cross the water but you’ll want to favor the left side on every shot.
Kierland is a Troon course and as you’d expect it was nicely conditioned. It had a lush green look (think soft) to it and I had one great lie after another. The greens were a medium pace and a bit wobbly. For $80 Kierland wasn’t strong on the value, at least compared to the other courses we played on the trip.
Kierland is a nice facility and I’m glad we played it. I don’t have anything bad to say about the course, but there wasn’t anything about it that “wowed” me. If you are staying in Scottsdale and don’t have a car then it would be a great consideration. Or, if you are visiting in the winter then the resort-style layout would be a good place to knock the winter rust off your swing.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):