After our morning round at Quintero we hustled over to Sterling Grove Golf & Country Club. There is no direct route to get to Sterling Grove from Quintero and both ways require backtracking. It ended up taking almost an hour to get close to the clubhouse and then my GPS took me to a construction entrance. So, by the time we all got to the parking lot it was close to our tee time. Thankfully it wasn’t busy and the proshop said we could tee off whenever we wanted.
Sterling Grove is located in a new development which is probably why the GPS got confused. The course is brand new and just opened for play at the beginning of 2021. I read that it is Arizona’s first new public course in over five years. With so many golf courses throughout the country closing in the last ten years it was nice to read about, and to play, a new course.
We weren’t sure what to expect for $41 with the jacked up rates this year at many Phoenix courses, but Sterling Grove turned out to be the “surprise” course of the trip. Our entire foursome thoroughly enjoyed the round here, even with it being close to 110 degrees. I’d even go as far as saying the course is a hidden gem.
The course is located in Surprise, which is on the west side of the valley, not far from the White Tank Mountains. As it stands right now, the mountain backdrop at Sterling Grove is quite scenic. I know there are plans to build more homes along the course so as that construction gets completed I’m sure the ambiance will change. For now though, I didn’t think the existing homes were much of a distraction.
Sterling Grove is a Nicklaus Design group course that has a desert links feel, without much target golf. There is more water here than at most desert courses I’ve played, so in a way it felt like Sterling Grove was a Florida course in the desert. We played the blue tees which are 70.5/126/6485 and while the distance was manageable from those tees, the trickiest part about the design were the wacky green complexes. I mean that in a good way though as I found the greens to be the best thing about the golf course.
The greens come in all shapes and sizes which allows for creativity and a wide variety of shots. For example, the green on the 1st has a small bowl in the middle. The pin was tucked into that area so a couple shots from our group ended up close to the flag. Sadly, none of those shots were mine! Then the 2nd, a short potentially driveable par-4 – 321 yards, has a green that slopes off on all sides. The 7th features a biarritz green where I tried putting 30 feet left of the flag. Crazy and fun.
My favorite hole was the par-3 13th. Our view was directly into the setting sun, but if you tee off before twilight then you’ll probably have a clear view of the mountains. From the blue tees the hole is only 135 yards, but it has another unique green. The green here is narrow, at least three clubs deep and snakes its way between a bunker and one of the water hazards. Missing left is definitely better than right.
The conditioning was solid. Since the turf is newer the course played firm and fast. Lies were the tightest of any of the six Arizona courses we played this trip. I’m sure everything will soften as the course matures. The greens were slick and pure.
I’ve read that Sterling Grove will try to go private so I’d suggest playing it while you can. I haven’t golfed much in the West Valley, but I’d think Sterling Grove has to be towards the top of the list out this way. The course isn’t a must play, but it turned out to be a very good track on a flat piece of land. Overall, I’d recommend.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):