Talking Stick (O’odham Course)

Overall Thoughts

Coore & Crenshaw’s most important architectural principle is deference to the natural landscape. If you were to ask Bill Coore about the firm’s “style,” he would resist getting immediately into subjects like bunker shaping and green contouring. Instead, he would first say that he and his team are guided by the particularities of each site they work on. Nature is always their primary reference point, the source and justification for any “stylistic” character they might infuse into a course.

But what happens when nature gives them almost nothing? The clearest answer to this question in Coore & Crenshaw’s portfolio is the O’odham Course at Talking Stick Resort.

Most modern architects would have taken one look at the flat, nearly featureless flood plain next to Casino Arizona 101 and concluded that it had to be blown up. This is what Tom Fazio assumed about the equally unpromising site that became Shadow Creek. When minimalists raise objections to Fazio’s extravagances on that project, the typical response is something like, “Well, look what he was working with. He didn’t have a choice.” But the O’odham Course shows that a golf architect can always choose to draw inspiration from the land. While the property didn’t offer much, Coore & Crenshaw focused on what it did have: a 400-yard-long ditch, probably built decades ago for agricultural purposes, and the property boundaries themselves, marked by barbed-wire fences. Instead of deeming these features unworthy of golf, Coore & Crenshaw incorporated them into their design. On the seventh hole, the ditch guards the strategically advantageous right side of the fairway. On the second, third, and 12th holes, boundaries lie in wait on the left; if you play away from them on one shot, you’ll have to reckon them on the next.

This is not to say that Coore & Crenshaw didn’t move dirt at the O’odham Course. They moved plenty. They built a network of gullies to direct water away from fairways and greens and toward lower ground. They created undulations that seem natural because of how well they’re tied in: big contours in the playing corridors fade into small contours along the edges, and those small contours, in turn, blend into the flatness of the surrounding desert. The O’odham Course is manufactured, no doubt, but it sits humbly in the preexisting landscape, paying homage to what nature provided rather than straining to create an alternate reality.

(To be clear, I’m glad Fazio did what he did at Shadow Creek. It’s an impressive, one-of-a-kind golf course. I just disagree with the notion that his approach to that property was the only viable one.)

Also, critically, Coore & Crenshaw had enough tricks in their bag to conjure 18 distinct, strategically compelling holes on flat land. More on that in the course tour below.

In the quarter century since its opening, the O’odham Course has lost some of its original bite. The Bermudagrass fairways, overseeded every winter with perennial ryegrass, have developed significant thatch, and many of the running approach shots that the design team envisioned no longer work reliably. In addition, the palo verde trees and other vegetation around the holes have thickened over time, creating an enclosed, parkland-adjacent feel. Today’s O’odham Course is more conventional than Coore & Crenshaw meant it to be.

Yet it’s still one of the most skillful works of American golf architecture available to the general public.

1 Egg

The O’odham Course’s design earns a full Egg on its own. To get to a second from me, Talking Stick would need to recommit to the course’s original look and playability by clearing some vegetation and firming up the approaches to the greens. As it stands, though, it’s a very stout one-Egger.

Course Tour

No. 1, par 4, 235-394 yards

This opening par 4 is a digestible introduction to Coore & Crenshaw’s approach to strategic design—Width and Angles 101, if you will. You can see from the tee that there’s plenty of room to the right, but the shorter approach and better angle can be found on the left edge of the fairway, which is guarded by a bunker and native areas.

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No. 2, par 5, 393-552 yards

A litmus test: if you like this hole, you’ll like the O’odham Course. A ruler-straight out-of-bounds line, defined by a barbed-wire fence and a stand of palo verde trees, runs down the left side of the hole. Since the green is pressed against this boundary, you must confront the OB threat at some point. If you bail away from the fence off the tee—as the 70-yard breadth of the fairway allows you to do—you’ll have to play toward the danger on your second shot in order to get back in position for a birdie. If you play safely twice in a row, you’ll face a sweaty-palmed pitch over large green-side bunkers, with OB looming behind. This isn’t quite my favorite hole at the O’odham Course (see No. 12), but because of the simplicity and effectiveness of its design, it’s the one that most feels like a classic. An automatic choice for any Coore & Crenshaw Dream 18.

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No. 3, par 4, 326-450 yards

This par 4 also runs along the boundary and rewards a tee shot that risks a stroke-and-distance penalty, but the cart path just inside the fence creates an unfortunate visual distraction, not to mention the possibility of a trampoline bounce deep into the desert. (Hey, maybe some people are into that. I’m not here to kink-shame.)

Behind the third green is a good place to see Coore & Crenshaw’s drainage system at work. Many of the ditches throughout the O’odham Course feed into this low area at the northwestern corner of the property.

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No. 4, par 4, 280-433 yards

A large central bunker dominates the view from the fourth tee. Playing to a hidden, well-protected finger of fairway on the right shortens the hole dramatically. More timid players can go left. From there, they must choose between carrying the bunker short of the green or steering right of it, leaving a short pitch for their third shot.

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No. 5, par 4, 277-391 yards

Another wide fairway and another center-line bunker. This time, however, the bunker is much smaller, though no less strategically acute, and the choice between the right and left halves of the fairway has a different significance: right provides a shorter approach, whereas left offers a clearer view of the green and a superior angle between the green-side bunkers and against the right-to-left slope of the putting surface.

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No. 6, par 3, 147-223 yards

On this long-ish par 3, a kicker slope short right of the green allows shorter hitters to attack the hole along the ground. The bunkers on the left blend gracefully into the native area.

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No. 7, par 4, 259-457 yards

The shallow, straight ditch right of the fairway—one of the few preexisting features on the site—functions much as the property boundary does on the second and third holes. Challenging it results in a simpler approach. The green is the most intricately contoured to this point in the round: there’s a channel leading into a bowl front left (easier to access from the riskier right side of the fairway), a faint roll in the middle, and a plateau back right—reminiscent of a Prairie Dunes green design, albeit a lite version.

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No. 8, par 3, 118-153 yards

The first spot on the O’odham Course where many players will reach for their cameras (unless you have as much affection for barbed-wire fences and Jeff Bradley-shaped bunkers as I do), this short par 3 plays to a small green pushed up against a mountain backdrop.

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No. 9, par 4, 331-446 yards

The ninth fairway jogs to the right in the landing zone and then back to the left, so drives that hug the left side of the fairway earn a shorter second shot. A hump short and left of the green conceals the true breadth and complexity of the putting surface.

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No. 10, par 4, 275-437 yards

My favorite aspect of this par 4 is the short-grass-covered mound at the front-right corner of the green. This subtle feature—almost imperceptible until you get close to it—makes approaches from the safer right half of the fairway slightly more difficult.

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No. 11, par 3, 121-261 yards

This terrific long par 3 resembles a flipped version of No. 4 at Riviera. A big, billowing bunker obstructs the direct line to the green, and a built-up kicker slope on the left allows for a circuitous route. Players who go right at the pin have to be precise: not only do they need to clear the farthest lobe of the bunker, but they must avoid a concealed drop-off on the right, which is capable of propelling balls past the out-of-bounds fence.

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Favorite Hole

No. 12, par 4, 245-392 yards

With apologies to No. 2, the most terrifying usage of the property line as a hazard at the O’odham Course can be found on the 12th hole. A beautifully constructed arroyo spreads out in front of the tee, then slices diagonally through the center of the hole corridor before pushing against the right edge of the green. This eye-catching hazard is almost a red herring, though. The real danger lurks left of the green, where the now-familiar barbed-wire fence stands hard against a short-grass run-off.

If you take on the big carry off the tee and reach the left fairway (a play that brings OB into your dispersion cone), the boundary line next to the green won’t be as much of a problem. If you play conservatively out to the right, however, the green’s defenses will shift in their orientation to your approach: they will be short and long instead of left and right. In making sure you get over the wash, you may struggle to keep your ball from scuttling into the deadlier hazard beyond. Your distance control with your irons had better be spot-on.

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No. 13, par 4, 271-391 yards

The 13th fairway has more undulation than any other on the property. The slopes and swales probably serve a drainage function, moving water toward the lower ground on the left, but they also help the hole stick in the player’s memory.

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No. 14, par 4, 280-445 yards

Almost a mirror image of No. 13, the 14th hole bends left around a chain of bunkers. The green is built up substantially from the grade, and small ripples break up its back-to-front tilt into pinnable sections.

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No. 15, par 4, 277-461 yards

In an echo of the fourth and 11th holes, the tee shot on No. 15 offers multiple options for playing over or around a large, cloud-shaped bunker. The most tentative line is to the left, where you will find your view of the green mostly blocked out by a knoll. A medium-sized carry over the right portion of the bunker yields a sightline to the green but a less-than-ideal angle, with slopes along the approach that will kick your ball toward a collection area short left. The garden spot is near the middle of the fairway, over the most distant cape of the central bunker.

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No. 16, par 3, 144-194 yards

On a course with mostly restrained green contouring, the 16th green stands out for its boldness. A series of internal rolls—a big one in the middle and a pair on the right and back edges—define pin positions of varying difficulty and give great tee shots an advantage over merely good ones.

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No. 17, par 5, 372-582 yards

This zigzag par 5 is right out of the playbook of Bill Coore’s mentor Pete Dye. The rabbit may simply follow the zigzag—right, left, then back to the right—while the tiger will try to make the hole as straight as possible in order to reach the green in two.

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No. 18, par 4, 326-471 yards

From the 18th tee, aggressive players (or those one down in match) can find a speed slot by skirting the fairway bunkers on the right. A burly finishing hole that rewards strong ball-striking.

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