Project at Arizona club combines updated infrastructure with design refinements to suit an evolving membership
By Toby Ingleton |
Set in the foothills of the Hieroglyphic Mountains in the Sonoran Desert, north of Phoenix, Quintero Golf Club opened in 2000 as a private club.
In the early 2010s, following a change in ownership, it shifted first to a semi-private model and then went fully public. Even before its 2025 renovation, the club’s golf course was widely regarded as one of the top two public access layouts in the state.
Quintero was designed by Rees Jones, who took to a helicopter (in the days before drones were an option) to help locate a site – somewhat off the beaten track – that would be ideal for desert golf. His layout sits lightly on the landscape and makes the most of significant elevation change and mountain views.
Twenty-five years is a long time for desert golf, as extreme heat puts immense stress on even drought-tolerant turf, and soils begin to drain less effectively. The club, now operated by Troon, had identified the need for an update several years ago, as general manager Mike Poe explains: “When we took over the property there was quite a bit of contamination in the greens, with the bermudagrass competing with the bentgrass that was originally installed.”
The club was happy with the performance of its original PennLinks strain, so sought to identify a modern variant that would provide similar playing characteristics but offered greater drought tolerance and disease resistance. It ultimately selected 007XL creeping bent for greens, and Tifway 419 bermuda for teeing areas.
The large regrassing project opened a window of opportunity for the club to consider additional changes. “I wanted to make sure we did the right thing by reaching out to the original architects and making sure that things we wanted to change met their approval,” says Poe. “The course has been perfect, so it made sense for them to come back and keep their fingerprints on it.”
Jones and his associate Steve Weisser (who also worked on the original design) found that the encroachment of bermuda and build-up of material over the years had changed the shape and contour of greens, and that some pin positions had been lost. “It was interesting because you almost don’t appreciate how much they can change,” says Weisser. “We stripped the greens down to get back to the original mix, and resurveyed every green to make sure we had the slopes working for all hole locations. Green speeds are different now than they were then and, for the type of play the club now has, we wanted more useable green surfaces and hole locations.”
Jones adds: “It’s basically the same thing that Augusta National has been doing over the years; they kept the original concept of their contours but modified them for higher green speeds.”
Jones and Weisser also completed work to tie the new surfaces into their surrounds, approach areas and bunkers, the latter of which had also morphed away from their original style over decades of play.
The club was keen to rethink its approach to bunkering to better cater for its new golfer demographics since transitioning from fully private. Poe says: “Deep bunkering worked well here for years but, with the move to public attracting a broader demographic of players, more guests found it difficult to get in and out of the bunkers. While wanting them shallow, and some to be removed, we also sought a strong visual impact.
“Steve came in and worked his magic on a bunker on the practice facility. We stood back and looked at it, and I knew it was what we wanted. Starting on hole one, Rees, Steve and I worked with the contractor, Total Turf Golf Services; they got the theme and we were off and running.”
New bunkering on the tenth, a reachable par five (Photo: Premier Aerials)
New lining from Capillary Flow means sand holds on the bunker face. “A third of the sand has gone, but it’s much more dramatic now,” says Jones. “And golfers are happier because they are pitched uphill, and are shallower.”
While the project wasn’t conceived to reduce the overall bunker area of the course, the new scheme has resulted in less sand, which – combined with the new shaping and lining – has eased the burden on the club’s maintenance team.
Jones and Weisser have also recaptured width and sightlines. “By opening up some of the overgrowth on the sides, it feels like a bigger and more dramatic golf course,” says Weisser. “By widening, the bunkers come into play more strategically.”
The renovated opening hole at Quintero (Photo: Premier Aerials)
“The magic of Quintero, from the start, is that we were able to go where we wanted – we weren’t restricted by a lack of land,” says Jones. “The desert landscape is on show and the elevation change provides drama. I think that is why it is considered among the top courses, because it has all the elements – strategy, playability, challenge – and the routing had a lot to do with that.
“In architecture today, a lot of clubs are changing their courses to the chagrin of many people who loved them before. At Quintero, we’ve made them love it more without dramatic change, because I spent a lot of time on the details in the beginning.”
“People refer to it as a special place,” adds Poe. “I don’t think there’s any better accolade than that.”