History
The first desert course ever built transformed the face of the game.
1962
Desert Forest Founded
Real estate visionaries Tom Darlington and K.T. Palmer founded the town of Carefree with Desert Forest Golf Course at its heart. Architect Robert "Red" Lawrence's evocation of classic strategic playing principles in the Sonoran foothills continues to be more than a conventional course.
1964 - 1974
Home to the Dunlop Masters
1962, 1963, 1966, 2003, 2004
Hosted the Goldwater Cup
1990
Hosted the USGA Senior Amateur Championship, numerous USGA qualifying events and five state Amateur Championships
2006
Hosted the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association's Four Ball Championship
2007
Hosted the USGA U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship
1962
1964 - 1974
1962, 1963, 1966, 2003, 2004
1990
2006
2007
Autumn 2012
Red Lawrence
The Creator
Red Lawrence made history when he broke ground at Desert Forest. It is not just the first "Desert Links" course in America; it remains a unique challenge in what has become a prolific, often mediocre genre.
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Bold, New Design
First of Its Kind
Many consider our acclaimed Robert "Red" Lawrence design to be the first desert course ever built. Its genius is in the natural minimalist design that makes it both playable and challenging to the discerning golfer.
Accolades
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"The Desert Forest Golf Club enjoys a significant place in the history of golf course design for it was, by about two decades, the forerunner of the modern target-oriented game that has made golf in the southwestern desert possible."
"A unique and challenging test of the highest order, Desert Forest rates among the region's very best, and remains a genuine must-see for students of American golf course design."
The American Private Golf Club Guide by Daniel Wexler
"Characterized by the complete absence of superfluous features, the design itself is quite simple, but the challenge presented is one of the toughest in the Scottsdale region."
Featured in the book Planet Golf, USA by Darius Oliver
"For decades, the club has meticulously cultivated an identity as a private bubble in which people were totally devoted to golf. Along the way, it has managed to preserve its course as a true desert links."
Subject of the book Desert Forest Golf Club, The First Forty Years by Bradley Klein
"Desert Forest is an American golf course design landmark. Working with the natural rolls in the desert landscape, Lawrence gracefully set out a demonically simple design, meticulously fitting holes in between the harsher elements."
Featured in the book Golf Digest: Classic American Courses by Mike Stachura