Seven Canyons Golf Course
Living on the east coast, I get to play a lot of golf courses with varying geography. For example, we have mountain courses in the west of our state, ocean courses to the east and then there is the Pinehurst courses which are set right in the middle. Still, I have only limited experience with golf in the west (outside of Las Vegas and Phoenix) so I was wholly looking forward to experiencing the visual fireworks of Seven Canyons Golf course in Sedona Arizona.
Typically, the best time to visit Sedona is in the Spring or Fall when the temperatures are perfect. I, on the other hand, decided to visit Sedona in late June in celebration of my wife’s birthday. Now before you judge me for playing golf on my wife’s birthday trip, know that she is very happy for me to be away for 4 hours each day so she can do her own thing. Additionally, we travelled with another couple so I did not strand her by herself. With that said, Sedona is not really a golf destination, but it certainly has great golf.
Ok, back to Sedona in June. It was supposed to be mid 90’s during the day which was still fine by me as it is a dry heat and nothing compared to the swelter of NC. Fortunately, we had 4 days of 88-91 degrees to enjoy Sedona (and golf at Seven Canyons). All told, we played 3 rounds at Seven Canyons in what I would describe as nearly perfect conditions.
A note on the weather if you are not from the desert. 90 degrees may sound hot, but it really is not. Something about dry heat makes all the difference. For example, even wearing long pants is totally comfortable in these temperatures. Suffice it to say, do not shy away from visiting Sedona in the summer (just make sure you drink plenty of water).
Seven Canyons is set up against the majestic mountains in Sedona and is currently going through a bit of a revival after taking a fairly big hit during the recession of 2008. To that end, there was visible new construction going on as we drove up to the clubhouse signaling that Seven Canyons is coming back. We would later chat with a couple who was finalizing a bid on one of the time share houses located on the course. Apparently, they had been visiting the area for many years and had decided that it would make a great home base for their frequent visits.
After checking into the clubhouse, our first stop was the driving range which is about a 3 minute ride up the road. Normally, I would not talk about a course’s driving range, but when it has view like this, I would be remiss to leave it out. Moreover, they have a nice little learning facility and I saw the pro giving lessons each day I was there.
Off to the 1st Tee:
Since we played Seven Canyons in June, we pretty much had the place to ourselves after 10am. Again, it was supposed to be 95 degrees (which still would have been fine) but we lucked out with the temperature only hitting 91 (child’s play). Moreover, I had been warned that conditions might not be perfect in the summer, so I was prepared for something less than spectacular. Fortunately, they either got lucky with the long and late Spring, or my sources had set the bar extremely high. Everything from tee boxes to fairways to greens were in excellent shape providing one of the very best golf experiences I have ever had (at least from a visual standpoint).
It’s really hard to describe in words or capture in pictures the awe-inspiring views at Seven Canyons. Right from the first tee box, the view down the fairway leads to the gorgeous red rocks. What I did not know was that those distance rocks would soon encircle us.
I have never been great about remembering holes, but I do know the 1st six or so holes are just fantastic as each one brings you deeper inside the canyon. By the 3rd hole, what was once a view on the sky line, becomes sheer cliff on three sides of a green. It is honestly hard to focus on golf as your eyes just want to survey the sights all around you. Even on day three, I would find myself mesmerized by yet another view I had not notice the day before.
After you hit hole 7 (or close to that), you begin to wind your way back toward the clubhouse. This is where you find one of the few holes with water in play which helps fill the gap on the holes that are not surrounded by mountains.
The backside is similar in that you start out near the clubhouse but are quickly pushed closer to the rocks and lifted to elevations where you can view nearly the entire course. One particular hole is a 150 yard par 3. On Friday I hit a 7 iron that went only 80 yards (and to the right) because the breeze suddenly picked up to a gust. The next day I hit an 9 iron 10 feet from the pin. In short, between the elevation and the wind, the course provides plenty of club choice challenges.
Beyond the stunning views, what I really liked about Seven Canyons was the playability and diversity. Too often resort courses are just plain boring or have maybe 3 fantastic holes. Seven Canyons is not boring and has at least 14 fantastic holes. Additionally, each hole provides a number of ways to play it making it fun to play multiple times or in varying conditions. The course itself is not too long (depending of the tee boxes of course) but where you play your shot makes a huge difference. To that end, we definitely learned a thing or two over the course of three days. That is not to say, there are holes that are tricked up. Just that there are holes where you will say “next time, I am going to play my second shot here” or “next time, I am not going to try and cut that corner so much”.
Speaking of cutting corners, there is a significant penalty for not hitting a straight ball. The course does not seem narrow but with only 63 acres of grass, a poorly hit tee ball will likely be lost to the desert. I, for one, lost about 6 balls over three rounds which is on the high side for me.
Inside the fairway, you will find near perfect conditions. Fairways are extremely well manicured, the rough is what it should be (green and thick) and greens are smooth and true. Specific to the greens, I found them to be very fair. They were not crazy fast, but with a decent amount of undulation, you really would not want them any faster. The way I look at vacation golf, is, I want something that is challenging but not too hard. I want to be able shoot a score that is in the neighborhood of what I typically shoot and maybe have a few birdies. In this case, we played the white tees and I was able to record two birdies and post scores in the low 80’s which is about where my game is currently.
Since I was lucky enough to play Seven Canyons three days in a row, I had plenty of time to take it all in. At one point, when we were deep into the canyon, I wondered what it would have been like for Tom Weiskopf as he rode horseback through the canyon. At that time, he would have been trudging through treacherous terrain and foliage. Having now read a few books on golf course design, I am truly amazed at how one can envision a golf course amongst geography that shows little evidence of wanting to be tamed. What I think Weiskopf did so well was realize the natural beauty did not need to be tamed or pushed around. The course just flows and provides the full array of natural elevation and scenery changes such that the individual holes do not feel manufactured. With that said, there are a few spots where water has clearly been brought in, but for the most part (even on the elevated tee boxes), you don’t sense that much was done, other than to cut fairways into what was already there.
As I mentioned, they are currently building on Seven Canyons. There appears to be a mix of a couple of very large homes and many more smaller homes that I suspect are time shared. Fortunately, the building is just around a couple of holes leaving the great majority of the course with only “all natural views”.
Stay and Play Seven Canyons:
Strictly speaking, Seven Canyons is a private golf course community. However, they do have an arrangement with Enchantment Resort which is about an 8-minute car ride away. As I mentioned, our golf at Seven Canyons was part of a larger trip to the Sedona area and our headquarters was Enchantment resort. While I may write a separate review of Enchantment Resort at a later time, I will give you the short story here.
Enchantment Resort:
I am not huge on resorts, but Enchantment is not your typical resort. Rooms are scattered amongst the rocks with some of the best views in Sedona. You literally cannot have a bad room. From a facility standpoint, you have your choice of three restaurants that range from a light menu to world class culinary. Regardless of which venue you choose, you will get that same close up view of the rocks. I can imagine that if you lived in Sedona the views would become common place but with just 5 days I was simply blown away by the ever changing landscape. Again, I could write another 2,000 words on Enchantment Resort but I will leave it with “it’s worth every penny”.
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