Arizona Golf Course Reviews
Troon North Pinnacle Course ReviewScottsdale, AZ
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Troon North Pinnacle Course Summary: Tougher than its older brother the Monument Course, this Weiskopf designed golf course is an exercise in decision making followed by required precision. With clever tee positions, about half of the golf holes feel like doglegs where club choice off the tee and execution can create a myriad of scenarios and scores. Green sizes alternate between tiny and huge and are either tough to hit or tough to putt or both, making a day spent on this track one of either well-deserved honor for a job well done, or confidence crushing blows to the golfing psyche. The most memorable golf holes are reviewed below:
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 1: A fairly docile driving hole, the approach is what matters as the green is on the other side of a desert wash and is narrow with a large false front. Anything missing short, left or right will be shot down a hill leaving an uphill chip to the tight green.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 2: Downhill and not particularly long, but tight, this par four gives the second approach of the day over a desert wash. However, the green here is more shallow and wide, with two bunkers short and one long and right to gather the wayward shot.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 3: Longer than the first two holes, this hole offers a nice view from the tee. The fairway pinches in for a huge drive, but other than that, it's fairly open from the tee. The green is likewise open, but it is deep and narrow, with more undulation than most on the course, so short-siding the approach is very bad.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 5: One of the best scoring opportunities rewards an aggressive play from the tee that hugs the left side of the fairway. From there, its relatively short to clear the desert wash and go for the green in two. However, a shorter drive may force the player to lay up short of the wash. The defense of the green is two-fold. First, there is an enormous bunker short-left of the green and a steep drop off to the right towards the desert. Then, the very deep green rises to the middle and then runs away towards the back half.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 8: This uphill par three greets the player with a unique Saguaro cactus to the right, a big boulder center and short and a deep bunker between them. The putting surface is then flanked by a couple of more bunkers long for shots that don't hold the green. Too far left or right is desert.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 9: This sneaky little dogleg left is tight from the tee and pinches in severely at about 130 yards from the green between bunker left and desert right, which will force most players to hang back, leaving a longer approach to the angled green with bunkers short left and right and desert waiting behind.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 10: The namesake hole has a great view of Pinnacle Peak from tee to green. Off the tee it seems easier to lay-up short of all the bunkers, but the uphill green is behind two huge, deep bunkers and is also only 19 yards deep with a downslope behind it. Thus, only high shots will hold the green so the player should challenge the bunkers to have a better shot at par.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 11: This great driving hole is a sweeping dogleg right where the player can cut the corner of the desert to go for the green in two. However, there is a wash that crosses the fairway from left to right about 100 yards from the green and continues right up along the right side of the green. Thus, if the player goes for it and misses (with desert also left) penalties will be racked up. Played as a three-shot hole, the stress levels can generally go down a bit. The green is also very deep, undulating and narrow.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 17: This long par four has desert on both sides of the fairway (as usual) and two bunkers that cut into the fairway from the right side: one that needs to be cleared and one that needs to be steered short of. The green is then wide open with no traps or desert to speak of.
Troon North Pinnacle Hole 18: The last hole is reminiscent of the first as it is a dogleg left with an approach over desert. This one is longer, but the approach is actually quite a bit easier with the main problem being the bunkers left and right of the green or the fear of large galleries from the clubhouse or the shared putting green.