Arizona prime: North Scottsdale offers best of the best

It's hard to name a single destination with a better collection of top-drawer golf resorts than the Phoenix/Scottsdale area of Arizona. The Boulders, The Wigwam, Arizona Biltmore, Camelback Inn, The Westin Kierland and others lure golfers from across the globe with excellent courses, praiseworthy accommodations and winter weather that can't be beat.

View of No. 15 at Troon North

None of them, however, can best the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale and its golf partner, Troon North Golf Club. Recent improvements have lifted both of these prestigious properties to new levels of excellence.

The two designs at Troon North have long been held aloft as the archetypical desert golf courses, combining majestic boulder formations, judicious use of grassed areas creating a "target" golf experience, and expansive vistas across the Valley of the Sun. The Monument Course opened for play in 1990, with the newer Pinnacle coming on line in 1996.

In late 2007, Troon brought Tom Weiskopf -- the original designer of the Pinnacle Course and co-designer (with Jay Morrish) of the Monument Course -- back to re-route and improve these two highly ranked gems. In some ways, the decision to alter Troon North was like deciding the seating order was wrong in The Last Supper and bringing Leonardo da Vinci back to rearrange his painting. The two courses were so well-known and so well-liked that any major changes -- such as rerouting them -- was a big risk.

Nevertheless, two decades of a housing boom in North Scottsdale had created an unfortunate maze of homes and streets through which golfers had to travel to play the Monument Course; and both courses suffered from long drives between front and back nines. Thus, in the opinion of Troon Golf chairman and CEO Dana Garmany and his top brain trust, the rankings and reputation risk was worth the improvements that would ensue.

"Making changes of this magnitude to two of the game's most highly acclaimed courses was something we studied and took very seriously," Garmany said of the decision. "In the end, we are confident we have improved both courses and enhanced the player experience significantly."

Four Seasons - Scottsdale

Though it sounds complicated, the design solution devised by Weiskopf was both simple and brilliant: the front nine of the Monument was combined with the front nine of the Pinnacle; the back nine of the Pinnacle was combined with the back nine of the Monument. Thus re-routed, the flow of play is now seamless and contiguous. All 36 holes were re-grassed with Pennlinks Bent during the reconfiguration, and some work was done to the bunkers so the visual impact of the formerly disparate nines would blend.

"If you could go back in time," Weiskopf said, "both courses would have been this way from the beginning. Both courses can now be played exactly as the land dictates."

A welcome side effect of the change was that the Pinnacle Course became more walkable, and plays a bit tougher than its sister. To some, it is now a better "players" course. The Monument, meanwhile, became the more dramatic of the two, with spectacular views, driveable par-4s and dazzling views and terrain.

If you've played Troon North before, my guess is you'll appreciate the new routing and agree that Garmany's risk paid off. If you've only heard or read about these courses, it's definitely time to go, as they're now even better than before.

Also better than before is the 210-room Four Seasons Scottsdale, nestled in the foothills of Pinnacle Peak just a mile or two from the entrance to Troon North Golf Club. While accommodations, dining and service at this highly awarded property have always been superb, just-completed enhancements to guest rooms, restaurants, lobby and other common areas have elevated it far above its competitors.

New color schemes in the rooms show dusty desert rose mixing with sandy gold in the linens and soft goods. Comfy furniture, flat screen televisions, in-room fireplaces and delightful valley views provide plenty of incentive to lounge around your room, particularly after a day on the golf course.

But a rejuvenating spa, a hip new lounge called Onyx and a popular pool also give good reason to get out and mingle. Colorful desert flora and local artwork accentuate the grounds. The new signature restaurant, Talavera -- named for a type of brightly colored, hand-painted Mexican pottery -- sports a bold design that incorporates the colors of the Sonoran Desert in full bloom and boasts wide city views.

The menu spotlights locally grown produce and cheeses, three different kinds of steak from boutique purveyors and fresh seafood. Available for small parties is Talavera's private wine cellar, where patrons sit at a communal, raised table, reminiscent of a Spanish tapas bar.

From October through April, there is no better golfing weather in the continental U.S. than in Scottsdale, Ariz. And if you choose Four Seasons and Troon North, you've selected the very best of the best.