Red's Legacy: Desert Forest Golf Club, a low-key monument to trailblazing design

By Joe Passov

Tucked away on quiet Mule Train Road, one mile east of the Carefree Sundial and cloaked in near solitude, sits one of the purest expressions of innovative course architecture in the U.S. Created in 1962 by Robert “Red” Lawrence, the Desert Forest Golf Club embodies nearly every virtue of a classic course, even though its design was unique for the time.

Carefree town founders K.T. Palmer and Tom Darlington envisioned Desert Forest serving as the centerpiece of their fledgling community.

The town’s success was hardly guaranteed, let alone the club. Downtown Scottsdale was more than 20 miles away, and the major population center of Phoenix sat nearly 40 miles from the first tee. Who would join Desert Forest, jabbed into inhospitable terrain, so far away from everything?

As it turned out, golf course word spread.

Tom Weiskopf found his way to this outpost in 1965, during his rookie season on the PGA Tour. He returned a 4-under-par 68. Weiskopf would ultimately pay his own way to join the club in 1979 and later served as design consultant. Also in 1965, renowned sportswriter Dan conferred Honorable Mention status on Desert Forest’s par-5 seventh hole in his listing of the 18 greatest holes in America. Chalk it up to a remarkable design.

Least Disturbance Philosophy

Prior to the construction of Desert Forest in the early 1960s, Phoenix-area golf courses typically resembled Midwestern parkland layouts, carpeted in wall-to-wall turf, with fairways framed by imported trees. Desert Forest changed that. “Leave the desert unmarked,” was Lawrence’s mandate to his crew. With a minimalist approach that preceded similar work from Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw by 30 years, Lawrence created an influential, enduring, low-profile masterpiece that melded seamlessly with its desert surrounds.

“First and foremost, Desert Forest was knitted into the fabric of the land,” says Jeff Newell, head golf professional at the club since 2012. “Very little dirt was moved when the golf course was being built. Red Lawrence worked closely with his shaper to focus on using the natural contours.”

Indeed, as architectural scholar Bradley Klein noted in his 2004 club history, “The genius of Desert Forest’s design is in the shapes of the fairways and the contours of the putting surfaces. Few golf courses built in the modern era of bulldozer construction respect the native ground contours like Desert Forest.”

Another classic virtue associated with Desert Forest is its Old World walkability, a rarity among the sprawling real estate-oriented layouts that populate the Valley. The next tee is generally conveniently accessible from the previous green, and the gently rolling terrain makes it easy on the legs and feet. Further incentive to walk was provided by former Director of Golf Brandon Rogers, who several years back initiated a caddie program which thrives today.

The orientation of the holes also maximizes views of the indigenous desert and of the local landmarks.

“Lawrence took great care when routing tee boxes and green complexes to provide excellent vistas of Black Mountain and the foothills of the surrounding mountains,” says Newell.

The most significant reworking of Desert Forest concluded in December 2013. Undertaken by architect Dave Zinkand, a longtime

Champions at Desert Forest Golf Club include Meghan Bolger (2007 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur); Jackie Cummings (1990 U.S. Senior Amateur); and the Arizona State Men’s golf team (2024 Pac-12 Championship).

Coore/Crenshaw associate, the alterations resulted in improved sightlines from the tee, reshaped greenside bunkers to better interact with the greens, increased distance from the tips (to 7,203 yards), recaptured green sizes and some internal contouring to the putting surfaces.

What didn’t change was the remarkable routing, nor any of the individual hole corridors. Each tumbles over and zigzags through raw desert via islands and ribbons of turf. Trees from mesquites to palo verdes, and cacti from saguaro to cholla, handsomely frame and punishingly threaten every shot.

Votes for “best hole” vary considerably — another indication of greatness. Some choose the 13th, others the hole Dan Jenkins lauded, the 551-yard, par-5 seventh, which sports a risk/reward tee shot to a split fairway bisected by a hostile plot of thorny plants. Still others opt for the 535-yard, par-5 16th, with its narrow, sloping fairway and a pesky mesquite tree about 150 yards from the green. The drivable 329-yard, par-4 14th (rendered reachable by Zinkand’s work) and the formidable 467-yard, par-4 18th also garner acclaim.

Beauty And Brawn

won medalist honors — in perfect weather. Slender landing areas, fast, cunningly contoured greens and difficult recoveries make Desert Forest likely the most demanding stroke play tournament course in Arizona.

“The joke among members is that you want to have ‘white on green’ — meaning you will often sacrifice distance for accuracy off the tee because you want your golf ball on the grass,” says Newell. “Once in the fairway, you must be precise with your approach. Miss an elevated green and the deflected shot might leave you 15 to 25 yards away, or in a bunker.”

As with any great course, Desert Forest will occasionally yield to a low round. Five years ago, 2007 WM Phoenix Open winner and club member Aaron Baddeley held the course record of 61. That score was bettered by Korn Ferry Tour player Jeremy Paul’s 60. Most recently, member Wil Bateman, also a Korn Ferry competitor, shattered the barrier, posting a 59.

When set up for tournament competitions, however, Desert Forest reverts to its longstanding reputation as a rattlesnake in the brush: Mess with it and it’s eventually going to bite you.

Belying its low-key environment and serene natural setting, Desert Forest sends scores soaring early and often, with potential disaster lurking on all 18 holes. At the 1990 U.S. Senior Amateur, 6-over-par 150

In April 2024, the club hosted the collegiate Pac-12 Men’s Golf Championship and over 72 holes, only two players broke par. Stanford’s Karl Vilips won the tournament at 2-under-par. Eleven months later, Vilips captured the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open. In second place at the Pac-12 tourney, 1 stroke back, was Ryggs Johnston of Arizona State. Late in 2024, Johnston hauled in a victory at the prestigious Australian Open.

“To have the two top finishers of that championship already win on a stage that big is evidence that the cream rises

There is no pool or tennis or pickleball at Desert Forest; this is a haven for golf purists. Newell acknowledges the course's supreme strategic challenge and its scenic allure yet cites the setting and ambience for why Desert Forest is so cherished.

"You often feel like you are the only golfers on the course when you're playing," he says. "If you didn't know there was a golf course here, you would simply drive by none the wiser. Peace and tranquility away from the day-to-day bustle of life is what so many of our members appreciate about the property."

A golf course that whispers its virtues rather than shouts them? Now that's refreshingly classic.