We-Ko-Pa Golf Club’s Saguaro course was recently recognized by Golfweek as the No. 1 public golf course in Arizona in the publication’s annual “Best Courses You Can Play, State by State” rankings list. The Saguaro Course, designed by world-renowned architect duo Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, has held the honor for 13 of the last 14 years. Saguaro also was named to the Top-200 Modern Courses (No. 199) – a list of the best golf courses in the United States, public or private, built after 1960. Additionally, Saguaro’s sister course, Cholla, moved to No. 7 up one spot from the year before and has held a Top-10 spot in the annual list for three-straight years.
“For both of our incredible golf courses to be named to this list is a tremendous honor,” said Matt Barr, general manager of We-Ko-Pa Golf Club. “But to hold these positions for as long as we have is a testament to not only the extraordinary work of our staff, but also to the commitment to quality from Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. We’re very pleased and look forward to continued excellence in the future.”
Each year, Golfweek publishes three lists that are the foundation of their course-ratings program: Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses, Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses and Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play. The members of their course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on their 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state to produce the final rankings.
Golfweek has recognized both of We-Ko-Pa’s award-winning golf courses for additional honors as well. We-Ko-Pa Golf Club was recently recognized by Golfweek as among the 2020 Top-50 Casino Courses in the country. The Saguaro Course came in at No. 5, the highest-ranked Arizona golf course on the list and the highest-ranked tribally owned golf operation in the country. The Cholla course, Saguaro’s sister course, came in at No. 16, the third highest-ranked Arizona course on the list. Saguaro has held its Top-5 position on Golfweek’s annual Top-50 Casino Golf Course list since 2018.
