New Ritz Boasts Jack Nicklaus Golf Course

The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain is getting ready to unveil the Tucson area's first new Jack Nicklaus golf course in 25 years in 2009.

The new golf facilities are at the center of an 850 acre project located northwest edge of Tucson. Highlights include a 250-room luxury resort hotel and spa, to open in fall 2009, as well as The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, an exclusive residential community.

The new Jack Nicklaus Signature Design golf course will set the standard for luxury golf courses in the desert. The 27-hole course presents golfers with an array of challenges on a course that is designed to blend seamlessly with the surrounding desert topography, which is in the midst of noble saguaros that line the surrounding Tortolita Mountain Range. An additional nine holes are planned.

Undulating greens, wide fairways and carries over desert are on each course, with bunkering variations from classic, pot-style obstacles to expansive areas that stretch close to 80 yards along the edges of the fairways. Grasses on the courses include Bentgrass greens, while the tees, fairways and rough are Bermuda (with perennial rye overseed), ideal for the desert climate.

The private course is intended to strike a balance between a friendly game and be host to champions, when the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship arrives at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, February 23 through March 2009.

Although the course will only be accessible to resident members and resort guests of The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, during the inaugural year, open play will be available at certain dates. Winter season registration fee is $225 per player, which includes golf, cart, access to the practice facilities and required forecaddie from the distinctive Ritz-Carlton Caddie Concierge program.

In addition to a magnificent course, the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain also features a full-service 50,000 square-foot clubhouse, with all the luxury amenities you'd expect of a Ritz affiliate. Features of the luxury club include a tennis center, state-of-the-art fitness center, steward-serviced private locker rooms, a double-ended practice facility. There are also many indoor and outdoor dining venues with spectacular views, including Cayton's, a casual but refined restaurant named for legendary Dove Mountain homesteader and cowboy poet Eugene "Cush" Cayton.