PARKER, Ariz. — You have to be going there to get there, as no one really passes through this part of the state unless this is where you’re headed. But sometimes taking the road less traveled can be an unexpected wild ride.
Tucked away in the western edge of the state along the Colorado River, which serves as the border between Arizona and California, Emerald Canyon Golf Course awaits, with its narrow canyons, blind tee shots and exhilarating elevation changes. You can probably leave your driver in the trunk but you’re definitely going to need a “I think I’ll hit it this way and see what happens” mindset.
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Designed by Bill Phillips and opened in 1989 with its first nine holes (the second nine came online two years later), this golf course lives up to its moniker, with a variety of narrow canyons that provide tight landing areas. You start out on the Valley floor a few football fields away from the river, and on two occasions you make your way up in elevation.
The hot and dry climate was an attraction for Curt Bagby, the director of golf. He is from Seattle but “the weather brought me down, ” he said. “I came down with friends and never left.”
When he first arrived, Bagby went to work for the county in law enforcement. Then about a year ago, his bosses asked him if he’d be interested in taking over the day-to-day operations of the golf course. It was not something he would have predicted for himself a few years ago.
“Never ever in my life,” he said. “Because being a cop that just was not in my, I didn’t know it was in my wheelhouse. But I believe it is.”
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The course gets about 300 rounds a day when it’s busy in the fall, winter and spring. It hosts the annual Emerald Canyon Open, which made headlines in 2020 during the COVID pandemic when it was called the Parker Open. As golf became popular with so many other activities put on hold, and with most of the world’s pro golf tours in pause, Alex Cejka of the PGA Tour Champions went birdie-ace-birdie-eagle down the stretch to force a playoff and then won it in extra holes.
The golf course, owned by La Paz County, is also habitat for endangered fish. Emeral Canyon’s pin flags have the course logo but also two fish and the words “partners of fish and wildlife” that represents the partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Seven lakes on the course are habitats for endangered fish.
When you play the course, sure, you notice the bodies of water, but what keeps catching your eye are those narrow canyons. After easing into the round, you go underneath I-95 to the fourth tee. This is where things start to get interesting. A 287-yard par 4 doesn’t seem like too much trouble, but when you notice the narrow canyon walls and when you can barely see the left edge of the green peaking out from around the side of one of those steep walls, you start to understand the uniqueness of the course.
“You’re going to see there’s a lot of spots where you’re twisting and turning and going up hills,” Bagby said.
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The par-3 fifth’s green is visible pretty much only from the forward tees but if you’re playing the hole from the tips, which is still only about 155 yards, it’s an exercise in hit-and-hope.
The par-4 sixth is back up from where you came, uphill through another one of those canyons. Bagby calls it hitting into a curved tunnel. When you’re on the fifth tee box, you can see the sixth fairway zoom by and there’s signage present to warn you not to stray too close.
Emerald Canyon Golf Course in Parker, Arizona.
After you make the turn back near the clubhouse second nine starts you on your way back up the hill. This time, when you cross underneath a different part of I-95, you’re heading to the high points of the course. Notably, holes Nos. 15, 16, and 17. This is where you really get some great views of the landscape with the Colorado River a band of blue in the distance.
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The tee box of the 17th hole is at the course’s highest point. This par-5’s fairways runs right to left but also away from you and it will eventually end at the edge of a cliff. A big hitter can knock one to the precipice but then you’re only 180 yards from the green with a pretty severe downhill shot. Among the many holes out here, this is the one that seems to trigger the most conversation.
“Every hole is dynamic on this course,” said Bagby. “I think you could ask a group of 20 people right now and they would come up with different options” as to what their favorite hole is.
All in all, it’s a wild ride. It may be every golfer’s cup of tea, with the multitude of narrow attack angles and variety of blind shots, but if it’s a unique experience unlike anything in Arizona and definitely worth the trek along the Colorado River.
Todd Kelly is an assistant managing editor at Golfweek.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Narrow canyons, blind tee shots part of the wild ride at Emerald Canyon Golf Course in Arizona
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