COVER STORY
Model homes at Victory at Verrado (above left) emphasize the indoor/outdoor environment, the perfect spot to enjoy the Tom Lehman-designed golf course.
can enjoy yourself and have a good time. It’s the kind of course that will help grow the game, for sure. “But there are so many other
ways to have fun here at Victory, from hiking and biking to swimming and working out to even crushing grapes and having our own wine tastings.” Yes, Taratsas said “crushing
grapes,” and there are 4½ acres of Zinfandel and Pinot Grigio varietals on the golf course, believe it or not. In fact, the Victory residents already have harvested their first crop and held a grape-crushing contest, with 42 contestants doing their best imitation of the old Lucille Ball skit. The vines are located along the 18th hole at Victory, arguably the club’s signature offering. So what are the other new and
different types of looks and things visitors will find on their maiden voyage to Victory at Verrado? As it turns out, plenty. And that starts with the landscape, according to the man who envisioned Victory. “Every hole kind of gives you
something unique and different, with that theme of being a surreally beautiful, rugged rock environment running throughout,” said Lehman, who along with former partner John Fought built the first course, Verrado, back in 2004. “We’ve truly used whatever the
land has given us — if that’s a cliff or a nob or a boulder or a drop-off or a
22 | AZ GOLF Insider | ANNUAL 2016
sudden rise up the mountain — and left the terrain all natural. In fact, I can’t think of any other golf course in Arizona that is quite like it.” The ubiquitous crushed granite is
of all sizes and shapes, as Caterpillar used Victory back in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s to test its heavy-duty tractors and land-moving equipment. And when those “Cats” weren’t turning the area into shattered stone, they leased part of the area to a local materials company, which mined gravel and other minerals from the rocky terrain, further breaking down what was once a mountain. The golf course, a par 72 that
stretches about 7,100 yards, is the 10th course designed by Lehman in Arizona, and pushes the Scottsdale architect’s overall portfolio to 30 courses he has designed, co-designed or redesigned. Lehman, the winner of five PGA Tour events, including the 1996 British Open, said that despite Victory’s incredible history, he views the layout as “more traditional than desert,” meaning there are no forced carries off the tee over washes and waste areas. “Overall it’s going to be mostly
all fairway (no rough), with greens that flow up and through and with all kinds of movement — humps and bumps and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “But very natural and without a lot of bunkers, so it looks like we just laid the golf course in there.”
Lehman is center-cut with that assessment. The front nine, which races out through virgin desert, is a brilliant contrast of emerald fairways against gray-purple rock. Golfers will especially remember the first two holes, a par 4 and par 3 that are divided by a giant rock outcropping yet somehow the green settings lie just 50 feet apart and can’t be seen from each other due to the elevation. The back nine is built more into the mountain, with the 17th and 18th holes, the site of the former mining pit, producing a mild roller-coaster ride coming home. In between, there are some fantastic holes that feature football field-size fairways that are in a constant state of up-and-down flow. “Seriously, there are so many awesome
holes in between (the start and the finish) that I just love,” Lehman said of Victory, which sports approximately 85 acres of turf as well as greens that range from 4,500 feet up to a massive 8,000 feet. Lehman said the ninth hole, which
boasts a view of the entire Valley all the way from Four Peaks up north to South Mountain, “will eventually be regarded as one of the best par 4s in Phoenix.” Chances are the eighth hole, a long par 5 that bends around the well- striped Tiger Mountain, also will gain a reputation, as will the short par 4 14th, where a one-of-a-kind natural rock wall divides the fairway and makes trying to drive the green a true crapshoot.
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VERRADO GOLF CLUB
VERRADO GOLF CLUB
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