On D
LAID-BACK ATMOSPHERE, MODERN DIVERSIONS, GREAT GOLF HELP ARIZONA’S NO. 2 CITY BUILD ITS OWN BRAND, IDENTITY
TUCSON By John Davis
ON’T HURRY, DON’T WORRY -— AND be sure to smell the flowers along the way. Such a modern- day mantra seems to fit the people of Tucson to a “T.” “Laid-back,” “easy-going”
and “slow-paced” are among the words commonly applied
to the lifestyle of the Old Pueblo, which embraces diversity, its lush desert surroundings and some of the best Mexican food in Arizona. In every way, it’s as if the city is living on Tucson time. That same feel is evident in its golf community, with a collection of properties that range from the stately Omni Tucson National to the cutting- edge Sewailo Golf Club to the ruggedly beautiful mountain ridges and canyons of El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Club. Mix in the city’s five popular municipal courses and you’ve got a golfing lifestyle few places can match. So many great golf courses and yet the overall average green fee is about half what you would pay to play in, say, Scottsdale. But what makes it all as comfortable
as a colorful serape is the prevalent kick-back approach to living, especially in comparison to the more hectic lifestyle of the Phoenix metro area. Tucson’s population has topped 1 million, but it has retained a rural city feel as opposed to the urban nature of its Arizona big sister 100 miles to the north.
22 | AZ GOLF Insider | ANNUAL 2017 “The pace of life is very different,”
said Brent DeRaad, who worked for the Phoenix and Scottsdale convention and visitors’ bureaus before becoming president and CEO of Visit Tucson. “This area is so serene yet uplifting with the wide-open spaces and the laid-back demeanor we have here. The marketing brand we use is ‘Free Yourself.’” In many ways, Tucson is
characterized by an older culture that reflects Spanish, Mexican and Native American influences of its past. “We pride ourselves on maintaining
tradition at our property, and I think that’s prevalent throughout this area,” Tucson National golf director Danny Medina said. “It means a lot here. It’s definitely not the hustle and bustle of most large cities. It’s laid-back. It’s leisure.” Tucson National played a role
in the Tucson golf boom very much like TPC Scottsdale’s impact on development in the Valley of the Sun. While the TPC course, which is home
to the Waste Management Phoenix Open, was carved out of scraggly desert north of the metro area, Tucson National was built on cotton fields north of Tucson. In both cases, there was virtually no other development in the surrounding area when the facilities opened. National opened in 1962 and foreshadowed the development of
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CASINO DEL SOL
OMNI TUCSON NATIONAL
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