Short, green and a mile from Old Town
Continental is the golf course for people who do not have five hours. It is an 18-hole executive course, par 60, at Hayden Road and Osborn, a mile east of Old Town on the edge of South Scottsdale. The routing is par 3s and short par 4s, laid out by the Arizona architects Greg Nash and Jeff Hardin, through mature trees and around lakes, with several tees on every hole.
What that means in practice: you can play eighteen before a 10 a.m. meeting, take a beginner out without ruining their week, or play a twilight round in the time it takes to get to the north-side courses. It feels more like a parkland club than a pitch-and-putt, and it is kept that way.
Two other things make it a local favorite. The practice range is a real one, with grass and mats, which is rarer in this part of town than it should be. And Continental is the Valley’s home of Glow Golf, nights when the course is played in the dark with glowing balls. The Arizona Republic once called it the city’s best inexpensive golf course and the Phoenix New Times its best late-afternoon getaway, and both still fit.
Booking, the range, the café and the rules
Tee times are public and booked online through Arcis Golf, which owns and runs the club, or by phone at (480) 941-1047. Continental does not post a rate card; rates are set by date and hour in the booking system. The Arcis Players’ Card, on presale until November 1, 2026 with bonus rounds for early buyers, lowers them, and the two membership tiers (Players’ Club and Prime) add earlier booking and preferred rates across Arcis’s Phoenix-area clubs, which include Ancala and McDowell Mountain.
Arrival. Parking is free. Drop your bag at the clubhouse, then check in at the golf shop even if you prepaid; the club asks for 30 minutes before your time. Green fees and carts can be paid by card or cash at check-in.
The range has 21 mat stations and 24 grass stations, a chipping green with a practice bunker and room for 30-yard pitches, and a separate putting green. A small bucket (35 balls) is $10 and a large (65) is $15. It hits off mats Monday to Wednesday and grass Thursday to Sunday, and closes at noon on Mondays for maintenance.
The Dog Leg Café serves breakfast and lunch every day, comfort food, with a full bar, and the beverage carts go out on the course.
Dress code. Men need a collared or golf shirt; women can wear golf tops, dresses, skirts or golf shorts. Soft spikes or athletic shoes. No denim, cut-offs, tank tops, swimwear or gym clothes. The club’s line is “comfortable, not stuffy,” and that is about right.
Walking. The club does not post a walking policy online; on a short executive course it is the natural way to play, so ask when you book.
Overseeding dates are not posted online; like every Bermuda course in the Valley it overseeds in the fall (see our overseeding entry), so call before booking the first half of October.
Why an executive course is the smart local round
Scottsdale’s golf reputation was built on long desert courses up north, and that is what visitors book. Locals know the other half of the map: the older courses in the middle of the city, near the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt, where the turf is mature, the prices are lower and the rounds are shorter. Continental is the shortest of the good ones.
An executive course is a full-sized course with the long holes taken out. There are no par 5s to wait on and few drivers to hit, so the round moves, and the scoring holes, the wedge to a green guarded by water, the mid-iron par 3, are the same ones that decide a round on a championship course. It is also how most people learn the game, and Continental runs a junior program for ages 5 to 17, leagues, clinics and a calendar of events, which is why the place feels like a neighborhood club rather than a tourist stop.
The same Nash and Hardin names are on the card at Coronado, half a mile south on Miller Road, whose nine holes are the other executive round in this corner of town: cash only, no tee times, a lighted range open until 9 p.m. Play both in a day and you have done 27 holes for less than one round up north.
After golf, The Eleanor is a few blocks south on Hayden, Papago Brewing is on McDowell, and Indian School Park is just up Hayden for a walk on the Greenbelt path.