Desert golf that forgives
Dove Valley Ranch is the course to book when you want the look of north Valley desert golf without the punishment. It opened in 1998 as the centerpiece of the 850-acre Dove Valley Ranch golf community, with a Cave Creek address below Black Mountain, and was hailed that year as Arizona’s best new public course.
Robert Trent Jones Jr., a designer better known for heroic, demanding courses, went the other way here. The course is a par 72 of 7,095 yards that swings between wide-open desert and the greener, more intimate holes along Willow Wash. Fairways are ample, the greens are subtly contoured and open in front, and, crucially, there are mown transition areas between the short grass and the desert, so a slightly missed drive gives you a shot rather than a drop. In Jones’s own phrase, the goal was not to “overcook” a gentle site.
The site is old. The Hohokam lived below Black Mountain about a thousand years ago, and the Jones team was charged with preserving the property’s archaeological features; the boulders that mark each hole are carved with petroglyph-style motifs in their honor. See our Hohokam entry for who they were.
Booking, rates, practice and the clubhouse
Tee times. Public golfers book online up to 90 days ahead, or by phone at (480) 488-0009, with a credit card to guarantee the time. Thompson Golf Group loyalty cardholders book up to 30 days ahead and save more inside 7 days; members book 7 days out; morning nine-hole times open 7 days ahead. The booking system has been upgraded, so returning golfers need to create a new login with the same email. Changes and cancellations need 24 hours’ notice by phone, or the card holder can be charged for the group.
Rates. The public 18-hole rate, cart included, checked in October 2026, was $145 for late October and $175 for November 12, November 14 and December 15, the same at 6 a.m. as at 2 p.m. That puts Dove Valley at the top of the value tier and well below the famous north Scottsdale courses. Walking is not offered on the public booking.
Practice is private. The range, with 30-plus grass hitting zones, a practice bunker, a pitching and chipping green and a large putting green, is limited to annual passholders, loyalty cardholders, lessons and golfers warming up before their round. On Mondays the last bucket is sold at 12:30 p.m. and the range closes at 1; other days the last bucket goes an hour before sunset.
On the course: every cart in the Yamaha fleet carries iPar GPS. Dress code is collared shirts and golf shorts or slacks; “tasteful denim” is allowed, which is rare here; no tank tops or gym wear. TaylorMade rental sets are $80 with two sleeves of balls.
After: the Copper Bar and Lounge is open to the public, with comfort food, cold drinks and a patio.
Overseeding. In 2026 the course reopened from its overseed on Sunday, October 18, and stays cart path only for about two weeks while the rye fills in. See overseeding.
Where it fits in the north Valley
Dove Valley Ranch belongs to the late-1990s wave of courses built as the amenity at the heart of a new master-planned community, in this case 850 acres of homes on the high desert at the north edge of the Valley. That model made the course upscale from the start, but daily-fee rather than private, and it has stayed that way. Today it takes part in the Thompson Golf Group loyalty card program, which links it with the group’s other Valley courses.
What distinguishes it is the design brief. Jones’s team was told to preserve the prehistoric significance of the land and keep the desert’s natural character, so the holes follow the existing ground and the wash rather than bulldozed shapes. The result is a course that reads as desert golf from the tee and plays more like a traditional course once you are on it.
That makes it a good pairing with its neighbor. Rancho Mañana, a few miles northeast in the town of Cave Creek, is the opposite: short, hilly and narrow. Play both in a weekend and you will know which kind of golfer you are. For the bigger stages, Troon North and Grayhawk are twenty to thirty minutes east. For dinner, Tonto Bar & Grill at Rancho Mañana is the serious table nearby, and Cave Creek Regional Park is the hike. The Carefree and Cave Creek guides cover the rest of the area.