85 Photo: credit The fourteenth is a drop-shot par three that plays from the highest point on the property don’t have the stress of all-or-nothing forced carry. Towering conifers – pinyons, junipers and ponderosa pines – also line the holes to create a sense of defined journey while making golfers feel they are embedded in Coconino National Forest, which in fact they are, since the protected woodland borders immediately along the golf course. When Seven Canyons opened, it made an immediate impact on the sensibility of golf course evaluators, who soon placed it on the Golfweek magazine Top 100 Modern Courses list. A subsequent financial downturn limited investment in the property; only in 2022-23 was new ownership able to invest in a major renovation and upgrade of the golf course – everything from bunkers, turfgrass, tees and the entire land plan. That renovation, overseen by former Weiskopf design associate Phil Smith in conjunction with Seven Canyon’s superintendent Andy Huber, also yielded a new sequencing of the holes, one that flows easily, is readily walkable, and that starts with a bang by taking golfers on the first hole right to the foot of the mountainous rock. The club assembled an expert team, including the return of Wadsworth, the construction firm that created the original layout, as well as CapillaryFlow for bunkering (16 on fairways and 39 greenside) and Toro equipment for irrigation. The final result is a par 71 which can play from 5,143 to 6,858 yards, with 27 acres of fairway and an average green size of 5,650 square feet. Along the ways, golfers undertake a visually thrilling experience. On holes that might look narrow off the tee, the fairway opens up very wide – an example of what is known in landscape design as ‘compression and release’. The effect has a powerful emotional component, one which culminates at the launch pad tee of the downhill parthree fourteenth hole, where you play from the highest point of the property. With the upgrade work now complete, it can truly be said that Seven Canyons is back. Photo: Brad Klein REPORT
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