Vistal's eighth green rests in a box canyon.

Believe it or not, you can play a decent golf course for less than $100 on a Phoenix, Arizona golf vacation , and you don’t have to bake in the midday August sun to do it.

Vistal Golf Club is the 2001 reincarnation of Thunderbirds Golf Club, a 1950s-era course that had become known a mediocre public course on a fantastic piece of property. With the donated design services of the PGA Tour, along with consultation by tour players Tom Lehman and Billy Mayfair, it is now one of the best courses you can play on a Phoenix, Arizona golf vacation for less than $100. In fact, the highest green fee all year is only $79.

Unlike some other area courses, whose desert terrain is beautiful but often monotonous, the imposing presence of South Mountain and the numerous ponds and creeks lend intrigue to the game at Vistal. Plus, holes one and 10 look out over the Phoenix skyline and Chase Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks.

We should point out that, because of the tight nature of the course, long hitters frequently select an iron on many tees, something to consider if you just can’t resist hitting your driver all the time. Everyone, however, will love hitting their irons on the strong quartet of par threes, particularly the 144-yard, 8th hole, which is carved into a box canyon and features an enormous, sloping green bisected by a ridge. The entire course is in view from the tee on No. 9, a double-dogleg par five with a greenside pond.

This hole used to be the 18th, providing an inspiring conclusion to one of the most exhilarating rounds you can play on an Phoenix, Arizona golf vacation . Now, it sets up the back nine, which itself begins with a heroic, 450-yard par four. Narrow or not, it’s driver time.

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