Where to Go Next: Dove Mountain in Tucson

With the weather turning dreary and the Las Colinas Four Seasons all in a kerfuffle, this week seemed like a perfect time to head West, to Tucson, to play golf and check out the new Ritz-Carlton at Dove Mountain, which opened a couple of weeks ago. The PGA Tour (sort of) rolls through here in February for the Accenture Match Play tournament, this year to the Nicklaus 27-hole Dove Mountain courses (at the Ritz) following a short stint at the Gallery Golf Club down the street a couple of years ago.

Musician David Weiss on the tee

Remember the band Was (Not Was), of Walk the Dinosaur fame more than a few years back? Band founder David Weiss was here (he’s the Was, but where did that name came from?). That’s him, playing from the tips of the Gallery course this morning.

And Joan Lunden, co-host of Good Morning America, was here, too, taking in the clean air and soaking in the energy vortex. (I hear she’s scouting a location for something big.)

Dove Mountain, like most new golf venues these days, is part of a master planned community. Out here in the high Sonoran desert, on the edge of the Tortolita Mountains, it’s easy to forget it’s still winter. The fairways sparkle emerald green, the mercury bobs in the 60s before settling into the 40s for the night, and houses are sprouting faster than saguaro cacti can be transplanted.

Today, I tackled the South course of the Gallery Golf Club. Golf course architect John Fought unrolled a thick carpet of bermuda across dessert tumbled with sage and cactus. But it’s the wide fairways, treacherous greens with unpredictable breaks, and mountainside vistas of Tucson in the far distance that most caught my attention. I loved it.

Tucsonians like weird things, like this crime scene: the Sonoran hot dog-- bacon-wrapped wiener, beans, onions and cheese.

Right now, the official line is that Gallery is a members-only club. But I’d bet they’d welcome you if you tell them you are thinking about buying property in the area.