Rio Rico Country Club

The Rio Rico Country Club is located in the town of Rio Rico, Santa Cruz County, in the south of Arizona near the Mexican border. It is located at an elevation of 1,220 meters in the river valley of the Santa Cruz, surrounded by the Sonora Desert with its craggy boulders and view of the San Cayetano Mountains. From Tuscon, the second largest city in Arizona, the Rio Rico Country Club can be reached via I-19 S in around an hour. The golf club opened an 18-hole course, type traditional/desert with par 72, in 1971. The golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr. was responsible for its design. He designed the 6,509-meter long, both flat and hilly course with various wide and deep greens, fairways that traversed the hills, strategically-placed sand and green bunkers, dog legs, and some water hazards. Pine and poplar trees, as well as meadows flank the fairways. The tees on the athletically-challenging course are elevated so that the course can be played by golfers with different playing levels. The first nine holes at the Rio Rico Country Club are placed along the river; the second nine along the desert vegetation of the Sonora. The championship course is counted among the most beautiful golf courses in Arizona and was named the Top Hidden Gem in the state.