Randolph's history, location makes it one of Tucson's most important golf courses

In Southern Arizona, there's a plethora of golf courses worth playing. Yes, even in peak summer — hey, cheaper rates!

We've created a guide with 10 courses Southern Arizona golfers should play as soon as possible.

Here's the catch: no country clubs or courses that require memberships to play, which excludes sumptuous tracks like Tucson Country Club — the home course of the Arizona Wildcats — along with La Paloma Country Club, Skyline Country Club, The Gallery Golf Club and Stone Canyon Golf Club. 

Oh, and no putt-putt golf, although we don't discourage anyone from working on their short game at Golf N' Stuff, a longstanding Tucson staple.  

This week, we're featuring courses that should be on your golf to-do list in Southern Arizona. Quarry Pines, The Golf Club at Dove Mountain, Casino Del Sol's Sewailo Golf Club and The Club at Starr Pass kicked off the series. Rounding out the first half of the series is Randolph Golf Complex. 

Randolph Golf Complex

Location: 602 S. Alvernon Way

Length: 36 holes, 13,400 yards (two 18-hole courses — Dell Urich and Randolph North)

Par: 70

Notable hole: 17, Dell Urich (137 yards)

The rundown: Randolph Golf Complex doesn't offer luxurious amenities like some of the golf facilities in Tucson attached to resorts, but it's embedded in the Old Pueblo's golf history — and it's only a five-minute drive from In-N-Out and Home Depot. 

It's centrally located and within a 25-minute drive from nearly everything in Tucson. It's been the practice and tournament site for several high school teams across multiple generations. Locals, retirees, college students, they all golf at Randolph. It's a potpourri of golfers.  

If you're a Tucson resident and a golfer, you've played a round or 20 at Randolph. 

Randolph North — named after Tucson pioneer and railroad executive Epes Randolph — opened in 1925, and the parkland-style golf course was the host of the PGA Tour Seiko Tucson Match Play Championship and the Tucson Open and the LPGA Tucson event.

Randolph South underwent a redesign — led by renowned golf architect and designer Ken Kavanaugh — in 1996 and was renamed Dell Urich, which took over as host of the LPGA Tucson tournament. Dell Urich's signature hole is the 137-yard Par 3 on 17 — a tee shot on the green requires a 130-yard carry. If hit short, the ball is swimming in a lake.

Both courses at Randolph Golf Complex have lush and tree-lined fairways, along with several water features scattered throughout the course. Birds tend to fly between the lakes and ponds at Randolph and the water features at the neighboring Reid Park. 

It's a municipal golf complex that offers a wide driving range — which stays open late during the summer — that runs along Alvernon Road between Broadway and 22nd Street.

Randolph isn't considered the most pristine golf course in Tucson, but the up-to-par conditions, location and history are a few reasons why it's one of the most popular choices.