Omni Tucson National is a course built on its PGA Tour history

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, The Club at Starr Pass, Randolph Golf Complex, Arizona National Golf Club and El Conquistador started the series. Up next: Omni Tucson National. 

Omni Tucson National

Location: 2727 W. Club Drive

Length: Two 18-hole courses, Catalina and Sonoran (13,791 yards)

Par: 73 (Par 70 for the Sonoran Course)

Notable hole: 18, Par 4 (443 yards)

The rundown: Some of golf's biggest names and most respected PGA Tour veterans have played in multiple tournaments at Omni Tucson National's Catalina course.  

From Arnold Palmer to Lee Trevino, Phil Mickelson, Bernhard Langer, Jim Furyk and John Daly, Omni Tucson National was the home for PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments for decades.

Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the original Catalina course, along with a luxurious resort, was built on a cotton field in 1961 and later redesigned by Robert von Hagge and Bruce Devlin in 1983. Former PGA star and Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman designed the Sonoran course in 2005.

The Catalina course is more popular between the two because it was the full-time host of the Tucson Open from 1997-2006. PGA Tour held the first 18 editions of the Tucson Open at El Rio Golf Course, then moved the tournament to Forty Niner Country Club, Randolph Golf Complex and TPC at Starr Pass. 

Between his collegiate career at Arizona State and the start of his professional career, Mickelson won the Tucson Open thrice. Mickelson's last tournament at Omni Tucson National was the Cologuard Classic, hosted by PGA Tour Champions, in 2021. 

The Tucson Open had a number of presenting sponsors over the years, including Ford Mustang, NBC, Seiko, Northern Telecom and Chrysler. Dean Martin — yes, that Dean Martin — was the presenting sponsor of the Tucson Open in the mid 1970s. After 2006, the PGA Tour moved the event to Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, the host of the NCAA golf championships. 

PGA Tour Champions, the division with golfers 50-plus years old, held the Cologuard Classic (first known as the Tucson Conquistadores Classic) from 2014-23. Since then, the Cologuard Classic has been at La Paloma Country Club.

Omni Tucson National recently hosted the Mountain West golf championships and the National Invitational Tournament. The second-place Arizona Wildcats were led by individual winner and All-American Filip Jakubcik, who shot 14 under at the NIT. 

The most infamous hole at Omni Tucson National is the finale on 18, which has water running along both sides of the fairway. A hook or slice on this narrow fairway will likely end up with you taking a drop penalty. However, the challenging finish makes for an exciting finale for tournaments that are down to the wire.

In the last Cologuard Classic at Omni Tucson National in 2023, there were a combined 73 bogeys and double bogeys on the last two days of the tournament. David Toms, the 2023 champion, dribbled his tee shots out of bounds all three days of the 2023 Cologuard Classic. 

Even though the 18th hole is considered one of the most challenging holes on the Catalina course, the parkland-style layout is friendly to high-handicap golfers.