A golfer hits to the left and around the water on the 10th fairway Thursday, April 15, 2004 at Stone Canyon Club golf course in Oro Valley, Ariz. Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star

Golf Digest last week named its Top 200 golf courses in America. Oro Valley’s Stone Canyon Club ranked No. 155, which was No. 3 in Arizona and ahead of such notable national-name golf courses as Whistling Straits, the Atlanta Country Club, Kiawah Island and Torrey Pines South. Because the Stone Canyon Club is private, owned byΒ Phil Mickelson’s group, most Tucson golfers haven’t been able to experience it. ProsΒ Mike RussellΒ andΒ Brent NewcombΒ have helped to make it a worthy member of the Top 200, and climbing. If I could play any three Southern Arizona courses, I would play Stone Canyon, the Gallery Golf Club’s north course and Dell Urich, a piece-of-heaven muni course in the heart of Tucson.Β 


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