Fun Facts about Superstition Mountain

Members of our Arizona private golf club already know that Superstition Mountain offers 36 holes of spectacular Nicklaus Design golf. But, today we are taking a deeper dive and providing some fun facts many of you may not know.

A Family Affair
When designing our two courses, Jack Nicklaus had a little help from his sons – Gary Nicklaus worked on the Prospector Golf Course and Jack (Jackie) Nicklaus II chipped in on the Lost Gold Golf Course. Each hole stands up to the Golden Bear’s tradition of excellence.

History
Opening in 1998, the 7,185-yard Prospector was the first course to be completed. Designed with a classic layout, its signature hole - the 18th - allows members to finish their round with a beautiful challenge, facing a large oasis-like water feature with magnificent views of both the Superstition Mountains and the impressive clubhouse.

Lost Gold followed a year later, opening in 1999. This 7,351-yard links-style course presents a slightly more challenging experience with smaller greens and tricky bunker placements.

Superstition’s stunning, 50,000 square-foot, Tuscan-inspired clubhouse opened its doors in 2000.

Bunkers
Both courses underwent a complete bunker overhaul in 2017 that included:

• 180 bunkers across both 18-hole courses
• Removal of 4,000 tons of sand
• Installation of 4,500 tons of new bunker sand
• 15,000 linear feet of drainpipe
• 183,000 square feet of concrete
• 2,400 tons of capping sand

Maintenance
To dig a bit deeper into the inner workings of the club, we sat down with Scott Krout, our Director of Agronomy. Scott has been with Superstition since the very beginning, joining the team in 1998, and was able to share some fun course facts that will give you a new appreciation for the daily work of our agronomy team.

It takes a team of 40 people up to 48 hours a week (each) to maintain Superstition including the courses, practice areas and grounds around the sports club, clubhouse and driving range.

The team starts two hours before the sun comes up to ensure they get ahead of play for the day. Greens are mowed 365 days a year, except when it rains. Fairways are mowed three to four times a week and the rough once or twice a week.

Course Fast Facts:

• 6,000 sprinkler heads water the courses
• There’s a combined 180 acres of turf
• 3,500 tons of sand went into the original build of the courses
• Agronomy Equipment:
• 8 fairway mowers
• 16 greens mowers
• 8 approach mowers
• 2 rough mowers
• 30 utility vehicles
•  4 sprayers
• The trees that line the picturesque drive to the clubhouse are Fraxinus Velutina, more commonly known as Fan Tex Ash. The tree is drought-tolerant and provides beautiful, lush foliage.

Another insight Scott shared is how much he’s seen the club grow during his tenure. In the club’s early days, the summer months would only bring out four to five groups per day. Now, they see 100+ golfers daily, even in June, July and August as membership increases and more people are choosing to call Superstition home year-round.

Speaking of tenure, about a two-thirds of the agronomy staff have been at the club for 10 years or more, a few have been with Scott since 1998. What makes everyone stay? To paraphrase Scott’s sentiments: As a company Superstition treats its employees very well, it’s a great place to work and provides a steady, reliable job. The people on my team like to work outside, and it’s rare to see someone working alone so there’s a lot of camaraderie on the team. It’s a job and certainly we work hard – especially when it’s 110 degrees outside – but it’s fun.

Course Play
We’ll wrap up our fun facts with some player notes.

• 6 sets of tee boxes accommodate a variety of skill levels
• Prospector course record 61
• Lost Gold course record 62
• Pins are switched every 2 days between 7 different pin placements
• Roughly 10,000 range balls are used per day – during peak season

Experience our golf course for yourself, learn more about membership opportunities today.