When We-Ko-Pa opened in 2001, it made a LeBron James-like impact on the Scottsdale golf scene.

Golfers fell hard for the Scott Miller design on Native American land without a house in sight. Sports Illustrated almost immediately dubbed it one of the 10 best new public golf courses in the whole world. It came in at No. 2 in the TravelGolf.com 2006
Top 10 Courses in Arizona. Reader Chase King wrote in “I played it last year and I can still vividly remember the course like I have recently played it.”

It’s the kind of track that spawns devotees.

Which is why the Dec. 16 opening of its new sister course Saguaro is the big new course event in Phoenix-Scottsdale.

Saguaro has a lot to live up to - the pressure on Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the design team behind the nearly already mythic Bandon Trails, is immense.

As usual, TravelGolf.com will be there with one of the first complete stories and verdicts on Saguaro you’ll see anywhere.

A lot of golfers even thought the Phoenix-Scottsdale corridor was too built up with courses years and years ago. But some of the courses opened in the last few years - We-Ko-Pa, Raven At Verrado - are already proving to be among the best in the area.

It will interesting to see if Saguaro measures up.

One thing that isn’t likely to catch on is We-Ko-Pa management’s attempt to try to get people to use Cholla as the name of the original course and save We-Ko-Pa as the name for the overall complex.

We-Ko-Pa is the Scott Miller. Saguaro is the new Coore and Crenshaw.

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