Forty years ago, beneath the unmistakable silhouette of Pinnacle Peak, something extraordinary began.
When Troon Country Club opened in late 1986, the surrounding landscape was an untouched canvas of granite boulders, towering saguaros, ancient washes, and sweeping desert vistas. From that spectacular setting emerged a golf course that would earn international acclaim almost immediately — and a club that, over the next four decades, would become something even more meaningful.
It became home.
This November 15, Troon Country Club celebrates its 40th Anniversary, honoring not simply the milestones that shaped its past, but the members whose friendships, traditions, and unmistakable zest for life have defined its spirit.
FROM SCOTLAND TO SCOTTSDALE
Troon Country Club’s story begins thousands of miles away on the windswept Ayrshire coast of Scotland when, in 1973, Tom Weiskopf captured his first major championship at Royal Troon.
Years later, when developer Jerry Nelson and Weiskopf considered a name for the new club taking shape in the North Scottsdale foothills, they returned to a place that held special significance in Weiskopf’s life. Troon Country Club was born.
The relationship would become more than a name. In 1991, Royal Troon Captain Donald Forsyth and other club leaders traveled to Arizona. Friendships developed, return visits and friendly competitions followed, and a traditional Scottish quaich commemorating that bond remains displayed in Troon’s trophy case today.
It was an early expression of something that would become central to Troon’s identity: Tradition matters most when it brings people together.
DISCOVERED IN THE DESERT
Troon Country Club also marked the beginning of another remarkable legacy. It was Weiskopf’s first golf course design. Working alongside accomplished architect Jay Morrish, Weiskopf resisted the temptation to overpower the desert. Instead, the pair allowed the land’s natural elevation changes, washes, granite formations, and native vegetation to guide the routing.
The result was a course that seemed not constructed, but discovered. The golf world took notice. Troon earned Golf Digests “Best New Private Course” honor for 1987 and soon appeared among GOLF Magazine’s Top 100 Courses in the World — an extraordinary debut for a first-time designer.
Its holes became memorable signatures. The par-3 13th, “Postage Stamp,” pays homage to Royal Troon’s celebrated eighth. The dramatic 16th, “Gunsight,” is framed by towering rock formations. And Troon’s 296-yard fourth introduced a feature that would become a Weiskopf hallmark around the world: the strategic, risk-reward drivable par 4.
Championship golf soon followed. Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, Fuzzy Zoeller, John Daly, Lanny Wadkins, and Mark Calcavecchia were among the professionals who competed on Troon’s fairways during the Bob Simonds PING Pro-Scratch era.
Troon Country Club later hosted three USGA national championships — the 1990 and 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships and the 2023 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur —further cementing its place in American golf history.
Today, the Certified Audubon Sanctuary course remains one of the club’s defining treasures, unfolding naturally across the Sonoran Desert beneath Pinnacle Peak. Yet the most important chapter of Troon’s story has always extended beyond golf.
CLUB BELONGS TO ITS MEMBERS
Over the decades, members have thoughtfully balanced respect for the club’s heritage with a willingness to evolve. Since 2017, more than $15 million has been invested in Troon, including a $7.5 million clubhouse expansion with a 9,000-square-foot Wellness Center; Weiskopf’s $4.6 million golf course renovation and restoration in 2020; a heated lap pool and hot tub; dining enhancements; and the comprehensive 2026 pond and practice facility project.
Each investment represents more than a physical improvement. Together, they reflect a commitment to creating an exceptional setting for members to gather, connect, play, celebrate, and simply enjoy life.
THE HEART OF THE CLUB
Walk through Troon Country Club today and its personality reveals itself effortlessly. It is in the laughter around a dinner table. Friends greeting one another before a morning round. A spontaneous conversation after a workout. A packed social event. A familiar face waving someone over to join the table.
There is an ease to life here — a warmth that cannot be manufactured.
Troon is active and sophisticated, yet wonderfully approachable. Members value tradition without being bound by it. They embrace health, wellness, golf, dining, racquet sports, travel, live music, celebrations, and, above all, one another.
More than 100 members have called Troon home for over two decades — a remarkable reflection of the friendships, traditions, and sense of belonging that have endured throughout the club’s history.
Today, that legacy is carried forward by a vibrant community of 1,052 individual members across 300 Full Golf, 193 Sport/Social and 45 Senior Golf memberships. Friendships continue to deepen across generations. New traditions join beloved ones. And new members are welcomed into a community where belonging is not simply promised — it is felt.
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS
Throughout 2026, Troon has been inviting longtime members to share memories — because history isn’t simply built by architects or recorded on championship scorecards. It is built by members.
On Saturday, November 14, those stories will come together as Troon Country Club celebrates four extraordinary decades. The evening will honor the Scottish inspiration that gave Troon its name, the visionaries who saw possibility in an untouched stretch of desert, the championship golf that placed the club on the world stage and the traditions that have endured across generations.
Most importantly, it will celebrate the members who transformed a remarkable club into an extraordinary lifestyle and community.
Forty years ago, Troon began with an extraordinary piece of desert and an ambitious vision. What grew from it is far more enduring: A championship course. A vibrant club with an ELITE Distinguished Club designation. A community of friends. A life well lived — and a legacy still being written.
