![]() ![]() They respond in a timely manner to my requests for assistance. The on-site management is very professional, yet good-humored and sociable. At my front door, I can exchange niceties with neighbors, yet from my living room and patio I experience spaciousness I have only known before in an expensive, single-family dwelling. There is an age and ethnic diversity among tenants that I find delightful, something that is rare in gated communities, and a friendliness between neighbors who also respect my privacy. This unusual property sets the stage for a different kind of modern community. The views are spectacular, ranging from lush golf course greens and fairways to striking desert mountain vistas. Mirador has the curb appeal of a high-end condo complex, and offers walking, hiking and biking trails on nearby desert preserve land, just 3 minutes from my apartment. On one side of this spacious property is pristine desert terrain, on the other side are million-dollar homes, and running throughout is a beautiful golf course. In the end, DeKock believes Davis has helped preserve the tradition of the desert’s oldest 18-hole golf course while giving the could a solid facelift after 71 years of play.Mirador is ideally nestled in a protected valley in the center of Phoenix just 7 minutes from 2 major freeways. The right side of the 13th fairway saw several trees eliminated, opening up a landing area for more players, while a large eucalyptus tree near the green was eliminated to open up views of the mountains to the south of the course. Several holes, like the par-4 13th also saw changes because of the elimination of trees, many of which had stood for decades and become overgrown. Other smaller changes include revamping the tee boxes to have the teeing area blend in with the fairways near the boxes, what DeKock calls a natural, understated look to the tee boxes. The 17 th hole and the 11 th hole share a new bridge over that same lake. On the 17 th hole, the green has also been moved 20 yards, but laterally to the right to bring a lake more into play on the approach shot. ![]() In turn, tees on the 12th hole were pushed up 30 yards, making for a 295-yard par-4 that can be made drivable depending on the tee setup. The 11 th hole has seen its green pushed back 32 yards to 392 yards from the back tees, called the Ryder Cup tees in honor of the course hosting the Ryder Cup in 1955. Keeping the same footprint of the golf course does not mean changes haven’t been made. “The bunkers are so much more aesthetically pleasing and visible,” DeKock said. ![]() Other bunkers were added to give a more layered look of bunkers around greens, DeKock said. Some of the new bunkering around the greens was designed specifically to mimic the nearby Santa Rosa Mountains, with jagged edges on the bunkers at the top of the mountain range. Members have been very impressed with how it came out.” “I think there is so much more intrigue and interest to play the golf course. “I’m so impressed with the bunkers and the reshaping of the greens,” DeKock said. With the grass off the course, Davis and his team went to work adding movement to many of the fairways and reshaping bunkers, adding some bunkering and eliminating some features like filling in a lake to the left of the seventh green. ![]() Newer hybrid grasses like tifdwarf were planted on the course, with mini verde, a grass growing in popularity because it needs less overseeding in the winter, was planted on all the putting surfaces. The April closing dates allowed Thunderbird officials to eradicate all turf from the golf course, much of which was common Bermuda grass. View Gallery: Photos: A day of golf at The Lights at Indio DeKock said that while the course is still playing along the same footprint as before, Davis’ work, particularly with bunkers, has revived the course. In the summer of 2021, only the first three holes and the practice areas of the course saw some changes through the work of Oklahoma-based architect Tripp Davis. While the course was open for play last winter and spring, both nines of the course that opened in 1951 closed in April to allow for extensive work on greens, fairways and trees. The renovations that started in the summer of 2021 officially ended last month with the Nov. Killing two birds with one stone, if you will.” “And it was a tremendous opportunity to change out the grass, to have hybrid wall to wall. “It was maintaining the history of the property, revitalizing the golf course, re-doing bunkers to make them aesthetically appealing,” said Nick DeKock, director of golf at Thunderbird. A two-year renovation project at Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, the oldest 18-hole course in the desert, was about more than just swapping out older generations of grass for newer grass. ![]()
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