Forest Highlands Golf Club

The Canyon Course at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff represents a collaboration between Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, completed in 1988 as the club's original eighteen holes. The design takes advantage of the property's distinctive high-elevation setting in the ponderosa pine forests of northern Arizona, where the course sits at approximately 7,000 feet above sea level. This elevation produces cooler summer temperatures than the Phoenix area and creates playing conditions more characteristic of mountain golf than desert layouts. The routing moves through natural ravines and canyons that give the course its name, with significant elevation changes and dramatic drops on several holes. Fairways are carved through dense stands of ponderosa pine, creating tree-lined corridors that demand accuracy from the tee. The design incorporates the natural topography rather than extensive earthmoving, allowing the terrain's existing contours to define strategy and shot values. Several holes play across or along canyon features, where errant shots can lead to difficult recovery situations. Forest Highlands operates as a private club with a membership that includes both Flagstaff-area residents and members from Phoenix and other parts of Arizona who use the facility as a summer retreat. The club added a second course, the Meadow, designed by Weiskopf in 1999. The Canyon Course has maintained a reputation as the more dramatic and challenging of the two layouts, with its canyon features and elevation changes providing a distinctive contrast to golf in Arizona's lower desert regions.