Del Lago Golf Club

Del Lago Golf Club sits in the high Sonoran Desert southeast of Tucson near Vail, Arizona, where the landscape transitions between desert floor and mountain foothills. Dick Nugent and his son Tim Nugent designed the course, which opened in the late 1990s as part of a residential community development. The Nugents, based in the Midwest, brought their routing sensibilities to the Arizona terrain, working with the natural desert vegetation and incorporating the area's characteristic elevation changes and arroyos into the design. The course plays through rolling desert topography with saguaro cacti, palo verde, and mesquite framing the holes. Water features appear on several holes, a notable design element given the arid setting, and the routing takes advantage of views toward the surrounding mountain ranges. The layout presents a mix of risk-reward opportunities and strategic options typical of desert golf, where accuracy off the tee and course management matter as much as distance. Del Lago serves primarily as a semi-private facility, offering both member and daily-fee play. The club provides a desert golf experience accessible to Tucson-area residents and visitors exploring courses beyond the city's more prominent resort destinations. The setting emphasizes the natural desert character of southeastern Arizona, with the course maintained to balance playability with the environmental constraints of the region.