Golf Guide: Casa Grande - AZ

Located about midway between Tucson and Phoenix, Casa Grande is a desert oasis for kicking back and playing some inexpensive golf. This is a place combining small town charm with the vitality of a growing modest-sized city.
There are eight courses in the area including nine and 18-hole layouts. A standout in the group is the course at Francisco Grande Hotel & Golf Resort. Designed by Ralph Plummer, the 7,545-yard parkland course, one of the longest in Arizona, is graceful and mature with more than 1500 tall trees and three lakes. Greens are roll-up, fairways gently rolling over a mostly flat terrain and as the course are over-seeded in the winter, you can play year-round where green fees are from $22.

The Francisco Grande has been welcoming guests for more than 45 years. Rooms in the tower have been recently renovated and for those who want to save a buck, there are additional rooms in the Courtyard Building.

Known for its tricky greens, the golf course at the residential community of Grande Valley Ranch Golf Club in Eloy, was designed by Forrest Richardson in 1992. Playing 7,183 yards to 5,537 yards, it's a pretty course with enough length to up the challenge. And at the Dave White Municipal Golf Courses, golfers pay just $32 for green fees and cart on this gently, well-seasoned track.

After golf, wind down with a stroll down Casa Grande's Main Street by the historic rail station and other town buildings and homes. Chili lovers should come in March for the annual Arizona State Open Chili championship while February is the time for the O'Odham Rash Celebration when tribes gather for a good old rousing celebration of their heritage with foot-stompin' dancing, crafts, rodeos, parades.