Raven Golf Club at Verrado - Phoenix-Scottsdale

The Raven Golf Club at Verrado offers high-end play at mid-range green fees. The Verrado community out in Buckeye, Ariz., about an hour from Scottsdale, only dates back to 2002, and its attitude toward golf is appropriately progressive.

This is a showy desert golf course with fawning service. Everyone welcomes you warmly, and your cart is filled complimentary bottled water. Designers John Faught and Tom Lehman don't go easy on golfers; you have to work for your score here, with plenty of distinctive holes that cut scenically around desert obstacles. The back nine is particulary picturesque, and particularly tough.