Family Friendly Phoenix Area Clubs/Neighborhoods

Hey guys, looks like the family will be relocating to Arizona. Very early stages of our search. We have young kids and looking for any suggestions for a family friendly club/neighborhood. Looking for a good area for schools as well. Budget is fairly flexible, we are in our mid 30’s and would like to have some similar aged families around. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Seville if you want to live in the Chandler/Gilbert area and Phoenix Country Club in you want to live in Arcadia or central Phoenix both come to mind. As you go North you’ll find it to be older in most cases.

I’m sure there are other clubs that also fit the bill but know those two do. Really depends on where you want to live.

Toll Brothers has a new community going up in Surprise with a Nicklaus course. Looks to be family oriented. I believe the course will be open within a year and will be semi-private until they have enough members. As above depends on where you want to live and Commute. This would not be ideal if you are working downtown or SE Valley. .

Just curious how does Arizona Country Club compare to Seville and Phoenix Country Club? Better/worse golf? Cost higher/lower?

Don’t know current cost but rumor not too long along was that it was very crowded. Worst course of the three for sure. Not terrible but a bit jammed in.

Ahh, interesting. So the layout is tight/jammed in? Good to know. Thanks for the update.

Where you going to be working? Might help with ideas. The greater Phoenix area is huge and we don't have a ton of freeways.

I live off the 51 and Shea by Shadow Mountain and a bunch of charter schools and Basis. Great neighborhoods and not too far from Moon Valley CC, Wildfire, and some others. There are a lot of aging people and homes that are being renovated and flipped to younger families in our area. DM me if you want some more info as I have a great real estate agent that I could connect you to.

As a side note in Phoenix, you can send your kids to whatever school you want as long as you can transport them there if you are outside the bus area.

Great info guys. Much appreciated. I work from home, so we are pretty flexible in that regard.

I am a member at Seville. I don’t know what is meant by “jammed in”. The course is a big layout. The farthest I could imagine from jammed in. The greens are as good as you will find anywhere. They have been running 12 all winter.

There has been over $3 million in capital investments over the past couple of years. The clubhouse has been redone and is amazing. The sports club has been redone and is beautiful.

Gilbert is a great place to raise a family and Seville is a terrific family club and has a number of membership tiers that offer great value.

Feel free to message me directly.

Doesn’t Seville have a TON of members and restricted tee times for those under 40?

I didn’t say it was jammed in. He asked how AZCC was compared to PCC and Seville. AZCC is the one I called jammed in.

I think he was referencing Arizona Country Club and not Seville.

Seville has a very robust family scene and there are many friendly members who you can find a game with. Greens in the winter are as described above, few better I have found in the valley. Practice areas are well above average. Chandler/Gilbert are very family friendly, but there are better golf scenes elsewhere. Im not sure the initiation now (probably about 10K, it was 5K when I joined in 2012) and the monthly does have tiers. Top tier all inclusive is about $900. It is not a place to show up and play a two hour round. The tee sheet is nearly always full two weeks out until noon especially during the winter peak months. If you have 4 hours to play a round you can usually find a spot, but rarely can a foursome get out in the morning within a week of scheduling. Late afternoon mid summer you could play quickly, but even then you are going to catch a few fivesome money games, and the greens frankly arent great in the summer with the method of punch and aeration. Course overall is a pretty solid Panks layout (especially considering it is in a neighborhood) with some good risk reward.

Again, thanks guys. Trying to sell the wife on checking out Seville. She has in her head she wants to be closer to some of the trendy areas of Scottsdale. Any suggestions for North Scottsdale neighborhoods? Wouldn’t have to be on a course up there.

I have tons of opinions on that. Also, there’s a 0.0% chance of me ever living on a golf course again so I wouldn’t be recommending that per se. All depends on what you like. I’ve had a residence in extreme North Scottsdale for almost 23 years at this point (aka since my mid-20s). Haven’t always lived there but always knew that it would be my primary residence in the end. We’re in the process of building a new house now that is less than 1 mile from our current place because we just couldn’t see leaving the area. My wife is a native NY’er (and we still have an apartment in Manhattan) and I’ve a native Kentuckian but both of us love the area we live in more than anywhere else we’ve been.

FWIW, I totally get why people want to live in Chandler/Gilbert/Arcadia/etc and don’t diminish those areas at all. None of those places check the boxes that are important to us however and the trade offs that we need to do for the advantages of living there are totally worth it to us, e.g., we have a 1 year old and a 14 year old so schools aren’t and won’t be the easiest things for us is one example, another is that we’re both huge basketball fans and have been Suns season ticket holders for a long time and it is a PITA to get to the games sometimes. Those types of things would be much easier if we lived in Paradise Valley or Arcadia but the stuff that we value more wouldn’t.

Seville does not have a ton of members. There are no under 40 restrictions.

My apologies.

Out of curiosity what are the reasons/amenities that keep you in the North Scottsdale area? We've been contemplating a move out of LA to Phoenix and are keeping an eye of Scottsdale/N. Scottsdale and Arcadia. I have a 4 yr old and therefore schools will be important. I work remotely (WeWork or shared office space in Biltmore area would be fine) so my location is open. What are the things you give up if you had to live in Arcadia - I actually get how it would be a PIA to get to Sun's games from up there.

"Ton of members" is relative and probably not indicative of rounds played. Seville's rounds played is probably in line with local high volume public courses. No two ways about it, Seville is packed for a private course at its price point.
For the OP, if your wife is wanting the Scottsdale vibe then I would not consider Chandler/Gilbert. She may never be happy here. There is nothing in the far southeast valley that resembles Scottsdale, and as pointed out by @az2au it depends on what you want. There is a really big difference in vibe and accessability of popular amenities in various parts of the PHX metro area.

Where are you getting your information? I played well over 200 rounds at Seville last year and have played pretty much every day this year. I play around 9am. Most days in 3 and a half hours. In peak season the tee sheet is mostly full from 8am to 10am, then there are sporadic openings until 1pm. After that fairly wide open. In the summer months the course is wide open. I often play a second 18 in less than 2 hours.

We travel for work for the most part (I’m in Kraków, Poland right now and my wife leaves for London tomorrow night where she’ll be for two days). This is not an uncommon week for us unfortunately but we have an awesome nanny who is both willing to fly to Europe on a moment’s notice (and has several times in the past 16 months) or is willing to stay at our house while we’re both gone. We have a rule that there’s never a a week where we’re both gone more than two days or our young one travels too. Anyway, that’s part 1. Our nanny lives nearby relatively nearby (near Old Town). She actually quit a job in Chandler because the daily commute was “taking away her soul”. 1A is her parents now live at Tatum Ranch. Those things are huge but are kid related and personal to us. Pre-second kid the factors that mattered to us: 1. we’re big outdoors people (biking/hiking/running) and it gets above 105* at my house maybe 10 times/year. There’s no portion of the year when you aren’t comfortable in the shade where we live. 2. Hiking and biking trails are outside our backyard. We can easily bike to Tom’s Thumb and then hike it with no problems. 3. Restaurants are another huge thing to my wife. 30 minute to Old Town is no problem but now we’re seeing places like Vic and Ola’s and The Americano open in North Scottsdale. 4. Big lots with mountain views are something we wanted. We’re building on a 3 acre lot with unobstructed views to Four Peaks, Tom’s Thumb and Troon Mountain right now. 5. We hate the green belt. If you’re going to live in the desert then live in the desert. Those ugly palm trees and grass don’t belong in AZ. Can’t stand them and won’t ever live there. 6. Golf. Just simply like it better out where we live.

Schools can be fine. My daughter went to Rancho Solano for elementary school and it was very good. She got accepted to Xavier for high school (long haul) but despised it so she now goes to Cactus Shadows which is fine but not great. She’s more on the artistic side of life so I don’t think it will hurt her much for he school selection. If she were more math/engineering oriented like me I would have sent her to Basis.

There are plenty of nice places in the Valley though and my likes aren’t the same for others.

I was a member at Seville from 2012-2019. Loved everything about the place except for the tee sheet. Pace of play is not a problem (I agree with the 3.5-4 hr round), unless you want a true private course experience. I imagine you have a tee time reserved over a week in adavance. That scenario never worked for me. It is flatly an incorrect assessment to say that during peak season only 8-10 am is booked. I often would encounter a day of tee sheet mid week peak season where the first tee time (mid 7ish to 8 ish) was fully booked until noon. Summer time afternoons it is open, but in '17 and '18 the greens were unplayable (remember the trenched verticut areating???) for most of the summer. Trust me, I wish this wasn't the case or I would still be a member.

I’m wonder if we know each other. I’ve been a member since 2014. Tee times are never a problem if you book in advance. If you book day of play I’ll take your word that you had trouble. I just looked at the next week of times. Openings for foursomes between 8am and 1pm. Plenty of spots for twosomes.

July and August of 17 and 18 the greens were not great. Definitely playable by mid August though. We have a new superintendent and last year the greens were awesome all summer. Currently they are as good as greens can be.

Let's just agree, you are right and everyone else is wrong and move on.!!

Golf at Seville might be the only thing in the world I’m an expert on. I play everyday except for the days I play twice!

Thanks again guys. Found an old work friend that used to be a member at Seville and have a pretty good feel for the place. Sounds like something we would love, but not in the area of town my wife wants to be right now.

We do both love the desert of North Scottsdale and have been many times. Our concern up there is finding community feel.

I’m not familiar with the Arcadia area, but my wife has some friends that live in that area. I just don’t love the look of the area judging by the homes she’s sending me. Any opinions on the Arcadia/Paradise valley area? I have not golfed in that area of Phoenix and wouldn’t be sure what I was getting into. Thanks!

FireRock in Fountain Hills might be worth a look. Residency inside FireRock is not required for membership. Gary Panks course.