PLAYROUND COURSE GUIDE

How to Play Sterling Grove Golf & Country Club

Course strategy, tee-specific yardages and a hole-by-hole game plan for Sterling Grove Golf & Country Club in Surprise, AZ.

Personalize your game plan

Choose the tees you're playing and add your driver carry for distance-aware course strategy.

TeesDriver carry

Sterling Grove Golf & Country Club

Surprise, AZ

Black tees · 7,258 yards

COURSE OVERVIEW

About Sterling Grove Golf & Country Club

Designed by Nicklaus Design and managed by Troon Golf, Sterling Grove Golf & Country Club in Surprise, Arizona offers a distinct departure from traditional Arizona desert target courses. Opened in 2021 against the backdrop of the White Tank Mountains, the layout features generous grove-lined fairways, Golden Age architecture features, strategic bunkering, and heavily undulating green complexes with firm surfaces and sharp false fronts.

COURSE STRATEGY

How to play Sterling Grove Golf & Country Club

Off the tee

Fairways are wide and open, allowing aggressive driver usage off most tee boxes. However, placing tee shots on the preferred side of the fairway is essential to securing workable approach angles into guarded greens.

Elevation & terrain

Terrain is mostly flat across the valley floor, resulting in negligible elevation changes that do not affect club selection.

Approach play

Approach shots demand precise distance control into large, firm greens featuring severe contours and steep false fronts. Pulling approaches or missing on the wrong side leaves difficult bunker recovery or long putts across ridges.

Around the greens

Green sites are heavily contoured with multi-tiered surfaces, subtle mounding, and steep false fronts that roll off-target approaches off the putting surface. Greenside bunkers are strategically placed to catch missed approach shots.

Best way to play it

Capitalize on generous fairway landing zones off the tee to create favorable angles into greens. Play conservatively toward center-green targets on approach shots to stay clear of false fronts and complex green undulations.

Key takeaways

Wide, grove-lined fairways offer forgiving tee shots compared to traditional narrow desert target layouts.
Undulating greens with firm surfaces and severe false fronts make approach distance control critical.
Water hazards on the short par-4 6th and finishing par-5 18th demand careful risk management.
Proper fairway positioning off the tee dictates whether pin locations are accessible.

YOUR GAME PLAN

Hole-by-hole game plan

Hole

Par

Yards

HCP

Strategy

434

Aim down the center of the generous fairway to set up a clean mid-to-short iron approach into an undulating green with a steep false front.

Your 240 yd driver · ~194 yards remaining by raw distance.

378

Favor the left-center portion of the fairway off the tee to avoid native tall grass on the right and open up the approach path.

Your 240 yd driver · ~138 yards remaining by raw distance.

189

Target the middle of the green surface to avoid greenside sand and prevent putts from rolling off subtle green ridges.

616

Drive aggressively down the wide fairway and lay up to a comfortable wedge distance to handle the guarded green complex.

Your 240 yd driver · ~376 yards remaining by raw distance. Plan this primarily as a three-shot hole.

478

Prioritize landing area accuracy off the tee to ensure a clean long-iron approach into a heavily contoured green site.

Your 240 yd driver · ~238 yards remaining by raw distance.

318

Lay up to the right-center fairway with a conservative club off the tee to leave a short approach, steering clear of water on the left and the front-right green slope.

Your 240 yd driver · ~78 yards remaining by raw distance. Favor position and approach angle over extra tee-shot distance.

215

Select enough club to land firmly in the center of the green to clear front bunkers and avoid multi-tiered green slopes.

477

Target the middle-right of the fairway off the tee to open up the approach angle into an undulating green guarded by sand.

Your 240 yd driver · ~237 yards remaining by raw distance.

563

Position your layup shot carefully away from fairway bunkers to leave a short wedge approach into a broad putting surface.

Your 240 yd driver · ~323 yards remaining by raw distance. Plan this primarily as a three-shot hole.

375

Aim for the middle of the wide fairway to setup a comfortable short-to-mid iron approach shot.

Your 240 yd driver · ~135 yards remaining by raw distance.

549

Play your second shot to the wider side of the layup fairway to avoid sand traps and set up a controllable third shot.

Your 240 yd driver · ~309 yards remaining by raw distance. Plan this primarily as a three-shot hole.

493

Tee off toward center-left of the fairway to avoid the large right-side fairway bunker, then hit a solid mid-iron into a firm green.

Your 240 yd driver · ~253 yards remaining by raw distance.

175

Take enough club to clear front bunkers and hit the broad middle section of the green.

390

Lay up into the right-center portion of the fairway for an uncluttered wedge approach into the green surface.

Your 240 yd driver · ~150 yards remaining by raw distance.

459

Drive down the center of the fairway to leave an open angle of entry into a firm putting surface.

Your 240 yd driver · ~219 yards remaining by raw distance.

343

Favor the right side of the green on your approach shot, as missing or pulling left into the deep bunker makes recovery difficult.

Your 240 yd driver · ~103 yards remaining by raw distance.

241

Aim for the middle tier of the green to accommodate pin placement and avoid greenside bunkers.

565

Keep your tee shot and layup favored down the left-center fairway away from the water hazard on the right, setting up a safe approach into a well-bunkered green.

Your 240 yd driver · ~325 yards remaining by raw distance. Plan this primarily as a three-shot hole.

Course information and strategy are provided for planning purposes. Yardages, course setup, hazards and playing conditions can change. Always confirm current course information before your round.