The Cochise and Geronimo courses offer a double dose of outstanding golf

 As one of the premier private facilities in the U.S., Desert Mountain Club has a well-deserved reputation as a luxury residential community with facilities and amenities that provide Members with an award-winning lifestyle in Scottsdale, Arizona. While the Club rivals top resorts in terms of fine dining, spa services and activities across its 8,300 acres, it is at heart a golf club – and the Cochise and Geronimo courses have the tournament pedigree to prove it. 

The Cochise and Geronimo courses share a clubhouse and a designer: Jack Nicklaus, the architect of six of Desert Mountain’s seven courses. The Cochise course was the longtime home of the Regions Tradition, a major on the PGA Tour Champions won four times by Nicklaus himself, and has also hosted the PGA Tour Champions Charles Schwab Cup Challenge. The Cochise and Geronimo courses co-hosted the 2017 Senior PGA Professional Championship, won by Frank Esposito. 

Today, Desert Mountain is riding a golf boom that is seeing tremendous demand for tournaments and events, like the Club’s famed Mountain Madness Member-Guest event that is played each April. That massive Member tournament is a high point of the season for Jeremy Smith, the PGA Head Professional for the Cochise and Geronimo courses at Desert Mountain. To him, the hundreds of golfers and guests who enjoy Mountain Madness – and the collaboration between departments at the Club – are an excellent example of why Desert Mountain is a special place to work. 

“This is a place where you can get exposure to and learn about every part of the golf and hospitality industry,” says Smith, who has been at Desert Mountain for seven years. “With the agronomy, food & beverage and golf teams, there’s an amazing amount of collaboration that allows us to put on events that are at a different level. There’s something special about having a membership that is very accomplished in a lot of areas of business enjoying something like Mountain Madness and saying to our team members, ‘We don’t know how you guys pull off these events!’” 

The collaborative spirit Smith mentions runs throughout the operations at Desert Mountain, and extends to the Club’s overall experience for employees. The Phoenix Business Journal, has named the Club one of the “Best Places to Work and Healthiest Employers” in the Valley of the Sun, highlighting how Desert Mountain has become a leader in training and development for recreation industry professionals. 

One of those professionals is Clubhouse Manager Joe Macke, who oversees the 52,000 square-foot clubhouse that serves the Cochise and Geronimo course, houses a Western art collection and is home to Desert Mountain’s golf operations offices. 

“We consider this to be the golf hub of Desert Mountain, and with two courses this is the largest clubhouse on property,” says Macke, who has been at the Club for two years after working in a similar role at top private clubs in Northern California. “We work to provide exceptional experiences for Members, and our team feels like management does the same thing for us. The Club’s leaders do a great job of investing in employees from the line level up to management, from compensation and training to making sure we have time away from work to recharge with our families. If you ever need support or help, all you have to do is raise your hand.” 

Macke says Desert Mountain is an ideal place for hospitality industry professionals to learn more about their craft and themselves while providing service at the highest level. 

“Desert Mountain is such a unique animal from an operations standpoint – 11 different dining outlets, seven unique clubhouses, seven distinct golf courses, resort-style spa experiences,” Macke says. “But we balance that size and variety with the fact that we want to deliver a small club, intimate feel to our 2,000 Members and their families by speaking to them by name and getting to know them individually. That takes effort in training and recruiting, and Desert Mountain is committed to that. I’m very proud to be a part of the team.” 

The Cochise and Geronimo golf courses are highly regarded by Members, providing uniquely separate styles of golf experiences. Cochise is a throwback-style course, with holes near each other and wide fairways that lead to challenging green complexes. Meanwhile, Geronimo is a more sprawling layout that plays through a canyon, leading golfers to play a more target-style game if they want to score well. 

The courses also provide unique challenges to their superintendents and agronomy teams. Geronimo Superintendent Mike Reinecke says the surge in rounds played over the past two seasons means his team has to be on top of their game to maintain top conditioning year-round. 

“Even in the quieter summer months, Geronimo still gets a lot of play, and we need to be really careful to stay on top of the weeds and control the moisture in the turf,” says Reinecke, who has worked at top private golf clubs around the country. “What makes Desert Mountain a fantastic place to work as a superintendent is how the Club makes sure that we have all the resources we need so we can provide a consistently great playing experience for the Members. It’s a fast-paced environment, which I love, and both the Members and management let us know how much they appreciate us. That makes a real difference in how much you enjoy your career and how you feel coming to work each day.” 

Echoing Reinecke’s sentiments is Cochise Superintendent Jose Castillo, who has been at Desert Mountain for 30 years in a variety of roles. He has risen from the irrigation crew to superintendent, and says similar opportunities for advancement are part of what makes Desert Mountain a special place to work. 

I say Desert Mountain is the company of opportunities for employees,” Castillo says. “This is the perfect place to learn about your job and become an expert. I started as an irrigator and began learning about different grasses and how the business works. Management was very supportive, and I kept moving up and getting more training, and eventually I was ready to be a superintendent myself. The support is great, and you know that management cares about you and how you grow as a person.

To find out more about current opportunities and the benefits of working at Desert Mountain, visit our Careers page.