Ed

Pete Dye created Teeth of the Dog in 1971 as the first of four courses he designed at the popular Casa de Campo Resort. There are “seven holes created by God” said Dye indicating he only created the other eleven. The course plays along the sea’s edge and is ranked number one in the Caribbean and 43rd in the top 100 courses worldwide by Golf Magazine…for all the right reasons.
When the golf course was being built, a large crew of Dominican laborers did most of the heavy, back-breaking work. Very little heavy machinery was used during construction, so the workers had to use shovels and pick-axes to break apart the rock to create the routing. Much of the golf course is built on coral rock that is very sharp and caused cuts to the feet, hands, arms and legs of the workers. The workers would comment that the rock was like the "teeth of the dog." When the course opened in 1971, it was officially called "Cajuiles," which is the Spanish word for the cashew trees found around the property. However, it has always been called Teeth of the Dog by the locals. Eventually, since everyone already referred to the course by its nickname, the decision was made to officially change the name to its current, iconic name. The Spanish name for Teeth of the Dog is Diente del Perro…kind of sounds better. Playing the tips of this course offers a slope and rating of 75.9/145 with the forward tees having a 68.7/124.

My wife and I played on a Sunday afternoon. There were no crowds, but there were quite a few families using the excellent practice facility. A fair number of twosomes and a few foursomes playing. This is a very nice course to be found in the desert. There are six holes where water comes into play or is very nearby and can be a problem for errant shots. We found the greens in great shape even though they had been aerated a few days before. Fairways in fine shape, too. The lady at the grill was very nice and found the food to be excellent. We used rental clubs which were not the best, but we made do with a Hodge-podge of various kinds of clubs. Overall, I would highly recommend any golfer or golfing group to check out Crooked Tree for great value, convenience to the city of Tucson and a beautiful course with some awesome vistas.