Getting To Know: Los Caballeros Golf Club

An Insightful Interview With Rob Ruppert, Head Golf Professional

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Rob Ruppert who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Los Caballeros Golf Club is a semi-private resort golf course that's part of the 65 year old, family owned dude ranch resort known as Rancho de los Caballeros. Designed by Greg Nash and Jeff Hardin, Los Caballeros Golf Club offers a challenging layout set among the flora and fauna of the Upper Sonoran Desert with stunning views of the Bradshaw Mountains to the east and the trademark Vulture Peak to the south.

Los Caballeros offers 5 sets of tees that will challenge golfers of all ability levels, while the layout, including grass from tee to green, is fair and friendly. There's also a full practice facility complete with driving range, 2 chipping greens, two greenside bunkers, a fairway bunker and two practice putting greens. The Clubhouse also offers all of the amenities that you'll need to complete a great day of golf.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Los Caballeros Golf Club is truly one of the best values in Arizona golf. Where else can you play a top 5 Phoenix area course for under $100 in the peak winter season?

Whether you play in the winter or the summer, Los Caballeros is always in terrific condition with fast yet receptive greens, beautifully manicured fairways and plush sand bunkers.

Add to this a delicious lunch at the Club Grill and the warm, family-feel of the staff and you'll go away from Los Caballeros counting the days until you go back!

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
One of the things that makes Los Caballeros so enjoyable is that the course is very straightforward with no target golf, blind shots or other surprises. The best advice I can give is to add about 200-300 yards to the scorecard yardages when selecting tees due to several elevated greens, and try to keep the ball below the hole on the putting greens as uphill putts are slower than expected and downhill putts are much faster.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Chosen one of Golfweek's "Top Places To Play" - 2011 One of Golf Digest Magazine's "Top Five Rated Courses" in the Phoenix area One of Golf Digest's "Top 100 Courses in the U.S."
Featured as one of the top 3 "Hidden Golf Gems" in Arizona by golf writer Bill Huffman

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
There are many unique golf holes at Los Caballeros but the "Signature Hole" would have to be #13. This rollercoaster 605 yard par 5 plays across two plateaus and into the prevailing breeze. Once you've conquered the elevation changes and avoided the strategically placed mesquite trees and the out-of-bounds left, the fun is just beginning around a green that slopes back to front and is well guarded by a cavernous greenside bunker. Carding a 5 on this hole will make any golfer feel good!

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is the short par 4 11th. Measuring just 357 from the back tees, the 11th hole offers a multitude of strategies off of the tee depending on the tees played, wind direction, and pin placement. With strategically placed mesquite trees on the left and right sides of the fairway, those who chose to hit driver can be left with an awkward shot, while not hitting enough club can leave you in one of the giant fairway bunkers on the left side. With your ball in good position in the fairway, now you have to take into consideration the pin position when deciding how to approach the second shot. With the large ridge that runs across the middle of the green, balls the land short of the ridge can easily spin back to the front of the green while balls that land on the far side of the ridge can easily run off the back. Don't fall asleep on this seeming easy hole or you'll being carding a 5 or 6.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Reuben or Chicago Dog, depending on how I'm feeling.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Canadian Tour Pro Steve Bidne shot 62 last spring.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7020
Slope: 137
Rating: 73.1

More Information
Los Caballeros Golf Club
1551 S Vulture Mine Rd
Wickenburg, AZ, 85390
928-684-2704
www.loscaballerosgolf.com

Revised: 01/15/2013 - Article Viewed 33,558 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.