The project at the Scottsdale, Ariz. club will include a new gastropub inside the clubhouse named after Jack Nicklaus and a completely renovated kitchen. The design also incorporates a piano bar and upgraded lounge area.
Desert Highlands in Scottsdale, Ariz. launched a clubhouse enhancement, designed to provide a more robust and modernized dining experience for members and their guests.
The $2 million project will include a new gastropub inside the clubhouse named after Jack Nicklaus and a completely renovated kitchen. Construction began in June, with a completion date set for mid-October.
Led by architect Erik B. Peterson of PHX Architecture, the gastropub, Jack’s, will serve as a high-energy gathering space and diversify Desert Highlands’ award-winning dining options. In its entirety the project will consist of renovating the club’s current private dining space, Ladera dining room, as well as adding an additional bar concept that will offer members a relaxed atmosphere to mix and mingle. The bar will feature high tops, flat-screen televisions and images that pay homage to the influence that Nicklaus and other golf legends have made.
The design also incorporates a piano bar and upgraded lounge area. Additionally, the eatery’s entrance will be enhanced to offer a “walk through memory lane” feel; featuring images and classic golf memorabilia. The overall aesthetic is a modernized take on a historical clubhouse. The renovation will also incorporate an entire interiors refresh, designed by Sam Hatch and Mike Hatch of Hatch Design Group.
The kitchen renovation will include a layout that will allow Desert Highlands’ culinary team to be more efficient and creative. Adding 16 feet of space will increase prep and plating surface area while allowing the chef to oversee the entire operation and create direct service lines for both the gastropub and the club’s intimate Ventana Room. Additionally, the enhancements will improve acoustics, which will provide a more positive overall dining experience.
“Desert Highlands has long been recognized for perfectly combining our core value – community – with majestic beauty and a lifestyle of unparalleled excellence to its members,” says General Manager / COO Monty Becton. “These enhancements will further our mission of providing the amenities and atmosphere of a world-class private club.”
Stretching to more than 7,100 yards, the Desert Highlands golf course recently re-opened after a $7 million renovation project that included refurbishing every bunker, restoring the 13th hole to its original design, installing a new irrigation system and updating cart paths.
Just as impressive is Desert Highlands’ Racquet Club, which sports 13 tennis courts featuring all three Grand Slam surfaces – grass, clay and hard. Noted ATP player Nick Kyrgios considers Desert Highlands’ grass courts “better than Wimby [Wimbledon].” The Racquet Club also added two regulation-size pickleball courts last month.
Desert Highlands also boasts a 7,700-sq.-ft. Wellness Center, an 18-hole professionally designed putting course and a spacious dog park.
“Desert Highlands is one of the most well-known clubs in the Southwest, and having the opportunity to incorporate Jack Nicklaus’ legacy and historic Skins Game into our new design is an absolute privilege,” said Erik Peterson of PHX Architecture. “We are excited to work alongside Desert Highlands, Jim Smith and Hatch Design Group to bring this project to fruition, and I am truly honored to be a part of this new chapter of Desert Highlands Golf Club.”
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