The Best Golf Courses in Yuma AZ, Ranked for a First Visit

The best golf courses in Yuma AZ for a first visit are Las Barrancas for the layout, Desert Hills for steady municipal golf, and Mesa del Sol for value and October play. Yuma Golf & Country Club and Coyote Wash in Wellton round out the list. The four that publish rates charged $75 or less for 18 with a cart.

This ranking of the best golf courses in Yuma is built from the published data: tees and slope, posted and live prices, booking windows, overseed dates and reviews. Rates were seen in October 2026 and change by season, and most courses have not posted 2027 peak prices.

Quick facts

• Our first pick: Las Barrancas, $65 for 18 with a cart (seen Oct 23, 2026).
• Hardest by slope: Las Barrancas, 127 from 6,888 yards.
• Best value: Mesa del Sol, $35 to $55 with a cart in late October 2026.
• Open through overseed: Mesa del Sol does not overseed.
• Booking windows: 7 days (Las Barrancas, Yuma Golf & Country Club), 8 days (Desert Hills), about 14 days online (Mesa del Sol, and Coyote Wash, whose town brochure says 7 days by phone or GolfNow).
• No area-wide pass: every pass and punch card is sold by one course.

The best golf courses in Yuma, AZ compared

Desert Hills' Jan-Mar table is the city's posted rate, not a live price. Its Nov-Dec 2026 table was not posted on Oct 23, 2026.

1. Las Barrancas: the best layout

Las Barrancas sits at the base of the Gila Mountains in the Fortuna Foothills, about 26 minutes from downtown. It opened in 2005 and has more elevation change than is usual in Yuma, with rolling fairways, washes and a back nine that reviewers describe as having forced carries and multi-tier greens. From the Black tees it plays 6,888 yards at 73.1/127, and the Quartz tees (6,295 yards) slope 120 for men.

Why it ranks first: the most interesting public layout in the area, a flat $65 with a cart, and a 12-bay Trackman range on site. The live tee sheet also sold late-day times well below the rate page: $35 from 3 PM and $25 later on Saturday, Oct 24, 2026.

Trade-offs: conditioning reviews are mixed, and Google shows 3.8 from 156 reviews. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings carry league play from about October to April. The tee sheet opens only 7 days out, and cancellations must be made by phone at least 24 hours ahead or the whole group is charged. Full detail is in the Las Barrancas course guide.

2. Desert Hills: the reliable city course

The City of Yuma's municipal 18 opened in 1973 and is 11 minutes from downtown. It hosted the Yuma Open from 1990 to 1993, a Ben Hogan Tour and then Nike Tour event rather than a PGA Tour stop. The course site says local readers have voted it Yuma's best golf course 19 of the last 20 years.

Why it ranks second: steady municipal golf with open fairways and large, undulating greens, walking allowed at all times, and one of the fullest practice setups in town: a range, four putting greens, three chipping greens and a 10-hole short-game course. Walking saves $20 a round in the Jan-Mar morning ($55 against $75), and the after-1 PM rate is $49 with a cart or $40 walking.

Trade-offs: pace. Several spring 2026 GolfPass reviews mention slow play, one a 5-hour-15 round in March, against a scorecard pace rating of 4 hours 18 minutes. In late October 2026 there were no online tee times through Oct 31 and the booking engine asked golfers to call the pro shop at 928-373-5220. See the Desert Hills course guide.

3. Mesa del Sol: best value and open in October

Mesa del Sol, in the Foothills 21 minutes from downtown, is credited by golf listings to Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay and opened in 1978. Its greens were regrassed to TifEagle bermuda and its fairways to TifTuf bermuda in 2022. It plays 6,855 yards at 71.9/124 from the Black tees, mostly open with ponds on a handful of holes.

Why it ranks third: price and access. Weekday rates in late October 2026 stepped down from $55 before about 11 AM to $35 from 2 PM, all with a cart. It does not overseed, so it is open when many Yuma courses are closed in October. The online sheet runs about 14 days out, the longest window among these five along with Coyote Wash's online sheet.

Trade-offs: winter pace (the card sets 4 hours, reviewers report 5 or more on busy days), and leagues and passholders take big blocks of the sheet. Online times are prepaid with dynamic pricing, and cancelling needs 48 hours' notice, with refunds as a gift card. Winter 2026-27 public rates were not posted. See the Mesa del Sol course guide.

4. Yuma Golf & Country Club: classic parkland, unknown price

The member-owned club opened its first nine on Dec 10, 1950 and is flat, tree-lined and next to the airport, 10 minutes from downtown and the closest full 18 to the hotels on 16th St and 32nd St. From the Champion tees it plays 6,781 yards at 72.1/125, and its Advanced tees rate 77.3/132 for women, the stiffest women's rating among the five.

Trade-offs: the club calls itself both private and semi-private. Public tee times are sold on its own booking page up to 7 days ahead, but no public green fee is published anywhere we could read. Expect members and member events to come first in winter. Call 928-726-4210 for the rate before you book.

5. Coyote Wash: the backup when Yuma is full

Coyote Wash is the Town of Wellton's course, about 40 minutes east of downtown Yuma on I-8 (39 minutes routed, about 25 from the Foothills). It is short, 6,089 yards and par 70 for men, with undulating greens and bunkers as the main defense. A 2023 GolfPass reviewer said tee times were easy to get, which is the point of the drive in February and March.

Trade-offs: the distance, and mixed reviews on conditions (3.9 of 5 from 495 GolfPass reviews). League shotguns take Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings. The FY 2026-27 brochure lists a maximum of $70 with a cart, and $45 showed on the live sheet in late October 2026. Online times release about 14 days out, though the brochure says 7 days by phone or GolfNow.

Best short courses for practice days

For a short-game day, the two par-3s are the picks:

• Foothills Par 3: $20 to walk nine, holes of 60 to 175 yards, a range open all day and lighted night golf Tuesday to Saturday from 6 PM.
• Arroyo Dunes Par 3: the city's 18-hole par 3 next to Desert Hills, $20 to walk 18 in Jan-Mar, reopened Dec 13, 2025 after new irrigation.

The other courses on the map (Foothills Executive, Cocopah Bend, Fortuna Del Rey and Butterfield) suit particular situations, and our full list of Yuma golf courses covers each one.

How winter tee-time access changes the ranking

From January to March, getting a tee time matters as much as the layout. League mornings at Las Barrancas (Tuesday and Wednesday), Mesa del Sol (Friday from 11 AM for men, Monday and Thursday from 9 AM for ladies) and Coyote Wash (four mornings a week) block parts of the sheet, and Mesa del Sol closes to the public on some Saturdays for outside scrambles (Nov 7 and Dec 5, 2026). Book the moment your date opens, and use afternoons, which are cheaper too. Our guide to Yuma tee times in winter covers each window.

Picking between the top three? Read Las Barrancas vs Mesa del Sol and Desert Hills vs Las Barrancas. For timing, see the best time to golf in Yuma, and for a four-round plan, the Yuma golf trip itinerary.

How we picked this list

We weighed layout and difficulty (USGA rating and slope), price seen in October 2026, booking windows, overseed dates and review scores. No course here has a national ranking in our data. If you are comparing destinations, our guide to the best golf courses in Mesquite covers the Nevada side.

Plan it on the map

All five ranked courses and both par-3s are on the Yuma golf map, with drive times to nearby hotels and RV resorts. The $30 plan can turn this short list into a day-by-day trip.