Snake Hole Golf Course

Snake Hole Golf course is a private 9-hole golf course located in Apache junction, Arizona. The course sits on what looks to the casual observer to be a vacant piece of desert, across the street from Countryside RV Resort.

Best guess is that the course dates to the mid 1980s. Legend has it that a Canadian couple who spent winters in Apache Junction stayed at the Countryside RV Resort. They wanted to golf, but didn’t want to pay high season golf. So the husband walked to the open desert across the street from the RV park and created two holes. It just expanded from there as other Countryside visitors added more holes.

The nine-hole golf course is set in the desert with no water hazards, sand traps, or grass, and the “greens” are made of sand mixed with vegetable oil to keep it flat around the cups.

The state found out about the course and informed the golfers they were trespassing on state land. The property is among 9.28 million acres of land granted by the federal government to Arizona at statehood. It is land that is supposed to be held in trust to benefit public education, the Republic reported.

In 1988, the state’s land department created a land-use agreement with the operators of Snake Hole. The agreement, in effect until 2021, requires the club to pay $1,800 a year to use 15.7 acres of land. Among the 11 articles in the agreement are requirements that the club maintain its own insurance policy and provisions for protecting native plants

The club is required by the state to maintain native plants

The club pays the lease by charging membership dues of $20. The course also sells other passes for one-time or part-time guests.

The course is nine holes, with the longest at 221 yards and the shortest at 86 yards.

Snake Hole is open only to people who live in the Countryside RV Resort. Guests are allowed, but they must come in with a member.