The first fully lit golf course in Arizona is now home to a high-stakes team golf competition.
Grass Clippings Rolling Hills, which turned on the lights for night golf Dec. 1, 2023, has quickly made a name for itself. Several celebrities and golf influencers have visited the course, Good Good staged the Desert Open the week of the WM Phoenix Open – an event carried live on Peacock – and the tee sheet is packed from 8 a.m. with start times as late as 9:40 p.m.
The course aspires for more, with a restaurant and a music venue on property in the works.
Next up: a par 3 golf league dubbed the Grass Clippings Open.
It’s described as “a two-person scramble golf tournament, showcases a blend of competitive spirit and diverse entry paths. The event begins with a no-stroke, 18-hole qualifying scramble, from which teams emerge to join the final lineup of 75 teams. These selected teams then engage in a gripping 36-hole tournament over two days, adhering to a no-stroke, 2-person scramble, low gross format.”
The golf course, which plays as par 60 during the day but is a par 54 at night with every hole set up as a par 3, has quickly become just a cool place to be, capturing the continuing rise in the popularity of golf and offering something no one else is.
“It’s right because the stars aligned,” Scott Hebert, the directory of agronomy at Grass Clippings, said. “We got the funding, we got the backing, we have the energy, the creativity, the ideas, you know, everyone’s on board with it. It’s a young group of guys as the founders that have been pushing for this dream for a long time and they’ve been able to gather the support in the community.”
This new league was founded by Jake Hoselton, Jimmy Hoselton, Connor Riley, Pete Wilson and TJ Forster.
“The Grass League is unlike anything out there right now,” Bleacher Report General Manager Bennett Spector said. “Our mission is to connect with golf fans on a human level and the electric par 3 format means anyone and everyone has a shot at taking home the massive cash prize. It’s like the World Series of Poker for golf.”
The action will be shown on Bleacher Report’s website and app as well as truTV and Golf Digest. The first event is scheduled for April 17-20.
The plan calls for 20 franchises divided by regional markets including Phoenix, Scottsdale, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Michigan, Tampa Bay, New York and Canada.
Registration for tickets and players will open in March.