Geronimo Is Back, and the Rest of Desert Mountain's Fall Is Down the Hill in Carefree

Geronimo opened on October 31, 1989. Jack Nicklaus, Jim Carter and a 19-year-old Phil Mickelson played the first round. All three were NCAA individual champions, and none of them broke par. Carter shot 73, and Nicklaus and Mickelson each posted 74.

Thirty-seven years later, Geronimo reopened in late September after a year of restoration. Most of what changed is buried or meant to go unnoticed. That shapes how this season will feel. The club's headline project this fall was built to keep a familiar course familiar. Most of the new things on a Desert Mountain calendar between now and New Year's are a short drive south, in Carefree and Cave Creek, where a historic town-center building is being rebuilt so it feels different.

What a Year Underground Bought

The club says the restoration was driven by "what Members couldn't always see." That meant aging irrigation lines, a tired pump station, and grass and bunker sand that needed replacing. Desert Mountain Director of Agronomy Todd Bohn and Chad Goetz of Nicklaus Design led the work, and the stated goal was to keep the challenge and look of Nicklaus' original design.

A new pump station and HDPE piping replaced the old equipment and PVC lines. A single-head irrigation system now waters areas one at a time, and Bohn can run it remotely, even from his smartwatch. Members who play a regular round will notice some changes. Others will only show up in how the course plays after a monsoon or a dry spell.

The turf detail ties the project to Cochise. According to the club's August 2025 retrospective, Cochise had already been open to members for nearly a year after its own restoration. Geronimo now shares a grass with the course that hosted The Tradition from 1989 to 2001.

The par-3 18th is still the hole with the longest record. It hosted the playoff for the 1988 Desert Scramble, which Greg Norman won with a birdie putt before the course had officially opened, and it was included in the 2000 book The World's 500 Greatest Golf Holes. The club has posted a flyover of all 18 holes for anyone who wants to see the changes before booking a tee time.

The Club's Own Calendar Runs on Members

Off the course, the club's September features describe a social calendar run mostly by members. Desert Mountain counts more than 45 member-hosted social clubs, including Book Club; Cars, Cigars & Cocktails; Photography Club; the DM Speaker & Dinner Series; and the Inquisitive Discussion Group. The list also includes Ladies' and Men's Bridge, Canasta, Women's Poker, Mah Jongg, Trivia Night, the Fine Wine Club, and the Dog Park Roster, which goes by the Yappy Gang.

The outdoor program follows the sky. The club's stargazing feature points to the monthly Sunset to Full Moon Hike and says winter adds Sunset & S'mores hikes at The Ranch. The same feature also sends readers off the property, to the star parties at Spur Cross in Cave Creek. Over the next three months, the public calendar keeps pointing in that same direction.

A Dated Calendar Down the Hill

Carefree and Cave Creek have posted dates for every month through December. Many of them fall on weeknights or Saturday afternoons, so they fit around a morning tee time.

1. Oct. 14–15: Taste of Cave Creek at Stagecoach Village, 7100 E. Cave Creek Road.
2. Oct. 15: Carefree Art Night opens its season, 4 to 7 p.m. in Carefree Town Center, with more than a dozen galleries, artist-run shops and studios taking part. It repeats on the third Thursday of each month through May, including Nov. 19 and Dec. 17.
3. Oct. 15–18: Desert Foothills Theater's Little Women: The Broadway Musical at Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion.
4. Oct. 23–25: the 17th Annual Stagecoach Village Fine Art & Wine Festival in Cave Creek.
5. Nov. 5–7: the Turquoise Circuit Pro Rodeo at Cave Creek Rodeo Grounds, 37201 N. 28th St.
6. Nov. 7–8: Thunderbird Artists' Fall Carefree Garden Art Experience, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Carefree Desert Gardens and Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion.
7. Nov. 20–22 and Nov. 27–29: the Hidden in the Hills Artist Studio Tour, which is free and opens private studios across Cave Creek, Carefree and North Scottsdale.
8. Nov. 28: Carefree Lights Up! at 5 p.m. at Carefree Desert Gardens and the pavilion. Kiwanis Christmas for the Kids is at the pavilion the same day.
9. Dec. 4–12: Chanukah in Carefree, nightly at 5:30 p.m. at Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion.

The list shows how much of Carefree's season runs through one venue. Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion hosts the musical, half of the garden art weekend, both events on Nov. 28, and all nine nights of Chanukah. It also hosts the free Sanderson Lincoln Saturdays music series in Town Center, from 1 to 3 p.m. Fort Vine plays Oct. 31, Scott Jeffers from the Traveler plays Nov. 14, and Fooji Magoo plays Nov. 21. December brings Brian Grant from the Grant Brothers on Dec. 5, Nancy & Neil on Dec. 12, Darrell Doepke on Dec. 19 and Tyler Nielson on Dec. 26.

The calendar extends past the holidays. Thunderbird Artists' Winter Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival is set for Jan. 15–17, 2027.

The Building That Could Change Carefree's Thursday Nights

Art Night takes place a few steps from the Town Center property that is changing the most. Los Portales Mall, a Carefree landmark since the 1980s, has new owners and a new concept called Orchard Street Market. Co-founders Ken Martindale and Sharon Aulicino lead the project with operating partner Charlie Yamashita. The Town says they plan to keep the building's stained-glass dome ceilings and archways while modernizing what's behind them.

The Town Council unanimously approved a Sales Tax Development Agreement for the project on June 2, 2026. The Town cited aging infrastructure, deferred maintenance, underused space and areas that no longer meet modern code. The plan puts a fresh market and artisan makers on the upper level, with restaurants, wine bars and experiential concepts on the lower level. Mayor John Crane called Los Portales "one of Carefree's most iconic landmarks." The Town has also said it will work with the owners and current tenants on ways those businesses might stay in Carefree if they choose to.

As of this writing, no tenants or opening date have been announced, and the project's homepage is still recruiting purveyors. The Town says updates will be posted at orchardstreetmarket.com and through its own channels.

Two other projects nearby are moving on their own timelines. At the northeast corner of Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road, the Town announced SimonCRE as the new developer at its April 7, 2026 Council meeting, after the previous team dropped its plans. The Town's release says a national grocery anchor is at lease but doesn't name it. To the west, Desert Hills Brewing Co. is under construction near 53rd Street and Olesen Road, south of Carefree Highway. Plans call for a taproom, patio, outdoor bar and beer garden, and the opening is tentatively targeted for mid-January 2027.

Geronimo's renovation was meant to make a 1989 course play better while looking the same. The Orchard Street Market plan aims to bring the activity Los Portales once had back to Carefree's Town Center. For now, the next fixed date on that block is the first Art Night of the season, from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15.

Whether you're settling in for the season or splitting your year between the Eastside and North Scottsdale, Denise OConnell keeps track of what's changing around Desert Mountain and down the hill in Carefree. If you'd like to talk about how projects like Orchard Street Market and the SimonCRE corner may affect the area you call home, let's connect.