El Rio Golf Course dates back to the 1930s and was the original site for the Tucson Open. The course was operated as a country club until 1968 when the City of Tucson acquired it for public use. The course layout features tight fairways, small greens, relatively flat terrain, two lakes, and numerous trees. El Rio is ideal for the "short knocker," measuring 6,000 yards from the regular tees, and 6,400 from the back tees.