This morning, October 12, Grayhawk Golf Club's Talon course reopened after two weeks of overseeding, and Raptor closed for its own turn on the same day. Raptor returns October 30. Three days later, on November 2, ALMA reopens as a Southwest steakhouse at The Citadel on Pinnacle Peak Road. After that, the Grayhawk Community Association calendar runs into December.
Grayhawk's season comes back in a sequence of handoffs over about three weeks, set by an agronomy schedule, a restaurant's construction timeline and a neighborhood events calendar that happen to line up one after another.
The Courses Trade Places Today
Overseeding is the reason the two courses never close together. According to Grayhawk Golf Club, each fall the agronomy team cuts the summer grass all the way down and reseeds both courses with winter grass so conditions hold up year-round. The club runs that work one course at a time. Talon went first, closing September 28. The Arizona Golf Association's overseed schedule lists the same dates: Talon back October 12, Raptor back October 30.
The club did the same thing in summer, in reverse order. During July aeration, Raptor closed first and Talon followed. Here is the full 2026 rotation:
| Work | Course | Closed | Days dark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer aeration | Raptor | July 6 – July 26 | 21 |
| Summer aeration | Talon | July 27 – August 16 | 21 |
| Fall overseed | Talon | September 28 – October 11 | 14 |
| Fall overseed | Raptor | October 12 – October 29 | 18 |
Twice a year, one course stays open while the other is closed. Overseed is the bigger reset of the two, because the course that comes back has a new playing surface for the winter season.
The work is overseen by Ernie Pock, the club's Director of Agronomy, whom the club describes as a third-generation Arizona superintendent. His team also prepared the courses for the NCAA Men's and Women's Golf Championships, held at Grayhawk from 2021 to 2023. On newly seeded turf, staff will say when carts must stay on the paths. Otherwise the club asks golfers to drive out at 90 degrees from the cart path to their ball.
The Eighteen Days With One Course
From now through October 29, Talon is the only course open at Grayhawk. The neighborhood's own fall events start during this same stretch.
The first is Harvest at the Hawk, the Grayhawk Community Association's pumpkin patch, on Saturday, October 24, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The association's listing invites kids to come in costume and pick a pumpkin on the greenbelt at N. 73rd Way and E. Whistling Wind Way. One week later, on Saturday, October 31, the Grayhawk Adopt-A-Road cleanup runs from 8 to 10 a.m., starting at 7940 E. Thompson Peak Parkway.
Raptor reopens the day before that cleanup. By Halloween both courses are open again, and the busier part of the season can start.
November 2 at The Citadel
The next date is set by a restaurant. ALMA is reopening at The Citadel, 8700 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, in the space that used to be Preston's. The OpenTable listing gives the suite as #115. What Now Phoenix reported in July that the move followed the closure of ALMA's Old Town Scottsdale location earlier this year. Chef Sheila Bryson told the outlet she wanted ALMA closer to her other Soul Hospitality Group restaurants.
The opening date moved. In July the target was October 1, and Bryson said construction could push it into early November. It did. ALMA's OpenTable page now shows November 2 as the reopening date, with the first reservations that Monday at 4 p.m. The Forking Scottsdale restaurant newsletter from October 1 gives the same date. In practice, ALMA's opening falls three days after Raptor's return.
According to What Now Phoenix, the new ALMA has several separate spaces:
- A Southwest steakhouse serving premium cuts with flavors drawn from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Northern Mexico
- Copper Club, a rooftop lounge with live music and cocktails
- A tequila bar with tequila and mezcal tastings, plus chef-created tacos and small bites
- Barbwire Western Couture, Bryson's former Western boutique, now back
The full menu is served in every space. Bryson told What Now Phoenix that customers had long asked for live music and that the rooftop lounge is her answer. She said Copper Club was briefly an event space just before COVID and never really got a chance to host events. She also told the outlet the place shouldn't feel like a white-tablecloth room: "It's going to be a steakhouse as they've never seen. You can just have a taco and tapas if you want."
The OpenTable listing describes three bars, two of them lounges, in an open layout. It also says gift cards from the old location will work at the new one and at the group's other restaurants.
What's Already Open Next Door
ALMA joins a sister restaurant that is already open at The Citadel. Little Snitch, in Suite 106, is a counter-service breakfast and lunch café with a bakery counter, a walk-up coffee window and a full bar. It's open Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and added a 2 to 3 p.m. happy hour on October 1.
The third piece doesn't have a date yet. Little Scoops, an old-fashioned counter-service ice cream parlor, is planned for the same suite and will connect to Little Snitch. It's designed to stay open later into the evening than the café, as a dessert stop after dinner nearby. As of Forking Scottsdale's October 1 update, it was expected to open around the same time as ALMA. The team has said the menu and opening date will come closer to launch.
Once all three are open, Bryson will have breakfast, dinner, a rooftop lounge and late dessert under one roof on Pinnacle Peak Road. Her other restaurants are nearby. Soul Café is at 7615 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, and the group lists Pescada D.C. Ranch, which sits at 20707 N. Pima Road in DC Ranch.
After the Handoff, the Calendar Takes Over
Once both courses are open and ALMA is serving, the Grayhawk Community Association's calendar sets the pace for the rest of the year. The November and December dates, in order:
- Thursday, November 5. Bunco Night, 6 to 8 p.m., at 7940 E. Thompson Peak Parkway.
- Friday, November 13. Concert in the Park, 5 to 7 p.m., on the greenbelt at 78th Place and 78th Way.
- Saturday, November 21. The Grayhawk Chamber of Commerce Home and Health Show, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., on the same greenbelt.
- Thursday, December 3. Jingle and Mingle, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Jalapeno Inferno, 7605 E. Pinnacle Peak Road.
- Tuesday, December 8. The Grayhawk Santa Party, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Fairway House, 8362 E. Thompson Peak Parkway.
The association's activities page is a live listing, so times and locations can change before each event.
Two of these events are on Pinnacle Peak Road, where the restaurant openings are. Jingle and Mingle is held at Jalapeno Inferno, in the same 7600 block of Pinnacle Peak Road as Soul Café. The concert and the home show are on the 78th Place greenbelt, inside the neighborhood. The calendar moves between Grayhawk's interior and the restaurants along its edge, the same places this fall's openings are happening.
The Next Change Runs on a Longer Schedule
Not everything nearby moves on a weekly schedule. The City of Scottsdale's Pima Road project, between Happy Valley Road and Jomax Road, is scheduled to start construction this winter and finish in Summer 2027. Planned work includes a full traffic signal at Pima and Jomax and drainage improvements. For people in Grayhawk and Grayhawk Cavasson who drive north on Pima past Happy Valley Road, that work will still be going long after the Santa Party on December 8.
At RETSY, we keep track of dates like these across north Scottsdale because that's how we know the neighborhoods we work in. If you'd like to talk about Grayhawk or where your home fits in it this season, our team is glad to help. Contact Us.
