Dwight B. Heard, a native of Chicago, first saw the Valley of the Sun in 1895 and decided to stay because he felt the arid weather was the perfect tonic for his health problems.

Perhaps no person left more of a legacy in the Phoenix area. Before he died at the age of 60 in 1929, Heard exerted such influence that he is given much of the credit for many things area residents take for granted today-the Arizona Republic newspaper, the Heard Museum, the Phoenix skyline, Roosevelt Dam, irrigation canals that helped create a community in the desert and the Arizona cattle industry.

"Dwight Heard was probably Arizona's greatest citizen," said Eugene Pulliam, who followed in Heard's footsteps as publisher of the Arizona Republic, the largest newspaper in the state. "We are proud to be the beneficiaries of his wisdom and courage."

It is only fitting that in 1999, the exquisite Legacy Golf Resort was created on the last 280 acres remaining from the Heard Ranch, and the Bartlett-Heard Land and Cattle Co. that he founded in 1900 with his father-in-law, A.C. Bartlett.

The resort, an all-suite property in the shadow of South Mountain in Phoenix, is a reflection of the Heard Ranch's Spanish-mission village and features a colorful fountain, summer and winter flowers and natural desert vegetation.

"We consider it a home-away-from home setting," said Denise Heintz, director of sales at the Legacy Resort. "This is a family-friendly property and even though we have a great golf course, there are plenty of other activities for children and non-golfers."

The centerpiece of the resort is the 6,908-yard, par-71 championship course designed by Gary Panks, the noted golf course architect who has his headquarters in nearby Scottsdale.

Included in Panks' portfolio are 19 golf properties in Arizona, but he has also designed courses in California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington, not to mention Australia, Canada, Mexico and Thailand.

Among his best are Trilogy Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif., which has hosted the Skins Game for the last four years; the Talon Course at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, former home of the Andersen Consulting World Match Play Championship and the Williams World Challenge, and the spectacular Sedona Golf Resort in the red rock canyons of Northern Arizona.

The course at the Legacy Resort is right up there with the best of them.