Golf is to Scottsdale what the running of the bulls is to Pamplona: once a year, fans go completely insane. Every winter, the FBR Open, a PGA Tour event, draws more than half a million golf-crazed spectators to Scottsdale’s Tournament Players Course (TPC). They streak. They drink. They boo errant shots. It’s a frat party on grass, and the closest golf comes to gladiatorial sport. But when the tournament ends, the throngs go home and the TPC, a course dotted with water hazards and noted for its lightning greens, returns to its usual genteel ways. Then it’s time for the more serious crowds: golfers intent on improving their game.

Early this year, the TPC launched the PGA Tour Academy, an intensive golf school aimed at weekend duffers and scratch players alike. Students take part in one-, two-, three-, or five-day programs, with instruction tailored to their needs. “We liken the golf swing to a story,” says John Stahlschmidt, director of instruction at the academy, who also teaches several local tour pros. “We pick up where you left off in the narrative, and by the end of your time here, all the different plot elements make sense and you’ve read it in its entirety.”

For novice golfers, the academy begins at the beginning. It focuses on fundamentals like grip, posture, ball placement, and alignment, then moves on to more subtle matters: swing plane, pivot, impact, finish. In recent years, the story of golf instruction has taken a decidedly high-tech twist, with video analysis, computerized swing-speed measurements, launch-angle monitors, custom club fitting, and golf pros who speak in terms befitting NASA engineers. The Tour Academy applies all these latest advances, but under the watch of experts who discuss golf in a language everyone understands.

Book yourself a room at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, a lavish resort overlooking the course that allows its guests to custom-design golf instruction packages ranging from an hour to a week long. During multiday programs, students also receive playing lessons, a valuable way to work on problems that might not be apparent on the practice range. Off-the-course indulgences await in Scottsdale, too, like New York strip steak at Mastro’s, an acclaimed local steak house, or a golfer’s massage at the nearby Four Seasons spa. But the game itself is Scottsdale’s big attraction, and the TPC is a celebrated course. There’s a frisson of excitement when you step out for a lesson on a layout made famous by TV. And nothing beats the feeling of a well-struck shot or the sight of the ball arcing toward the flagstick. The only other person watching is your instructor. But listen closely. You can almost hear the crowd go wild. –Josh Sens

PGA TOUR ACADEMY: 800-766-7939, PGATOUREXPERIENCES.COM; MASTRO'S: 480-585-9500, MASTROSSTEAKHOUSE.COM; FOUR SEASONS: 800-819-5053, FOURSEASONS.COM.