
Participant in Desert Classic of this year.
EVERARDO KEEEME
6:58 pm Monday morning at Parrot – a municipal stage song in Phoenix – and Teri Totlis is dancing. The sun still should not rise above the surrounding red buttons, but a DJ set away from the green placement is pumping the “Queen of Dance” of Abba through the speakers, and Totlis is heading towards the beating, the fingers that are tapping into the carriage trail.
Directly in front of it, a line of 50 carts stands ready to ferry 100 women in their tee in time for a 7:30 -morning gun start. In exactly six hours, at 1:30 in the afternoon, a second wave of 100 women will do the same. And one week from now, the other 200 will descend on the property for the same accurate experience.
What in the world are these women doing here?
This is the fourth repetition of Classic desertA three-day partner, the only women of women who, in addition to scanning the three rounds of the tournament golf, is filled with a host of other commitments and conveniences, from a private night, curated to make topics of daily clothing, pre-randy sessions, teaching clinics and night holidays. The Desert Classic is not a simple tour; is one experience. And Totlis is the force behind it all.
This special Monday is unreasonably deliberately-52 degrees-per phoenix in March, and a steady wind 15-m per hour is whipping throughout the interval. But cold conditions cannot undermine the enthusiasm of the participants’ breakfast wave. Theme of today’s dress? “Western dress.” And women clearly understand the task, transmitting from parking to sequences and thresholds, tile buttons, bandannas and denim jackets. A group even arrives with an inflatable cow in traction, which they tied to the roof of their golf cart.
As it approaches 7:30, Totlis collects the microphone to collect the group for pre -round notifications. But before cutting them in their carriages, it has a request.
“All I ask is that for the next 15-20 seconds, you dance with me!” She screams. “You shake it because today it will be the most fabulous day! Let’s go!”
Women’s women are like DJs appreciate the opening chords of “Feel this moment” of Pitbull, and the whole crowd of boogies down in the early morning light. “Hype”-Termi Totlis and its team use to refer to the pre-randit dance party-is a non-negotiable tournament tradition that aims to help participants distribute any constant nervous energy. As women ride in their carriages and go towards their respective tracks, Totlis-Peak each while leading them.
“A hype session down,” says Totlis with a smile. “Eleven to go.”

Dennis Scully/D2 Productions
Golf tournament all-female They are certainly not a new concept, but the merger of 400 women for a recreation event at a cost of $ 1,500 to $ 1,750 per player – and sales in minutes – of course it is. Tours like The Desert Classic are generally limited to the care of members of the private club, ultra -heavy amateur championships or PGA section events. And Totlis felt an opportunity.
“When I played an invitation for the first time, I was like,” this is the biggest entertainment I have ever had, “she says over coffee a few weeks ago. “I just loved her society, the side of her competition, the pump and the circumstance of all. It was the biggest entertainment I had as adults, especially after I had children.”
Totlis grew up playing tennis and softball but did not touch a golf club until it was in the mid -20th. She was immediately fixed and began to relax it diligently, joining a country club and connecting women in parrots. She devoted herself to become a better player and is now one of the best female amaters in the southwestern section of Arizona, winning the Arizona Player of the Year in 2022. She also qualified for the 2021 Mid-Amarate Mid-Amarate, where she made her match.
Prior to 2019, Totlis had already won a modest social media following fitness content when a family member asked her to bow to Golf. She did, documenting the high and low levels of her rounds and emitting tips on improving the game and fitness with her instructor. It launched a podcast (“T-time with Totlis Totlis”) Also, her sincere appreciation for her performance in tournaments and comfort in front of the camera quickly gained a legion of the same minded female followers, Golf. After plunging his toe in recruiting small women’s groups to join an external golf trip in 2021, Totlis decided to push for a major parrot event, modeled after the tournaments she was facilitated as a player. She told the course she would sell an event of 200 players in 2022, and she did, in less than a week.
“None of this happens without social media,” Totlis says about Desert Classic’s success. “All my players from the initial classic of the desert found me through social media. It all started with me talking on my camera.”

EVERARDO KEEEME
What is the magical seduction of the desert classic? You can argue that it is simply a by -product of the growth of women’s golf as a whole, which is in a record trajectory. But those present will tell you that they come mainly because of Totlis himself, and the community and atmosphere it has cultivated.
“Women have been subjected to Golf for a long time,” says returning Mary Berg. “I’ve played for 33 years, and never seen something like this. You come here, and Tori makes it so easy and welcoming for every game level. Golf is golf and it’s fun, but it’s also a big holiday.”
In Desert Classic, if you play once, you are likely to return again. And again. The rabid return rate is ultimately what pushed Totlis to add a second week of identical tournament in 2024 and this year as well. For the 2025 edition, all 400 points filled in 45 minutes, with a list of waiting.
“I think women are underestimated in the golf industry in terms of the money they will pay to invest in the sport they want, whether traveling either lessons or training clothing or clubs,” says Totlis.
This year’s Desert Classic included players from 37 countries and four countries.
“I would never have made a tour like this before in my life,” says the third -time participant of the classic Carrie Grater desert. “I would never travel to do something like that. And now, it’s in my blood. I can’t wait to go back here again next year. Friendships and friendships are second for none.”

EVERARDO KEEEME
Totlis agrees: “We are all individuals of the same mind; women who gather together who love this sport and who want to spend a good time.”
“And” she adds, “We’re leaving with energy and motivated to improve our games.”
As the afternoon rifle The wave ends its rounds and the day of the Desert Classic’s opening, women start gathering in the drink, dinner and entertainment of the night: a mechanical bull, live music of the country (complete with a violinist in styles) and line dance. Still to come: yacht rock, high instructors clinics and a masters-green dress topic. Totlis moves through the crowd, taking pictures, greeting the players and talking. Seeing women gathered and spend a great time is, for her, the most enjoyable moment of the week.
So satisfying, in fact, that she and her right hand in these ventures – an upper and early follower of Totlis Instagram named Ashley Ibanez – currently have three tournaments and two withdrawals in their 2025 events schedule. And there is an opportunity to expand.

Dennis Scully/D2 Productions
“Whenever she calls me and says,” I have an idea, “I’m a little nervous first,” says Ibanez with a laugh.
“A kind of creative exit. I think, it’s in our future,” Totlis says. “It may be a year from now, it can pass two months from now. But I feel like something else is on the horizon.”
The future, this can wait. For now, music is playing, women are here and someone has to start dancing.

Golfit.com editor
As a four -year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of Women’s players Varsity, Jessica can go out to everyone. It can also attract them to the office, as well, where it is largely responsible for producing printed and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as the Golf inaugural issue, which debuted in February 2018. Its original series of interviews, “One Round”, debuted in November 2015, and appeared in both the journal.