2020 Phoenix Area Course Conditions

[deadsolid...shank]

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I donated a lot of balls to various back yards there.

[puttnforthe8]

Damn...I have 2 free 4 somes! Why did you have to ruin my 2020!!

[puttnforthe8]

Best league is the NSMGA; Premier Golf Club is okay; Then there is the Saturday Golf League (but that one is questionable). These are all travel leagues - play everywhere in the valley.

Dobson Ranch and Lone Tree have mens club. I think that is it for the EV area w/o a membership. Maybe Western Skies or Las Colinas - but wouldn't steer you that way.

[Argonne69]

Another pleasant day in the valley. The forecast called for morning t-storms, but of course it was dead wrong. Granite Falls North today. Another decent Sun City Grand layout. Very generous fairways, but some tricky greens. With speeds 10+, one had to be on the correct side of the hole. Good mix of holes, including the par 3s which always seem to be lacking. The fives were good as well.

Conditions were good. The fairways had a few bare spots, and were oh so shaggy. Guess the mower was broken today. Greens looked great, and rolled nicely. Sand was good, too. A solid 4.

 

[fore_life]

Freaking foothills man, place could be pretty awesome, I dig the layout/green complexes but damn, it’s looking rundown too. Range could be one of the best, but it’s just sand with 3 or 4 sprigs of grass. I teed up every ball in my warm up, it was a joke.

greens much better than before but still not worth it unless you catch a screaming deal

[Argonne69]

Arizona Grand today. OK, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. It's like the very old SNL spoof commercial for Glimmer. It's a dessert topping, and a floor wax. Was the designer on acid when he laid out the course? It's three courses in one with the quirky opening four holes, the mundane and tight remaining front holes, and then the quirky desert holes to close the round, including the Quintero replica par 3 18th. Lol. Honestly, I got paired up with another single with Chicago roots, and we went off as a twosome, and we had a blast. I wouldn't want to play the course again, but it was certainly a challenge. The 5 yd wide green on the 17th was nearly as crazy as the narrow green on Spyglass Hill's 4th, minus the ocean views. The narrow green on the 13th was almost as crazy. 54 yds deep and 14 yds wide? Almost drove the green on the 15th with an overly aggressive fade.

Conditions were barely playable. Fairways were good until they were very bad. Bunkers were horrendous. Should be marked as GUR. Greens were actually decent, and rolled ~9. The rough was laughingly brilliant. Thick and green.

Can't say I'd ever recommend the course, but just for the novelty it's worth a play once. It's short, but many of the holes are not pushovers. Ballstriking is at a premium. I'll give it a 3.5.

[az2au]

AZ Grand seriously may be the most poorly designed course I’ve ever played. It is so bad that you kinda think it might be intentional. Like they’re trolling tourists or something.

[fore_life]

Argonne, I’ve played a few courses in the Chicago suburbs and I think I’d rank all of them higher than any course I’ve played here other than southern dunes, though I’d put Aguila above golf club of Illinois.

 

 

[Argonne69]

I think that's a little unfair. Chicago has a lot of very good courses, but few outstanding courses. 'Certainly not enough to stack up against Wisconsin or Michigan.

There are a ton of mediocre courses here, but plenty of excellent public courses, including We Ko Pa Saguaro, Wickenburg Ranch, Southern Dunes (as noted), Grayhawk Talon and Raptor, and Talking Stick North. There are are also a bunch of very good courses, e,g, Longbow, Golf Canyon Dinosaur, Whirlwind, Verrado Founders, Verde River, Boulders, Eagle Mountain, Papago, and Troon North. The basic problem is that the vast majority of the very good courses in Chicagoland are under $100, whereas the top courses here will set you back $150 to $300 during the winter.

[az2au]

One the problems here is that the majority of really good courses are private. That’s the same as it is in NY (although we don’t have the same quantity of very good to great courses as NY).

[toypor]

Not sure how Granite Falls North is a 4 and AZ Grand is a 3.5? To az2au’s point AZG is absolutely terrible. GFN while certainly not great is at least pretty decent and no reason you can’t at least enjoy. Not saying I know the answer, but there has to be some sort of a scale to separate courses that are below must play status. I would not mind playing GFN at all, especially on a nice day with good people. Not sure I’d want to play AZG even if paired with Arnie, Jack, and Tiger! LOL

[Argonne69]

Good point. I probably should have said "public courses". Chicago has a number of outstanding private courses, e.g Medinah #3, Shore Acres, Olympia Fields South and North, Conway Farms, Chicago Golf Club, Butler National, Rich Harvest Links, Beverly, Butterfield, Black Sheep, North Shore, Merit Club, Bull Valley. Some of these have hosted men's majors, PGA and LPGA events, or national amateur events.

 

 

[MK7Golf21]

We are heading to Phoenix/Mesa area end of March. Anyone recommend a course that isn’t too expensive?

 

[Argonne69]

GFN is solid, but mundane. It's a good course for regular play, but I wouldn't suggest anyone make a special trip to play it.

AZG wins points for being bizarre. Yes, there are a number of awful holes, but it also has a few very good ones, or at least memorable ones. In a year I'll still remember five or six holes, whereas GFN will fade from memory.

 

[Argonne69]

Aguila is probably the best of the budget courses.

[MK7Golf21]

We are also heading up to Sedona for a few days, better to golf somewhere along the way than in Pheonix?

[Argonne69]

Wickenburg Ranch would be worth the slight detour. Quintero seems to be a favorite for first timers.

 

[MK7Golf21]

Thanks, looks like those are quite pricey too. Probably will stick with Aguila then, we have someone who is new to golf and doesn't want to spend 100+.

[az2au]

Unless you're in a hurry you should absolutely take the "back way" to Sedona. In that case you'd drive right through Wickenburg. One of my favorite drives in the state is the one between Wickenburg and Prescott. It'll take an extra 1.5-2 hours but it is totally worth it.

[ferrispgm]

That drive is awesome and Jerome is a weird/fun stop as well. Prescott Brewing Company is a pretty good place to eat along the way and has some good beer. The drive down to Sedona on the north 89A going south is pretty special too but more so in the fall. We are definitely blessed with a number of very scenic drives in this state. Golf wise I would play Aguila for the best value and maybe look at getting a deal time on teeoff for Estrella which would probably be around 80 with a deal time and the usual 20% discount. It's a good course and very scenic.

[teejaywhy]

They change the name every few years to trick people into playing it again.

 

[puttnforthe8]

Come on now...how could it be so bad with all this praise? Played in a charity auction last month, and the guy that won the foursome in the raffle couldn't give it away to any of the people in attendance! I probably have 1-2 free rounds laying around somewhere.

 

AWARDS & ACCOLADESSpectacular Sonoran Desert GolfNamed among the nation’s Top 50 “Great Service” Facilities by Golf DigestAwarded Four Star “Best Places to Play” from Golf DigestGold Tee Award from Meetings & Conventions“Greens of Distinction” and “Golden Links Award” from Corporate Incentive Travel Magazine“Top 35 Courses in Arizona,” “Best Golf Hole,” and “Best Service in Golf” from The Arizona Republic“Excellent” rating from Zagat Survey

[teejaywhy]

Hey, I like Tres Rios! Terminally undermaintained for sure, but a good, budget friendly, walkable layout.

 

[ferrispgm]

And just like that I lost what little respect I had for the GD course raters

[az2au]

It is not on the list of courses that can be rated by GD panelists. I have no idea where they get that ranking. FWIW, AZ only has 56 courses that are considered for panelist ratings. It is a bit of an eclectic list.

[teejaywhy]

CottonFields was the most descriptive of the names for that course.

 

[puttnforthe8]

Semantics? "Best place to play"! Says nothing about being one of the best courses.

 

[Argonne69]

I know I'm repeating myself, but another beautiful day in the valley. I played my 60th round on this visit at Westbrook Village Lakes. It was also my 100th course played in the area. I was expecting more for $90. A decent layout, but again no wow. A couple of challenging holes, but otherwise it was benign.

The course must be drainage challenged, because it was still cart path only after Monday night's rain. There was standing water in many spots. I don't think it really effected play though. On a positive note the CPO appears to have scared away many players. I walked the course as a single after the threesome I was supposed to join didn't show. I followed a few groups, and we finished in 3:20. Sweet.

Apparently the course had an issue with its main irrigation pump last fall, and missed the window for overseeding. Only the 2nd course I've played on dormant Bermuda fairways. The tee boxes and areas around the greens were overseeded. The greens were not, and the dyed Bermuda was very bumpy, and impossible to keep a putt online. At least it rolled with a decent pace. Bunkers were nice.

I wasn't expecting to get blown away, but at nearly double the price of most of the northwest valley courses I was disappointed. I'd rate it a 3.5.

[teejaywhy]

I just looked at Google maps steetview. It doesn't look much different from the last time I played it. Lol.

Pohlcat was the original name, from PGA Tour player Dan Pohl, one of the designers. I liked him as a player, but golf course design was not his calling.

 

[ferrispgm]

Oddly enough he has a course in Michigan by the same name that is actually pretty good. At least it was when I played it in college 12 years ago.