2021 Phoenix Area Course Conditions

[Enzogorlami]

Yeah it’s a crappy track that I know for

sure. I used to live very close to it. Was more curious of the current course conditions. As that is where I’ll be staying for 10 days. I currently live in the Sacramento area. 

[puttnforthe8]

2 hours ago, Enzogorlami said:

Yeah it’s a crappy track that I know for

sure. I used to live very close to it. Was more curious of the current course conditions. As that is where I’ll be staying for 10 days. I currently live in the Sacramento area. 

I responded with the conditions....not sure what more you want.  

 

Maybe this will make it clearer: 

 

It was garbage a couple of weeks ago...muddy, wet, inconsistent tee to green, garbage greens and bunkers.  I doubt it has improved since that time.  But anything is possible.

Edited March 18, 2021 by puttnforthe8

[tcbringhurst]

Sterling Grove. 
 

Great conditions. Greens are challenging, but seems to hold wedge shots nicely. I had one shot back up from about 75 yards. I played terribly so I can’t comment if something longer than a wedge will stick to the greens. 
 

Side note: attendant said they don’t expect to go private for 2-3 years, so there’s time before you’ll need a membership to play. 

[tcbringhurst]

.

Edited March 18, 2021 by tcbringhurst
Double post

[Aaf09001]

2 hours ago, tcbringhurst said:

Sterling Grove. 
 

Great conditions. Greens are challenging, but seems to hold wedge shots nicely. I had one shot back up from about 75 yards. I played terribly so I can’t comment if something longer than a wedge will stick to the greens. 
 

Side note: attendant said they don’t expect to go private for 2-3 years, so there’s time before you’ll need a membership to play. 

Overall conditions are good? Look forward that will be my first round when I fly to Phoenix in 2 weeks!

[tcbringhurst]

2 hours ago, Aaf09001 said:

Overall conditions are good? Look forward that will be my first round when I fly to Phoenix in 2 weeks!

Yes! The course overall is in great shape! Grass is well manicured everywhere!

[puttnforthe8]

2 hours ago, Aaf09001 said:

Overall conditions are good? Look forward that will be my first round when I fly to Phoenix in 2 weeks!

It's a top tier brand new course....it is pretty flawless tee to green.

[Aaf09001]

17 hours ago, puttnforthe8 said:

It's a top tier brand new course....it is pretty flawless tee to green.

Can't wait we have a good mix of courses for my trip. Grove, Southern Dunes, Quintero, both Verrado, last round we decided TPC Champions. Thanks for pervious input!

[AzSuperHack76]

2 hours ago, Aaf09001 said:

Can't wait we have a good mix of courses for my trip. Grove, Southern Dunes, Quintero, both Verrado, last round we decided TPC Champions. Thanks for pervious input!

Great line up! 

[Bonneville85308]

Encanto was in really good shape this morning. Greens have improved since my last play about a month ago, though #1 is not totally healed yet. Most of the bunkers I saw looked like they had just been raked by the staff. It appeared the course was watered overnight but dried up pretty quickly, good roll with no mudballs. Finished as a foursome in less than 3.5 hours. Nice round.

[puttnforthe8]

GCU today....really good conditions all around.  Greens were rolling great.  Great bunkers.  POP was 415.  

 

Hit a hole in one on #11!! 

 

All around great day.

[YMark]

13 minutes ago, puttnforthe8 said:

GCU today....really good conditions all around.  Greens were rolling great.  Great bunkers.  POP was 415.  

 

Hit a hole in one on #11!! 

 

All around great day.

 Nice job. Did anyone see it go in (from maybe the 12th tee)? Can't really see that green from the tee box.

[cbbaron]

1 hour ago, puttnforthe8 said:

GCU today....really good conditions all around.  Greens were rolling great.  Great bunkers.  POP was 415.  

 

Hit a hole in one on #11!! 

 

All around great day.

Congrats Mate been playing 25 years 75 rounds a year never had one or witnessed one seen holes outs for eagles including 2 by my wife but never a hole in one

[puttnforthe8]

2 hours ago, YMark said:

 Nice job. Did anyone see it go in (from maybe the 12th tee)? Can't really see that green from the tee box.

LOL....No...we saw the one hop from the tee...it never left the line.  I knew it was good.  One of my foursome kept saying that is in.  The group in front didn't see it go in, but knew it was close and one of the guys ran up to look!  

 

Funny...I now have 3 HIO, and haven't seen any of them go in because of the pin  placement or the hole. 

[GreyDawg]

Any recent looks at we-ko-pa? Playing saguro with some AZ first timers on Friday

Edited March 22, 2021 by GreyDawg

[puttnforthe8]

49 minutes ago, GreyDawg said:

Anyone recent looks at we-ko-pa? Playing saguro with some AZ first timers on Friday

Perfect; except for the bunkers.  Rains and no new sand have made them average at best.

[StudentGolfer4]

Played Sterling Grove this morning, and really enjoyed the course. Tees off at 8:30. Pace was a little slow, 4:20ish, but it didn’t feel overly slow when playing. Definitely fair but far from easy off the tee.  As expected, greens were firm with it being a new course. Had a few spots that were still growing in but tee to green it was just about perfect. I will be curious what they do with the fescue areas. Some areas were mulch/rock and could be played from and others were thick dense weeds and you couldn’t find your ball. 
 

I have seen some comments about greens being over the top and I understand them. If it was a daily fee course I would agree. With the CC model I think it works well.  Once you learn the greens and the undulations the pin positions would completely dictate where you can and can’t miss along with hole strategy, especially on the par 5s. They have a really good mix of short risk reward par 4s as well. I want to say 4 of them were between 280-320 and each of them presented multiple ways to play the hole. Pounding driver at the green was rarely the best option. 
 

I would 100% recommend getting out there sooner rather than later. 

[AZ_JHWK]

Aguila this morning at 6:40 am. This tee time opened up on Friday morning, so it pays to keep checking back. As has been said before this is the best combo of price and conditioning for a daily fee course during the winter/spring season. Battled those howling Arizona winds (2-4 mph) and finished in 3:20. 😉

[puttnforthe8]

Southern Dunes this morning and it is in sensational shape.  

[azgolfer44]

Cave Creek this morning for my annual round there. Conditions were fair. Tees and fairways were lush but needed mowing. Greens were rolling maybe 10ish with ridiculous pin positions on a few holes. They appear to be having issues with the sprinkler system with wet spots everywhere. 4:25 pace but waited on every shot all day. Enough for me until next year.  
 

looking forward to getting back to Papago this week. 

[puttnforthe8]

Vistancia - in really, really great shape.  Really good greens. 

[jatrain]

GCU in good shape except for 5 fairway which is basically GIR in the landing area. 

[AzSuperHack76]

Falcon Dunes yesterday, decent shape over all, greens were a little on the slow side and inconsistent though. 

[sarmis2]

Need some help for a last round suggestion. Going on a bachelor trip in mid May, and staying pretty much right next to Starfire Golf Club.

 

18 of us - and looking to play within a 30 minute drive of our house. So far we have we ko pa, and TPC champions booked.

 

We are looking into Camelback Ambiente, or Eagle Mountain. Any preference out of those two, or another obvious one I should consider? 

[Bonneville85308]

4 minutes ago, sarmis2 said:

Need some help for a last round suggestion. Going on a bachelor trip in mid May, and staying pretty much right next to Starfire Golf Club.

 

18 of us - and looking to play within a 30 minute drive of our house. So far we have we ko pa, and TPC champions booked.

 

We are looking into Camelback Ambiente, or Eagle Mountain. Any preference out of those two, or another obvious one I should consider? 

 

I personally really like Camelback Ambiente over Eagle Mountain. I always try to play Ambiente a few times when the prices comes down during summer. Eagle Mountain was fine when I played it, but not "wow I really want to play this again soon" good.

 

Could also consider doing 36 holes at WeKoPa as there are two courses. Most people will tell you Saguaro is the better of the two, but Cholla is no slouch.

[azmx]

6 minutes ago, Bonneville85308 said:

 

I personally really like Camelback Ambiente over Eagle Mountain. I always try to play Ambiente a few times when the prices comes down during summer. Eagle Mountain was fine when I played it, but not "wow I really want to play this again soon" good.

 

Could also consider doing 36 holes at WeKoPa as there are two courses. Most people will tell you Saguaro is the better of the two, but Cholla is no slouch.

Better course no doubt but I would pick Eagle Mountain for visitors.  Far more scenic and also likely more amenable to a bachelor party scene.

[ferrispgm]

25 minutes ago, sarmis2 said:

Need some help for a last round suggestion. Going on a bachelor trip in mid May, and staying pretty much right next to Starfire Golf Club.

 

18 of us - and looking to play within a 30 minute drive of our house. So far we have we ko pa, and TPC champions booked.

 

We are looking into Camelback Ambiente, or Eagle Mountain. Any preference out of those two, or another obvious one I should consider? 

Eagle mountain is way more scenic than Camelback but golf wise it's Ambiente no doubt. McDowell Mtn may be another option worth considering...has some views and I think the layout is pretty good. 

[StudentGolfer4]

AK Chin Southern Dunes today. Man that place is good. Course was firm and fast. Balls ran out in the short stuff. I also appreciated that the desert was playable, if you found it. Greens would hold good shots but don’t expect to back the ball up. Almost every hole gave you a large bailout area around the greens. Not an easy up and down but it was a safe place to miss and end up in the short stuff. Alot of really good holes. I still want another chance at the first par 5 and short par 4 on the back! 
 

As a visitor, I usually want to play new courses instead of repeats but Southern Dunes and Sterling Grove are very high on my list. I would recommend these courses to anyone. Yes they’re a bit of a drive but both were very good golf courses. You can find better views or a drop shot par 3, if that’s your thing, but as a whole they’re tough to beat.  Even better when you consider rack rate at SG was $115 and $99 at Southern Dunes
 

If I was playing the course 2x a week I would prefer Sterling Grove. If I played it 3x a year I think Southern Dunes would be my preference. 

[golfer929]

Any updates on Sunridge? Been seeing GolfNow times from them.

[Austincountyag]

finally got our tee times made for our buddies trip next month. 

 

Thurs: TPC Champions

Fri: 36 at we ko pa

Sat: Quintero in the a.m.....and possibly a last minute round that afternoon somewhere if we have the energy.