2021 Phoenix Area Course Conditions

[robcha]

Saturday played Trilogy at Vistancia. Massive burnt patches on most fairways, they have "construction" near the green, greens themselves were burnt and had rough patches. Overcompensated by drowning the course with water. 

 

Heard great things about the course and conditions in the past but a shame to play here. 

[puttnforthe8]

31 minutes ago, robcha said:

Saturday played Trilogy at Vistancia. Massive burnt patches on most fairways, they have "construction" near the green, greens themselves were burnt and had rough patches. Overcompensated by drowning the course with water. 

 

Heard great things about the course and conditions in the past but a shame to play here. 

It's transition season...that is exactly the way the conditions are supposed to be!   You can't criticize the course conditions for being how one would expect them to be.

 

I played there 11 times this year and the conditions were superb, tee to green.

Edited June 14, 2021 by puttnforthe8

[AzSuperHack76]

22 hours ago, robcha said:

Saturday played Trilogy at Vistancia. Massive burnt patches on most fairways, they have "construction" near the green, greens themselves were burnt and had rough patches. Overcompensated by drowning the course with water. 

 

Heard great things about the course and conditions in the past but a shame to play here. 

They are redoing all the bunkers on the course, summer season is when the courses do all their renovations. 

[AzSuperHack76]

Sterling Grove yesterday morning, fast and firm..... I love playing in those conditions, just so much fun. Recent reports are all spot on. 

 

They have about half of the original tall grass cut down and uprooted on the course. Per the starter it was too much of a pace of play issue. It really changes the look of the course, If you hit it in the former grassy areas your still going to be penalized heavily with god awful lies but at least you'll be able to find your ball. 

 

 

[puttnforthe8]

21 minutes ago, AzSuperHack76 said:

Sterling Grove yesterday morning, fast and firm..... I love playing in those conditions, just so much fun. Recent reports are all spot on. 

 

They have about half of the original tall grass cut down and uprooted on the course. Per the starter it was too much of a pace of play issue. It really changes the look of the course, If you hit it in the former grassy areas your still going to be penalized heavily with god awful lies but at least you'll be able to find your ball. 

 

 

Odd/Disappointing/Interesting....that tall grass was really the only defense for the course tee to the green.   Also, I never thought there was a POP issue - if the ball went in, you gave a quick look and then moved on - it's not like you were going to be able to hit out of there unless you got real lucky.  

[Bonneville85308]

TPC Champions early yesterday morning. Insane amount of sprinkler and hand watering going on in the fairways during the round due to the heat. I'm guessing it will continue all week due to the forecast. It looked like the first group off a few ahead of us was having to wait on maintenance on every single hole, even on the last few holes. Greens were in beautiful condition as usual. 

 

This course always plays crazy wet and long in the summer mornings, far worse than any other I frequent. I know that going in, but this time it was at the point that it detracted from the round for me.

[fore_life]

I know dunes punched recently, anyone been out there? Poston butte was pretty rough yesterday one week out from punching.

[AZ_JHWK]

1 hour ago, puttnforthe8 said:

Odd/Disappointing/Interesting....that tall grass was really the only defense for the course tee to the green.   Also, I never thought there was a POP issue - if the ball went in, you gave a quick look and then moved on - it's not like you were going to be able to hit out of there unless you got real lucky.  

Playing there on Sunday, too bad those fescues are gone. Many courses in the Midwest have added the brome and fescue grasses, mostly knee to waist high. Easy on the maintenance budget. Most just mark them as a hazard...err...penalty area. Take a drop and move on. 

[puttnforthe8]

1 hour ago, fore_life said:

I know dunes punched recently, anyone been out there? Poston butte was pretty rough yesterday one week out from punching.

 

Dunes is in great shape for having been punched.  It's pretty amazing how well the greens are playing.  Of course - watering and patchy fairways as expected...but not bad.

[Mr. Clean]

Played Sterling Grove last Friday, my employment ended at SG 3 weeks ago, so now playing as a guest of previous coworker.  Tees, fairways and rough have been aerated but greens are scheduled for early July.  Course is still in great shape, greens are still firm and fast, but a bit slower than a month ago.

 

The tall grass is not fescue, it’s just an annual rye grass.  Toll Brothers management got too many complaints about the tall grass and decided to remove it and have Bermuda put in its place, there will be a transition from the rough to the unkempt Bermuda.  Local rule states the tall rye grass is to be treated like a hazard so a penalty stroke and drop, not sure it had any impact on pace of play.  I loved the tall grass and it really did not come into play if you have any ability to use course management.

I have never had a round take more than 4 hours, usually around 3.5 hours.

Edited June 15, 2021 by Mr. Clean

[cbbaron]

Finished trip with Raptor then Saguaro then in afternoon. Raptor was obviously in great shape however their greens were the slowest I played all week.

Hope to be back out in September maybe meet up with a couple of you guys.

Forgot to mention Sunday at Saguaro was all diabolical pin placements like 8 was on bottom tier 2 was upper left on a slope etc every pin was tough

[azgolfer44]

On 6/13/2021 at 6:57 PM, azgolfer44 said:

Gcu was pretty bad today. Lots of spots with no grass in fairways and rough. Greens  putted okay but still tough shape. Bunkers were best part of the course. Everything was super wet. Rate was $48 with balls. Over 4 hours for a pre 6 am tee time. Ouch. I am playing encanto cup there next week, otherwise I’d stay away. 

Gcu actually came back decent in a week. Not perfect by any means, but greatly improved. 

[AzSuperHack76]

Saguaro was awesome this morning. Greens are near perfection, not a wayward bounce or roll today. Lots of firm brown spots with some spotty wet areas but over all it's in great shape. Less than a 4 hour round in a tourney is always nice! 

[AZ_JHWK]

My first trip around Sterling Grove today. Course looked good and was in fine shape. About a 4 hour round. Wished they hadn't dug up the native grasses. The contrast in colors was awesome where they left it around the tee boxes. Lots of good shots went unrewarded due to the firmness of the greens. Another year of maturity should help with that. The green designs were dramatic. A few were over the top based on the pin placements today at least. The price is right, I paid $29. I think it is now $35 for twilight after 10:00 am. 

[davis8131]

Does anyone have a condition update on McCormick Ranch? 

[puttnforthe8]

40 minutes ago, davis8131 said:

Does anyone have a condition update on McCormick Ranch? 

Bad course/s, made even worse in current terrible condition.    Group of 12 I play with from time to time walked off and got a refund recently.   And they are asking $60-70 to top it off.  Camelback is a far better (1000x) option.

Edited June 22, 2021 by puttnforthe8

[robcha]

47 minutes ago, puttnforthe8 said:

Bad course/s, made even worse in current terrible condition.    Group of 12 I play with from time to time walked off and got a refund recently.   And they are asking $60-70 to top it off.  Camelback is a far better (1000x) option.

Never heard good things about McCormick but crazy to hear they walked off. Was it too backed-up or purely condition? 

[puttnforthe8]

1 hour ago, robcha said:

Never heard good things about McCormick but crazy to hear they walked off. Was it too backed-up or purely condition? 

100% condition - it's just bad.  They said the greens were a mess and of course the fairways muddy and bare.  

[Bonneville85308]

4 hours ago, puttnforthe8 said:

Bad course/s, made even worse in current terrible condition.    Group of 12 I play with from time to time walked off and got a refund recently.   And they are asking $60-70 to top it off.  Camelback is a far better (1000x) option.

 

They want $80+ for a morning tee time there this weekend. I don't understand who would actually pay that price for that course in the summer...well off Scottsdale people who live near the course and don't like to drive far? Obviously someone does because their tee sheet looks about 75% or more full. For that price or less you could play TPC Champions, Verde River, Legend Trail, Talking Stick, dozen of other courses with better layouts and conditions within 30 minutes.

 

If I said to one of my regular groups, "we're going to play McCormick in June and the rate is $99" they'd say "that's $99 for the whole foursome, right?"

Edited June 22, 2021 by Bonneville85308

[cbbaron]

On 6/22/2021 at 4:03 PM, Bonneville85308 said:

 

They want $80+ for a morning tee time there this weekend. I don't understand who would actually pay that price for that course in the summer...well off Scottsdale people who live near the course and don't like to drive far? Obviously someone does because their tee sheet looks about 75% or more full. For that price or less you could play TPC Champions, Verde River, Legend Trail, Talking Stick, dozen of other courses with better layouts and conditions within 30 minutes.

 

If I said to one of my regular groups, "we're going to play McCormick in June and the rate is $99" they'd say "that's $99 for the whole foursome, right?"

You could play WeKoPa for less if you can get a tee time

[scooterhd2]

Played Dinosaur Mountain on Saturday. Was in great shape. Greens and fairways were fantastic.  Last time I played in the spring the split fairway on 15 was all burnt out and looked like they were changing the layout, but everything was back to normal. Must have just temporarily lost the grass. 

[Bonneville85308]

Sun City North today, first time since probably late last year.  I was expecting it to be burnt out and bare but it was actually in really nice condition. Fairways had good grass coverage and were firm, bermuda rough was alive again and growing except for a few high-traffic hardpan areas around the greens, greens in good condition but slow as to be expected here. Bunker sand was good. 

 

$26 w/tax to ride, place was empty and I was done in less than 2 hours. Had a super fast cart too.

[fore_life]

11 hours ago, scooterhd2 said:

Played Dinosaur Mountain on Saturday. Was in great shape. Greens and fairways were fantastic.  Last time I played in the spring the split fairway on 15 was all burnt out and looked like they were changing the layout, but everything was back to normal. Must have just temporarily lost the grass. 

what’s the $$ out there this summer?

[scooterhd2]

10 hours ago, fore_life said:

what’s the $$ out there this summer?

 

Rates can get pretty crazy during peak season, but in summer deals can be had. I payed $83 for a 7 AM tee time. Little cheaper for a mid day, or im sure they run some promos as well. But not too bad in the summer. 

[puttnforthe8]

14 minutes ago, scooterhd2 said:

 

Rates can get pretty crazy during peak season, but in summer deals can be had. I payed $83 for a 7 AM tee time. Little cheaper for a mid day, or im sure they run some promos as well. But not too bad in the summer. 

Wow...that is a ridiculous rate.  That's 2x what it used to be (and should be).

 

 

[texagjosh]

Traveling out this weekend and playing WeKoPa + TPC Champions... what is the hydration situation at these two courses? Do I need to bring my own water, or just a jug that I can fill along the way?

[Bonneville85308]

36 minutes ago, texagjosh said:

Traveling out this weekend and playing WeKoPa + TPC Champions... what is the hydration situation at these two courses? Do I need to bring my own water, or just a jug that I can fill along the way?

 

As of last week, TPC Champions has water jugs out every few holes again. They won't let you bring your own cooler on the course, but the carts have small coolers on them. They had been putting two water bottles in each cooler but hadn't done so the last two times I've played it. There is usually a beverage cart out there as well.

[tcbringhurst]

How will Ak Chin be mid-August? I’ll have some time off and might take advantage of their summer deal. 

[fore_life]

3 hours ago, scooterhd2 said:

 

Rates can get pretty crazy during peak season, but in summer deals can be had. I payed $83 for a 7 AM tee time. Little cheaper for a mid day, or im sure they run some promos as well. But not too bad in the summer. 

lol 83 is horrible for the summer

[scooterhd2]

19 minutes ago, fore_life said:

lol 83 is horrible for the summer

 

One of my favorite courses in the valley thus far. And conditions were great. Would gladly pay that again. Playing at a local track this weekend for $40 and its certainly not half as nice as Dinosaur Mountain. I'll be back there soon.