Pine Canyon

BeanieAZ · June 6, 2011

Flagstaff

Heading up to play Pine Canyon on Wednesday and was wondering if any WRXr's have played there recently and what you thought of it.

-Brian

teejaywhy · June 7, 2011

I have not seen any discussions on the board from the usual suspects. It has gotten favorable reviews from the raters on some other sites I've seen.

Enjoy it. We will be interested to read your review.

BeanieAZ · June 7, 2011

I hadn't heard many rumblings about it either, so I thought I'd ask. I've read the great reviews about it elsewhere as well. Golf Digest has it #5 in the state behind Whisper Rock and in front of Mirabel....so I'm assuming it's just terrible

BeanieAZ · June 9, 2011

Where do I start with Pine Canyon? Oh wow...what a course! The views, as you can imagine, were perfect. Here is the view from the clubhouse. Where I was standing, it's outside between the Golf Shop & Lockers rooms (to my right) and the Dining Room (to my left). The green closest to me was the 19th hole. Short par 3 basically designed to settle up the bets. The green just passed the tall pine is the 18th green.

I played the tips which measured out around 7200-7300 yards. The fairways were perfect, greens were firm and running 10 as said on the sign by the 1st tee box. 2nd hole is amazingly difficult. Doesn't look like much from the teebox, but around & on the green is a different story! Very challenging green to hit (I was in between a 5i & 6i), pulled it left into the trap. Very soft sand that drives your club down when you hit it...or maybe I just came at it too steep. I'll blame the sand :) Off the tee, there is a huge pine tree in the middle of the fairway with a MASSIVE nest at the top. Come to find out that the nest is an Eagle's nest. While I was setting up to hit my drive, I looked out in the fairway and the Eagle was landing in it! Talk about perfect timing! He left before we got to the fairway so I missed a picture with him in it.

3rd hole was playing 245 from the Blacks with a Crosswind, as the hole is very appropriately named. I hit a 3i and ended up about 10yrds short, a quick putt up the hill and a tap-in and I ran with my 3.

The 12th hole is another beautiful par 5, dog-leg right. You can cut the corner if you carry it a long ways, but don't cut too much as there's a trap hiding behind the corner. Once you reach your ball, you see another HUGE pine tree in the middle of the fairway, although this one's a little different. My Dad had mentioned that he played there 2 years ago and this tree was a beautiful pine. Then I guess later on in the summer, the tree was struck by lightning. This is how it looks now...

The 18th hole is a 487yrd par 4, down hill. It plays more like 410 in Phoenix. Water thru the fairway and on the right side of the green. Views of the mountains from the elevated teebox as well as the clubhouse thru the trees. Great finishing hole views.

If you get the chance to play the course, don't pass it up! Even with the wind whipping around all day ~25-30mph, it was a fantastic day of golf!!

-Brian

malasuerte · June 9, 2011

Nice day Brian!!

How did you get on? This is one of the courses on the list...but still have not met someone with a membership to take me out!

BeanieAZ · June 9, 2011

Played horribly!!! My worst front 9 since I was like 13, no joke! I couldn't keep the ball going where I wanted with all that wind. I hit the ball too high with too much spin and wind completely kills my game. I believe I finished somewhere in the area of 89-90. Which is not good for a ~4.7 index...lol

The locker rooms were amazing as well. Sauna, hot tubs, beautiful fixtures, doors were like 3" thick wood, Men's only Lounge, etc. Fantastic time up north, at least I got to play more of the course for my $$.

teejaywhy · June 10, 2011

Looks nice. Thanks for the report.

BeanieAZ · June 13, 2011

[quote name='malasuerte' timestamp='1307639489' post='3295569']
How did you get on?
[/quote]

Sorry, completely skipped over your question. My apologies!

[brag] The CC that my Dad belongs to has a reciprocal with Pine Canyon. Along with Chaparral Pines, Troon CC, Desert Highlands, Desert Forest, etc. I play them for next to nothing! [/brag]