Current Phoenix vicinity course conditions

[fore_life]

How much was AGR? I enjoy a nice shaded track this time of the year haha. Greens rolling ok?

[Olson12]

Playing Maryvale on Saturday... Has anyone played there recently?

[fore_life]

Yeah I played there right when I started this thread, it was pretty good. The only thing I think I forgot to mention was that they are renovating the 9th hole (kind of ruining it IMO). The big horseshoe bunker that encloses the entirety of the front of the green is being changed to allow shot to run up on to the green instead of carrying all the way over the bunker. I guess it allows for an easier chance to be on in two, but I'm sad to see that bunker go, lots of memories playing from that trap lol. they are using the practice green to the left of no 9, so when you hit your 2nd shot, the further right you go, the better line you have to the green.


Let me know when youre gonna play out there again Blake, I LOVE playing there,

[Olson12]

[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1312508316' post='3452974']
Yeah I played there right when I started this thread, it was pretty good. The only thing I think I forgot to mention was that they are renovating the 9th hole (kind of ruining it IMO). The big horseshoe bunker that encloses the entirety of the front of the green is being changed to allow shot to run up on to the green instead of carrying all the way over the bunker. I guess it allows for an easier chance to be on in two, but I'm sad to see that bunker go, lots of memories playing from that trap lol. they are using the practice green to the left of no 9, so when you hit your 2nd shot, the further right you go, the better line you have to the green.


Let me know when youre gonna play out there again Blake, I LOVE playing there,
[/quote]


Thats so crappy.. why would they take that bunker out? I made my first eagle ever holing a bunker shot from there. UGH! now that hole is going to be "too easy"

[fore_life]

I know, right? Ruins one of the coolest design features of that course, IMO. I always loved the walk up number 9, seeing that green, with the clubhouse in the background.

[quarterskins]

[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1312505120' post='3452815']
How much was AGR? I enjoy a nice shaded track this time of the year haha. Greens rolling ok?
[/quote]

$12 on EZL. I think it's about double that if you just call in a morning tee time. Greens were fine; maybe a tad slow.

[quarterskins]

Played Trilogy at Power Ranch yesterday at 4pm. $22 as a walk-up twosome. To my experience, this is usually a very well conditioned course, and it's not that it isn't now, but currently there are a lot of bare areas on the front 9, and the front 9 fairways have been recently plugged. The back 9 was in great shape. Greens were in good shape, with a couple barely showing signs of being punched some time back, although it did seem like we had quite a few putts roll a bit jumpy. The only sand trap I was in (left side fairway bunker on #10) was hardpacked. Hardly anyone there; probably due to high temps, but it didn't seem bad to me; pretty easy to find shade to park the cart under. Got around in 3 hours. Overall, a good value.

[moxie]

Played Kokopelli yesterday afternoon. Got on around 5:15 or so for $10.
Wasn't too busy and a foursome let me sneak in front of them on my first tee so I was able to get a quick start.
Conditions were the same as I have seen them all summer, though a little wetter because of the rain. Not a lot of horrible patches, though two or three holes on the back nine are under repair/rennovation.
They are totally redoing the water hazards on 12 so you play from the closest Tee Box, which makes it a pretty short hole.
I found the greens to be inconsistent hole to hole, not surprising. and most rolled at what I would assume to be a slow pace.

Not bad for $10, I got 17 holes in as I skipped over a slower player only to run into the twosome that was in front and even slower.

I did manage to shoot par on the Par 5 8th, which has on every other occasion totally demolished me. We wont talk about the other 60% of the golf course...

[silentcmh]

Played both courses at the Biltmore today for $27 each (booked on golfhub). Played well, too: 78 w/ a triple on Adobe, 74 on Links

Both courses were in pretty good summertime shape from tee to green. The few usual dry spots, but they're rare. The greens on Adobe were pretty slow, but not bumpy or anything. They were just a little too thick today.

Green on Links were great. Firm, but receptive to full shots, putts rolled true at an above average pace. Both courses were worth the price.

[chiromikey]

over the last two weeks...

tonto verde is in good shape and just became one of my favorite courses. they didn't aerate their greens so they're a little dry but still decent.

vista verde is in decent shape as well but with zero shade or anything to block the 20-30mph winds that always blow through, it's not a course i would recommend in the summer.

talking stick north is in good shape. their greens are still not quite back but pretty darn close.

whirlwind's cat-tail is in the best shape i've ever played it right now. i did feel that the fairway grass was a tad long and the rough was thick and at least 2"+ ...easily a half shot penalty if you missed the fairways. it's funny to see several previously lost balls in rough just two feet off the fairway...but you have to feel bad knowing people before you must have been pissed thinking "but my ball should be right here...how can it be lost when i barely rolled out of the fairway!"

the duke is in good shape but for the 3rd week in a row their greens are "just a week away from coming back". there's never any sand in their bunkers so make sure you have a low bounce wedge!

southern dunes just aerated their greens for the third time last week. their fairways are peeerrrrrfect so i can't wait to putt on greens that match.

biltmore adobe wasn't in bad shape but the greens were a bit shaggy and slow. not a big fan of that course, pretty easy/boring overall...

avoid foothills at all costs...even if they pay you to play there!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fore_life]

Headed down to the duke tomorrow, so hopefully this is the week hahah! IMO, they've never been bad, but have never been great either, just perpetually on the cusp of being really good. Its a shame, with the generous fairways out there, they could really make it play tough if they sped up the greens and had some sucker pin placements.


Need to get back out to Whirlwind, are both courses open now?

[quarterskins]

Played both Saguaro and Cholla at We-Ko-Pa Sunday. Found a few bare areas. #11 fairway on Cholla is in rough shape and is cart path only. There were a couple of cart path only non-par 3 holes on both courses, and some areas were overly soggy. Nonetheless, overall, the surfaces there were the typical WKP great. Except for most of the sand. It wasn't missing or concrete, but it was watered down and didn't accept blasting; best to skim out of it with a low bounce high loft club, which I didn't take to heart until much too late.

[puttnforthe8]

[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1312869154' post='3465026']
Headed down to the duke tomorrow, so hopefully this is the week hahah! IMO, they've never been bad, but have never been great either, just perpetually on the cusp of being really good. Its a shame, with the generous fairways out there, they could really make it play tough if they sped up the greens and had some sucker pin placements.


Need to get back out to Whirlwind, are both courses open now?
[/quote]


Both are open...I was out there on the 27th and Devils Claw was not even remotely close to recovered....you could see how bad it was from a distance. That being said, with the way CatTail came back, it may be getting pretty good by now!

[silentcmh]

[quote name='puttnforthe8' timestamp='1312910581' post='3466637']
[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1312869154' post='3465026']
Headed down to the duke tomorrow, so hopefully this is the week hahah! IMO, they've never been bad, but have never been great either, just perpetually on the cusp of being really good. Its a shame, with the generous fairways out there, they could really make it play tough if they sped up the greens and had some sucker pin placements.


Need to get back out to Whirlwind, are both courses open now?
[/quote]


Both are open...I was out there on the 27th and Devils Claw was not even remotely close to recovered....you could see how bad it was from a distance. That being said, with the way CatTail came back, it may be getting pretty good by now!


[/quote]

[color=#1C2837][size=2][size=2][size=2]Both courses were not open as of Sunday - I had rounds book on both courses for a 10-man outing for Sunday. I called them Friday afternoon to tell them we had to cancel one of our four groups, and they informed me Devil's Claw was shut down due to turf issues and we'd have to play Cattail twice. TPC told me the same thing about Stadium, so it looks like it's a running trend. That January frost really did some damage.[/size][/size] [/size][/color]

[puttnforthe8]

[quote name='silentcmh' timestamp='1312919152' post='3467245']
[quote name='puttnforthe8' timestamp='1312910581' post='3466637']
[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1312869154' post='3465026']
Headed down to the duke tomorrow, so hopefully this is the week hahah! IMO, they've never been bad, but have never been great either, just perpetually on the cusp of being really good. Its a shame, with the generous fairways out there, they could really make it play tough if they sped up the greens and had some sucker pin placements.


Need to get back out to Whirlwind, are both courses open now?
[/quote]


Both are open...I was out there on the 27th and Devils Claw was not even remotely close to recovered....you could see how bad it was from a distance. That being said, with the way CatTail came back, it may be getting pretty good by now!


[/quote]

[color="#1C2837"][size="2"][size="2"][size="2"]Both courses were not open as of Sunday - I had rounds book on both courses for a 10-man outing for Sunday. I called them Friday afternoon to tell them we had to cancel one of our four groups, and they informed me Devil's Claw was shut down due to turf issues and we'd have to play Cattail twice. TPC told me the same thing about Stadium, so it looks like it's a running trend. That January frost really did some damage.[/size][/size] [/size][/color]
[/quote]

WOW!!! The course was open on the 27th! There was a company tournament there...the course looked bad...but didn't think they were having trouble considering how good Cattail is now. STUNNED

[chiromikey]

[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1312869154' post='3465026']
Headed down to the duke tomorrow, so hopefully this is the week hahah! IMO, they've never been bad, but have never been great either, just perpetually on the cusp of being really good. Its a shame, with the generous fairways out there, they could really make it play tough if they sped up the greens and had some sucker pin placements.


Need to get back out to Whirlwind, are both courses open now?
[/quote]

i played the duke this morning and guess what...the greens are about a week away! lmao!

both courses were open when i was there but (as mentioned) devil's claw's greens were really bad...

[fore_life]

Ha! Greens need to be rolled, or given a week to get right haha. Lots of ants out there, but really like the fairways, nice and fast, cut really tight. But yeah, greens were pretty bumpy. Pace was just ok, but nothing seemed to hold its line. Playing it again Sat, who can pass it up for under $10?

[quarterskins]

Played Painted Mountain Wed; $12 at 3pm. Conditions were fine. Greens a little slow and some fairways could stand to be a little more densely grown, but no major complaints. Got around in 3 hours.

[moxie]

Played Kokopelli again on Tuesday afternoon. We didn't make the whole 18 but conditions on the holes we played were alright.
Seemed like they may have sanded the greens again as it was bump city, which I will blame for all of my three putts. At least the beer was cold.

Bear Creek Bear yesterday afternoon and conditions were still good. they have managed to keep this place in good shape all summer, and the greens seem to be doing really well now.
Smooth roll on most, though a few seemed a little shaggy and slow. Was actually hard to adjust as I am used to the greens here not breaking as much.
Only real issues I saw looked to be someone over mowing the fringe areas of the greens on 3 and 9. Had some scalped spots, though it didnt affect my play you could wind up with a pretty thin lie near some of the greens.

Will be playing We-Ko-Pa Cholla tomorrow morning with some dudes from work, really looking forward to that course.

[fore_life]

Farted around at ahwatukee cc today, greens are finally getting good, smoother roll and more speed than they've had for awhile. Keeping my fingers crossed that they reach the conditions they were 2 1/2 years ago, as they were MONEY!!!!! Off to a good start. Playing the duke again tomorrow, lets hope they rolled em out!

[Olson12]

Played Maryvale last week and the greens were in pretty good shape. They could have been a little quicker. But that course still remains at the top of the City of Phoenix course list for me. Getting out to Coldwater tomorrow and hopefully they will have their usual " above average" course conditions.

** Maryvale punched their greens on monday so I doubt they are in as good of shape.

[fore_life]

Blake, what'd you think about the construction to no 9 at maryvale? Kind of sad to see, isn't it?

[teejaywhy]

[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1312517002' post='3453386']
.... I always loved the walk up number 9, seeing that green, with the clubhouse in the background.
[/quote]

Imposing and regal clubhouse that it is.

The city parks and rec already did an in-house hack job at Aguila. I suppose the staff will be spreading their amateur architect skills around to the other munis soon.

[moxie]

We-Ko-Pa Cholla on Saturday 8/14 for $45, got in as a sub for a dropout of a regular foursome at work.
All I can say is Wow... Course was in great shape, greens were excellent, everything was the best I have ever played in my short 8 month golfing career.
As expected the course ate my lunch in what can only be called a ballocaust. After we saw our first rattlesnake we stopped looking for most of those offline shots.
Seriously though, conditions were excellent on all parts of the course and the views were spectacular.
My game really came online on the back nine and I wound up with a 46, which was a nice follow up to my disatrous 60 on the front. Haha, yay target golf.

I can't wait to go back, i'd love to try play both courses before it gets too spendy.

[fore_life]

[quote name='tjy355' timestamp='1313330669' post='3483722']
[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1312517002' post='3453386']
.... I always loved the walk up number 9, seeing that green, with the clubhouse in the background.
[/quote]

Imposing and regal clubhouse that it is.

The city parks and rec already did an in-house hack job at Aguila. I suppose the staff will be spreading their amateur architect skills around to the other munis soon.
[/quote]

Hahaha its pretty breath taking, isn't it? I grew up working and playing there, so I guess it holds a special place for me.

I've still yet to see Aguila after the re-do.




Also, the greens at the duke were super bumpy, and there are more ants out there than I've ever seen before.

[golfer8787]

i am travelling to Phoenix for the last week of August and was hoping for some advice regarding which courses to play. I am not too worried about the cost as they all seem pretty cheap at this time of year. Its easy to figure out which are the best courses to play (there's a million lists on the internet). Its just hard to figure out which courses would be the best to play at this time of year.

I just don't want to show up to a course that's in terrible condition. I am thinking of Troon North, Greyhawk and likely two more. I was told that it was a good idea to play courses on reservations because they are not water restricted.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Troon Pinnacle is in terrific shape right now, Wekopa Saguaro is almost always in great shape. Those are my 1a and 1b courses out here and a good place to start. Personally I am not a huge Grayhawk fan but it usually ranks up there with player reviews and magazines. Avoid TPC Scottsdale as it is always in terrible shape during the summer. If you dont mind taking a long drive I would highly suggest going down to Tucson and playing Dove Mountain (home of the WGC Matchplay) we went down a few weeks ago and it is definatley one of the best in the state.

Typically if you play all the top ranked courses they stay in good condition TPC being the big exception and it is debatable if it is a top tier course anyways.

also check out [url="http://golfmix.com/"]http://golfmix.com/[/url] for the most up to date player reviews.

[teejaywhy]

[quote name='golfer8787' timestamp='1313373831' post='3486000']
i am travelling to Phoenix for the last week of August and was hoping for some advice regarding which courses to play. I am not too worried about the cost as they all seem pretty cheap at this time of year. Its easy to figure out which are the best courses to play (there's a million lists on the internet). Its just hard to figure out which courses would be the best to play at this time of year.

I just don't want to show up to a course that's in terrible condition. I am thinking of Troon North, Greyhawk and likely two more. I was told that it was a good idea to play courses on reservations because they are not water restricted.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
[/quote]

In my estimation, August -Sept have the best conditions of the summer. Never hurts to ask about current conditions however.

+1 to the recommendation for We-Ko-Pa Saguaro. Must play IMO and that is related to the design, but the conditioning there is typically no less than superb.

[teejaywhy]

Played Las Sendas on Saturday Aug13. $29

Conditions overall - good. Greens were fine, not noticeably fast or slow, but rolling true. They had done aerification on the bare spots in the fairways/roughs and were watering heavily. Lots of mud balls and it was not possible to run up any shots as the green surrounds were particularly soggy.

I hadn't played it in quite some time. I was soon reminded that it is a fairly stern test, even though we chose to "play it forward" from the 6400 yard markers. (71.2/133 !). Some very good holes there but generally speaking this course doesn't do a lot for me. It just doesn't seem to have a natural connection to the property. Despite the significant geographical features and elevation changes, the course seems overshaped and has too many added elements that don't particularly blend with the existing terrain.

Was not busy at all. We teed off at about noon and finished in 3:35 after playing through one fairly "deliberate" twosome. Very hot/humid day. There were plenty of coolers with ice water but no beverage cart.(?)

[golfer8787]

Thanks for the help.

I golfed with someone who said Whirlwind was a no brainer and also recommended Southern Dunes. Any thoughts?