Troon North - Pinnacle

[tnord]

Made my top 5

Just got back from a 5 day trip to Phoenix where i played Wildfire - Palmer, Wildfire - Faldo, Eagle Mountain, and Troon North. I had heard it was the best in Arizona, and the most difficult, but i'd never played any desert golf before so i really didn't know what to expect. Got on for offseason rates of $90, which is the most i've ever paid for a round out of my own pocket, but it was totally worth it.

seriously rugged terrain surrounds every hole. not just regular desert, but massive piles of huge boulders, violent looking cactus, waste areas, and course bunkers make almost every single hole visually intimidating. i don't know if i've been on a course with bigger houses either. i played from the golds (one up from the tips - 6800 yds); plenty of tee shots where you could challenge carrying a bunker of 250yds, or layup in front of it and leave yourself a long approach. par 5s had multiple strategy options, greens were fantastic. par 3s used challenging pin placements and angles from the tee box to the pin. waste areas forced layups of 100+ yds out from the green, rolling fairways that produced some uneven lies......basically the course was challenging in every way i can think of other than wind.

i loved it. i haven't been on a ton of courses, but I'd probably rank this 3rd, 4th, or 5th overall behind Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson Kansas, and Pinehurst #2 for sure. After that Pinehurst #4, Butler National in Chicago, and The National in Kansas City (Watson's course) come into play. Troon loses points for being unwalkable, but that's about it.

Especially for $90, this is a must play for me.

[jabrch]

I've played it before - not my favorite of the AZ courses. It's nice - don't get me wrong...but It wouldn't be in my Top 5 public AZ courses. Might not make my Top 10.

[tnord]

which do you prefer? next time i go back i'll work in we-ko-pa, but i want to play troon again.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Pinnacle and Wekopa Saguaro are 1 and 1a imo they switch each time I play them. Please do yourself a favor if you come back and use a discount tee time site like golfnow.com as 90 bucks was way to much for a summer round.

[TML]

out of those courses, Pinnacle is by far the best course. I know that Monument takes a back seat to Pinnacle, but I love playing the Monument course too. Wekopa , both courses, are nice too. People complain about Cholla, but I find it strategically setup. Coore and Crenshaw always setup a course that is strategically designed.

[tnord]

eh, i don't know if we could've relied on golfnow. my FIL made the times for one, we needed to play early in the morning before the girls had other stuff planned for us in the afternoon, and we wanted to stay pretty close to the resort (Mariott) so our options were somewhat limited. also, i got on the wildfire courses for free since i did the whole timeshare talk thing....so 4 rounds for $150 sounded pretty damn good to me.

how much could i have gotten on troon for through golfnow, BEFORE 8am?

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Anywhere from 55 to 70 depending on day of play and when it was booked.

[teejaywhy]

[quote name='TML' timestamp='1315253261' post='3543514']
out of those courses, Pinnacle is by far the best course. I know that Monument takes a back seat to Pinnacle, but I love playing the Monument course too. Wekopa , both courses, are nice too. People complain about Cholla, but I find it strategically setup. Coore and Crenshaw always setup a course that is strategically designed.
[/quote]

The Cholla course was designed by Scott Miller. C&C did the Saguaro course. I prefer the Saguaro.

[TML]

i stand corrected....was thinking about Talking Stick for some reason.