Good mix of courses?

[kaaayelll]

Heading to the Phoenix area with a buddy in coming weeks and think we've narrowed down to the following itinerary. What do you think?

 

Day 1 - Warm Up

• Aguila
  
• Papago
  

Day 2 - Get in the Swing

• We-ko-pa Saguaro
  
• Sunridge Canyon (?)
  

Day 3 - Wrap Up

• Southern Dunes (x2?)
  

I've seen some advice about discounts to the munis with a city card and maye some discounts to We-ko-pa with a card. Any specific advice would be appreciated.

[kaaayelll]

Oh, and big thanks to fore_life, One_Putt_Blunder, teejaywhy, and others for so generously sharing your experience; it's been a big help.

[teejaywhy]

Looks like a great line up to me.

You may not be able to realize a savings on the WeKoPass with only two people. Unless you play more than one round.

If you didn't want to replay Southern Dunes, you could check out The Duke. Virtually across the street, it is a real estate course routed thru tract housing but a fun to play course and pretty good value. Or 20 minutes back to the south side of Phoenix to Whirlwind.

[fore_life]

The city card for non-residents will cost you $100, and it will get you a free round at the course you buy it from, excluding Papago. You do still have to pay a cart fee though, which is $13. The city card only saves you like $5 at Aguila, but at Papago it drops the rate from $80-ish down to $37 to walk.

If you're only planning on playing Aguila and Papago, single rounds at each, I'm not sure if the $100 per card is worth it, I'll have to look at the rates and see if its worth it or a wash. For locals who like to play at the city munis, especially Papago, the card is a no brainier. Also, only the cardholder gets the discount, where as other discount cards get your whole group a discounted rate.

Maybe look into the cost of an ob sports card? That will score you discounts at Wekopa, the duke, and any other ob sports facility both locally and a cross the nation.


I'm not too familiar with the wekopass fees and rate structure, but I think Tjy is spot on with it not being worth it for 2 players and only 1 round.

[kaaayelll]

Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys. One thing: travel notwithstanding, would Estrella/Verrado be a meaningful upgrade to Papago/Aguila?

[fore_life]

I havent played verrado but have heard good things. Estrella is a really fun course, I'd play it more often if it wasnt such a haul for me from tempe. I'd consider it an upgrade. When will you be out here?

Also, here's some rate info for you with the various cards:

Wekopass:
$200 for the card, rate is $90 for you and guest, vs $225 without per person for 0-7 advance, 195 for 8-30 days out

OB sports card:
Buy it from The Raven phx, it's $149, comes with a dozen prov1's.
Rate at the raven would be $67/77 for weekends.
You'd then get travel rates at these tracks listed in this link (wekopa would be $100)
http://www.obsports.com/CardholderTravel


City Of Phoenix card:

Well this one is out since the non-resident card cannot be used at papago, only the resident card

[fore_life]

I'll also add that besides wekopa, which does not offer discounted tee times on golfnow or ezlinks, you can often find deals on those sites that match or beat the rates the card will give you. But if youre gonna play wekopa, I'd buy the ob card, and plan on playing 36 there, then squeeze in another one of the ob courses on your trip as well.

Where are you staying? The area that the raven is located is pretty close to other ob courses like club west, foothills, ahwatukee cc. Out of those, I'd pick club west 1st. But I'd play raven then club west. Raven isnt my favorite design, seems kind of out of place with big pine trees etc, but seems like everyone has been raving about the conditions there.

The ob card will also score you a discounted rate at the duke, which like teejay mentioned, would be a good 36 hole option for the day you hit up southern dunes.

Aslo, what city/state are you coming from? the ob card might be of some use to you locally as well.

[kaaayelll]

Great info! I will check this out more. Thanks much!

[fore_life]

Where are you coming from/where are you staying?

[kaaayelll]

One from NJ and one from NC...staying in Mesa...don't mind a drive, though.

[fore_life]

if in mesa, longbow is a solid track that you'd get a discount at with the ob card

[kaaayelll]

The OB card looks great. The issue, it seems, is whether we'll be able to get tee times that allow us to fit in 36/day given the limited reservation window.

[kaaayelll]

[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1360275077' post='6383737'] if in mesa, longbow is a solid track that you'd get a discount at with the ob card [/quote]
Just noticed that...

[kaaayelll]

I can buy online from Raven and not play there, right?

[fore_life]

I think so, might want to double check. You could also loo at longbows website and see how much the flight card is, it will get you the same rate at Wekopa and perhaps a better deal at longbow.

[kaaayelll]

Again, incredibly helpful stuff, guys. Might be moving the itinerary around a little based on feedback. Help me with some rankings, would you please?...Longbow, Vista Verde, Sunridge Canyon, Estrella, Papago, Aguila. Thanks.

[kaaayelll]

BTW, end of this month is the trip

[fore_life]

I dont know if I'm the best one to answer since I'm kind of biased about the price of golf out here this time of year, so I take that in to consideration as part of my rating, the value of the course. I really enjoy all of the courses you mentioned, the oly reason I dont play some of them more often is due to their distance from home base.

I'm kind of having a hard time picking out a stand out winner. I really like vista verde, so maybe I'll put that at the top of the list?.

Really like longbow, always have played well there but its always been in the summer time for $25 and when everything is firm and fast. I like that.

Sunridge Canyon, awesome closing stretch of holes, some good scenery. I remember the last few holes, and that I wasnt playing well so I dont remember much of the front side.

Estrella was cool, but, and this is my opinion, its a 2nd shot hole for sure. Fairways seemed pretty wide, greens were fairly large with lots of deep bunkering.

Papago is a great course, one of my favorites to play, but I'm sure a large part of that is the deep discount the city card can get me. I don't know if I'd feel the same paying $80 for that course. But its a great course, great holes, my only knock on it is that from the tips, 3 of the 4 par 3's play over 225. I've played #8 when the tee's were all the way back, to a back right flag, yardage lasered at 267. On a flat par 3.

Aguila is a sleeper that often seems to get overlooked because its a muni, but papago and aguila are where I play 80% of my rounds. Always in pretty good shape, a little on the soft side at times. Good mix of par 3's, some 3 shot par 5's, some that are reachable in 2 with aggressive lines, drivable par 4's. I really like aguila, it doesnt carry the acclaim of some courses, but then again, it doesnt have the scottsdale zip code, nor price tag.


I'd like to see how teejay ranks them as I usually agree with his thoughts on courses.

[kaaayelll]

Some things have mixed up a bit...looks like we're doing both courses at We-ko-pa, a day at Southern Dunes, and a round at Quintero. Now I'm trying to figure out what to pair with Quintero. We were looking at Trilogy Vistancia, but the reviews are mixed it seems, and my buddy isn't crazy about real estate routings. Any thoughts?

[AzSuperHack76]

Can't go wrong with the Q. Absolute gorgeous course thats always in excellent shape. Vistancia is a decent track, course is in good shape right now. The thing you have to worry about Vistancia is the pace of play. It can absolutely drag, it seems like a random thing too, some days it's just fine and other days it's a mess.

I would recommend Vistancia but a piece of advice would be to call ahead and see if they are having any events/leagues that day.

Other options would be Corte Bella and Copper Canyon, both good courses that are in great shape right now. Copper Canyon is a bit further out but well worth the drive.

[DJLP]

[quote name='kaaayelll' timestamp='1360698321' post='6414833']
Some things have mixed up a bit...looks like we're doing both courses at We-ko-pa, a day at Southern Dunes, and a round at Quintero. Now I'm trying to figure out what to pair with Quintero. We were looking at Trilogy Vistancia, but the reviews are mixed it seems, and my buddy isn't crazy about real estate routings. Any thoughts?
[/quote]

Blackstone is an amazing track. It is about a 1/2 hour from Quintero, maybe 10 mins. from Vistancia, and on your way back to Scottsdale. We have played it the past 2 seasons on our annual trip and have left there having been treated better than at any other course we have played. I am uncertain of their pay-to-play policy (our times are arranged by the Zona Suites) but, they are a private course that has allowed green fees to help the bottom line.

Certainly worth a shot.

[kaaayelll]

Thanks, I'll look into these.

[kaaayelll]

So, I just got back, and we did the following:

- Both courses and We-ko-pa on the We-ko-pa pass - both really nice, but have to agree with the consensus favoring Saguaro; great visually, strategic choices, tough but fair - it was my favorite of everything I played

- Southern Dunes x2 - a beautiful albeit visually intimidating course, with lots of risk/reward. The greens are tough and the false fronts, among other aspects, really require playing more than once to "get it." With breakfast, lunch, and replay for $159, it was a nice value.

- Quintero and Trilogy at Vistancia - there's a lot to like at Quintero, but we actually thought it was a bit overrated. Fairways were a touch soggy (we teed off at 8am) and, while no-doubt beautiful start to finish, the design, save for a few holes, kind of lacked the strategic component. Vistancia was a throw away in comparison to the others, and we were glad we didn't pay a whole lot.

All in all, it was a great trip. Save for Vistancia, conditions were great, greens were lightning quick, and there was some great design. We often felt rushed (we're not slow players at all), like the courses all booked too many tee times.

Thanks for everyone's help.

[teejaywhy]

Thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoyed your visit.

[AzSuperHack76]

[quote name='kaaayelll' timestamp='1362369462' post='6542507']
So, I just got back, and we did the following:

- Both courses and We-ko-pa on the We-ko-pa pass - both really nice, but have to agree with the consensus favoring Saguaro; great visually, strategic choices, tough but fair - it was my favorite of everything I played

- Southern Dunes x2 - a beautiful albeit visually intimidating course, with lots of risk/reward. The greens are tough and the false fronts, among other aspects, really require playing more than once to "get it." With breakfast, lunch, and replay for $159, it was a nice value.

- Quintero and Trilogy at Vistancia - there's a lot to like at Quintero, but we actually thought it was a bit overrated. Fairways were a touch soggy (we teed off at 8am) and, while no-doubt beautiful start to finish, the design, save for a few holes, kind of lacked the strategic component. Vistancia was a throw away in comparison to the others, and we were glad we didn't pay a whole lot.

All in all, it was a great trip. Save for Vistancia, conditions were great, greens were lightning quick, and there was some great design. We often felt rushed (we're not slow players at all), like the courses all booked too many tee times.

Thanks for everyone's help.
[/quote]

Winter golf in Az, huge money for Az courses, just about everything gets overbooked.