Apache Stronghold making a come back.

[ckguy914]

A little background:

 

- Located in Globe, 2 hours east of Phoenix

- Tom Doak design (Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes resort)

- 7519 yards, par 72, rating 74.5, slope 146

- One time ranked as #1 public course in Arizona by Golf Week

 

The course has struggled in recent years, went through bankruptcy and it just became a goat ranch.

 

Played 36 holes there last November with buddies from work for $18. It looked like it hasn't been taken cared of for the past 5 years, the whole course was in dormant with a lot of muddy spots. There were no sands in the bunkers with grass growing out of it.

 

However I absolutely fell in love with the layout. Disregarding the condition of the course, in my opinion, the best layout in Arizona. I love that you only see the hole that you are on, you do not see any other holes on the course. (I've played Forest Highlands and all of the Desert Mountain Courses)

 

 

I have been reading recent reviews of the course saying that they are putting money back in to the course, here's one from Greenskeeper.org

 

"I made the trip to get away from the local reseeding taking place in the Phoenix valley. The first thing I noticed is they have repaired the access road to the pro shop, along with rejuvenating the practice area. It looked straight out of the TPC in Scottsdale. Beautiful. The first thing I asked Rudy, for anyone who has played this course, you know who he is, what is going on with the nice improvements? He stated they have hired a new Greens Superintendent from Casa Grande who has really turned the place around. The only drawback is the driving range and putting is closed until next week awaiting their respective re-do's. As for the course itself....Night and Day from last April 2012. Fairways are nice and green. Half of the bunkers have very nice sand in them, and work is being performed on the other half. Not only to fill them with sand but with reshaping them to their original shapes. As for the greens.....Perfect. Best greens I've putted on since I arrived in Arizona 7 years ago. There are a couple of greens with small bare spots, but these are on the edges where it is easy to take a ground under repair drop. The only major downfall was the amount of water sprayed onto the course. I was first off in the morning and had to play Lift, Clean and Place on nearly every hole. On my 2nd 18 the course dried up considerably and only had to clean the ball of a few times. There are 2 holes cart path only because of numerous bare spots in the fairways. #6 and #7. Those holes were like a big mud puddle with the amount of water on them, but compared to my last visit they are coming along nicely. If they keep up with the improvements this course will make it back to the Top Five in the rankings within a couple of years. To me it's still the best course, by far, in the southwest desert."

 

 

Making the trip again this Saturday with a couple of buddies from work, really excited.

[fore_life]

Awesome to hear, I really want to go out there, everyone raves about the layout and make it seem like the design is so good that you can overlook the spotty conditions. If the greens are rolling decent, then I am absolutely down to check it out. Maybe wrx winter outing destination

[SurfinTurf]

[quote name='fore_life' timestamp='1382049171' post='8017907']
Awesome to hear, I really want to go out there, everyone raves about the layout and make it seem like the design is so good that you can overlook the spotty conditions. If the greens are rolling decent, then I am absolutely down to check it out. Maybe wrx winter outing destination
[/quote]

Then bring your clubs this time!!!

I live in Monterey

[ckguy914]

One guy dropped out, anyone interested? We will be carpooling in my buddy's car.

[fore_life]

Next time I'm in Monterrey the clubs will def come with, even though I can probably only afford pacific grove haha

Calvin, I'm still out of town or I'd be down

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Dang I have never been just could not drive that far to play a goat track. Calvin you have peaked my interest think I will need to get out there one of these days.

[JEFFERYLEE]

glad this topic was posted- I didn't know about this course and i'm excited to play now!!! Thank you

[teejaywhy]

Will be interested to read your report Calvin.

[StarFleetGolfer]

Me too, I want to make the drive up there.

[ckguy914]

They have improved leaps and bounds since a year ago when we visited. They have not over seeded the fairway and rough so most of the course look dormant, however the greens and tee boxes look great! There are still just a couple of spots on a couple of greens where it was really bad and still recovering. They started working on most of the bunkers that are more in play, the new sands played great.

 

They are watering the heck out of the course and some of the holes were really wet. The course just doesn't seem to drain very well, hence the original muddy spots. I hope that they came somehow address this issue.

 

It is still a work in progress and the course is not by any means even comparable to a muni course. They addressed the critical areas such as the green and tee boxes and if you can look past everything else, it is a great layout and great play. The green fee was $35 per person for hot deal on Golfnow.

 

[teejaywhy]

Makes me wonder - why water the heck out of fairways that are going dormant? Anyway, good to see they are turning things around. It is a great course, maybe the best layout in AZ IMO.

[natural_one]

We had our State Championships here my senior year in high school (2002). It was such a fun track and in great shape back then.

Pending some upcoming trips, Im down for a road trip if anyone heads that way to play.

[jewofgolf]

If we want to set something up for a Sunday afternoon, I could do either 11/24 or 12/1. We could meet near 101/60 or something like that and carpool out there. PM me or respond to this thread.

Currently on golfnow I see 1:00 on Sunday for $30 (not a hot deal). I'm not sure if or how much that will increase, but right now it looks great.

[Skydiver22]

Keep me in the loop on this golf trip... I want to check out the course