I know it’s probably tough on a Wednesday afternoon after a holiday weekend but is anyone headed up to the championship match of the NCAAs? With ASU clinching a spot I think I’m heading out there. Match play is tough to follow in person but there aren’t too many chances to watch your alma mater play for a natty in your hometown.
Because it’s ASU, I’m definitely not going. Only partially because of my Alma matter…but crowds will be much larger than last year.
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I haven’t gotten out there to play yet, but based on your description I probably will.
What is funny, is a while ago I was talking about course design/layout of courses in the Valley, and I have noticed that there could be a possible corralation with the way courses are designed with a shorter distances (I don’t know what the SG length would be interested in what distance you played at) and larger fairways with crazy greens; and the fact that there is a large eldery population here, who maybe not have the distance anymore but putting never ages 
i.e. you don’t have to be young to putt well. So I think a lot of course in the valley are designed to cater to that age demo (and as a future old person I look forward to being able to still play them).
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Golfweek best in state rankings are out for 2022. Their top 5 public courses in AZ are:
- We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro)
- Wickenburg Ranch
- Quintero
- TPC Scottsdale (Stadium)
- Dove Mountain (Saguaro/Tortolita)
#1 is clearly correct but after that … yikes. I’m more of a “groups” guy than a pure rankings guy, but I’d have Wick closer to 15, Quintero about 16. I do realize I am probably the outlier.
It’s completely unexpected for TPC Stadium to come out of this unscathed…
Stadium isn’t even the best TPC Scottsdale course.
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That’s an oversight by me. I would put Stadium behind Wickenburg Ranch, for sure.
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My personal top 3, and idk where I’d go after this…
- WKP - Saguaro
- Southern Dunes
- Talking Stick - O’odham
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That’s my top 3 as well, now that Apache Stronghold is closed.
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Where does Camelback - Ambiente fall for everyone. I have only played it once like 5 years ago and I remember really liking it, but now they want waaaay too much.
It’s … fine? Even apart from it being massively overpriced the issue I have with the course is that it gets extremely repetitive. Might not notice it after one round but play there 2-3 times (or more) and the limits of the routing are very obvious. Not like any of the holes are bad by themselves but yet the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
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Thanks for the insight. I just remember it being different and enjoyable. Have always thought about going back and then I see the price and just nope away.
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I always want to give it a chance, but I feel the same about the price. It’s a nice change of pace, just not a top tier course (even when I could get out there for a somewhat reasonable price).
Would also help a lot if they’d keep the “native” thinner so that you could actually find a ball in it, but most of the time when I was out there I’d see them putting water on the thick stuff. Almost an auto lost ball if you were off the fairways.
Shot the best (to par) round I ever played out there so I can’t talk too bad about the course.
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I remember that stuff being an absolute death trap when I was there. Did not enjoy it and was also afraid of what could be lurking in there.
It falls into that grouping of solid to above average course that wants way to much. That grouping has just continued to grow recently.
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For sure that’s a lot of Arizona courses and the price points just keep going up.
Worst offender probably being the Phoenician which got a lot better after their reno but is still a middling course in terms of design and yet sets their rates to be similar to Troon North. I mean, yikes.
I remember shortly after Ambiente opened some of the people who lived around the course complained that there were various critters now taking up residence in their yards as a result of all that new, thick grass around the course. I figured, “Great, when rich people complain things usually change,” but I was still playing there for a few years and that stuff was still stupid thick. It looks interesting but it’s miserable to play from.
Trilogy Vistancia tried to do a similar thing with “native grasses” (never quite so thick) back when they opened but eventually realized it just makes no sense to spend money irrigating a part of the course that is essentially meant to be out of play.
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In my eyes. The Biltmore tracks are the absolute worst for this. At least the Phoenician is a nice spot. The Adobe course might be the most boring layout I have ever seen. The links is solidish, but cramped and expensive.
The long “native grasses” just don’t make sense from any standpoint. Slows play, makes the course harder, and adds cost.
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I like Adobe for what it is. A simple course but the small, sloping greens keep it interesting. Used to be reasonable but post-Covid their prices are dumb too. (Not, like, Phoenician dumb, but still way out of whack for what is, from a design standpoint, something like a nice little muni course.) Haven’t been out there in a while.
Biltmore Links is among a handful of candidates for the worst courses in Arizona, in my mind.
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do it!
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Arizona Grand
Biltmore - Links
Great Eagle
Kokopelli
Legend at Arrowhead
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I’m upset with how many of these I have played.
Needs Arizona Golf Resort and Tres Rios added.
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