Was able to finally get in to town despite delay and snuck in a last second single spot at GCU. Some thoughts; I really like this course, always have. It reminds me a lot of Torrey south in ways. I spent a lot of time in bunkers on the front nine and I see they still have yet to get them in good shape. Some seriously thin/hard pan lies in them. Not a huge fan of such a variety of conditions in the bunkers. Course wasn’t too wet and the overseed looked like it took great.
Second complaint has to be 8 minute tee times. I walked with a three some in carts. CPO, and we played in exactly 4 hours. But it looked like the front was absolutey slammed when we were walking off. It felt like a battle field at times we had to take cover and balls were flying every which way.
All in all a great time and I just adore that course for some reason. Wish my birdie on 8 would have dropped. That’s a hell of a par 3 and walking off with 3 is always good but I had a really good look. Oh well, I’ll have to come back and try again
Cave creek hardly having a parking spot open on a Tuesday mid day is such a far cry from how I think of this course from 10 years ago. This place is packed. I’ve always hoped for it to actually be in stellar condition. Played it last year and it was the same eh condition it always has been imo. I’m just here today killing time wasn’t a good tee time available even if I wanted one
A little info, my parents live in West Phoenix and we visit enough that I have played a few public tracks in the area. I will also be back plenty of times, and I intend on playing both places at some point in the near future. We are headed over for Thanksgiving and gonna play once with my dad. Where do I want to go. Both are about an hour drive. Fill me in.
Imo we ko pa saguaro and SD are two of the best options in the state. I like coore Crenshaw courses so I think wekopa is awesome. On the other hand SD is equally as impressive and a slightly different type of golf course than you’ll find most anywhere. Like a linksy sandbelt style. Personally I say if you can only play one go to SD for the uniqueness and you won’t regret it
To me, WeKoPa Saguaro is the best public course in the state and it is not close at all. So if everything else is equal, then I would recommend that one. Even if you have played Coore/Crenshaw courses before, their work in the desert is so interesting (and as good as Talking Stick is, the land at WKP is so much better). Similarly, even if you have played desert courses before, what a design team like Cooure and Crenshaw brings is totally different.
This is what makes WKP such a fascinating facility because their other course, Cholla, is one of the best traditional desert courses around. Playing there on the same trip that you play Saguaro is a real education about how different desert golf can be. Both courses are good. Saguaro is toward the high end of how good desert golf can get.
Southern Dunes I also really like a lot. It is unique to Arizona, since it’s not a desert course but also not a residential course. It was built on a relatively flat piece of farm land and they brought in some eucalyptus trees that edge the property and a few of the holes. There are bits of that course that remind me of central California and Texas.
Both courses can beat you up but in totally different ways. As a desert course, certainly, Saguaro will get you if you are spraying it. It’s pretty wide but miss the grass and it can be an adventure - maybe you find it sitting clean in the dirt, maybe it’s in a bush, maybe you never see it again. Even if you’re hitting it straight, it is just a classic C&C course - big greens with big slopes. So you can play well. Or you can feel like you hit it well and write down a big number anyway because that’s just how they get you.
Southern Dunes has long been a host to college events, qualifiers and the like. It was built as a male only private club - that didn’t last long but the course design, even though it has been softened a few times over the years, still kinda shows that attitude. The greens probably aren’t small in terms of square footage but they play small. Almost all are long but narrow, so effectively very small targets. Your iron game has to be sharp or you will spend a lot of time chipping and pitching. It’s also a course that tends to be quite windy which only adds to the fun of approaching those greens.
Hello Phoenix/Scottsdale crew! I’ve interacted with a few of you in the bourbon thread before I think. I’m heading down in January for a family vacation and would like to play golf with some local golf-sickos! My son (23) and I are thinking Southern Dunes for one round, probably, and then I thought it would be nice to find something more “strapped,” maybe Dobson or something like that.
Right now, we are staying up by the TPC but I’m looking at some Airbnbs in the Tempe/Mesa/Chandler area. We’ve stayed in Scottsdale the previous 2 years so we’re interested in seeing some new places.
I know January is a ways off but I thought I would throw out the bat signal to get ahead of the game.
