Thanks fellas! @matthew823 @pushdraw @sub150
FYI @Jake_skud all these suggestions are good. Southern Dunes is a good course even though I haven’t dragged @pushdraw down there yet. But when he says “good drive” he means a long drive, not a pretty one. Quintero, for example, is a long and pretty drive. Southern Dunes is just a long drive.
Shame on them for their honesty!
Also, good catch on the drive…flat and boring…and kind of far
I’m not super active on the Refuge. What exactly happened to blow it up?
Dear guise of the Phoenix area,
Rogue CO refugee here, Ive packed the SUV, wife, dog and headed south for a 6 week sabbatical-adjacent stay in Goodyear with my in-laws, clubs are in tow as well.
I work 4x10 weeks so I usually try and get out on Friday’s, let me know if anyone wants to tee it up
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Welcome!
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Fridays are tough for me, and we’re about 70 miles apart lol (I’m in east Mesa) but I’m sure someone will chime in.
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Excellent. What part of/community in Goodyear are the in-laws in? Have you played golf out there previously?
The two courses at Verrado are certainly the best out that way. There’s a Golf Moose deal with free replay for those courses running currently, or they have a deal where you play 36 and get a voucher but I think it’s good for play in summer '21 so probably not helpful for you.
GC at Estrella is also a pretty good course out that way, lots of homes out that way now but at least they are well out of play. Designed by Jack Nicklaus’s son, but you’d never know the difference from one of his dad’s designs. Tough desert golf (especially the 9th and 16th holes).
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in-laws live in Pebble Creek community, so I’ll have loose access to Tuscany Falls East/West & Eagle’s Nest, one just finished a renno and I hear the greens are uber firm and zippy, which we like
Verrado and Estrella both fairly close and definitely on my see list. Playing hooky from work this afternoon and checking out Wigwam Red
My parents looked at places out there. They bought in Sun City Grand instead, which isn’t close but is closer, so no complaints. There’s a guy I know a bit through GCA who has a place out in Pebble Creek so I’ve heard a bit about the reno. Sounds like it was needed. Never played those courses, but it’s a tough sell to drive close to an hour to play retirement community golf, even for a completist like myself.
Wigwam Red isn’t terrible, has a nice classic feel to it. I’m not sure the resort cares about it, though, which is a shame. They remodeled and renovated Gold 3-4 times and even done various things to the Blue 1-3 times (depending on how major the work you count is) over the past 20 or so years, but never done anything to the Red. A bunker renovation would perk it up considerably.
Agree with pretty much all of this.
Imagine you have a hard time on the Gold because it’s tough as nails, RTJ’s classic “monster” style of architecture. As I say, it’s been worked over a ton (had so much surgery it ought to be in Scottsdale, ba dum!) but the basic defense is still the same – longish holes that dogleg, played to small, pushup greens. The bunkers aren’t as fearsome as they once were, there are more tees so it doesn’t necessarily play as long as it once did (unless you’re a masochist and you want it to), but at the end of the day you still have to hit a very small target with your approach.
The same thing defends the Blue course, though it is so short that it’s gettable (I’m not a long hitter but all four par 5s are reachable and there are three par 4s I can at least get close to, if not on, with a drive).
Haven’t played the new nine at Palm Valley but agree the original 18 absolutely stinks.
I’ve never driven out to Sundance. Looks OK for that kind of thing, but again for me coming all the way from north/central Phoenix, if I’m driving 45-60 minutes to play golf in that part of … let’s generously call it the Valley … I’m playing Verrado.
Falcon Dunes is definitely worth it if you can get access.
The bunker reno did wonders for the Blue. Took a few out, standardized the look between the old RTJ holes and the newer (Forrest Richardson) holes. Plus just gave the course fewer and better bunkers overall. That same kind of project would make Red a much better course.
But I suspect they’d rather turn the property into housing than invest money into the course. No inside info, just my hunch.
Sterling Grove, a private club out in Surprise, opens in January (not sure when in January). They’ll offer public play for a while when they open. Nicklaus company design. Bit pricey at first, for the West Valley, though not bad compared to Scottsdale courses.
@jskovgaard this isn’t far from you if you’re still in town when they open. Most courses north of you up in Surprise aren’t worth your time, but this would be worth a look see. Also Copper Canyon in the Sun City Festival community is about as good a course as I have seen in an, ahem, “active adult community.” Schmidt-Curley design, so even that is a step up from the usual. They opened a new nine out there a year or so ago, haven’t seen it yet, so 27 holes out there now.
oh it is veryy retirement comm golf lol played tuscany today, will be nice for impromptu rounds since it’s a skip away. Excited to checkout eagle’s nest tho cause it sounds more narrow and challenging.
@69kv let’s definitely get out next Friday if you’re free, will PM (anyone else interested obviously invited)
P.S. I love that I kicked off a course discussion honestly, the wife and I are planning to move down here in a few years so I gotta get to know the lay of the land
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Have you guise spent an extended period of time during the summer here yet? If not, I’d recommend trying before moving. It gets tough…like well in to October this year
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Yea I’ve done a few boys trips down here in the summer and Tucson, not to be trifled with. The wife just wants more consistent warmer weather since she doesn’t ski, and if I can get year round(ish) golf, everyone wins
and it’s geographically closer to bandon… so there’s that
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Is it? And even if it is Denver has, at least sometimes and at least part of the year a direct flight to North Bend.
Edit because I looked it up. From my house in PHX it’s a bit over 1,200 miles and a 19+ hour drive to Bandon. From where I went to high school just outside Denver, a bit under 1,400 miles and the drive is 21+ hours. So, sure, Phoenix is closer, but either way you’re probably getting on a plane and it’s probably easier to do that from DIA.
Second edit to second @pushdraw’s assertion that the bitch of summer here isn’t just that it’s hot it’s that it’s so damn long … and getting longer every year. It’s one thing to come down for a weekend or a week and then go back to your normal life. Living here all summer gets kinda soul crushing as you roll into late August, September, October and it’s still 100 degrees. The rest of the country is celebrating fall, leaves changing, cool temps, whatever, and you’re still risking heat stroke if you walk 9 holes. Or you go back to Colorado or out to San Diego for a week and remember what normal nice weather is like, and then have to come back to 115. It’s that stuff that really sucks.
Not trying to dissuade you. I’ve been here full time since 2002 and summer here is better than snow and a hell of a lot better than January/February in cold climates, snow or not. But what sucks about summer is more than just “it’s very hot.”
oh i know, merely an arbitrary bonus lol side note the big C has really put the reins on that direct flight from denver to north bend though which is devastating, whispers are that United is going to once a week or something bs like that
@matthew823 thanks for the intel, that’s kinda of where we are at, trading nov-march for better temps (along with being closer to her folks), bear the long summers but try to get around to break it up, we both work remotely and companies look like they’re going the Microsoft way permanently, so that’s def making it more enticing since during the summers we can get outta town and work from where ever if we start to feel the sanity slipping
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I watch this thread from afar because I used to live in the Phoenix area for 12 years (2001-2013). My family and I are head back in Jan/Feb - because remote work and school allow for it. Rented an AirBnB in our old neighborhood in Gilbert.
I have the following on my short list;
- We Ko Pa Saguaro
- Grayhawk Talon
- Troon North
- Dinosaur Mountain
- Quintero
Did I miss any obvious courses that have risen to the top in the past few years?
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Ak-Chin Southern Dunes is at most a 45 minute drive depending on where you’re coming from in Gilbert - likely closer to 30 minutes.
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