Why is that? I don’t hate it in peak season, but wouldn’t touch with a 10’ pole May-October
My memory (two rounds, the last of which was … not recent) is that it’s one of the more narrow courses in terms of corridors between homes/roads … and then they went and planted trees along every hole to try to protect those homes and roads. Plus there’s water in play, what, half or more of the holes, including in a few really stupid places.
In the same area, both courses at McCormick, Camelback Padre, and Silverado all have the same kind of land and a somewhat similar style of course. I’d much rather play any of those.
I did see they converted one of the nines into a par 3 course, which looks like it might be half decent. If the wife decides to get back into the game, or kids try to take it back up, that could be a place we go. But the big course was not my cup of tea at all.
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Are Starfire & Scottsdale CC the same thing? After reading @matthew823 mention the narrow corridors at Starfire, it prompted me to look at it on a map. I’m pretty sure I’ve played at Starfire (name sounds familiar), but think that it was all on the west side of Hayden Rd.
Maybe it was Scottsdale CC I played once, but whichever it was… not great, Bob.
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Yes, it’s Starfire now. Sometimes they’ll go by Starfire at Scottsdale CC. Used to be 27 holes but as I mentioned they turned one nine into a par 3.
The clubhouse and one nine (plus the par 3 course) are west of Hayden and the other nine is east of Hayden.
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Gotcha. It was several years ago when we played it and we were just looking for a cheap & easy place to get to one afternoon. I don’t remember much other than having to take a few aggressive lines that started over houses.
In the Confidential Guide, Doak’s review of the place talks about how when he played it, it was before they had built any homes, so they would cut corners by bouncing balls off the streets for homes yet to be built. But, obviously, that’s a bad sign for things to come.
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Lookout Mountain is the most terrible and offensive golf course I’ve ever played, by far.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I have zero recollection of any of this, granted I’ve only played it thrice (one being a charity scramble / shit show)…can’t envision any holes of going over houses or anything too ridiculously tight…but don’t think I’ve ever played the now 9-hole circuit
The Phoenix munis are a decent group, if you’re looking for places to play on a budget in the winter.
I played Aguila with a friend a couple weeks back and was reminded that’s a very solid course, with some nice risk/reward holes.
GCU is loads of fun post-renovation. Good walk, plenty of length and challenge with the bunkers, greens usually firm.
Encanto is also a pleasant place to play. Would be a great spot for a reno as well but that’s unlikely to happen. In it’s current form it’s a very easy walk (as flat as a course can be), but the greens are really small so it’s not quite as easy as it looks on the card. Plus it’s just nice to have a stroll through an old neighborhood with uptown in view.
And Papgo is the jewell. A really excellent muni with great views of the hills and downtown, right by the airport for those coming or going, a good practice facility, and all the course you want (especially in the par 3s).
It’s not like some back east city where Ross designed all the munis or anything, but it’s better than having a bunch of courses done by my boy Dick Phelps.
Throw in Kenny Mac in Tempe, too. Not bad at all.
I also enjoy Silverado, and I’m not afraid to admit it…helps to have driver 6i in to an opening par 5 to ease in to things (for when I 3-putt for par)
There are some wild holes there.
There are only two that I think are actually bad. The 9th is one. I actually think it is a good hole that’s just had its green get out of control. I remember 15 years ago when the green wasn’t quite as sloped and it was a really fun hole. 120 yard par 3 to a sliver of a green set hard into a slope. The problem, I think is that because that green sits so hard against that hillside, every storm erodes the hill a bit and so the back of the green gets higher and the bottom of the green gets lower. To the point where now, you basically can’t hold a ball on the green. Last time I was there I spent a good while trying all different shots and putts. Putt from the front of the green would go up and come all the way back to my feet. Putts downhill obviously had no chance not to roll off. Putts curving along the slope would break until they fell off the green. There’s just one small shelf back right that’s level enough to hold the ball. It’s absurd. But they could level the green a bit to fix that.
The other bad one is 14, which is a short par 4 with two options off the tee. You can hit an iron that’s maybe 220, straight downhill to a blind fairway (rocks and desert short, desert with thick vegetation long), or you can rip a driver at the green, which is also blind. Taking the driver line means you are carrying over a condo, so there’s risk not just for your gold game but your insurance rates.
One of the guys who helped build that course, Forrest Richardson, wrote a book called Routing The Golf Course. He alludes to a course where he and his partner wanted to build 6 par 3s and 5 par 5s but the developer wouldn’t allow it as they didn’t feel that 6 par 3s was fitting of a “championship” course. They really pushed for it, though, because there was a spot where the only real routing solution was a par 3. He doesn’t name the course but says they were overruled and ended up building a bad par 4. I’m certain the course he’s talking about is Lookout Mountain. 14 is an obvious spot for a drop shot par 3 (that’s essentially what the tee shot is, before the stupid second shot that’s tacked on), plus the course has 5 other par 3s and 5 par 5s. Also when the course opened it held Senior Tour events so it tracks that the developer would have been particularly interested in the notion of a “championship” course.
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Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by that course. The tee shot on #10 is whack and the routing for the back nine is bizarro*, but the course is good.
- innovative
What’s the locals’ take on Sun Ridge Canyon? I’ve always heard pretty good things, but wasn’t a fan
It’s pretty good. But if I’m driving all the way to Fountain Hills, why am I not just playing WeKoPa?
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Not a local but I loved it, great variety of holes.
How in the eff did those old bastards walk that course???
The routing is what I find so offensive, it winds around randomly through neighborhoods, near busy roads and has some extremely long walks from green to tee. Also, the first tee is at least a half mile from the clubhouse, never seen that before.
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Those “old bastards” have always been allowed to use carts.
If you ever go back, they have photos from some of the events they had in the clubhouse. Obviously, if they had an event there, they’d put temp clubhouse facilities right by the 1st tee/18th green to eliminate that issue.
Also in the clubhouse, and online if you look a little bit, you can see that when the course was built (as is typical) there weren’t houses around it. Obviously it was planned and built with the home in mind, given the bonkers routing, but a lot of those holes are a lot more aesthetically pleasing when not played down chutes of homes.
Speaking of busy roads, I forgot I do kinda hate the 2nd hole. As a bona fide drawer of the golf ball I just cannot start a tee shot far enough right there. So I either have to hit 4 iron off the tee of a reachable par 5, which sucks, or hit driver and risk ending up OB on Thunderbird Rd. Neither option is exactly ideal. But that’s my fault for not being able to hit the ball left to right as much as anything.
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Definitely in on this. I’ll be a little busy the next month or so but Mid-December and all of January would likely work well for me.
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Quintero “clubhouse” to 1st tee is also comical
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Ever check out the pad for the clubhouse that never got built? It’s between the range and 18. They leveled the land and even put in some utilities but never built the structure. What a trip that area is.
Speaking of far away 1st holes, #1 on the Faldo course at Wildfire is quite a trip from the practice area / pro shop.