Anyone know if Quintero has any plans of going private as intended originally? Or Wickenburg Ranch for that matter?
Quintero was private until 2011-ish, but began allowing limited public play and are now more or less fully public. They still have some membership options so maybe you’d call it semi-private … but I don’t think they really have a lot of members left and I can’t imagine why you’d join as a member now.
That said, that Nicklaus destination membership thing The Flag (semi Dormie knockoff?) lists a course in Arizona as one of the locations they will have upon opening in 2020 and all the AZ pictures they show are clearly Quintero. So who knows what that means for the future of the place. Quintero has long had on site lodging so that’s already set and ready to go, but if they stay public then I don’t get why the Flag membership would be any kind of benefit at all.
On the other hand, Troon currently operates Quintero and their web site lists rates for the course out as far as summer 2020 (which is as far out as any of their AZ courses go). I’m sure people who buy a Troon Card or whatever read some fine print that courses are subject to change blah blah blah, but for now it doesn’t look like there are any plans for Quintero to be anything but public, at least in the immediate future.
Put it this way: It tried being private once, all the way up there in the middle of nowhere, and that didn’t work out.
As for Wickenburg Ranch, they opened in 2015 and the stated goal was to offer, essentially public preview play for 1-3 years. Well, it’s almost 2020 and they are still public. I suppose at some point they may actually go private, but for now I’m still not holding my breath. It’s just a tough course for a retiree to want to play all the time. They’re going to have a much easier time selling homes there than selling golf memberships. Meanwhile, every whisper I hear about how “they’re close to going private now,” smells to me more like they’re trying to drive business rather than that they’re actually close to going private, especially since I’ve been hearing those whispers for 2+ years now.
All very good points, and I think there was an expectation of a much larger “exodus” toward Wickenburg with people leaving the valley, but still wanting to remain close-ish…hasn’t happened yet
Fountain Hills is probably what Wickenburg wants to be. Fountain Hills is just so much closer to Scottsdale and the beeline makes the airport pretty easy.
Wickenburg has a long way to go but the golf course is great. Fantastic greens.
They’ve certainly built a lot of homes out there (and I assume that means they’ve sold many of them), but again that doesn’t mean those people are buying golf memberships.
I’ve played there with my dad, who’s now 72, a couple times. He has a place in Sun City Grand. We’ve played with friends of his who also live there, or around there. My dad isn’t a golf member, because he just doesn’t play that much anymore, but some of the other guys are. The Grand courses (Granite Falls, Cimmaron, desert Springs) aren’t great by any stretch, but they’re not offensive, certainly a big step up from the blase old school Sun City courses. But the thing is, even with some water and some flashy bunkering, and maybe a little mounding here and there … they’re basically flat, and the greens are pretty flat. They’re courses that retirees can play in other words.
Wick Ranch is … not that. Even with a cart, that is a course that’s kind of a bitch to get around for a person in their 70s. And the greens … I mean, putting on those might get old if you were the kind of guy who wanted to play 5 days a week.
Lil Wick is great and I’d love to have a place like that to hang all the time, but you’d have to be very fit and still be a real player to want to play Big Wick all the time. Plus, most “active adult communities” have multiple courses. Wick Ranch has just the one (plus Lil Wick).
And, as you say, you’re living in Wickenburg. Hell, outside of Wickenburg.
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For sure. 15-20 years ago Fountain Hills was a sleepy little retirement community. Just not a pre-panned Del Webb one. Then slowly some money started to creep in and all of a sudden it’s a high end offshoot from Scottsdale. Some of the homes around Firerock are insane.
But Wickenburg is (a) a hell of a lot farther away(b) on the wrong side of the Valley and © always going to have the wrong kind of reputation (cowtown, rehab locale) to grow up into anything like that.
That was my thought as well, if their goal was a private course for retirees, they totally missed the mark. I wouldn’t even want to play that course all the time, it’s big, spread out and difficult.
Might have to get out there this winter then, it’s not my preferred style of course but the topography of that area is really friggin’ cool.
Presumably that wasn’t the original goal. That course has a weird history. It was actually built in 2008 but the financial crisis kept it from opening. Took 7 years before Trilogy came along and decided they could build a community out there around the course. I don’t know what the original development plan was out there–private? Public? Obviously the housing component was planned, given the routing, but I would guess that the original plan wasn’t for it to be a retirement community.
Part of that suspicion goes back to the routing changes Trilogy made when they bought the course. Basically the original design started at #15 and ended at #14. There was a big pad for the clubhouse behind the lake on #14 and the range would have been the area that became Lil Wick.
The course makes a ton more sense that way, really. #15 is a pretty obvious “handshake” opener as the first hole and the current 13/14 make a very dramatic 17/18 finish with downhill shots and water.
But Trilogy wanted the big clubhouse closer to the road and to have more room for all the amenities that one of their communities requires.
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Hey y’all. Down here visiting my gf’s family. Getting a round in today (w/ @pushdraw) and tomorrow. Tomorrow I’m playing at Silverado as a single. There looks to be 2 slots left at the 1:46 time. If anyone wants to sneak out of their office early and join, I’d love to tee it up with some more refuge guise!
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& @matthew823, can’t wait!
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I’ll be down in the Mesa/Gilbert area in mid December to visit some family. Looking for some new golf courses to play. What are the best values in the area? Anything that’s less than $100 bucks a round is my range.
I’m not totally sure what their rates are in season but one of the best courses in Mesa is Longbow. Really solid course, not high end on green fees typically, fun to play, no homes around it.
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@soly get the C-Suite on this.
You AZ guise ever play the Biltmore courses? Either of those worth spending the time/$80 on?
Not really.
Links is an abomination.
Adobe is an enjoyable little course, but really overpriced at $80. (Obviously everything is overpriced in season in Phoenix.) Adobe is a nice core course, short but with small, very sloping greens, some fun holes, nice views, and the real estate that rings the course is pretty jaw dropping. I used to play it in Jan/Feb for $60 pretty happily so $80 on vacation might not be the worst deal of all time, depending on what else you’re finding or where you’re staying. I know they had it closed for a bit this summer, I think to do some bunker work. Seems like the rates went up after that.
Ditto what @matthew823 said. The Adobe is probably a good warm up round for a golf trip.
Well, I tend to shy away from courses that are described as an abomination. Was trying to find something worthwhile close to the interstate from Phoenix to Prescott Valley. May just end up playing Stoneridge in PV, but forecast looks a little chilly next Friday.
I would recommend Biltmore Adobe or 500 Club over Stonecreek. Both are convenient to the freeway if you’re heading north.
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FWIW, apparently they did way more than bunker work at the Adobe course this summer …
During the renovation project, which began in June, crews removed the course’s 9th hole; created a new par-3 4th hole over an existing lake; constructed a new 18th green complex (south of the former 18th green); and added 12 new tee boxes. The enhanced 9th hole (the former 8th hole) now plays as a 500+ yard par 5. In addition, a total of 27 bunkers were reshaped, relined and filled with new sand, and six bunkers were eliminated. Cart paths around the 90-year-old golf course were also replaced.
https://azbiltmoregc.com/adobe-course-reopens-following-overseed-and-course-renovation-project/
Don’t know how I feel about all that. I really liked the old 9th hole and the 18th green. 9 was a short par 3 with nasty bunkers front right and front left. 18 was a very reachable par 5 but with a wild three-tired green. Left hole locations were very accessible. Middle brought a bunker into play and holes way over on the right brought both a bunker and a small stream into play and suddenly made you really think twice about attacking the green.
Adding a par 3 4th hole over water sounds like they would have had to make changes to 3, 14, and 15, which is already a tight part of the course.
I dunno. I’ll have to play it to see.
Standing invitation for any visitors to join me at TPC Scottsdale, especially during peak season…
Guest rates with pass (+1 guest @ Stadium and +3 guests @ Champions)
Stadium (now through end of year) - $109
Champions (now through end of year) - $64
Stadium (1/1 - 4/19) - $174
Champions (1/1 - 4/5) - $76
Then it gets cheaper, but invite is open, just have to battle booking windows (1 day in advance @ Stadium & 3 days @ Champions)
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