Played Wine Valley in Walla Walla, WA before i left town. Besides the 20mph straight winds. The course was an absolute treat! Played really well until 13 and the wheels fell off. Play got real slow then i almost stepped on a snake in the native area and that threw me off. But man great place.
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Talon isn’t a very good golf course, full stop. Judging the merits of desert golf based on a course that wouldn’t be good no matter its setting is rigging the game.
For better options, look at the three Coore/Crenshaw designs (WKP Saguaro or either of the courses at Talking Stick). Sure, there’s desert in play but you’ll find more width off the fairway and the real key is that he greens are interesting enough that off the tee you do care to think about trying to favor one side or the other, even if that might bring trouble into play. I would also point you to Longbow and even the course right across the street, Raptor. I’m not a huge Fazio guy but it’s quite the contras to see how much better his course is than the Panks/Graham effort. Same conditioning, same basic land. They’ve done a nice job in recent years of clearing some of the mesquite trees that were making Raptor feel a little too tight and the greens are good there.
With that said, I do agree desert golf is not great. I’ve lived in Phoenix 20 years now, and I’m pretty over it. I really enjoy travelling and playing a course where you can miss a drive but actually have a recovery shot.
Charitably, I will say, there are courses everywhere that have trouble on all sides–be it heather, long gross, trees, whatever. I will take desert over the lakes of Florida golf. After all, much like with long grass, you can often find your ball in the desert, and sometimes even advance it (bring a desert club!). The corridors of holes here, for conservation reasons are surely narrower than holes that play through prairie grasses in Nebraska, or Kentucky, however.
But, even with that charitable nod, I don’t think there’s any doubt that even the best desert courses would be better if they weren’t in the desert.
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Played Lancaster CC in Amish Country Pennsylvania for a Golfer’s Journal event. Awesome course that will be hosting the women’s US open again next year. Fairway bunkers beat me up!
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Looked like beautiful weather to me!
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The sun was the saving grace from keeping it from being cold. I’m still getting the wind in my ears. Lol. I played better than i thought i would in it.
Spending the summer just south of Grand Rapids is pretty sweet. The golf, the weather, and the sunset times are all just top notch.
I teed off yesterday at 4:40 at Diamond Springs, played a full 18 and had sunlight to spare. North Carolina could never.
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Great track- Michigan golf is really fucking good
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I just spent the last ten days in Denmark thanks to the great Danish company I work for. (I’m located in Vancouver Canada) 750 international employees were invited to participate in the Grundfos Olympics with 750 Danish employees as well. Luckily for myself Golf was an event and I got to bring my clubs.
So obviously being in Denmark for a trip of a lifetime I had to make some time to to get to the #1 course in Denmark.
On Monday May 22nd I got to play Great Northern.
Such a great Logo
Great clubhouse design with the roof peaks looking like sails in the distance.
Met Kristian Bressum who exemplified Danish hospitality. Danish golfer part of Saint Mary’s Golf team in California.
Got paired with Henrick and Helg celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary .
From the top of the course
5th green
Bridge to the 6th fairway
6th green
Water feature on 16th
Henrick hitting into a true island green on 18.
The course was as good as the guys made it look. It played hard in the afternoon wind. Lost a few balls and made a few Pars. Hoping one day to get back there again.
Truly a first class experience. Hope one day I’ll get to go back.
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Going here in two weeks. Can’t wait!
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Out of all the pump companies unfortunately this sounds way less cool than the Taco Olympics
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Seems like Armstrong Olympics would beat them all, though.
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I played the Jacksonville Beach Muni today, had the best round of the year 70 1 Under Par. Lots of fun. Looking forward to next year and playing some of the Roost events.
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Show up early to take advantage of the great amenities, change room/showers, driving range and putting green were great. Construction around the short game area was a little hectic.
Also heard great things about their short course but a storm rolled in on the day I was supposed to play it.
Also the food was very good. Just don’t forget your wallet
Was lucky to get out to Lost Rail. Had a great day and really enjoyed the course. Nebraska golf just keeps getting better.
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In the past week, I played:
- Southern Pines
- Quail Ridge
- Tobacco Road
- A course in Georgia that I am not allowed to name or discuss in any detail online.
It was the greatest golf week of my life. I have no pictures.
Some reviews:
- Southern Pines - Really, really good. I will return. I grew up on a Donald Ross course and this is an extremely Rossy Ross. I mean that in a good way. The people were very nice and the food was good, too.
- Quail Ridge - Played here when it was like 57* and raining all day long. Tons of standing water and the cart paths were entirely mud. The course actually looked like it would have been in excellent shape if not for the weather. The people there were also super nice and I was shocked they let us ride golf carts in those conditions, but I appreciated it.
- Tobacco Road - I can’t wait to go back. As is typical, two guys in my group (including me) loved it and two guys hated it. As soon as we finished up I wanted to go back out and play it again, but they were stacked up in the afternoon.
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Didn’t know we had so many pump guys in here.
Obligatory Bell & Gossett / Goulds Olympics post.
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well now I have to know
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This is a Laz comment
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If you could play any golf course in Georgia, it would probably be this one. I’d say 99.99% of golf fans would have the same answer.
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