2016 Phoenix area course conditions thread

[ferrispgm]

I played Verde River on Saturday and unlike some others, I didn't mind the changes with a couple exceptions. Their new driving range is one of my favorites....the putting/chipping green was closed but looked good. The 1st hole I agree is a little dumb...it's very tight and that bunker does seem out of place by the green. The change to make the old 18 the new 17 sucks as I thought the old 18th was a great and fun finishing hole with a good risk/reward approach shot into the green...birdie felt well earned and par felt solid on that hole.

 

The rest of the course I thought was good at least in my opinion. The old 10 new 18 they moved the green back and changed that area a good amount but also moved the tees forward so it's still about the same distance but you have a decent shot at a good approach now that the green isn't elevated as much and you can actually see the surface. The old 15/new 14, they removed the bunker from the middle of the fairway...and yes they have the back tees way back but I doubt they will ever put them back there because that tee box has always been there and I've never seen them used once...maybe for tournaments? They expanded the grass a little to the left of the fairway bunker on the old par 5 3rd hole so you have more room to hit a draw in there...before a good solid draw could easily run through into the desert.

 

I get what people are saying about the bunkers being removed and what not, but they are trying to make it a little more playable...granted I normally don't like when they do that as it takes away some of the challenge for more skilled players, but I think they did it tastefully here without butchering the course. To me the biggest disappointment is the housing, but that's not Lehman's fault...I hope someone opens another course out that way and keeps it remote like VR used to be....just something special about playing golf early in the morning with no one around except your group.

 

I do want to compliment the staff...everytime I've played that course they have been outstanding and friendly. I used to play there semi-regularly and several of the starters still remembered me even thought it's been 6 or 7 months since I've been there. They are very courteous and kept checking on my group to make sure everything was ok and that we were happy. Some other courses could really take a lesson from VR in that department.

[fore_life]

Is this like a Vistal type bunker removal where it made it like 5 strokes easier?

[BUCKEYERBALL88]

How walkable is the routing? I'm assuming my Golfshot iPhone gps app won't be updated yet. I didn't see a new scorecard on their website. Has the course been re-rated for GHIN purposes?

[BUCKEYERBALL88]

Re:verde river

 

How walkable is the routing? I'm assuming my Golfshot iPhone gps app won't be updated yet. I didn't see a new scorecard on their website. Has the course been re-rated for GHIN purposes?

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Verde River is walkable decent climb from 14 green back up to 18 and only a couple holes with longish walks from green to tee.

5-6 being the biggest

 

With the new #1 and #18 it is actually more walkable now the old gap from 9-10 kinda sucked

[Double K]

Has anyone played Papago post overseed?

 

Thinking of trying it on Thursday.

[ferrispgm]

Is this like a Vistal type bunker removal where it made it like 5 strokes easier?

 

I don't know if I would say 5 shots...I would say 2 to 3 shots maybe...could be 5 potentially for a high handicap player....I rarely hit it in a bunker so I can't say for sure...normally I'm either on the fringe or 10 yards over the green when I miss lol. There are still some challenging bunker shots there for sure....but they have all new sand which looked really nice and fluffy.

[Double K]

Booked Red Mountain Ranch tomorrow. New course for me, so might be interesting. Will report back on conditions.

 

Played Aguila today, it's still perfect. No beverage cart so bring your own liquids. Not sure what is up with the ball washers but they smell like there is a rotting corpse inside them. So gross.

[puttnforthe8]

Booked Red Mountain Ranch tomorrow. New course for me, so might be interesting. Will report back on conditions.

 

Played Aguila today, it's still perfect. No beverage cart so bring your own liquids. Not sure what is up with the ball washers but they smell like there is a rotting corpse inside them. So gross.

 

RMRanch is about as gross as those ball washers you encountered!

[DrSchteeve]

Booked Red Mountain Ranch tomorrow. New course for me, so might be interesting. Will report back on conditions.

 

Played Aguila today, it's still perfect. No beverage cart so bring your own liquids. Not sure what is up with the ball washers but they smell like there is a rotting corpse inside them. So gross.

 

RMRanch is about as gross as those ball washers you encountered!

 

Always Dye at his worst (small project on limited land - think ASU Karsten) and seldom with decent conditions.

[Double K]

Tight on time tomorrow. Have to be done and back by 1pm. Basically had a choice between Red Mountain, Las Sendas or Longbow. Units live in that part of Mesa.

 

The added bonus for me is a new course off the list.

[DrSchteeve]

Tight on time tomorrow. Have to be done and back by 1pm. Basically had a choice between Red Mountain, Las Sendas or Longbow. Units live in that part of Mesa.

 

The added bonus for me is a new course off the list.

 

Old guy to young guy: play the best courses you can play, whenever you can play them. A bucket list of great courses is a great goal. A bucket list of courses...not so much.

[jatrain]

Played Papago on Sunday. I thought it was in pretty good shape post overseed. Both fairways and greens were a little hairy but greens rolled true. A little roll out, no plugs in the fairway. Can't beat it for $35 walking.

[Double K]

Tight on time tomorrow. Have to be done and back by 1pm. Basically had a choice between Red Mountain, Las Sendas or Longbow. Units live in that part of Mesa.

 

The added bonus for me is a new course off the list.

 

Old guy to young guy: play the best courses you can play, whenever you can play them. A bucket list of great courses is a great goal. A bucket list of courses...not so much.

Tomorrow isn't that day. It's play with constraints or not at all.

 

Will be back in December and will be able to get to some of the recommendations in the other thread. Specifically, Wickenburg Ranch and Southern Dunes.

[DrSchteeve]

Tight on time tomorrow. Have to be done and back by 1pm. Basically had a choice between Red Mountain, Las Sendas or Longbow. Units live in that part of Mesa.

 

The added bonus for me is a new course off the list.

 

Old guy to young guy: play the best courses you can play, whenever you can play them. A bucket list of great courses is a great goal. A bucket list of courses...not so much.

Tomorrow isn't that day. It's play with constraints or not at all.

 

Will be back in December and will be able to get to some of the recommendations in the other thread. Specifically, Wickenburg Ranch and Southern Dunes.

 

Now you're talking!

[Sun Devil]

Playing the Legends at Arrowhead sat am. Haven't played it for many years. Typical intermediate neighborhood course. Anyone know how the course is? Drove by and it looks "green" which is nice. Curious about the greens. I HATE slow shaggy greens.

[tnord]

played orange tree yesterday. conditions were like rancho, but not quite as lush. the rye didn't come into the fairways as well, but everything is super long...especially the teeboxes. i've come to realize that's really annoying to me as a guy with a shallow AOA.

 

layout is fine, there were a few holes i thought were good, 11 back teebox is a joke with a tree hanging straight out into the line to the middle of the fairway. ok...well i guess i'll punch a 2i...but wait...the sign for #11 with yardages and such is right in that line too....not that it's a REAL threat given that you'd be hitting a 4'' wide sign with a 2'' golf ball...but you get the point. and it's one of the longer par 4s they have, so you end up hitting this goofy punch cut thing with a driver. 9 and 18 are good holes, and really they would have a nice little stretch through the heart of the round with 7 - 13 if it wasn't for that sillyness on 11. 10 is a little weak too, but whatever.

 

overall its a fine place to play if you have a diverse group that don't want to spend a lot. the bar and outside patio looked like a good spot, and $30 for 9 holes and breakfast seems like a good idea if you have SO's that want to play. i don't know that i would choose to play it on my own again, and i'd prefer Rancho over Orange Tree for sure as there are some more interesting and challenging shots there if you decide to go for it.

 

but it's golf, so it was fun, staff was good, our random 4th we were paired with was a great guy, and it's not horribly expensive. if you're a better player looking for a challenge though, look elsewhere.

[AzSuperHack76]

Playing the Legends at Arrowhead sat am. Haven't played it for many years. Typical intermediate neighborhood course. Anyone know how the course is? Drove by and it looks "green" which is nice. Curious about the greens. I HATE slow shaggy greens.

 

I'm sorry.....

 

Not much else to say, it's typically in pretty rough shape. I played in a scramble for my buddies kid's basketball team a little while back, it was pretty rough. That was before the over seed, so conditions may be a bit different now. Since you're going off in the morning be prepared for a saturated course. They typically soak more than most courses. Oh, forgot about the goose turds on some holes, lots of goose turds.

[DrSchteeve]

Southern Dunes shaggy and wet. Greens were fine but even the fringes were soggy. Such a shame - still great but this course is meant to be firm and fast. Lots of mufballs.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Aguila today.

 

I really enjoy that course. Great balance of long vs short holes. Immensely playable design that has a little bit of everything.

 

Greens are running pretty solid right now. Bunkers seemed to be pretty good and better than a lot of $100+ resort courses. Fairways still a little too damp for my liking but not terrible. Will become part of my winter rota for sure.

 

[Double K]

 

Always Dye at his worst (small project on limited land - think ASU Karsten) and seldom with decent conditions.

 

As mentioned previously, played Red Mountain Ranch with my dad on Thursday. Aside from one tee box, the overseed came in really well. Fairways and rough was lush. They hadn't cut the rough on the back nine, but we saw mowers on 16 cutting it, so it should be done now. Greens were smooth, but a little on the slow side. Not as nice as Aguila.

 

The bunkers, or the gravel pits as it turns out, were a rocky, wet, hardpan mess. Half of them were GUR and not even raked by the grounds crew. Most of the greenside ones had visible water damage.

 

They layout was ok, was your typical residential routed golf course that is common in the valley. I didn't care much for the severe mounding around the greens, but it didn't affect my game as much as normal since I was striping everything.

 

Pace was excellent, we were done in 4 hours and was cart path only. The starter said they would be off the paths this weekend.

 

I wasn't disappointed for $54. I'd play Red Mountain over Las Sendas.

[tnord]

Played Longbow before I left and was super pleased with that track. Granted, I got it on golfnow for $56, but i think of it as a "tier II" course like Eagle Mountain, McDowell, etc.

 

Not a lot of elevation changes, but I thought a really good layout. only complaint would be that i didn't hit a lot of drivers as things tended to tighten up or find trouble from the green tees at driver distances. first three par 3s are pretty similar distances too. overseed has taken really well, and fairways weren't overly soaked. greens were better than Orange Tree or RM, but still slow.

 

pace was good too....we finished in ~345 on cartpath only...and that was wasting 15-20min walking back and forth across the fairway looking for a ball or two on the left side in the desert.

 

i was super pleased overall and it was worth the drive from scottsdale.

[ferrispgm]

Played GCU Golf Course on Saturday. The course was in great shape with greens rolling probably around a 10. Fairways were a little wet but it wasn't as bad as some courses get. A couple bare patches on a few holes, but all in all, it's in great shape.

 

On a side note, naturally after my comment a few posts ago about rarely hitting in bunkers I managed to find 4 at GCU...the bunkers are in good shape though overall. The sand was a little wet but plenty of it so it was easy to get up and down...minus the bunker to the left on 9 which was a little bare underneath and my club bounced up and skulled it....

[c. howard]

Not really a surprise, but Coyotes finally announced a new arena to take the place of Karsten: https://www.nhl.com/coyotes/news/coyotes-announce-plans-for-new-east-valley-arena/c-283720238.

 

Karsten gets a lot of crap on here, but definitely a course I'd like to play 1 or 2 more times before they shut down.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Not me I'd pay good money if they set up bleachers to watch the bulldozing of that atrocity of a golf course

[Chomper]

Played Talking Stick North today. Overseed went well, it was CPO today. Greens rolled pretty good, 8-ish I would guess. Fairways were not terribly wet, good roll out. Rough is short. Area around the greens are pretty moist, not much in the way of bounce if you weren't at the front of the green.

Bunkers were pretty good, desert looks like it had been cleared out in a few places (right on #7, right on the 15/17 area).

Pace was really good - finished in about 3:45 w a foursome.

[YMark]

Played GCU Golf Course on Saturday. The course was in great shape with greens rolling probably around a 10. Fairways were a little wet but it wasn't as bad as some courses get. A couple bare patches on a few holes, but all in all, it's in great shape.

 

On a side note, naturally after my comment a few posts ago about rarely hitting in bunkers I managed to find 4 at GCU...the bunkers are in good shape though overall. The sand was a little wet but plenty of it so it was easy to get up and down...minus the bunker to the left on 9 which was a little bare underneath and my club bounced up and skulled it....

 

The bunker on the left side of the green on 18 is the same way.

[Double K]

Has anyone played on Christmas day? I'm flying solo this year so will be looking to knock that off my bucket list.

[jzona]

Has anyone played on Christmas day? I'm flying solo this year so will be looking to knock that off my bucket list.

yes, i will be playing, how about papago? 9-10am if available

[fore_life]

Played club west today, 728 tee time, $17 via teeoff.

 

Course wasn't really in bad shape, greens look a little rough but rolled true. Biggest thing for me is that it looks really rough out in the desert, it's in desperate need of some landscaping and thinning of some of the scrub. The back tees on #5 always had a narrow opening to the fairway, but now it is laughably narrow. A little cleaning would go a long ways. Place just looks like it's on hard times. But I'd play it again this winter if I could get it under $25-30, not worth more than that IMO