2021 Phoenix Area Course Conditions

[cbbaron]

6 hours ago, MUNIGRIT said:

Update on Eagle Mountain. It was painted dirt and completely dead in May. I though that was a long uphill battle to get it back and wouldn't happen until next year at best. Well my buddy told me it was back since he lived by it and I played there yesterday. He was right it is green and lush and in great shape. There is rough on the sides of the fairway so it is like a USO lite setup now. Ball does not bounce to the center of the fairway like it normally does. 

Played EM last Sunday some of greens still need a little time but all in all was happy with conditions. Btw I played Raptor 3 times Tuesday and Wednesday was looking for you on 5

[Bonneville85308]

Sun City North today. Course was in good condition all around. Fairways were semi-firm, cut low, the ball was rolling and they weren't damp. Rough was cut low, but the ball tended to nestle down in it which still led to some tough shots. Had trouble finding my ball twice in the rough until I was right on top of it. Bunker sand was average but looks like nobody bothered to use a rake in the last day or two. Greens were kinda grainy, typical Sun City speeds, really no ball marks. One green on the front had some odd tufts of some other type of grass. A few of the aprons in front of the greens were damp with no roll when I landed on them. Course was empty and I flew around. I played well and left happy.

[MUNIGRIT]

14 hours ago, cbbaron said:

Played EM last Sunday some of greens still need a little time but all in all was happy with conditions. Btw I played Raptor 3 times Tuesday and Wednesday was looking for you on 5

I am not technically on 5 but there is a dirt trail on the left side of the tee box that I live down past. It is a 5 min walk to the 5 teebox/4green. I thought the greens were pretty good especially for this time of the year at EM. Almost a week makes a big difference!

[AZ_JHWK]

Las Sendas today. Played here last summer for the first time and wasn't impressed with the course conditions. This time around it was much better, especially the fairways. The greens didn't look great but they rolled true and were the fastest greens I've played recently. A couple of quirky holes but the 2nd time around I was looking out for them. 

[AzSuperHack76]

Played a couple gems this weekend.

 

Southern Dunes yesterday, nearly perfect conditioning other than a few wet spots throughout the course, most of the fairways were firm throughout. Greens were in awesome shape, fast and true. 

 

Blackstone CC today, greens were so fast, just in great shape all the way around, majority of the course is playing very firm and fast. 

[puttnforthe8]

Wickenburg Ranch is really good shape; except- zero roll anywhere. The fairways and greens are so wet (not as in standing water, just wet) that there is no roll of any kind.  We saw balls plug on the green in their own divot.  If you land short of the green it is not going anywhere.  You have to throw everything to the pin.

 

They are doing bunker and green work and currently #8 is closed (#2 was closed until recently) - so you only get 17 holes.  

[Olson12]

Southern Dunes on Sunday was phenomenal.  The storm washed out a lot of bunkers but they are going to fix them for the Korn Ferry event this week.  Well worth the $90 right now.

[chisag]

... While The Raven is in really good shape, especially the greens, they started tearing up tee boxes yesterday with several having only the forward box open. Too many crowned tee boxes so this is desperately needed but I wonder why they didn't wait until over seeding starting Oct 4th? I joined the Arcis Players Club for Aug/Sept mainly to have the shade in the summer heat so I will continue to take advantage of the $25 afternoon rate through Sept 30th but disappointed in this early maintenance. 

[Bonneville85308]

19 minutes ago, chisag said:

... While The Raven is in really good shape, especially the greens, they started tearing up tee boxes yesterday with several having only the forward box open. Too many crowned tee boxes so this is desperately needed but I wonder why they didn't wait until over seeding starting Oct 4th? I joined the Arcis Players Club for Aug/Sept mainly to have the shade in the summer heat so I will continue to take advantage of the $25 afternoon rate through Sept 30th but disappointed in this early maintenance. 

 

Arcis did the exact same thing with tee boxes at Stonecreek a couple years ago before the overseed closure. I am guessing they are too short staffed or there is too much other work to do during the overseed closure, so they want to get a head start on it now. They can just move the tees up and keep the course open if they do it now. 

 

And, I hear Arcis' Legend at Arrowhead is completely ripped apart and under construction right now with only 9 holes open, even though the work is severe enough that all 18 should be closed, despite their official overseed closure not starting for another week from now.

 

Typical Arcis, if they can rip the course apart and keep it open with money still coming in at the same time, that is what they are going to do.

Edited September 21, 2021 by Bonneville85308

[chisag]

3 minutes ago, Bonneville85308 said:

Arcis did the exact same thing with tee boxes at Stonecreek a couple years ago before the overseed closure. I am guessing they are too short staffed or there is too much other work to do during the overseed closure, so they want to get a head start on it now. They can just move the tees up and keep the course open if they do it now. 

 

... I played Raven twice last week at 3pm and we saw nobody in front of us or behind us all day. Other days it is sporadic at best although a slow 4some can grind things to a halt. So I get it, they are inconveniencing a few to serve the many snowbirds about to descend on their course with much fatter wallets. Moving here last December this is my first fall as a second class citizen. 🤪

[chisag]

... Played Aguila today and it was in pretty decent shape. High schoolers on the front so I started on the back and by the time I got to #9 (18 for the day) I saw a big tractor tearing up the 10th fairway. Seems more than a few courses are getting a jump on course maintenance before over seeding. I thought I would have right up to the start date but evidently not...

[cwb12]

On 9/21/2021 at 1:23 PM, chisag said:

... While The Raven is in really good shape, especially the greens, they started tearing up tee boxes yesterday with several having only the forward box open. Too many crowned tee boxes so this is desperately needed but I wonder why they didn't wait until over seeding starting Oct 4th? I joined the Arcis Players Club for Aug/Sept mainly to have the shade in the summer heat so I will continue to take advantage of the $25 afternoon rate through Sept 30th but disappointed in this early maintenance. 

So have a group out next week, 14 guys supposed to play Raven on Friday the 1st. Should we pivot to some place like Dobson? Not many options for 4 tee times on Friday this late in the game.

[chisag]

6 hours ago, cwb12 said:

So have a group out next week, 14 guys supposed to play Raven on Friday the 1st. Should we pivot to some place like Dobson? Not many options for 4 tee times on Friday this late in the game.

 

... I am playing there tomorrow (Thursday) so I will see if they have done more tee boxes and will let you know which tee boxes are torn up now. Irony being I played Dobson for the first time today and not a fan of tricked up greens. Only a few silly difficult pin placements but unnatural slopes and tiers just ain't my cup of tee. 

[chisag]

On 9/22/2021 at 11:35 AM, cwb12 said:

So have a group out next week, 14 guys supposed to play Raven on Friday the 1st. Should we pivot to some place like Dobson? Not many options for 4 tee times on Friday this late in the game.

 

 

... It was better than I originally thought. * means all tee boxes are being played G = gold, W = white, S = Silver and B = black:

1. G only (par 4)
2. G only (3)

3. *

4. *

5. B, W, G (4)
6. *

7. G only (3)
8. *

9. *

10. *

11. W, G (3)

12. *

13. *

14. B, G (3)
15. *

16. *

17. *

18. S, W, G (4)

Edited September 24, 2021 by chisag

[YMark]

Just a head's up.... a friend of mine got his catalytic convertor stolen from his truck today while playing golf at Agila. He was parked in the back row, some Word not allowedhole(s) unbolted it and split. 

[fore_life]

On 9/22/2021 at 11:35 AM, cwb12 said:

So have a group out next week, 14 guys supposed to play Raven on Friday the 1st. Should we pivot to some place like Dobson? Not many options for 4 tee times on Friday this late in the game.

 Dobson has a friday skins game might be hard to find 4 Groups unless you play the game 

[Bonneville85308]

Sun City Lakes West today. They overseed this coming Monday. Fairways were just about completely browned out or close to it, very firm and rolling great, but still could get a short iron under the ball just fine. Greens were still normal green grass, typical Sun City speeds and a little firmer than usual but still holding shots.  It was really fun to play the course in these  conditions. Rough was in good condition and cut to a fair height. Bunker sand on this course is way too deep/fluffy IMO and looked like nobody else used a rake today.

 

They leveled and re-seeded all of the par 3 teeboxes except the forward-most ones this summer, they are still closed and all of the tee markers are on the forward-most box which makes most of them play around 100-130 yards. However, nobody was around, so I just teed up a ball in the rough behind one of the back boxes and played the holes from around the normal back tee distances.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Bonneville85308

[fore_life]

17 hours ago, YMark said:

Just a head's up.... a friend of mine got his catalytic convertor stolen from his truck today while playing golf at Agila. He was parked in the back row, some Word not allowedhole(s) unbolted it and split. 

the parking lot has cameras by the dumpsters 

[kizdoc]

Played Southern Dunes today.  Course was in PHENOMENAL condition as they just held a Korn Ferry event there.  Only negative was the ton of mosquitos buzzing around on the front 9.

[tcbringhurst]

GCU yesterday morning (Saturday). Wet conditions on the front but greens were speedy and true regardless. Dried out as the sun came out. Course is in fantastic shape ahead of overseeding in a couple weeks. Rough is thick and challenging. I’d play here again in a heartbeat. 

[chisag]

... Tale of 2 courses: Played Aguila yesterday and the fairways are pretty shaggy as they probably aren't mowing until over seeding. No roll but the greens are decent and the course is playable. Complete opposite at the Raven today where they have shaved the fairways looking like dormant grass and the ball is rolling quite a bit. Already sodded some of the tee boxes that are thankfully nice and flat and again, course is very playable. 

[Soloman1]

I understand that GCU might hose down a couple of the carts in January. It's not a bad course and course maintenance is pretty good, but they certainly could use some adult supervision in the rest of the operation.

[jatrain]

GCU today, as said, pretty soft with wet areas in the fairways, greens were really nice if a tad bit slow.

 

I didn’t have any issues with my cart.

 

[vandyfan]

For those that have played We-Ko-Pa Saguaro and Cholla a lot (I'm from TN heading out to AZ in the spring to play), what are the odds you find a ball hit into the desert off the fairway? 50%? 25%? 0%? Just trying to determine how penalizing it is to "challenge" the desert on dogleg holes.

[toypor]

24 minutes ago, blackbdmillsaps said:

For those that have played We-Ko-Pa Saguaro and Cholla a lot (I'm from TN heading out to AZ in the spring to play), what are the odds you find a ball hit into the desert off the fairway? 50%? 25%? 0%? Just trying to determine how penalizing it is to "challenge" the desert on dogleg holes.

Keep it in the grass : )

[vandyfan]

Sounds like 0%, haha

[puttnforthe8]

1 hour ago, blackbdmillsaps said:

For those that have played We-Ko-Pa Saguaro and Cholla a lot (I'm from TN heading out to AZ in the spring to play), what are the odds you find a ball hit into the desert off the fairway? 50%? 25%? 0%? Just trying to determine how penalizing it is to "challenge" the desert on dogleg holes.

 

There are very few doglegs even as an option to challenge.  Both courses provide aggressive plays covering the desert area that can reap benefit.

 

On Saguaro, you can find your ball on about 1/3 of the holes as long as it does not go in deep.  On Cholla, you're not finding your ball unless by sheer luck.

[puttnforthe8]

@blackbdmillsaps  Examples of what I mean

 

Saguaro:

 

 

Cholla

 

[vandyfan]

@puttnforthe8 - The second and third pictures are exactly what I am talking about. I am big into using Google Earth pro and provisualizer to map out courses so I can figure out what tees will be most fun (not most challenging, that's obvious).

 

On the first Cholla picture (third total), the waste area looks benign on google earth pro (which can be deceiving). It seems, based on aerial view, like even if you don't make it and land in that waste area you will only have 120 or so in that you can just try to pick clean with a wedge vs laying back and having like 170 in?

 

No way I'm taking that line in the second cholla picture (fourth total) on 18, I don't have the guts for that sadly and that's too much of a "player's line" for a hack like me. 

 

 

[puttnforthe8]

2 hours ago, blackbdmillsaps said:

@puttnforthe8 - The second and third pictures are exactly what I am talking about. I am big into using Google Earth pro and provisualizer to map out courses so I can figure out what tees will be most fun (not most challenging, that's obvious).

 

On the first Cholla picture (third total), the waste area looks benign on google earth pro (which can be deceiving). It seems, based on aerial view, like even if you don't make it and land in that waste area you will only have 120 or so in that you can just try to pick clean with a wedge vs laying back and having like 170 in?

 

No way I'm taking that line in the second cholla picture (fourth total) on 18, I don't have the guts for that sadly and that's too much of a "player's line" for a hack like me. 

 

 

 

 

Yup...That is #16 - They cleaned out that waste area over the years, and now it is gravel and hard pack - if you get in the gravel it can be tough and chew up your club...hard pan, not so much.

 

The other one is 18. It is not as bad as the picture - it is an elevated tee and that first desert part is not as high as the pic make sit seem.  It's actually a pretty easy carry from all but the back tee.

Edited October 1, 2021 by puttnforthe8