PHOENIX -- This 2011 golf review features courses for all types of budgets, from the extravagant end of the spectrum to more frugally priced adventures. If you are a muni or semi private course player in the Milwaukee area like I am, you can get sticker shock pretty easily -- we have it pretty good here with a great and varied selection of cheap golf experiences.
Things are a bit different in the valley of the sun, with multitudes of snowbirds flocking in and driving up the demand/price for golf, but some savvy research and sleuthing can result in finding great deals.
If you are considering a stay longer than a few days, many of the clubs offer seasonal passes that will pay for themselves after about 10 rounds. Of course, you are then forsaking the amazing variety of golf that awaits you at almost every turn in the greater Phoenix area.
Wigwam Golf Club
300 Wigwam Blvd., Litchfield Park
Wigwam Golf Club is an old-line resort that has been an Arizona landmark since the 1930s. It was a great pleasure just driving down the street to the entrance of Wigwam amidst the boulevard guarded on both sides by huge swaying palm trees.
Located in Litchfield Park in the West Valley, this resort boasts an incredible 54 holes, 36 of which were designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. If there was a Mount Rushmore of golf course designers, his face would be among the greats.
We played the Patriot Course, designed and formerly known as the Blue Course by Jones, and it is a great jumping-off point for any golfers that are looking for a tune up after an off season of atrophying golf muscles and winter blues.
The Patriot plays like an executive course on steroids, at the very longest tees (the Jones Tees, of course) it measures out at a cool 6,000 yards. It is a parkland style track with generous landing areas and not a whole lot to punish you on the front nine other than some troublesome bunkers.
Its layout is rather unusual in that it starts off with three par 5's sandwiching two par 3's then only one more par 5 for the rest of the round. At the turn, however, the course becomes a whole other beast. There are no par 4's measuring any longer than 354 yards, but the back nine feature plenty of water hazards. This course will eat your lunch if you are not sharp with the short game.
The greens are very small, quick and very hard to hold with long to medium irons. Time and time again, members of our foursome were incredulous that shots landing on the dance floor were often kicked out of the party when we got closer, finding the ball in the rough, or worse, in the plentiful bunkers. The signature hole on this course is the very short 16th which is a small island green with a devious left back to front right slope.
I highly recommend this course as the place to knock the rust off; it's very cheap by Phoenix standards, so you can afford to work back your feel. You will be able to muscle some pars along the way, but this course won't let you off the hook without bloodying your nose either. I also really enjoyed the fact that management pipes music in to the driving range. Hitting balls I felt a slight sense of serendipity when I realized that I was listening to the Shins -- which was pretty progressive for such an old-line club. The clubhouse and bar are staffed with helpful and engaging people.
Longbow Golf Club
5601 E. Longbow Parkway, Mesa
The Longbow Golf Club is about 40 minutes southwest of downtown Phoenix in Mesa. I was first struck by the postmodern design of the clubhouse. It's very interesting, low slung and subdued, all rock and rusted metal in deep reds and orange, possibly in homage to the towering Red Mountain which is present in every vista the course has to offer. All throughout the course are reoccurring winged metal and fabric shapes that suggest a primitive canopy (or pterodactyl) and eco friendly fences and barriers which are made by placing two rows of rebar parallel and then filling them with native rocks. Very smart and smart looking.
The course itself is a beefy 7,000+ yards from its black tees, but for a desert course, it's got very generous fairways. I hit more than one errant shot and expected it to be lost amidst the cacti only to find that that course's grass extended further into the sand than it appeared from the tee.
Longbow is a relatively flat course without a great deal of elevation changes. There are several holes that reminded me of each other, though particularly holes 1 and 10. I had to go back to check my yardage book to make sure that I didn't accidentally double back at the turn. Each is a risk/reward dog leg left that makes you choose how much of the desert you are willing to carry to shorten the hole. It is a very fair course and not at all as intimidating as many desert courses can be to one accustomed to playing park style tracks.
I have to say, though, there are a couple of things that left me cold. When you are paying $130 a round you should not have to pay for range balls. More troubling than that was the constant and uninterrupted flow of single-engine plane traffic. I'm not one to complain, but the sheer volume of planes and accompanying noise was ridiculous. My partner that day made a very humorous and sadly true statement that the golfers had paid a dollar for each plane they saw that day.
As we were driving in I saw a sign for Falcon Field, which I thought was a pretty cool name for a regional airport. Little did I know that it was the small airport version of O'Hare. The course is evidently very close, and I don't know if it is a teaching facility but planes were literally doing touch and go landings and take-offs from the time we teed it up at 8:48 until about noon. Sometimes two planes at a time. On hole #7 a 168 yard par 3, I had to step off my ball because it sounded like we were about to get strafed. I looked up and was very excited to see a P-51 Mustang flying over my head, but it doesn't make for a very serene day on the links. I also saw an F4-U Corsair and a P-47 Thunderbolt which I was really stoked about, but again, not necessarily while I'm trying to play a game that rewards concentration.
As an aside, the twosome we joined up from Ottumwa, Iowa were playing using a half off coupon that they got at HoHoKam Field, the Cubs spring training home. I don't know if it is worth saving the $65 to have to spend an afternoon among Cubs fans, but some might. There are also deals to be found on their Web site.
Legend Trail Golf Course The Legend Trail Golf Course is in northern Scottsdale north near the town of Cave Creek, home to many luxurious golf clubs. Nestled in a newish western-themed planned community, I got lost trying to find it when my GPS took me down a lonely cul de sac, but eventually I found the clubhouse which is located behind a very unassuming entrance.
Legend Trail is prototypical Arizona desert golf. It is long from the tips at over 6,800 yards but not ridiculously so. The rolling holes of this par 72 track flow through the sand and the scrub. There are a variety of risk reward shots that make you scratch your head before you choose a club. I was often compelled to go with a 3 or 5 wood off the tee to avoid many of the fairway/waste bunkers that await errant tee shots.
I got a kick out of the tee markers which, in keeping with the whole western theme, are horseshoes stuck into the ground, luck side down. Thankfully, there are no forced carries over desert once you tee off, though, and little water to worry about other than the par 5 7th. There are also no blind shots on this Rees Jones design. Lovely views abound throughout the course. Standing on the tee box at the par 3 5th, you can admire the view of a placid little green framed between Pinnacle Peak and the Tonto Mountain range.
You'll want to be on your game before you try to tackle this course; it will take your ball from you if you are not confident in your swing. I was also astounded at the sheer amount of very tame jack rabbits hopping around on this course, I'm not familiar with their breeding habits but it seemed as though they were everywhere the day we played. Very friendly at that.
The practice areas of the course are a tad cramped, but they work well, and the staff is excellent: very friendly and informative. I read with interest in club literature that Legend Trail was voted as one of the "one of the Top 100 Woman-Friendly Fairways as rated by Golf For Women Magazine" and I'm not even sure what that means exactly, but I did notice an unusually large percentage of women golfers throughout my visit.
If there is a criticism of this course, it is that there is no respite from the condos and houses that line the holes at every turn. It isn't a problem specific to Legend Trail, though. The cost of maintaining a course in such harsh conditions make the encroachment of housing developments a necessary evil in modern golf. It is a bit of a shame, though, as this course is way out in the boondocks, that you never quite feel a sense of solitude. This complaint is a rather trivial one, and shouldn't dissuade you from playing this beautiful track.
The Boulders Golf Club If you are going to play one high-dollar, high-end golf club during your trip to Phoenix, you have got to consider The Boulders Golf Club. Located at the junction of the lyrically named Carefree Highway and Scottsdale Road, this course is a luxurious treat from moment you check in at the guardhouse of the gated community till you hit the clubhouse for your post round snack.
Every amenity is afforded you here. There are two separate 18's to choose from, the North and South courses. On a rare overcast and rainy Arizona day, we chose the North course. The Jay Morrish design is relatively old by Scottsdale standards, having been built in 1984, and it comes at you straight out of the box with a 513 yard par 5 featuring a blind tee shot. You do not want to follow my lead and go left at all because the entire left side of the fairway is abutted by the practice range, so unless you are playing a pink or yellow ball or get very lucky, you are dropping three because you are never going to find your errant shot amidst the hundreds of sliced practice range balls.
This course is so artfully tailored that even though you can tell which of the holes are the showpieces, each of the others is so pleasing to the eye that they all seem like they could compete for the title of "signature hole." The Boulders gets its name from the enormous rock formations littering the course at every turn. They are so grand and imposing, yet fun. Just giant piles of rocks every which way you look, some even coming in to play scattered amidst the fairways. Of course, the track is impeccably maintained, tightly weaved emerald fairways that spill all over the desert.
The North is as idyllic as you can get, and though there are magnificent houses lining the course at points, they are so cleverly designed and painted, that they are mostly inconspicuous. There are several forced carries over the cactus, scrub brush and sand, and the hole diagram card is essential for first-time players to help you plot a course through the Morrish treachery.
Though it can't be characterized as an especially narrow course, you will find yourself playing a little more conservatively to keep it on the short stuff and avoid the penalties and pitfalls that putting it in the brown stuff brings. There are a few holes where water comes in to play, but aside from the terrifying 183 yard par 3 #14, which is all carry, the threats from them can be minimized with a little course management.
Time and time again, I caught myself marveling at the spectacular homes built into Black Mountain overlooking the North. Some are so organic that they are difficult to discern from their surroundings. It took my head out of the game just wondering how those homes were built, or how the occupants even get to them without any outward appearance of roads, but I didn't consider it distraction, just a pleasurable and and inspirational aside from an excellent golfing experience. There is beauty all over this course and I can't wait to play it again.
As a top-notch golf destination, there are the requisite facilities. Multiple practice greens, a driving range, a few sand bunkers surrounding short game practice areas. It has all the bells and whistles. As I said, it was a rainy day the day we played and after the round we decided to warm up in the clubhouse where we were pleasantly surprised to find a fireplace lit. It took the chill off our bones in no time. The menu is standard Southwestern style fare and I had considered getting a very reasonably priced goat cheese and pear salad for $7, but we opted for the liquid route. This would be about my only complaint with the entire day: two 7+7's: $22.50. Yikes.
9462 E. Legendary Lane, Scottsdale
34631 North Tom Darlington Dr., Scottsdale
