Better late than never, so here's my trip report for a whole week of golf in Scottsdale, AZ. Coming from Canada, this is a dream come true to play such awesome golf in mid-october!
We started the week off at the We-Ko-Pa, Saguaro course. To our surprise, most of the grass was yellow, so it didn't look exactly like the pictures I had seen. The course was due for overseeding in the following week. Very playable, but very tough course. Drives that don't hit the fairway often end up in the desert and with the course this dry, there was A LOT of roll. I even hit a 3-wood low-rider from 286 yards to 10 feet from the pin once :) The highlight of this round was my playing partner who decided to jam his hand into a cactus while walking with his arms stretched on each side of his bag (he walked the course). He wasn't paying attention and hit a cactus with the bottom end of the bag and his left hand. The cactus released a big chunk of itself that stayed stuck pretty deep in his hand. I had to use a towel folded in 4 to try and remove it. Boy that thing was hooked up solid and I can't imagine the pain that he felt when I was pulling on those things as hard as I could without stinging myself in the process. Under panic, we totally forgot to take a picture of this. He was fine after a while though and could finish his round. I shot a somewhat ok 87 being our first round of the week on such a difficult course.
So here's a random shot of me with one of many scenic views at WeKoPa
2nd day, we played the Troon North, Pinnacle course. This time, the grass was as green as it gets and the course, nothing short of spectacular. True target desert golf, with all separate tee boxes sitting on rocks and breathtaking views on each tee-off. We took plenty of pictures there and although the course looked tough, it was playing fair. I shot 83 there and was happy with it, especially since my driving went downhill fast after the first 6-7 holes of hitting fairways.
Here's one of those solid early drives (3-wood), on a scary tee-off hole. Ball started left of fairway and came back riding a left side wind with a slight draw to the right edge of the fairway.
My brother on another breathtaking hole :
Our buddy Giggy (cactus boy) on a par 3. He shot 76 on that course and was very pleased with it. Very impressive approached shots all day long with many birdies.
3rd day, we played our 2nd half of Troon North's course, the Monument! We expected nothing less than the Pinnacle and although the front 9 was beautiful, I thought it wasn't as spectacular as the Pinnacle (or we were just getting spoiled). The back nine though was probably the best of all 4 nine holes they have out there. Every hole was a postcard candidate. Too bad I played like crap there, driving horribly and losing a stroke chipping out on just about every hole. My shortgame was alright which let me shoot an 86. I was disappointed though losing so many strokes to bad driving.
Here's the signature hole "The monument", I almost hit the mexicans working behind that huge rock in the middle of the fairway. They didn't seem to be too stressed out about it...haha.
Great view!
Our friend Max who planned all this trip, he did an awesome job!
Next stop, we go to Grayhawk beginning with the Raptor course. It was the week before the Fry's Open, so a whole bunch of stands were being installed and we had to play a little forward as they wanted to keep the back tees clean and ready for the tournament. Was a great course overall with an awesome finish (16 and 18 are amazing holes). I had another crappy driving round, but finished strong to save myself from the humiliation of a 90...shot 89 with a par-par finish). Pictures are in the pictures thread here : http://www.shottalk.com/forum/pictur...wk-raptor.html
Ok, I'm tired of typing now, i'll post another thread for the 2nd part of my trip as I need to upload some more pictures and stuff. There are 3 more round reports to post, one at the Grayhawk Talon course, another at the TPC Scottsdale, Champion's course and finally, Eagle Mountain golf course. There were great scores coming up for me (finally!). Stay tuned for more coming up later this week! :)
]]>We started the week off at the We-Ko-Pa, Saguaro course. To our surprise, most of the grass was yellow, so it didn't look exactly like the pictures I had seen. The course was due for overseeding in the following week. Very playable, but very tough course. Drives that don't hit the fairway often end up in the desert and with the course this dry, there was A LOT of roll. I even hit a 3-wood low-rider from 286 yards to 10 feet from the pin once :) The highlight of this round was my playing partner who decided to jam his hand into a cactus while walking with his arms stretched on each side of his bag (he walked the course). He wasn't paying attention and hit a cactus with the bottom end of the bag and his left hand. The cactus released a big chunk of itself that stayed stuck pretty deep in his hand. I had to use a towel folded in 4 to try and remove it. Boy that thing was hooked up solid and I can't imagine the pain that he felt when I was pulling on those things as hard as I could without stinging myself in the process. Under panic, we totally forgot to take a picture of this. He was fine after a while though and could finish his round. I shot a somewhat ok 87 being our first round of the week on such a difficult course.
So here's a random shot of me with one of many scenic views at WeKoPa
2nd day, we played the Troon North, Pinnacle course. This time, the grass was as green as it gets and the course, nothing short of spectacular. True target desert golf, with all separate tee boxes sitting on rocks and breathtaking views on each tee-off. We took plenty of pictures there and although the course looked tough, it was playing fair. I shot 83 there and was happy with it, especially since my driving went downhill fast after the first 6-7 holes of hitting fairways.
Here's one of those solid early drives (3-wood), on a scary tee-off hole. Ball started left of fairway and came back riding a left side wind with a slight draw to the right edge of the fairway.
My brother on another breathtaking hole :
Our buddy Giggy (cactus boy) on a par 3. He shot 76 on that course and was very pleased with it. Very impressive approached shots all day long with many birdies.
3rd day, we played our 2nd half of Troon North's course, the Monument! We expected nothing less than the Pinnacle and although the front 9 was beautiful, I thought it wasn't as spectacular as the Pinnacle (or we were just getting spoiled). The back nine though was probably the best of all 4 nine holes they have out there. Every hole was a postcard candidate. Too bad I played like crap there, driving horribly and losing a stroke chipping out on just about every hole. My shortgame was alright which let me shoot an 86. I was disappointed though losing so many strokes to bad driving.
Here's the signature hole "The monument", I almost hit the mexicans working behind that huge rock in the middle of the fairway. They didn't seem to be too stressed out about it...haha.
Great view!
Our friend Max who planned all this trip, he did an awesome job!
Next stop, we go to Grayhawk beginning with the Raptor course. It was the week before the Fry's Open, so a whole bunch of stands were being installed and we had to play a little forward as they wanted to keep the back tees clean and ready for the tournament. Was a great course overall with an awesome finish (16 and 18 are amazing holes). I had another crappy driving round, but finished strong to save myself from the humiliation of a 90...shot 89 with a par-par finish). Pictures are in the pictures thread here : http://www.shottalk.com/forum/pictur...wk-raptor.html
Ok, I'm tired of typing now, i'll post another thread for the 2nd part of my trip as I need to upload some more pictures and stuff. There are 3 more round reports to post, one at the Grayhawk Talon course, another at the TPC Scottsdale, Champion's course and finally, Eagle Mountain golf course. There were great scores coming up for me (finally!). Stay tuned for more coming up later this week! :)
Its a very nice course for 25 bucks has a driving range and putting greens,
a hotel, or what i would call a lodge style motel. pool. nice club house, very laid back place. it just changed owners and looks like it is going to be a better course for same cheap prices. the folks who were there running the place were very cool and just nice as could be. for any of yall not close to pinehurst this is the place to stay 49 bucks a night. the course has wide fairways not to much water, but moderate bunkers. its a maples design course. greens are great fast no break at all. my eyes lied all day to me, looked for a break but the straight putt was the money.has rolling greens and fairways. a mix of left to right dog leggs, a little up hill and down hill lies, plenty of woods and i could have swore i saw a alligator? or could have be a log. i was kinda toasted on the back 9. any of you plaining on a pinehurst trip stop in and check this one out it will be a good fun 18 to play, Thanks for reading,
]]>a hotel, or what i would call a lodge style motel. pool. nice club house, very laid back place. it just changed owners and looks like it is going to be a better course for same cheap prices. the folks who were there running the place were very cool and just nice as could be. for any of yall not close to pinehurst this is the place to stay 49 bucks a night. the course has wide fairways not to much water, but moderate bunkers. its a maples design course. greens are great fast no break at all. my eyes lied all day to me, looked for a break but the straight putt was the money.has rolling greens and fairways. a mix of left to right dog leggs, a little up hill and down hill lies, plenty of woods and i could have swore i saw a alligator? or could have be a log. i was kinda toasted on the back 9. any of you plaining on a pinehurst trip stop in and check this one out it will be a good fun 18 to play, Thanks for reading,
Check out the World's Longest Golf Course on You Tube.
YouTube - World's Longest Golf Course - Nullarbor Links
It opens officially on October 22nd. It starts (or finishes) in West Australia and you continue to Ceduna 1365 kilometers away in South Australia. I saw snake on "fairway" and Emus. The Skylab hole must be the most difficult hole in golf. If you watch You Tube you'll see there is a small synthetic green with 180 meters of small nasty bushes between tee and green. There are fallen trees around the green 6 foot high. They must be full of snakes!
]]>YouTube - World's Longest Golf Course - Nullarbor Links
It opens officially on October 22nd. It starts (or finishes) in West Australia and you continue to Ceduna 1365 kilometers away in South Australia. I saw snake on "fairway" and Emus. The Skylab hole must be the most difficult hole in golf. If you watch You Tube you'll see there is a small synthetic green with 180 meters of small nasty bushes between tee and green. There are fallen trees around the green 6 foot high. They must be full of snakes!
Has anybosy been to play Bandon Dunes? Any experience with off season?
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