Scottsdale, AZ trip report

[Lefty_SnowBird]

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 : Me playing the GrayHawk Raptor

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!

[nixdad]

That's too bad about WeKoPa, but the overseeding is why we get such good golf during our winter months.

[WMitch6]

Great timing Lefty. We're headed to Scottsdale in March and I just started looking for courses yesterday. I'm looking forward to your next installment.

[MyBluC4]

Nice trip report. Thanks.

[cheapgolfsfinest]

1. Great to see the Monument photos - having only played it on a computer, it's good to see the course for real

2. Have no worries about overlooking a photo of your friend with a cactus jammed in his hand. My day isn't any worse for not having seen that, trust me

3. I hope you didn't shed too many tears over the yellow grass at WeKoPa. Pretty soon, we will all have to get used to courses that look like that on a routine basis. There's a reason natural resources experts are calling water the new oil...

[steve in Arizona]

Sorry about your WeKoPa experience. Arizona golf courses overseed between September and the end of October and they scalp the course anything from a week to a day before overseeding (and closing). Next time google "arizona overseeding schedule 20XX" and you should be able to find a schedule. Also if you are coming in the fall, ask when you make the reservation.

A few other nice courses in the area include both Boulders courses (north and south). People have mixed feelings about the Phoenician: I like the Desert/Canyon courses (beautiful views, not too long but challenging and always in nice condition) because I don't hit the ball that far anymore but some bigger hitters think it is a bit tricked out. A little farther away but a nice course is Whirlwind (two courses -- Cattail and Devil's Claw).

[rjorde1984]

Great report on your trip! Quite the lineup of courses you guys had...props to the trip planner. My buddies and I went out to Scottsdale last spring and it was fantastic. That's unfortunate about Wekopa. We played both courses at Talking Stick and then both courses at Wekopa. Did you play the Cholla course? Wekopa was absolutely pristine when we played it and they was honestly two of my favorite courses Ive ever played. Played Cholla in the afternoon with wind and it was almost ridiculous but still fantastic and played Saguaro in the morning in perfect conditions. So we definitely got two different experiences.

Cant wait to see the next round of pics.