Thoughts, Reviews, and Ramblings

My visit to Sterling Golf and Country Club was really fascinating. The club just recently opened (February, 2021) and so everything is new or still in construction. The course is a Troon managed club which gets you on with some discounts if you are using a Troon card or have a Troon Privé membership. The course is a Nicklaus designed course with a menagerie of mounds, traps, and hazards to menace all levels of golfers. I played the Blue tees which were still 6,500 yards and managed to throw out a number that I will not be recording in the GHIN computers. read more

For starters... Verrado is not in Scottsdale. It's actually about a 45 minute drive from mid-Scottsdale and well worth it. My first impression of the Victory course is that someone dropped patches of sod in the middle of a gravel pit. My second impression was how cool it would be to play through patches of grass in a gravel pit! read more

My last golf outing in Mesa was a dud (see Painted Mountain review) so I was super pleased when I pulled into the parking lot at Longbow. I was expecting some guys with mullets and dip spit bottles to greet me at the bag drop, but that was not the case. Maybe I underestimated Mesa... read more

A beautiful Friday afternoon for golf. Not a cloud in the sky and a light breeze to mellow the 97 degree heat. I heard lots of good things about Estrella and they were all pretty much on point. Wide rolling fairways, minimal water hazard, and an abundance of sand traps. read more

I grabbed my trusty cohort Leslie and we headed down south of town to the edge of the Gila River Reservation to play Whirlwind Golf Course. While this course is just across the highway from Foothills GC, there is little similarity. Foothills has some elevation while Whirlwind is built in a flat area. Whirlwind is also a Troon managed club so there is a bit more uppity swank to this course than you will find across the way. If you have a Troon card then use Troon's portal to book your tee times. There are two 18 hole courses at Whirlwind, Devil's Claw and Cattail. We played Cattail. These are both courses designed by Gary Planks. The course is adjacent to the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass which is an enormous resort with the pools and water features running along some of the fairway. read more

The TPC in Scottsdale has two courses. The Champions Course on the east side of Hayden Road and the Stadium Course on the west side. There are some huge differences in these two courses so I will not merge them together in a single review. The Stadium course is the home of the Waste Management Phoenix Open and probably most well known as the "Greatest Show on Grass" or as I like to refer to it as the "biggest shit show in golf" (not because Waste Management is the sponsor, but because it gets packed with loud obnoxious drunks). The tournament would also be a different review, but I digress...back to the course. read more

Let's get things straight right off the bat...Mountain Shadows is a miniature golf course. I don't mean that they have windmills and giant clown trying to eat your golf ball, but it feels like a regular 18 hole course that got zapped with a shrink ray. I will admit my experience with 9-hole courses is limited. The ones I played in Colorado before moving were Windsor Garden's Emerald Greens--nine holes of flat yard with some greens--or Foothills Par 3 in Denver which has some design to it, but only just 9 holes. Starfire Golf Club in Scottsdale has The Mulligan, which is also a 9-hole par three which feels like there was some extra lawn, so they added some tee boxes. read more

There are lots of ways to say mediocre and I know I will piss off lots of locals by saying, Talking Stick defines mediocre. Right from the Talking Stick homepage, "Stunning Scenery"... Going to have to say no on that. If I replaced the cacti across the fence line with rows of corn, you wouldn't know you weren't in Iowa. But don't write this course off, I like to start with the bad and then work my way into the good. read more

Whenever I ask people if they have played Silverado their response is almost always, "Yeah, I love that course". They don't say it in an "The course is amazing!" sort of way, but people just tend to find it a good fun course. Located at the south end of McCormick Ranch, in the same lowland that a handful of other courses share, lives Silverado meandering through neighborhoods and adjacent to Hayden Road (for a good part of the front 9). read more

McDowell Mountain GC is a course I feel a bit conflicted about. It is a really enjoyable tract to play, but at the same time can be a bit underwhelming. Upon arrival the club house is attractive and the bag drop folks are quick and helpful. There are a lot of shade trees around the main building which is a great area to stretch out and practice a little chipping. The driving range is directly in front of the building and it looks out towards the valley to the west.
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Our first visit to The Legend at Arrowhead started with a guy coming over the loud speaker and telling us to return from the first tee to pay for a ride-along. Seriously? Over the loud speaker. It happened to be the first place in the valley (in the midst of the pandemic) that was no longer allowing people to have their own carts. Leslie dumped me off and drove back to the clubhouse to pay her $15 to ride along fee and got called "darling" by a troll hanging out at the pro-shop counter (not an employee). Who would have thought getting called darling would set someone off, but Leslie drove that cart like a bat of hell the rest of the day. This is why she would be dangerous with a club in her hand. read more

One thing I love about golf is being outdoors and getting to take in the beauty of a well manicured course. In the Scottsdale area I have found it is absolutely consistent that you pay for pretty. Coldwater is definitely not pretty. From the driving range that could pass for a dump site to the golf cart workers in their mullets and rocker tees, you get the immediate perception that your day is going to be less than enjoyable. But that was apparently me being a bit too judgy from the git go. read more

For starters this is not in Scottsdale. It is West Valley and a fairly easy drive though, so it gets reviewed. The majority of the courses reviewed are public courses, but not necessarily municipal courses, and maybe that is the big problem with Cave Creek. As you roll into the property it is not obvious where you go. The pro shop site is up on a hill well past the parking lot. The parking was overflowing and much of that may have been that they do have a large driving range that most likely brings in lots of additional traffic, beyond the slated tee times. read more

When you pull up to Painted Mountain the first thing you notice is, "Resort? Where is the resort?". The main building looks like the VFW, old and boring. The bag drop is a bit messy with the guys managing carts in a panic to get carts cleaned and returned to the course. This is an old course that has had little updating since its inception and you can tell. The pace of play was terrible and we were backed up three groups as soon as we left the first tee. read more