Durango you're a trooper.

Sorry for my ranting but I seriously have no idea what the hell is going on. I used to hit the ball pretty damn pure and now I can't do **** (hit off mats today).

Hopefully this weekend I go out to a driving range with real grass.

I like the way you guys think. Automatically assuming I was thinking about alcohol. Usually you'd be right, but this time I was actually thinking about water bottles. All I keep hearing is drink plenty of water, which I like to do anyway. Around here you may go 3-4 holes in between water coolers...even in our hot/humid summers.

most of the courses here in arizona are pretty good about water coolers but you definitely want to have a few extra water bottles ready. I like to drink a lot of water/gatorade before my round and then I switch to beers mixed in with a little bit of water during the round and I'm always fine.

beer is mostly water anyways, right? lol

just basically addicted to golf and I've got myself right around scratch so it's fun to play obv. I have a real competitive foursome that I always play with too so that makes the rounds far more enjoyable than going out with a bunch of hacks.

also to note, recently broke up the gf a few months ago so I have a ton of free time on the weekend and/or after work so it's getitng me an extra round a week at least.

Had a great group go up to Sedona for a couple day golf trip, 16 guys played a ryder cup style match, I was one of the worse players as a 7, always fun to play with good players. Day one was 2 man scrambles at Oak Creek, course is in perfect shape and I thought it was a pretty solid layout. Myself and a 2 hdcp shot 2 under and got creamed.

Second day was 2 man best ball at Sedona golf resort, me and a couple guys woke up early and played a morning round for fun (other guys drank a lot / slept in obv), glad I did, the type of course where seeing it once helps a lot. Super pretty views but not in as good a shape, and not as good a layout either I would say, and they charge a bit more, still decent though. In the best ball myself and a different 2 hdcp shot 1 under and got a push.

Final day was singles matches back at Oak Creek. My opponent is a formerly very good player who just hasn't touched clubs much in a few years, he was playing as a 6 which seemed fair, however he played awesome against me. He was even par on the front and I somehow was all square (I shot 2 over and got a stroke) but I fell off on the back and he ended up 3 over for the round with a double bogey from a tee shot where we never found the ball and later the group behind us told us they found it in the rough, so he should have been 1 over, hard to beat that

My first time in Sedona and it was definitely fun, next time hopefully we'll check out Seven Canyons or some Flagstaff courses.

That's two people now who have said they prefer Oak Creek over Sedona Golf Resort. Guess I just haven't played Oak Creek in awhile but always considered it a distant second. Or third, if you count Seven Canyons.

This is relevant because next week we are heading up for two days. The first day is already locked in at Pine Canyon, the second may be Flagstaff Ranch but if we can't get out there we're almost certainly going to end up playing one of the Sedona courses. Will give Oak Creek a look.

OAK CREEK >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SEDONA GOLF RESORT and it's really not even close. Oak Creek is Robert Trent Jones (original I believe) and it's just a fun tree lined old school course that has an awesome feel to it. Sedona Golf Resort has too many gimmick holes and just doesn't flow right imo.

Pine Canyon is the absolute nuts tho, that place is awesome. Only Forest Highlands beats it up there and only by a little bit.....

Well the main thing I remember not liking about Oak Creek was that the nine holes down in the flat area (used to be the back nine but they may have flipped it) were really pedestrian and park-like. There is a part of me that likes that I can spray my drive into other fairways though...

This weekend is Torreon, both courses (weather permitting). Someone I know with decent taste compared those courses to Forest Highlands so I am excited about getting up there. Not sure if you have been there or not. Guess I could search the thread...

Only thing I didn't like about Oak Creek is the first tee shot is impossible from the tips. It's a 560 uphill par 5 and the tee shot you must hit a cut with OB on the left and trees and water down the right and trees partially blocking a straight ball, oh and if you only cut it a little you end up in a nasty fairway bunker. First day I tried to slice a driver (I hit almost exclusively draws) and over did it in the water, second day I just said screw it and hit 4 hybrid and managed to block that into a tree that fell into water too lol.

tuq, never played in Payson somehow so I haven't got out at Chaparral Pines, Torreon, etc so I can't really comment but I'm sure it's going to super juicy. Just gotta watch out for the afternoon storms obv

OMG that first tee shot at Oak Creek is the hardest opening tee shot of any course I have ever played in my entire life. I basically just aim at the out of bounds with my three wood off the deck and just outside/in slice the piss out of it to just get it on grass. You can't really reach the green in two so it's always a three shot hole. I love the next par 5 however where you can just rip it over all the trees on the right and get way down there. The back nine is pretty flat and normal but there's still a few good holes so it's still okay.

BTW love the updates in this thread to keep us all informed on course conditions and what deals are out there for us in AZ. I agree that we should do a twoplustwo meet up soon somewhere central. We can probably get at least a foursome together....

At minimum a foursome. But we'd need to do it before October because of the overseeding (and for some possibly the prices) because as we know golf here sucks ass until at least Thanksgiving after that.

If this drive off Oak Creek is that hard and there's no way to get home in two, why not just hit like a 7-iron? I recall the first hole going up a hill and to the right but it's been so long. Gonna have to look this one up on google maps.

There is OB left and a lake on the right that goes out about 175 yards or so, so it makes a chute you have to hit straight through before you can really curve it much. That was my plan with the 4 hybrid the second time was basically "just anything I can hit straight short of the bunkers" but then I just hit it bad.

Btw the group we had up there was 16 golfer / poker players, some lurk and post on 2p2, most don't, but I can easily find more people for golf meet ups that will be fun to play with and gambool

tuq...just take your normal driver or 3 wood imo because you really have to cut the ball, no joke. If you hit 7 iron the tree is wider up top (unless they have trimmed it lately).

imo it's just a set up at the OB left and slice the living hell out of it and you will be in play and ready to roll. I don't think you can reach it in two unless you can hit a 320 hard cut with driver and then rail 3 wood 260 significantly uphill....

Well one thing is for sure, the houses on the left must get pummeled.

Anyway, we got Flagstaff Ranch confirmed so that will be our other course.

nice, I somehow haven't play flag ranch yet but my friends have played it and had a good time

finally got our golf day scheduled for tomorrow. 7:00 AM at legacy for $20/person on a foursome special followed by Talking Stick South for $30/person on a prepaid deal at 12:44 PM. If I remember correctly the North at Talking Stick is way better than the South but regardless it should be in good condition and fun times.

I will obviously trip report the conditions. Get your golf in now before the courses overseed and suck until December and of course they still want $100/person.

I am in for a round of golf. Would love to play any weekend actually if anybody wants. I am also a giant bi*** so going to wait till it cools down a lil.

played 36 yesterday

7:00 AM at Legacy for only 20 dollars. We had a little bit of rain for the first few holes and then cloud cover and it was perfect. For 20 bucks this course is an incredible value. The conditions were awesome as they usually are there. The greens were actually almost too quick lol considering the slopes they have out there. I had a couple of putts that I literally had no chance of stopping within 4-5 feet...obviously not complaining just made it somewhat tough. Ended up shooting a lackluster 74. Hit the ball really solid just didn't make any putts for birdies basically.

12:44 PM at Talking Stick South for 30 bucks. Haven't played out there in a while and really enjoyed it. The course is wide open and relatively easy so it was a good time. The greens were far slower than Legacy but still serviceable. Fairways/rough was solid. Shot a 77 as the number of beers finally caught up to me and I was a three putt machine lol

w/r/t Talking Stick: it's my understanding that the South is the more popular among those familiar with the courses. It's a little shorter, has more trees, and more interesting holes. I probably prefer it as well if only because the North can be monotonous - one 450 yard par-4 after the next, and fifteen holes between the only two par-5s (2 --> 17). However, it's fairly wide and a pretty legit challenge. But the South does have a lot of good holes and finishes particularly strong - 11 thru 18 are good, 16-18 in particular.

Anyway, played Torreon this weekend as scheduled. We didn't tee off until 10:30 but were able to play 36 holes since the weather complied and it was sunny all day. This is notable because some other friends were across the state playing at Hassayampa and they got rained out and quit after ten holes, opting not to resume because it was so wet.

Really superb courses, I jokingly told my friend who is the member that I need to play them a few more times to figure out which I like better, but it's not absurd to say that the courses are every bit as good as Forest Highlands. Great layouts, fair test of golf throughout, maybe as few as one of the 36 holes is goofy, which was our 36th and final hole of the day, the 18th on Tower - a hole I hit 7-iron off the tee followed by 8-iron into the green because of the strange layout. The member was already moaning about that hole when we pulled in 9 hours earlier because you drive by it on the way in, so I was prepared. Certainly my glowing review isn't a consequence of my play, because I sucked ass, but so did everyone else to some degree. It's sneaky tough, the punitive rough both off the fairway and around the greens probably being the largest contributing factor.

A few years back they added nine holes to take it to 36 total. As someone who is interested in routing and architecture I asked the pros which was the new nine. It's actually in the middle of the Cabin course - holes 4-12 were added, the original nine consisting of 1-3 and what is now 13-18. In fact, the teebox plates on 13-18 still read holes 4-9. The added nine holes are some of the strongest holes on the entire property, which isn't always a given when holes are added to an existing layout. Holes 9-12 in particular are excellent.

Anyway, Pine Canyon / Flagstaff Ranch this Thurs/Fri, really looking forward to that.

The problem I have with Talking Stick North is the "links style" fairways (basically pretty low cut with no rough) are super punitive on the holes with OB down the side. I can't tell you how many times I've hit what I thought was a good shot to watch it roll and roll towards the barbed wire fence and end up just under it, this is particularly brutal since we gamble hard at Talking Stick

The friend of mine I play there with the most always moans about those holes. I've been a victim as much as anyone - I swear not to let the OB get in my head and invariably I pull it left as if to prove a point to myself - but I kind of like the uniqueness. The 3rd hole is the toughest, with the smaller landing area, plus on that hole the cart path runs along the fence, I've hit drives that have rolled down the left losing speed, only to catch the path and trickle OB. Super aggravating.

Plus they occur early on - 2, 3, and 12, so at least they aren't late when a bunch of bets are riding. If you can get to the left side fairway on 12 then it's a smart play since it more or less removes the OB problem behind/left of the green.

Had an aforementioned golf outing the last two days. We were lucky in that the weather was very nice and we were spared any weather delays.

Pine Canyon: this is my new favorite course in the state, and a top two favorite that I've ever played (Cabo Del Sol Ocean being the only other one that comes immediately to mind). No way that Forest Highlands is as good as this course, it's a big boy course with generous landing areas but is still plenty difficult. Just barely got all 19 holes in before darkness, were about to have trouble reading putts on the final green as it got dark. Facilities were incredible and the place reeked of class and money.

Unlike Torreon last week, took some pics this time.

Looking back down from the 2nd green:



From the 3rd tee. Even though it's ~230 yards, both my teammate and I hit it inside 10 feet and made our birdie putts. One of the rare highlights of the day for me, but he fared better:



7th tee, short par-5:



11th hole, short downhill par-3:



17th, ~210 yard par-3. It wasn't as dark as this picture would make it appear. It was also another par-3 that both my teammate and I birdied, although it required me to make about a 40 footer:



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flagstaff Ranch: if I hadn't already played Torreon and Pine Canyon in the past week I would have been impressed. But compared to those two it was a poor imitation: goofy, often unfairly tight holes, houses were closer to the course and not particularly nice, everything just felt a lot cheaper. Even the members milling around were of the untucked shirt and cussing a lot variety. Still a good course though with some interesting and memorable holes, and the greens were excellent and quite fast.

Uphill par-4 8th:



Par-3 17th, a good hole at 235 yards, well down the hill:

nice pics tuq. I have played forest highlands and pine canyon and forest highlands still gets the nod but pine canyon is definitely right there behind it. Love both those courses.

speak of forest highlands...I have my big guys golf trip coming up september 22-26. We stay at a sick house right behind the 14th tee on the meadow course at forest highlands. We are playing seven canyons on the way up, then pinewood sunday, and 8 out of 12 in our group is playing forest highlands meadow/canyon on monday/tuesday.

4 of us dont work in the golf industry anymore and when our old head golf pro made the call the head pro at forest highlands asked if all 12 people still worked in the industry and my old pro couldn't lie and told him the truth. They offered us a rate of $110/person per day but that would mean $220 to play mon/tues. Having played forest highlands a bunch of times we decided to pass on that so 8 out of our 12 will play there and my foursome will be donking around at pinewood/elephant rocks/oak creek cc or something monday/tuesday....

It definitely sucks but I understand how it goes. Anyone have any connections to get a group a cart fee or reduced rate at Pine Canyon, Flag Ranch, Aspen Valley, etc lololololololol. I can trade a comp round out at Quintero if anyone can help out hit me up.

Nice pics tuq. Never seen AZ like that.

northern arizona is pretty wild, flagstaff/sedona is amazing and only 2 hours from phoenix