got a 12:36 time at papago tomorrow but might cancel it because one of our guys has a buddy up at Rim Club in Payson that he's going to call to see if we can get out tomorrow afternoon. Haven't had a chance to play Rim Club but it will be a snap call if we can get out there for a cart fee. Tuq I'm sure you've teed it up there...looks pretty sweet from the online pictures/tours.

so somehow ended up getting the hook up at the Rim Club tomorrow for a cart fee...pretty good upgrade from Papago and cheaper I think lol

okay I finally go un-lazy and uploaded some pictures to make this thread a little more interesting. I will start with my pics from yesterday at Rim Club.

Overall : The clubhouse, ammenities and golf course were very enjoyable.

The course was in excellent shape and the greens were a little slower than forest highlands so you had a good chance to make some putts. The only downside to the course I would say was that there was a good number of completely blind approach shots so you basically had to trust your distance and let it fly. Also hole #2 might be the hardest hole in the state 475 dog leg right up hill narrow and trees hanging over the edges. I made double there and still shot a respectable 76 from the tips. Pics below

I've made my way around most of the courses in the state. There are still a few I'd like to play but haven't - some of the newer courses up in Marana north of Tucson, either course at Whisper Rock, most of the courses at Desert Mountain, Estancia, and Rim Club. Have never played it. I hear it's clearly better than its predecessor and neighbor, Chaparral Pines, but that's about it.

Just drove by both yesterday on my way back from the White Mountain CC event. Had a great time, course isn't particularly long - to be fair it's like 50+ years old - but the greens are so tricky and impossible to play from above the hole that it's a hell of a hard test of golf. On two separate occasions yesterday I landed near the back of the green and spun all the way off the front. Like no chance of getting near a back hole location with a wedge, and over the green is absolute death. For that reason it's a perfect old guy course, just bunt it up onto the green with no spin. In fact, we were in the championship flight, and the guys who won were a couple of really old guys who just kept it below the hole and avoided the dreaded double bogey on quota day.

EDIT: started my post before you made yours. Nice pics, really haven't ever seen any of the Rim before.

yeah my pics are that good of quality due to ****ty iphone 4 but you can at least see a little bit of what I am talking about. Fun layout and definitely not overly hard but a ton of blind shots where you just have to hit it and hope. I haven't played Chaparral Pines but I heard it's a little more narrow and you really have to hit it dead straight

Pics look just fine to me.

On our way back yesterday we drove by some course I'd never heard of called Bison Ranch or something. It's right across the highway from Torreon. At a glance it looked comically tight, can't stand that. Flagstaff Ranch was kind of that way - skimp on the amount of grass and put the houses close to the course so you're almost suffocating because of how narrow everything is. It's pretty much impossible to hit driver because the margin for error is virtually nonexistent. That's what makes Torreon, Pine Canyon or Forest Highlands so great, you can miss thirty yards right or left and not end up in someone's living room.

here's some pics from my trip to seven canyons and forest highlands a few weeks ago..

pics start with seven canyons and then move on to forest highlands...also had to put a pic in of the house we stay at and "some" of the beer we brought up there lol

also found some pics I had in my photobucket from Quintero



this par 3 is my favorite in arizona

Just played Painted Mountain. its not a course I would brag about, but I wasn't at all disappointed in it. Decent course with some nice holes. Grass was a little long because they just reopened from overseeding, and it was cart path only. But besides that, it was a good time. Shot a 73 on a par 70, so I was pretty happy with that.

no offense EC but painted mountain sucks balls...I mean I'm sure it was cheap but just listen to recommendations in this thread and it's almost always worth driving a little bit to the outskirts for the better courses/cheaper rates

It was free, so it was worth it. Lol. Like I said, I didn't think it was anything special, but it wasn't a goat track or anything. It was short and pretty easy, but the layout was right in line with most other courses I've played since I've gotten out here. Sucks balls may be a little extreme. I've played courses that fit that description, and this wasn't quite.that bad.

alright fair enough, I'm a pretty big golf snob so we'll just leave it at that. Free is free and that's obv an auto yes!

i played monument at Troon North today. 41-35. FWIW while i was douching around on the front I could not stop saying how much i loved the course and how it blew grayhawk away. So it wasn't like i was playing well so i liked it. That front nine is pretty beautiful (along with the back). the fairways were a BIIIITTTTTT longer than i usually like and a bit wetter, but I found the conditions to be 9.5/10. the greens were not fast,(not slow) but rolled super true.

I would prefer to just play there the rest of trip but we are headed to boulders tommorow which is supposed to be very good as well. Not sure what course we are playing (if there is more than one) but will post back.

mrmarky, yeah those courses are fun it just sucks that you are coming at possibly the worst time for arizona golf conditions because almost all of the courses have overseeded rye grass for the winter. that's why the grass is longer, thicker and wet and probably cart path only while the new grass establishes. Some courses get back to good conditions faster but October is typically rough conditionwise.

saying that I know troon, boulders, etc overseeds a lot earlier than courses on the desert floor so if money isn't an object then they will be the best bet conditionwise.

Does every course in phoenix still overseed everything? (been 8 years since I lived there)

I thought I read a few years ago some places (whether economy or water restrictions) trying to get by with not doing it.

Here in Dallas, almost no where overseeds. (I think it gets just cold enough sometimes that it's not worth it) Thanksgiving-March the courses are all brown/dormant and everyone still plays. The courses get pretty beat up since the grass isn't growing. Greens actually stay pretty good imo, they can get really really fast and slick if they don't let them grow out a little before they go dormant.

Anyway, I'm a little surprised that a few courses in Phoenix don't try not overseeding. They could offer good prices and great conditions in October and November when all the other courses are basically unplayable.

Some courses have experimented with letting their greens go dormant because they are still very playable that way - firm but fast and true - but it doesn't seem to be a trend which has caught on for whatever reason.

Golf is turrible here for now though, and I may go up to Prescott to play Antelope Hills next week. Aside from that I wouldn't mind taking a month or more off to let courses improve. Especially with football on the weekends.

As for Painted Mountain, the real news is that ec_outlaw must have driven a long ass way across town from the west siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide to get there. Agree it's not much of a course but if it's in decent shape and free it's fine. My concern is that it's a John Jacobs course as is Red Mountain Ranch, Legend Trail, Orange Tree, and Hillcrest, and it seems that ever since they took over those courses the conditions have gone downhill. It's particularly irksome how they shaved like 90 yards off the 9th at Hillcrest, turning what was a legit tough par-4 into a completely forgettable hole just to ram their school into the back of the driving range.

Oh and the Troon North course now known as Pinnacle is >>> Monument (for reference, Monument is named after the large dildo-shaped rock in the middle of the 3rd fairway, so when they reconfigured the courses the name stayed with that one). Boulders is a very worthy alternative though that shouldn't be skipped.

From house to course was right at an hour drive. Which seems silly when there's so many nicer courses much closer, but a guy I just met at the poker table said he could get me on free so let's goooooo. I don't mind an hour drive, since that was the norm for me in NC if I wanted to play anything besides my 2 regular courses. Right now for me its all about finding people to play with, more so than worrying about where.

TUQ I'm with you, unless I get some good hook ups up north I am basically taking the next 2-3 weeks off minimum. It's a good time of the year to catch up on some chores around the house.

I actually just overseeding my backyard on Monday so we'll see how long that takes to get growing good. The seed should be popping this weekend I would think.

yeah papago did a bunch of work and cleaned up the course...it had gone to crap for a while but definitely worth playing now. It's pretty long from the absolute tips and a good test.

Just got invited to play superstition springs tomorrow, and since I have a hard time saying no to golf, I accepted. Just curious what to expect. Any of you guys have any reviews of that place?

It's basically at the Legend Arrowhead level, maybe a notch below, but definitely better than Painted Mountain and it pains me that you are driving so far for a course like this.

As usual, my first concern is how recently they reopened. Some courses - especially the mid/low tier ones - have no shame at all and will throw people out on barely grown in courses with awful, slow, wavy greens. I've played a lot of scramble charity events on courses like that...they love booking scrambles in October/November since players really don't care as much about the conditions and they're getting around in the same (slow) pace no matter what.

Notably, the course I live on (AZ Biltmore Links) still hasn't shut down to overseed. They are always one of the last to go but were still open as of today. Maybe they're head-faking and will shut down tomorrow.

Finally, I should have recommended you go upstate before it got too late. I played Antelope Hills up in Prescott last Thursday, rare weekday golf hooky. Temp was in the mid/upper 70s and the course was perfect. Well, the greens were at least. $34 w/cart. Amazing value.

Thanks for the input. The guy that asked me to play is the same one that got me in painted mountain for free. I got along with him and his friends real good so I just figured I'd rather make a longer drive and play with people I know I'll have fun with than book something closer and run the risk of getting paired with people I'd rather not be playing with. Plus, I drive to talking stick most weekdays anyway so I'm used to the daily drive. That said, I'm ready to start playing some places a little closer to home. Gonna start trying to stay west of Phoenix whenever possible.

EC, I concur with everything that Tuq said in his posts. Get up north to Prescott for sure and check out Antelope Hills/Stoneridge before its too chilly. The drive up there might only be 20-25 dminutes more than all the way over to Superstition Springs, no joke.

Tuq, regarding Bilty Links...I have a buddy that has worked there forever lol. They actually close down on Thursday to scalp and seed. The courses like Biltmore that have two courses have a such an advantage to spread out the seeding and maximize profits when everyone else has to shut down basically for 3-4 weeks.

Also, I used to work at Orange Tree for 5-6 years during high school and college and we loaded up scramble tourneys this time of the year lololololololol. The best part was that people really didn't care that much. They knew the course was seeded, but 85% of the charity golf crowd was there for booze and fun and as long as the grass was green they were happy.

I have still managed to play every weekend and avoid any overseeding conditions but I think my run will end this week. My budddy works at Moon Valley and he said the grass is already cut down and playable so considering it's free I will prolly go check it out.

Yeah it was just occurring to me how many scrambles I've played in over the years around this time. I've gotten tired of them though and avoid them for the most part, but have one at Gainey Ranch next week. It's a nine & dine, so they'll no doubt put us on the most recently opened of the three nines.

Of course, another reason that scramble players don't notice is that most of them are pretty bad golfers with really low expectations. Which is a perfect fit courses which just reopened. I recall playing Orange Tree about ten years ago right around the end of October, I remember this because it was a Sunday morning after a Halloween party the night before and I had just about the biggest hangover ever. Although it's been awhile I still recall the incredibly slow greens and fairways, not helped by the fact that it was rainy and cold.

It is actually true that his drive clear over to Superstition Springs will be only slightly farther than a drive to Prescott would be, and the golf would be 1000X better up there. I just hope his drive over and back doesn't involve rush hour either way, that would easily make it well over an hour.

Thursday is an odd day to shut down but it must have something to do with the Adobe reopening, I haven't taken a look at the situation over there. You think they'd leave Links open through the busy Friday-Sunday period and then shut it down the following Monday.