yeah orange tree never got in good shape until after the first frost so it could kill off some of the grass on the greens...it was really nice this last season though so if you see a deal there sometime in Jan/Feb/March I woudl recommend checking it out again...

Didn't find Superstition Springs to be a bad course. Played it from the tips and 7000+ yards was all I could take. There was a lot more water in play than on any of the other courses I've played so far and my score reflected that. The greens were a touch slow for the most part, but I think I've said that about every course I've played since moving to AZ. I'm definitely gonna have to check out some of these courses you guys are so big on. Maybe the courses I was playing in NC were worst than I thought, but so far, every one I've played here is nicer than what I'm used too. Yes, even painted mountain, which I'm heading back to tomorrow for more free golf. Maybe everything is appealing to me just because its so much different than what I've been playing on.

The drive this morning took me about an hour with very little traffic. The drive back was about 15 minutes longer due to rush hour traffic, but meh, whatever.

I ended up sneaking out of work today early and playing a free round at Moon Valley with my two buddies. We teed off at 3 PM walking and finished 18 which was nice. 3 hour walking rounds is always nice.

Conditions were definitely decent. Grass came in pretty good they just hadn't fully mowed tee boxes down, etc but that's to be expected. The greens were very lightly overseeded and already cut low and good. It looks like they are going with a light overseed thin type of greens for the winter...but I'm no expert.

WEST SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE

Valuetown on the west side is 500 Club, Coldwater, Golf Club Estrella or whatever it goes by now is probably a solid value and is a very good course. Verrado may be affordable and is a very good track. Hillcrest when/if it's in good shape. Trilogy/Vistancia is supposed to be decent. Never played Copper Canyon but it's on my Troon pass so one of these days should make it out there.

There is definitely value in some of those courses because they are on the outskirts of town (in this case all on the WEST SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE) and have to be competitive to get people to drive that far.

WEST SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE is exactly what I want to be reading about. Good values close to home. I'm definitely gonna have to work on that list of courses. Thanks tuq.

Has there been any more thought put into a 2+2 outing of some sort?

Well, if we're gonna go it, December is the month. 1) courses are pretty much all the way recovered and most aren't cart path only, and 2) prices aren't jacked up to peak until January. They are still high but they aren't totally ridiculous. For example, with Troon Pass, here are some rates: Whirlwind is $65, Quintero $65, Boulders $79, Talking Stick $65, Kierland $79. Those are all good value and go way up in January.

quintero is easily the best value out of those imo...that place is spectacular as per my previous posts...

I have a buddy who works there so I can get off there for free but we almost always have 4.

I know there is a separate thread for this, but I wanted to start by looking in the Phoenix area for simplicity reasons.

I'm in the market for a new set of irons. I'm currently swinging a set of Nike blades, about 5 years old. When I got them I was playing 3 times a week or more and my ball striking was a lot more consistent. Now, I'm playing a lot less, and as a result, my ball striking isn't as good and I've lost quite a bit of club head speed. Basically, I'm just wanting to go back to something a little more forgiving, and a little longer. I'm 6'2-6'3. My current irons are 3/4" long, 2 degrees upright, and have x100 shafts. I'm looking for something a little longer than stock, and probably just stiff shafts. Not looking for over sized, game improvement irons, just something more in line with what I should be swinging as a 7-8 hdcp, instead of the blades to "be like Tigerrrrrr". I'm not wanting to spend a ton, so I'm not really looking for a brand new set. I'm also open to trades of some sort. If you have, or know someone who has a set they're looking to part with, let me know.

Thanks guys.

I'm pretty bad when it comes to equipment advice - just got new irons for the first time in over a decade, and rarely change out the other clubs either.

Was fitted for Pings (my third set dating back to the late 80s) at a place called AZ Golf Works on University in Tempe - yet another place that's nowhere near you. I mention this because they are local guys who sell a lot of used clubs. I'm guessing you could get plenty of selection on that side of town, pretty sure there's a Golfsmith out there by Arrowhead or something, but my experience with these guys was very positive. They also have the best price in town on new Pro-V1s, $6 or so cheaper than the Van's by me.

Thanks Tuq. I'll have to check out AZ golf works. I've been in the golfsmith on Bell by the 101 when I was getting my 1 iron reshafted. It was like they had certain brands they really wanted to sell me, regardless of what I liked or disliked. That kind of turned me off from there.

Sure. I'm not affiliated with them in any way or anything, but they are local guys who seem to know what they are doing and gave me solid advice. Apparently they do a lot of work for some of the country clubs around town so they presumably have a decent rep. It is a long-ass way from you though...

Less than hour from the house. And since I go to CAZ a few times a week, shouldn't be too difficult to make it by there.

played moon valley yesterday with my buddy who works there so we got comped obv

course is in fairly good shape, definitely worth playing. looks like they went for a light seed on the greens with a lot of sand so the surface is already very playable which was suprising.

fairways are decent and mowed down.

ended up shooting a 75 with a triple on the 15 (235 par 3) after I got short sided and went for the hero flop shot and failed twice FTL.

All in all I will still take 75 most days.

Growing up that was the 6th hole and it was a short par-4 (the green was set back probably 50-60 yards from where it is today). As you can imagine I liked it a lot more at the time. Now it's all I can eat with a long iron and not sure I've parred it once in the handful of times since the change.

ec, yeah the golf store I mentioned is in fact just off the L101 and close to the L202, and I forgot you went to CAZ so it's indeed fairly close to there.

I'm hoping to get by there tomorrow or Wednesday. The plan is to stop by CAZ, win 600, then go buy new clubs. Lol easy game.

tuq, I never played that hole as a Par 4 but I am 28 years old so it may have been a few years before my time...

anyways, yeah I don't have a club for that hole basically unless the wind is into me hard and I can choke up on a 3 wood lolololol

Tuq - thanks for the advice about AZ golf works. Went by there today. Haven't bought anything yet, but the guys were real nice to deal with. I'll definitely be purchasing from there when I make my mind up. Leaning towards the titleist cb 712 right now......but that's subject to change by morning.

ec,

Thanks for the update, glad to hear it went well. Hopefully their prices on Titleists are competitive, they were on the Pings I went with. I remember a couple of weeks after picking them up one of the guys from there recognized me out at Papago and came over to ask me how the clubs were treating me, which was nice.

Playing Gainey Ranch in a nine hole scramble event tomorrow - nine holes is just about perfect for a scramble, wouldn't mind if it became the norm. Luckily the guy who invited me is one of the coordinators so we got choice of nines.

Tuq,

Which pings did you get? They had told me about some that were on sale for 60 a club, but I don't remember which ones they were. im not even sure what their price was on the titleist since I was looking more at their used clubs.

flopped the nuts tomorrow and playing 36 with both rounds being comped..

round 1 - Quintero first out 7 AM tee time
round 2 - Moon Valley 1 PM

pretty damn pumped to get out to quintero as my buddy said it's perfect. plus they have bent grass greens so they are perfect this time of the year and rolling around 11 supposedly (and not a bull**** 11)

Sick brag. Sounds like an awesome day.

I went with i20s. Got eleven of them, 3-L with four wedges. I had been using the same irons for over a decade so was fine buying new, plus they may not even be available used anywhere yet. They appear to be the most highly regarded Ping irons in years.

played orangetree on saturday and aguila today

orangetree was okay at best. as usual the ground was very wet and not a lot of grass to hit off around the greens so if you missed the green it was real sketchy.

aguila was far better and only $15 to walk with my city card. teed off at 1:28 and finished right at dusk which was nice. conditions were far better than orangetree as it wasn't muddy and there was actual grass. greens were a little slow as to be expected but going to real nice here in a couple more weeks

quintero last weekend was a joke...conditions are perfect already but they do have bent grass greens so firm fast greens this time of the year automatically makes it awesome. we teed off at 7 AM so the course played a million yards wet, cold and early AM from the tips so I think I will be sticking to my normal 1 PM tee times from now on.

If anybody wants to meet up this week to play pm me.

I am playing Quintero for free tomorrow morning with my buddy who works out there every once in a while. First official tee time is 7:30 but we will go out at 7-7:10 to have the whole course to ourselves...should be sick and get me back in time to smoke a couple turkey breasts for my family gathering.

my only bitch is that that course is a frickin beast from the tips first thing in the morning with wet conditions...literally felt like the course was 8000 yards last time we played in the morning.

at least carts are off paths finally!