Rise-

If you don't mind me asking, how much did they charge for the yardage book?

Playing vista verde (tegavah) at 11:30...got a hot deal for like $25 but it's going to be ****ing hot literally

Well, played troon north monument course at 6am the last two mornings. Really fun course. Greens are in pretty good shape. They roll true a little on the slow side.

I'm a 12 and shot 82 today, so that felt great.

Here is round summary hole by hole (from memory):

#1: narrow par 4, hit solid drive but not very far. Had 190 left to back left pin. Topped 5 iron into a bush. Ugh terrible start.
Took unplayable and had 140 left. PW to 15 ft. Missed putt. +2

#2 175 uphill par 3. Pin tucked back right behind nasty looking bunker. Drew 7 iron off bunker to pin high left about 20 ft.
2 putt par. +2

#3. Signature hole w monument rock in middle of fairway. Dogleg right par 5 reachable if you cut the corner.
I try to cut one off the rock but pull a little. Hit it flush and it cut so I ended up in the corner of the dogleg between 2 bunkers.
240 or so to the pin. I top a hybrid into and out of the trap about 30 yards ahead of me.
190 left. 5 iron to front of green. Chip up to 6 feet and sunk the par putt. +2

4: wide open short easy par 4. Nice draw on driver to 80 yds. Punch a sand wedge to 4 ft. Sink birdie putt. There we go. +1

5: long tough par 4. Hit really good drive but still 195-200 out. Pin back left. Moguls short, long is jail. Big green so I figure 5 iron to middle of the green is the play. I absolutely pure it to 3 ft. Sink birdie putt. Yessss. Back to even par.

6: short par 4 about 305. Narrow and bunkers galore. I take hybrid off tee and duck hook one about 175 but safe on the left. Pin is up so I have 103. Nice full 58 for me but I catch it fat and am short of the green. Chip goes past hole 8 ft and I don't make the par putt. +1

7: par 3 playing about 195. Hit same 5 iron as on 5 and had about 20 foot birdie putt. Burn the edge but tap in par. +1.

8: 400 yd par 4. Hit nice draw on driver. 140 out. Pw is flushed but pushed right. Pin high but chipping back to tough pin. Chip to 8 ft and miss par putt. +2.

9: reachable 500 Yd par 5. Hit great drive. 225 out. Take 4hy and pull hook it a little but it stays in bounds just short of pin high. Have to flop over a bunker to a tight pin. Hit it good but it kicked forward off the fringe and rolled past 15 ft. 2 putts for par. +2 on front for 38

Back 9

10: straight away par 4 385
Block my drive ob right. Reload and hit same line but drew it in and it finds right edge of fairway. 155 out. Hit 9 iron to front fringe. Nice lag putt for tap in double. +4

11: uphill par 5 not reachable.
Crush drive cutting corner a bit. 240 out but bunkers Gaurd everything. Hybrid pulled to about 50 yds out and left.
Punch a wedge over trap to 30 ft. Good lag for tap in par. +4

12: long par 4. Hit cut drive short. Still have 180 out. Hit 6 iron good but a little left and find green side bunker. Short sided and need to land on down sloping fringe. Hit perfect but it rolls out past stick and I miss 10 footer short by an inch. Bogey. +5

13: downhill par 3 playing about 205. 4 iron pin high. Just stays out of bunker. Chip to 6" tap in par. +5

14: 3 shot par 5. Good drive to right side of fairway. 2nd shot is a layup to the corner about 180-195. I thin a 5 iron that just misses the bunker lip and rolls out perfect. 155 left. Perfect 9 for me. I thin that one and it rolls up through the green to the back fringe and I have a downhill 15 ft birdie putt after all that trash.
Tough putt because it's sitting on a downslope and going hard right to left. I catch it really clean and roll it by 8 ft but bury the par putt. +5

15: drivable par 4 285 yds.
I pull my drive and it scoots through a fairway bunker and I have a punch 54 sw. Hit it clean just over the stick and 2 putt for par from 25 ft. +5

16: long downhill par 3. Playing 240.
Hit hybrid off toe and barely clear the brush. End up in bunker about 30 yds short. Catch bunker shot a little heavy and have a long lag putt.
Hit good lag but still miss easy 4 footer. Double bogey. +7

17: long par 4 460 yds.
Hit good drive but still have 190 left. Pull 5 iron headed for ob but hit a big cactus and it settles in the gravel.
I pitch to the green and it releases about 20 ft by. Downhill 20 footer lips out. Bogey. +8.

18: short par 4 365 yds. I hit 5 wood off tee but pull left to bunker. 145 out and I catch 9 iron clean and fly the green. Touch flop shot impossible to stop runs through. Lag putt never beaks and I leave myself 6 ft for bogey and miss. Double to end w +10 82.

Really good round for me. Really like the course.

Nice round! Back-to-back birdies is always great. Glad you liked the course.

my buddy is getting us out at Silverleaf tomorrow at 11...should be decent. Just praying they haven't punched the greens recently or some bull**** (small world problems)

I think this is my 3rd or 4th time playing Silverleaf and I really enjoy it. It's a totally fair desert course that has a ton of room off the tee and a good general layout and love the views of the city from just a few hundred feet up in the mountains.

Played Padre this week for the first time and shot my best round ever (79). I think both Camelback courses have gone to the top of my list as far as what I enjoy playing. Raven is up there too.

McDowell Mountain is my go to lately cause I work like 2 mins away. It's cheap enough but the greens are super Sandy right now.

No offense but I pretty much hate McDowell mountain....the power lines, the cramped in feel of the course and then ******ed monster 18th hole uphill into the wind lol

Ya I think you've mentioned that before... It's just so convenient for me and cheap in the afternoon. I do agree with your points.

Played Karsten on Saturday for the $29. I have worked a mile from the course and this is the first time i ever played it and i liked it a lot more than i thought i would. Found every "volcano deep" grass bunker and luckily the bunkers were still full of water so i got to drop outside of them but no closer to the hole.

I didn't like the fact that errant balls were constantly flying at you from everywhere as it seems really tight there. My buddy even hit a power line that was between the green/tee box on 12 which was insane. We were also hoping to have a hot ASU beer cart girl but alas, the one on duty was pretty beastly.

Course was in great shape from the last couple of monsoon storms except for idiots who can't fix a ball mark 2" deep on most of the greens.

Hate to be a rules nit but water in the entire bunker does not give you free relief. You have to take a stroke if you drop outside the bunker.

Wouldn't it be casual water free relief?

You can't go from into a hazard to out of one without taking a penalty. The nearest point of relief inside of the bunker may have been casual water of only .5 inches instead of 3 inches.

Ughh. Well there is 3 strokes there then. That stinks because those bunkers were like mini lakes.

Doing Raven for $12 tomorrow. I like playing all these courses for pennies on the dollar in the summer.

Oh, ok. Assumed that when you drop from casual water you have to take full relief. Courses with flooded bunkers really should just mark them GUR

This is the most practical solution. I get following the rules, but no USGA tournament situation would involve fully flooded bunkers.

Also uberoval, that's a bad beat about the cart girl. Most times they're super cute.

I can't imagine missing Karsten once it's gone but I guess we'll see. I will say that when I played in a charity event there in June it was astounding how good the condition was, particularly the greens.

On Saturday, played McCormick Ranch - Pine. They usually let the course go to hell in the summer but the fairways were nice and the greens were remarkably smooth. Which means they probably shut it down today to aerate them. Palm was closed down, including the main putting green. Looks like for punching so those greens will probably be pretty bad when they reopen.

This Friday, heading up to Torreon for an eight man, 54 hole extravaganza. I fully expect weather delays both afternoons and would be happy if we manage to finish.

Tuq - yep I have my annual seven canyons, pinewood, forest highlands canyon/meadow trip coming up end of September and already stressing about the afternoon storms that always troll us. Typically they pass quick enough to work through but sometimes it gets wild lol

Also played wildfire Palmer on Sunday for $22. Played really well and got lucky to barely avoid the desert a few times and got around in 1 under which was a nice change from some recent bad rounds. Course condition was ok, not great. Greens smooth but slower side which is to be expected.

Tried to get 18 in this morning at Karsten. This was what it looked like ~5 minutes before heavy rain, winds, and dust storm warnings.

McCormick Pine was shut down for a couple of weeks in July, so it makes sense that it's in decent shape. Probably a good idea on their part to limit their exposure in the summer.

Drove by Papago and it looks really really green for this time of year. Lots of rain recently.

The heat finally got me today. I generally don't feel it, and occasionally when I do I don't make excuses or complain about it. But I legitimately hit a wall today where it was Space Jam's Monstars-level **** for a while.

Was playing Boulders South (one of my favorites) at the time and had it going with everything but the putter to that point. Then lost it on 14 and all the way in. It always starts with the decision making, too.

Yesterday played TPC Stadium, which was fun but the course was not in great shape. They're really patching up the fairways and greens right now and the entire course just played slowwwww. The card read 7200-something from all the way back but it played a lot longer. Also didn't bring my best stuff as I had to rush to the tee from work and it took me a while to get going. Back nine played solid though and hit a lot of really nice shots on the glamour holes (15, 16, 17, 18):

Busted my drive on 15 right down the pipe, had 235 left for the second. (Downwind a touch, but still)

Played the back tee on 16 (171- didn't know there was an extra tee back there). Hit 9 iron to 12 feet.

Hit my drive to the front fringe area on 17.

Flushed a drive on 18 right down that narrow part of the fairway to 128.

Of course I played that stretch in even par but whatever.

Yeah the heat has been brutal the past few days. Not totally bummed I'm not golfing while I finish up some work stuff.

Just a PSA maybe you guys already know it, but Camelback is running a deal for $100 you get 4 rounds on either course and a night stay at the Camelback Inn.

Played legend trail yesterday and legacy today and I was extremely impressed with course conditions at both. Outstanding shape for the summer. The greens at legacy today were probably the best greens I have seen this summer. And yes funny you guys talking about the heat. I almost died today playing all hungover. Legitimately thought about quitting multiple times

Do you have a link to that deal? Sounds really good.

Heading up to bend Oregon for 4-5 days tomorrow...pretty excited to play in some cooler freaking temps lol.