Sitting in the airport in Norfolk, VA right now getting ready to board a plane for Phoenix. Looking forward to being on a golf course by the weekend.

where do you plan on playing EC? There's a few of us that have played a bunch of the courses around here and can help steer you to courses that are in good shape/good value.

What's your price range, area you are staying and willingness to drive 30-45 minutes for a good course/value?

I'm gonna be living in Surprise. Most courses I had been playing were a 30-60 minute drive before, so the drive is no biggie. The course I had been playing most was costing me 50 bucks due to the jacked up prices we had during the summer, even though I was getting the locals rate. I'm fine paying that, or as much as 100 every now and then if the course is outstanding. That said, like everyone else, I'm always looking for good value.

I'm also gonna be looking for someone to play with, so if anyone is interested, hit me up. I'm about an 8, even though I don't have an official handicap.

*crickets chirping*

Haha, sorry - kinda been away and forgot about this thread.

Well, I reiterate that we should have some sort of Phoenix golf meetup, but my current problem is that I'm tied up golfing or otherwise until the second weekend in October, and weekends are far better than weekdays for me. That puts us square in ****ty golf territory, where courses are either closed or reopened and suck/are overpriced. In short, it's not personal.

Speaking of which, played We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro) today in preparation for an event next weekend. Because of the event we played one tee up, where we will be playing from next week. Only plays to like 6500 from there so was a welcome respite. For selfish reasons I always like how much more forgiving that course is than Cholla, although next week we're playing them both. Greens faster than they looked and course in generally good shape.

I'm all for some kind of meet up. We'll leave it up to you Tuq to make it happen. I know nothing about any of the courses in the area so my input is pretty useless. But I will say I'm down for anything. Even just a 1 day/2 round thing would be fun. Pick a day and a couple courses and see what kind of interest there is.

sorry EC I was up in Seattle and Vancouver this weekend so I was away from the thread...if you are living in Surprise then as we have talked about a few times in this thread your first stop should be Quintero...it's definitely within 30-40 minutes from where you'll be and is a great value and layout for your first desert golf experience

after that...in your area...I would recommend checking out trilogy at vistancia. just pm me or tuq or ask here about courses and we will tell you our opinion if we have played them. theres some great golf values in south phoenix (legacy, aguila, raven, whirlwind,etc) so that's probably the best value in the phoenix metro area imo...perhaps tuq can give his advice as well

Thanks durango. I'll have to check those out first chance I get.

similar to Tuq's trip a few weeks ago, we have our big trip officially lined up now September 22-26 and we got super lucky.

Saturday - Seven Canyons in Sedona (cart fee)
Sunday - Pinewood in Flagstaff (cart fee)
Monday - Forest Highland Meadow ($55)
Tuesday - Forest Highland Canyon ($55)

There's 12 of us going on the trip but only 8 of us still work in the golf industry so that complicated things a little bit trying to get comped at Forest Highlands. They comped 8 people for both days and then offered for each of us that doesn't work in the industry to just pay a $110 rate for one day and then they will comp us the next day. Fair deal imo.

So for around $150 bucks (or $40 bucks for my golf industry buddies) we get four awesome days of golf.

The kicker is that stay in a house right behind the 14th tee on the Meadow course for the degen win at night.

^ pretty sick, particularly the prices and venue.

Played our Ryder Cup-style event at Wekopa this weekend. We got shellacked - 10-2 against in singles match points today after coming in with a two point lead, just a massacre - but had a good time. It REALLY helped that the four guys on the other team I played with over the two days were very cool. Didn't know any of them before our rounds so could have gone either way.

Found out today that the Saguaro greens are a different, probably better rolling, kind of grass that they planted a couple of summers ago. This was really noticeable playing the courses on back-to-back days. Cholla's greens are a little more coarse and sticky, Saguaro's a little smoother. Neither hold particularly well but it's that time of year. Luckily I hit a high ball so it basically stops anyway, but people who come in low don't get much spin, and chips or pitches don't hold at all.

Also, still really really hate #2 on Cholla, and to a lesser degree #8. Those two holes are like warts on a supermodel.

I don't get out to Wekopa as much as I should since most of my friends are cheap asses and we usually play where it's free and/or cart fees.

We played Moon Valley again yesterday and it was considerably better than it had been with all of the rain we had. The rough is still non existent for the most part since they don't water it but if you keep it straight you have pretty good lies throughout. Greens were rolling smooth and were fine.

Super pumped up for this trip starting saturday. Staying at my buddy's cabin in Forest Highlands for four days might be better than the golf. Booze, golf, poker, fishing and general degening is the name of the game up there.

Played trilogy at vistancia today. Nice course. Thought it was a great value at 28.00. Shot a 74 after being +4 after 3(from the middle tees...6500 yards). The whole course was in great shape. Greens were slower than I'm used to, but rolled good. Will definitely be going back....playing legend at arrowhead Thursday morning.

glad you liked trilogy, it's gary panks and just about every gary panks is a good fair layout with a decent amount of room to actually play golf.

legend at arrowhead is kind of a love it or hate it course. there's a few very solid holes but there's some seriously wacky holes that are tucked into the layout. probably worth playing and deciding for yourself. just be aware that all of the courses will be overseeding by middle of october so you only have a bout a month or less before EVERYWHERE is ****ty for at least 4-6 weeks.

I don't know about you guys but I pretty much take at least 5-6 weeks off as soon as the courses seed and then try to play places that overseeded first obv. easier said than done but it's part of the deal living in the heat

Played legend at arrowhead today. I thought it was a decent layout. Some challenging holes in there. Some very challenging greens at times, depending on pin location. Speaking of which, that was my only real complaint. Several of the pins were placed within inches of where they've been recently. The "old" holes weren't smooth at all. Spent plenty of time watching the ball kick away just before going in.

Didn't hit the ball particularly well. Hit most fairways but had terrible control of my short irons. Constantly left myself long 2 putts or up and down chances. Managed an 81, but I felt like it should've been much lower. It didn't help that I got paired with a couple guys that shot around 110 and didn't have the first clue about golf etiquette. All and all it was a good time and I'll probably play there again in the future.

I have always had distance control issues at arrowhead now that you mention it. Some of the way the greens set up are definitely very deceiving especially when the wind starts blowing. I have caught myself being 2-3 clubs short/long multiple times out there.

there's a ton better tracks that legend at arrowhead but like I said, it's worth a play

epic golf trip starts tomorrow for my group of 12 guys...pretty damn pumped. I will try to get some iphone pics to share.

still need to download some of the pics from my trip...don't have a lot but the courses we played were fantastic. My golf game was not

Forest Highlands might as well been a US open track the days we played. 20-25 mph wind, super thick bluegrass rough and firm greens that were rolling 11.5-12 in the flat spots and much faster downhill or downgrain. Now I know how helpless the guys on tour feel in the US Open/Masters. There were so many shots that my group had that were literally impossible. I have never seen so many good players 4 putt in my entire career.

Forest Highlands Meadow was everyone's favorite as usual. Canyon was cart path only so that makes it kind of a hassle to play. Meadow allowed carts on the fairway and the course just flows more like a championship course as discussed above.

Haven't played Legend at Arrowhead in a long, long time. Like at least fifteen years. I remember always coming away with the feeling that the course could be better than it was. Usually it was that the condition was subpar, but the layout is decent. It basically reminds me of The Foothills or maybe Club West but with more water hazards. The course next door with a similar name, Arrowhead CC, is far superior.

Regarding the Northern Arizona trip, I'm sure the weather was perfect, albeit apparently a bit windy. This weekend I'm going up to play in a member-guest at White Mountain CC, hoping the weather will hold for that.

I'll be in Phoenix Thursday, Friday, and Monday. If anyone wants to get together any, or all, of those days to play, let me know. Mornings work better for me, but I'm pretty flexible.

Ha, I'm gonna be gone from tomorrow until Monday, and generally speaking weekdays are tough for me anyway, so no dice. Maybe one of these days/years we'll make this happen.

I do strongly recommend you try and play though because courses that haven't yet shut down are going to do so in the next 2-3 weeks and golf from mid-October until at least Thanksgiving totally sucks ass. And then of course prices rise and that's not great either.

Once prices go up you should look into 500 Club, it's on that side of town around the bend from Legends Arrowhead. It's a fun mid-tier course that's affordable year round.

anyone played any courses in the last week or so that haven't overseeded? I'm too lazy to look at the overseeding schedule but I assume there's still a few places that are seeding late this year....

trying to find a place to play this weekend for a decent rate

just found out papago and aguila haven't seeded yet so that's probably where I'll be at this weekend ftw

Thanks tuq. I'll have to check that out. At some point I'd like to find somewhere to call my "home" course. Not tied down to one place, but the course I play the most. Get to know some guys and find regular playing partners or groups. Of course, it may take a year it two since there's so many courses to choose from out here.

ec,

Over the past year or so I've become aware that there are several roving groups of golfers that are in some instances leagues which track stats. For the most part they play mid-tier courses but there is one I know of that plays nicer places for the most part. One of the groups I know usually plays on Wednesday afternoon/Saturday morning, another one usually just plays Saturday morning, and so on.

I could scare up details on these and send them to you via PM. At the very least it could get you added to their list. There is generally no charge to participate, they just like having a large number of people so they can have negotiating power to get better rates with courses. I'd take part in these myself but my regular golf crew is established and is more than sufficient for the 2-3 rounds/month I make time for.

That sounds exactly like what im looking for. I don't want to be tied down to a tournament trail, but what you described sounds perfect. Any info you can send me would be very much appreciated.