played moon valley again yesterday and it's in great shape still...the greens are fast as hell for there and I think we had the hardest set of pins I have ever seen on a golf course. it looked the greenskeeper was having a bad day when he put these pins out lol

Played Granite Falls South out here in Surprise on Wednesday. Had played the North course as my first AZ round of golf back in September. This was much much nicer. I'm sure it's a dump compared to the courses you guys rave about, but I was thoroughly impressed with everything about the course. It also helped that its a 93.00 course right now, but we got on for 40. I was pretty stoked about that. Shot a 77 with 2 birdies/7 bogies. Was in the fairway off the tee all day, but my approach shots weren't doing me any favors. Lots of long lag putts or chips from just off the green. The combination of the condition it was in and only being 4ish miles from my house has this place ranking at the top of the AZ courses I've played so far....but I'm sure that'll change this year.

tl;dr

Now I have a situation I'm hoping some of you that have been here longer may be able to help me with.....my wife is a school teacher at the same school my kids go to. Over next years fall break in mid October, they're making the drive to Disneyland. Because I'll have a big empty house, it looks like 7 of my golfing buddies from NC are going to come out to visit. It'll be partly a golf trip, but mainly just a hang around the pool and drink/catch up trip.

Since this will probably be a couple weeks into October, I'm guessing you see where my problem is....overseeding. Unfortunately the schedule isn't flexible so this is when it has to be. I don't really want to wait till they get here to start looking for courses to play. How far in advance do courses post when they'll be closed for overseeding? Also, is there a site that I can go to that shows the overseeding schedule for all the courses in the area, or is it a matter of checking with each one I may be interested in?

We're not going to be looking to spend big money on courses. Quite the opposite actually. I'll be looking for the best valued courses in the "cheaper" category. We used to go to Myrtle Beach or Pinehurst each year, but they've decided they're willing to fly out here this year. Since they're having to spend 3-400 on airfare, I don't want to kill them with high end courses. I went back to last September/October in this thread and read through looking for names of courses to check out in this area(thanks tuq and durango). I put together a list of recommendations, but anything that jumps in your head that might work for me, feel free to let me know. I want to show them some decent AZ golf, but am not sure how realistic it is that time of year.

Cliffs:
-friends coming into town from NC in October
-need overseeding schedule
-need good value courses
-need Durango's friends and all their hookups

October is perfect time to drive up to Prescott.

2 weeks into October is tough, I'd say pretty much everywhere is at least preparing for overseeding. You might be able to find somewhere that's last on the schedule that's still in good shape.

yeah I agree with westhoff...you should be looking at playing in prescott and/or sedona...that will be your best sure fire conditions...

I suggest you look at stoneridge, antelope hills (2 courses), seven canyons, oak creek cc for the best bang for your buck..

if you have to stay in town you need to find the courses that overseed really late or really early but it will be tough.

i played moon valley today for free today and it was really solid..greens are rolling awesome and we teed off as a 3 some at 3:15 and never saw a group and finished easily. Good times.

playing quintero tomorrow around 2 pm for free and my buddy says it's in epic shape so i'm pretty excited...haven't been out there in a month or two

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/golf...-schedule.html

here's the overseed schedule from last year to give you an idea of what you are looking at...each course should be within a week or two of what's listed here

and now that I look at it there's quite a few options that overseed later in october so you might be able to string together a few decent rounds around here....but I would advise not playing ANYWHERE that has been overseeded as it will be cart path only and a ****ty experience/conditions for your out of town guests

ended up canceling at quintero to play wigwam at 1:45...pretty sure we wouldn't finish at quintero at 2:15 cuz that place is a 5 hour round if it's busy cuz it's so hard

Talking Stick South last week - 4:15 pace, actually got slower toward the end which seemed kind of backwards but it was in good condition.

Papago on Friday - probably about a 4:40 pace, waited most of the round, pretty aggravating. Greens were in great shape though.

Talking Stick North yesterday. Booked this course because I had played the South the week before. The greens are still rock hard, even several months after reopening. First bounces were huge and even short irons didn't hold particularly well. Knowing this will probably avoid the course for awhile longer. Pace was about 4:30, definitely slower than I would like but a lot of women and/or tourists on the course dinking it around.

I have two friends who refuse to play Talking Stick North and one who refuses to play the South. No idea how those courses could engender such strong feelings. Both are fine if kind of unspectacular and are usually in good shape.

we ended up taking a chance and playing wigwam red course (heritage) instead of the gold course yesterday...we had been beat up on the gold course from the tips the last couple of times so it was nice to play a course that was only like 6800 yards. Everything was pretty decent, reasonable layout but just kind of a parkland 18 holes but it was fun. definitely nothing compared to the gold course.

going to be back out at quintero soon it's just so busy I don't feel like a 5 hour plus round right now.

I should probably check out papago again pretty soon

Thanks for that link durango. Since I don't have to have the courses lined up way in advance, I guess I'll just have to wait till September and start looking to see what's going to be available. I'd even be willing to play a course that had already overseeded if it's been reopened long enough to not be cart path only.

As you've seen from some of my trip reports, it doesn't take an overly great golf course to impress me, and the rest of the guys will be in the same boat since we were all playing the same courses in NC. As long as I can put them on a "decent" course at a good price, everyone will be happy. Even though it's being planned as a golf trip, I'm sure we'll have enough other stuff going on to make the golf only a small part of it.

as I said earlier EC, DO NOT play the courses that have overseeded already for golf outing in October. They will all be on cart path only until mid November AT LEAST and usually into December at some places....

Also, the conditons will suck with shaggy fairways, overgrown rough and slow greens and then walking to your ball on every shot will induce added tilt....trust me.

Stick to the courses that have NOT seeded, even if they are scalped (everything cut super short in preparation for overseed) they will be far more fun than a month out of overseeding. If you really want a great recommendation for your out of town buddies just book a round at Seven Canyons in Sedona on golf now and everyone will be thrilled and it's only 1.5 hour drive. They will have seen nothing like it.....

I didn't realize that the courses that had already over seeded were in rough shape that long after reopening. Thanks for that. I was just looking at the list of courses you had posted earlier. Those courses look amazing. Some of them also seem to be in the 100.00 range. I don't think any of the guys coming out are going to be wanting to spend 100.00 for golf....maybe combined for all 3 rounds. And it's going to be hard to get them to drive 90 minutes each way when there's other choices closer by(even if they're nowhere near as nice).

I'm not necessarily looking to impress them with the courses, just not wanting to disappoint them, if that makes any sense. They're all excited about coming out, but probably more for the hanging out in the pool, playing cornhole, grilling, and drinking than the actual golf. That said, keep the suggestions coming. I'll definitely look into all of them. And it also gives me some places to keep in mind if one or two of my buddies decide to come out here between now and then for a weekend trip.

alright fair enough, just ask around back here when you are ready to lock your rounds up and I'm sure tuq and I would be happy to comment so you didn't end up on some terrible course/conditions...

but yes, I try avoid courses for at least 6-7 weeks after overseeding if at all possible because of all the issues stated above but obviously I end up having to play a few times in that horrible transition period and it almost always sucks

omg yes, post-overseed courses suck so bad. I try to take a month around November off, it's too annoying to deal with that crap. Plus the courses will play a lot longer because the ball doesn't roll anywhere, and with the cooler weather it's easy to be 1-2 clubs short on approaches all day.

yep, you are far better off just hitting a bucket of balls during that month or playing up north if it's not too cold like Sedona obv. It's such a balancing act that time of the year trying to golf but it's the price we pay for being able to golf pretty good conditions the other 11 months

finally got out to Quintero yesterday and was expecting fantastic conditions......only to find out that they decided to top dress/sand the greens yesterday morning right before we played lol

it wasn't terrible at all as the greens were still super fast but it definitely messed up my putting and chipping speed. everything else was perfect and I'm sure the greens will be just fine in a couple of days but kind of a bummer to drive all the way out there for freshly sanded greens.

being comped and just tipping the guys 20 made it worth it though

snapped a couple pics too..


this par 3 is probably one of my favorite holes in the state...super downhill and about 220 yards but you can hit like a 7 iron and easily get there

someday i hope to hit off of a fairway like that again. Sigh, texas sucks so bad for golf. Everything gets beat up so bad in the winter, then by the time it all grows in nicely it's 100 degrees with 90% humidity.

westoff, we are pretty lucky here in phoenix/scottsdale....even in the dead of the summer the turf quality is still very nice and then in the winter we overseed with rye so only bad conditions around here for maybe 6 weeks total of the year

yeah i know, weather is just too unpredictable in the winter here to overseed and too hot in the summer for blue/rye grass so we're stuck with dormant bermuda 5 months a year and hot/humid as **** another 4. Ugh, I miss Arizona and Kansas golf.

sounds horrible

In quadrant G14 of the first pic there is a blade of grass that is 0.01cm above specification... unsat... I hope you got a reduced rate.

Rexx, lol...

love your username...I have an Australian Shepherd named Rexy

yeah my reduced rate is free with a $20 tip to the outside service guys because my buddy works out there every once in a while #toughliferight

Conditions are perfect at most courses around the valley right now and this is my favorite time of the year to play hands down until the middle of May or so

Went down to Tucson at the end of last week, lame trip report because I didn't bother to take pics.

Gallery (South) on Thursday afternoon. I was told by a few people to try to get the North course, and the membership lady said the North is always reserved for members on Fridays, so it seemed there was a much higher demand for that course. That day the South was the only one available to non-members.

What it took me almost nine holes to realize is that the South course, which we played, was the same one I had been at a few years earlier for the match play. Had I known that earlier I would have been much happier because I always wanted to play it. Turns out the North apparently has much better views, but the South is the fairer of the two courses and is preferred by better golfers. (Complicating making the connection is that I swear this course is actually to the WEST of the North course, not to the south.) And as is befitting of most courses that pros play, there were in fact generous landing areas and large green complexes. I played like ass but the course was in great shape. Well worth the $75+ tax that we paid.

Due to a series of mishaps we gave up a comp the next morning on Dove Mountain which would have been fantastic and had to settle for a round (also a comp) at a course up the street called Vistoso. It's a Weiskopf design, which had me excited, but our group largely disliked it. Maybe it was because of playing a much better course the day before, or knowing we should have been at Dove Mountain, but the layout is like a mix of the worst of Las Sendas and Red Mountain Ranch - very tight, really long forced carries from the tips (easily 220+ several times) which was giving my short-hitting teammate fits, and the condition left a lot to be desired. We realized on the first hole we'd have to roll it in the fairways because the odds of getting a bad lie were about 50%. The greens were slow earlier on, almost like the mower slept in, and then towards the end of the front nine it was clear they had been mowed.

In reading reviews the day before the course was apparently a private country club in receivership about a year ago and was one of many forced to open its doors to the public. I find that when that happens there is a certain grumpy condescension from the staff towards the unwashed public masses, I braced myself for it but it everyone was pretty friendly. Although we had lunch afterward and bizarrely enough they didn't have french fries as a side option, which seemed really strange given their menu was pretty standard American fare.

Really not sure I can recommend that course above say $50. And if you're not hitting it dead straight I wouldn't recommend it at any price.

Which led to Saturday at Papago, a round I shouldn't have played given how annoyed I was at my game but agreed to fill in last minute, plus wanted a wider course to clear my head after the claustrophobia the day before at Vistoso. Played like ass again but the course was in good shape and the greens are still phenomenal. Maybe a touch slower than they look but high-end quality at a municipal course.

Weather was spectacular all three days, which I kept reminding myself when I would start to lose my temper. Just great to be out there.

tl;dr: Gallery was great; Vistoso was not; Papago was good value; my game sucks.