Yea u are right about camelback not being in the same ballpark but i just enjoy a fun playable course. Playing beasts all day is great but a birdie fest mixed in is a good thing. Anyone on here play the mountain shadows skins game? its on tuesdays at 12ish if u havent played there its a real treat!

buffett,

Honestly, in late April temperature shouldn't be a concern. It's about perfect at sunrise and sunset barring extreme weather, with it likely to be fairly warm in the afternoon. Trivia fact: the average day on the calendar when it gets to 100 degrees for the first time is May 15th, which is my birthday, which is why I remember it. It could well be a high of 100 your day in April, but it could also be 80. The "dry heat" thing is especially true in the spring - even if it does get to 100, it won't last long and won't be too bad. In other words, don't let concern about heat guide you - if it's really hot that would be pretty unusual. Just play at the time of day you prefer, and if that's late in the day you may save some money on twilight rates. (EDIT: if your heart is set on Troon North, that's a pretty good choice albeit pricey. I'd recommend what's now called the Pinnacle course after the renumbering. It features what are probably the two best nines of the four.)

yellowjakets,

While I've never played in the Mountain Shadows game on Tuesdays, I've heard some crazy stories about how high the pot gets and the quality of players that play in it. If I ever played I'd pretty much be a donor but wouldn't mind watching some time. It is hands down the best executive course I've ever seen or played.

yea theres a ton of gateway guys who come out and play but the gross part never seems to be very low. i 1under 2 weeks ago and finished 4th for 175ish....a few months ago there was no skins for 4 weeks thus a 4 week carryover the pot was up 7950. im playng with my buddy ryan and we tee it on the back nine first, first swing of the day he jars it! crazy ****ing day we got sohammered on the course it was great. to bad he ended up having to chop with some guy but 4k is still a nice payday

I worked at The Raven for years (1995-2000) and hate to hear this. As your experience suggests, it was not only a great place to play, but a great place to work too. We knew we had a hit with the mango scented cold towels!

Mini brag here...used to work in the golf business during college and high school and still have a bunch of buddies with some pretty good hookups.

Playing Oak Creek Country Club at 9:30 AM on Saturday, then Sedona Golf Resort at 2:00 PM, and Seven Canyons anytime on Sunday if it isn't raining. We are staying in my buddy's villa at Seven Canyons. All golf rounds comped LOL. At least I am running good somewhere!

I have played Oak Creek CC and Seven Canyons a bunch of times, but somewhow never played Sedona Golf Resort, anyone have any experiences?

It's going to be a little chilly up there, but at least it will be fun!

Other courses to check out

Las Sendas
Ocotillo
Legacy
Palm Valley
Estrella Mountain (county course)
Aguila is a challenging city of Phx track from tips

Sedona Golf Resort is truly stunning view-wise (although no doubt it pales in regards to Seven Canyons) but the last time I played I was struck by how narrow some of the holes are. Maybe I've just gotten more errant...there are definitely some very good holes though.

Also, I am embarrassed to have never played Aguila. Never heard anything but good things but have just never made it out there.

Tuq, played Oak Creek CC and Sedona Golf Resort on Saturday. Oak Creek had just punched their greens and overall wasn't in good shape. Went over to Sedona Golf Resort for the afternoon round and it was in AMAZING shape. Greens were absolutely perfect and fast as hell. I couldn't believe how nice it was considering it's still pretty chilly in Sedona.

We got rained out Sunday at Seven Canyons obviously. I have played there a bunch of times so it wasn't too big of a bummer. We stayed at the villas there and as usual just about the perfect vacation place to stay with excellent views.

Aguila is a cheap fun track. Greens are always way better than most normal muni courses. I consider the course to be very easy as it's fairly wide open on most of the holes. There's a few tough holes, but you can basically destroy the Par 5's and they have two driveable par 4's that are only 300-320 from the tips depending on the day.

Good to hear about Sedona Golf Resort. It really is a pretty course, just not necessarily the fairest.

I remember around a decade ago we were headed up to play 36, Oak Creek in the morning, Sedona Golf Resort in the afternoon. We get to Oak Creek and they had just aerated, as was the case with you. Much to their credit they allowed us to back out of the round and we were able to secure a morning tee time next door at Sedona GR.

We then called and negotiated a tee time at Prescott Lakes, which had been open only a couple of months at that point. It ended up being a tremendous break - we were able to discover how incredible Prescott Lakes is, which may have happened eventually but it could have taken awhile. Somehow we were able to play all 36 that day despite the late start and the courses being about an hour from each other.

Sadly, Prescott Lakes closed last Monday, possibly permanently, pending a vote on its future from residents. While I am indifferent to most potential course closures because few courses are memorable, this would be a real shame. It's one of my favorite courses in the state - every hole is memorable, some are easy, some are brutal, all are pretty. I think they really screwed themselves when they went private a few years ago, hopefully the outcome will be to go semi-private as so many clubs are doing and reap the benefits of daily fee players.

damn, that sucks about prescott lakes. def top 3 in courses ive played

had the privlidge of playing talking stick north which i thought was great. its very unique compared to other courses in the area plus its right next to the casino also has anyone played starfire? im playing a one day pepsi tour event there on sunday and dont have a chance to see the course. anything i should be aware of?

oh i have a 1:20 at silverleaf tomorrow and we need a 4th if anyone is interested...i hear their greens are coming around finally!

Holy wow, a 4th at Silverleaf? I'd love to play regardless of cost - I had to skip a round out at Moon Valley today (PERFECT weather) because I couldn't free up that much time.

Bummer because, speaking of Talking Stick North, the last time I was up there I snapped my driver on the 18th tee. Shaft wasn't a good fit for my swing and I snap hooked one drive too many that day. Well, I figure the shaft and clubhead were soon to be separated anyway so I might as well do it via blunt force strike into the ground in front of me. Good course though, that wasn't the problem. Just picked up my newly shafted driver today and am looking forward to seeing if it does any better than the last one. Was looking forward to trying it out today.

Starfire hosting a pro-like event of any kind is a huge WTF. The "East" nine (not sure what it's called now) is somewhat legit - 3 of each par 3s, 4s, and 5s, one par 5 may be converted to a long par-4 for the event and it would be a good par 35. But neither of the other two nines are full sized. I imagine you'll play the south one of the two, it's closer to a real course. Thing to be aware of: its shortness is compensated for by being generally tight, so if you're not feeling it with the driver you shouldn't be hurt by going with something shorter. To the course's credit I recall the greens being pretty decent for a course of its stature this time of year.

yea im gonna play the 225 super stack bounty at 9am at caz. so if im still in then obviously i wont make it but if i bust ur more than welcome to come. i will say its gonna be serious and some money will exchange hands. nothing stupid 3,4, 500 maybe but i would prefer a good golfer. i hope that didnt sound assholish its the guys im playing with not me ill play with anyone anytime. so yea pm ur numer if interested. and on the starfire subject i saw the last tourney there eric meirdiercks won with 67 so i was like it must be decent even tho i know its short. that jus seems too high for 6300 yard track thought they may be some trickery.

wtf starts a poker tourney at 9am?

I don't mind the assertion that I have to be decent but I'm just playing so piss-poor lately relative to my HDCP + new driver + expectations that I not suck + needing to finish a project I'm working on = easy pass on the Silverleaf offer, but thanks. Perhaps in the future. When I was at my best a few years ago it was playing regularly with players better than me, so it's something I like to try and do whenever possible.

As for the 67 @ Starfire, I dunno. Played there a lot over the years and the greens don't strike me as being particularly tricky or goofy, I assume they are tucked for the event to give the course some defense.

Starfire is a vanilla course but certain holes I can see being pretty damn tough from the tips.

All my friends always want to play that course cuz they can shoot their lowest score compared to any other place

Hawk is the best 9. Squire is blah...and King is ok.

There are 2-3 greens surrounded by water, one is a 205-210 par 3, that are tough besides that seems like if you are semi decent you can shoot super lower.

Playing both Monument and Pinnacle this weekend for $275 for both. Really looking forward to it as Troon North has been on my to play list since the early PC golf games.

Even though I grew up in Scottsdale and lived and worked not too far from Troon North, it wasn't until several years after Links 386 released the course did I see it in person. I didn't even play it that time - a friend and I just grabbed a cocktail and sat on a hill behind the 10th tee of the Monument course (now it's the first tee of...I don't know really, the renumbering has me confused as hell). I was looking at the hole IRL that I'd seen and played dozens of times - the short par-4 with a dogleg left over a ravine - and was in awe, seeing something in person that I'd "seen" on my computer so often. Pretty lol in retrospect. The course on the computer doesn't do justice how much elevation change there is out there.

It should be in really great shape as always and that rate is a pretty good bargain, especially for an in-season weekend. But it's a sign of the golf economy too obv. Courses are really gonna be hurting come summertime, not sure if or how many will close as a result.

Another course I got a chance to see like that was Barton Creek: Fazio in Austin. I didn't get to play it at that time, but again, the computer back then couldn't come close to capturing the first hole.

anybody ever gotten lessons from Jeff Ritter at ASU?

bumping this thread seeing if any of you 2+2 guys want a game sometime? I'm probably a 4 handicap and have connections all over the valley for free golf.

Well, maybe. But with the caveat that I didn't renew my HDCP this year and have basically shut down my game until next year, when my game plan is to renew my HDCP and get the strokes I deserve since my game has gone in the crapper. In other words, I will play for fun or for very low stakes, but I'm too annoyed at my game to play for decent money.

Regardless, late September until courses close for overseeing (approximately mid-October depending on course) is historically my favorite time of year to play in PHX. Courses are still cheap, empty, it's not quite as hot, and the summer grass means the ball rolls farther and carts can be driven wherever. My schedule may fall where I'll have some afternoons free so maybe we can meet up if the first paragraph wasn't a scare.

I'm moving to Phoenix at least by November 1st and will be down to play all the time then. I'll try and pm you when I move.

yeah right about now is DEFINITELY one of the best times for locals to play. The rates have started creeping up a little bit, but usually can get a 11 AM - 1 PM tee time at most places for 20-30 bucks.

I used to work at orangetree golf resort in scottsdale for like 7 years and have a bunch of friends that still work at courses like kierland, biltmore, legacy, pinnacle peak cc, etc so I can get groups together pretty easily.

I'm basically rock hard right now thinking about my golf vacation in a few weeks. Going with a group of 12 guys, all cool guys (booze, golf, poker FTW).

Going up early Saturday morning...mid morning tee time at Seven Canyons in Sedona, then heading up the hill to stay in my buddies place on the course in Forest Highlands.

Sunday tee time at one of our favorite booze courses PINEWOOD in Munds Park (drink 14 beers and still shoot even hopefully).

Monday is a 11 AM tee time at Forest Highlands Meadow Course

Tuesday is a 11 AM tee time at Forest Highlands Canyon Course.

Grand total for all of this? $20 cart fee at Pinewood....plus food/booze/gambling money



Pretty good value IMO LOL

http://www.redrocknews.com/News/memb...golf-club.html

I don't know exactly what it's like right now, but I was going to stop at Seven Canyons on my way back to Dallas from Vegas a few weeks ago. Then I found this article.