Verrado Founders I enjoyed as well. But yeah. The Wick. Play it. Do it. Do it.

Ok Wick has been booked for next Thursday at 2 pm. $199 each. We could have booked 1 pm for $349 each. I guess I would have paid that but my partners weren't on board. I'm just hoping we finish our round.

CAN'T WAIT

You're definitely going to be cutting that real close, especially since there's really no way to get around that course in less that 4-4.5 hours. Hopefully it works out and your round doesn't get cut short because there's some great holes at the end. I love coming up 18 with the clubhouse perched up on the hill behind the green.

It's usually a post round thing for me, but if you're able and the group is interested, consider getting there a couple hours early and playing Lil Wick first. Pretty great par 3 course in the same condition as the big course.

I look forward to the TR!

I know we're cutting it close. My partners weren't getting what I was saying yesterday when they mentioned a possible 2:20 time and I told them when sunset is that day and how long our round might take. And that's assuming we tee off on time. I reluctantly agreed to a tee time no later than 2 pm, and that's what we got.

We do plan on playing Lil Wick prior.

Just called Wickenburg to set up our Lil Wick round before we do Big Wick. Access denied.....Lil Wick now for members only. ARGH.

WTF. Outrageous. Egregious. Preposterous.

Since a lot of you have been to the WMPO, where do you guys usually go to watch the Super Bowl?

I'll be solo. Preferably somewhere in the Tempe/Scottsdale area. Thanks.

How did you and the group enjoy those courses?

Well EC, it would have been nice if you had joined us because a single joined us for each full round which was, interesting.

Monday: Played 9 at Estrella. It was fine. I really don't remember too much about the course as that was on a travel day. I don't know what I shot. 48?

Tuesday: Verrado Founders. I got paired with "Mike" who liked his cheesy rock (.38 special for example) and also liked to hit his chip shots 45 degrees right. The course was cool except for some stupid short uphill par 4 with a false front green and when you do finally get on the green the hole was in an impossible spot. We all ended up picking up. Other than that hole I really enjoyed the course.

Wednesday: Verrado Victory. Got paired with another Mike. He was cool. I don't know what to say about the course other than it was awesome.

Thursday: Wickenburg. Ok, this was the best course by far. F'in incredible. I think hole 13 was my favorite. 195 yard par 3 and all you see is sand and water. I bailed a little left and did a choke job for bogey. Anyway, best course I have ever played.

And I'm terrible at trip reports so hope this will do.

13 is a great view, the huge bunker up front/right and the water as well.

Yeah that uphill par 4 at Verrado Founders, it's 15 or 16 if I recall before a short downhill par 3. That par 4 was very narrow and green was indeed a PITA.

Yep, I believe that par 4 is right before a short downhill par 3. The guy we were with was a local and he said that whenever Tom Lehman visits (he designed the course) the first thing he does is apologize for that stupid hole.

I should've reached out sooner and made it a point to get out with you guys for at least one round.

I've played Estrella a handful of times and always found it to be a fine course, but nothing memorable. It's a Troon course and is usually in really good shape. It's pretty similar to Sterling Grove and Copper Canyon, a couple other Troon courses on that side of town.

The pin must have been up on the ridge on the right. Definitely a gimmicky hole. One of my favorite spots on that course is when you finish up with #2 then drive up over the hill to the #3 box you're all of sudden staring at a pretty cool view of the whole Phoenix valley. Verrado is one of those places that would cost twice as much to play if it was out in Scottsdale or somewhere on that side of town.

I've only played this one a few times but always found it enjoyable and kept in really good shape. The first time I played there it was about 105 out and there isn't any shade to be found on that course. One of the most miserable rounds I can remember...even with cooling towels and plenty of water.

I'm glad to hear Wickenburg Ranch lived up to the hype. The tips on #13(not that I play from them) stretch out to 250ish yards with most of that being carry. What a beast of a hole. That place could benefit from GPS on the carts since there's so many blind shots, but I guess they figure they're going fully private eventually and so many people have their own carts it's not worth the investment. I'm not looking forward to the day they do switch to fully private, but luckily, a good buddy of mine has in laws having a house built in there right now so that should give us our access.

I didn't meant to put you on the spot regarding a TR. I was just curious to know what you thought of those different courses. Thanks for the feedback!

Other nuggets from my trip....

Out of our threesome I did have the most birdies for the trip with a grand total of two.

Verrado Victory hole 14 was neat. Very short par 4. I drove it in fairway bunker and had to blast out sideways. But I'd really like to play that hole again.

It was really weird with options for shots being hitting off fairway, off that weird brown grass, in the waste area (we'd just put the ball back on grass instead of marring a club), and the green area around the greens. No trees. Just totally different.

Wickenburg....as we're on the practice green I'm getting thirsty. I try to get a diet coke and this couple in front of me are ordering their drinks. It goes like this:

female orders two waters. Ok fine. The 300 lb guy orders a double grey goose and splash or orange juice. The girl working says they don't have grey goose. Guy is clearly annoyed and asks what they have. She says Tito's or something. Then the female is ordering again and asks for a gin and tonic, but of course she wants a specific gin. Again they don't have it. Le Sigh. I give up. Of course we end up behind these clowns on the course. They are slow, driving their cart everywhere (like on 13 for example). They brought out their telescopic ball retriever on more than one occasion. Our 4th gets incredibly annoyed and hits into them twice. Anyway, this leads to swearing, shouting, etc. I could go on but nothing awful happened. Our 4th was a dick.

Seems you ran pretty bad this trip with who you got paired with. It's always possible you'd have found me to be a dick too(you wouldn't be the first), but I'd like to think it would've been better than who you did get.

lol paying for grey goose and adding oj to it, yet turning up your nose to tito's.

Day one was fine except Mike literally hit every wedge shot 70 degrees right of target. Our Mike on day two was great. He suggested we switch positions in cart before we started so he could drive and I'm glad he did. Only issue was at Wickenburg.

They were annoying but our 4th was more annoying. On one hole I said "you may be hitting into them" and his response was that etiquette is gone at this point.