I got a pretty good deal at Stonecreek in Paradise Valley. 120 bucks for the month for unlimitted range balls and free play after 2pm. This is perfect for what I'm looking for, I can practice all day, then run out and play 9 or a quick 18 if it's not busy. And I'm impressed with how the greens came back after the overseed already. Significantly faster than 2 weeks ago when I played.

Yes, we owned a place in/at Trilogy that was on Vistancia.
I was referring to the private one, believe it had "black" in the name.

I completely misread your post. You are referring to:

http://blackstonecountryclub.com/

And I haven't heard anything about anyone playing it. It's really not that far this side of Quintero, which is a good example of a solid course built at the wrong time which has never gone truly private. Have the feeling that will happen here too.

I am a BIG FAN of Vistancia and Blackstone. Both courses have been in excellent shape when I played them and I would recommend them to anyone on the west side.

I played OrangeTree last weekend and everything is green obv but the greens are still pretty slow....although it is definitely playable.

I am playing Aguilia on Saturday at 1 PM with my buddies for $18 to walk. Assuming the course is in decent shape I would say this is probably the best deal in the valley. Aguilia is a city course, but it is almost always in good shape and I actually prefer Aguilia over Papago. If you go look online, Aguilia closed down for 10 weeks at the end of the summer to do much needed bunker renovations so I am excited to see what it looks like.

Club West - very interesting course, few weird holes imo. Greens Very slow right now, could not make a putt in the tourney this weekend. That 17th hole is a bit insane imo - I am all for way downhill par 3s, it's cool watching the ball float forever, but why does this hole have the smallest green on the course??

Haven't played Club West in awhile. Does #17 still have two greens? That's part of the reason iirc, they only have so much land down on that flat and feel the need to go with the two green gimmick.

I played aguila last saturday. Course is in relatively good shape except the greens aren't fully lowered down yet and are quite slow still. The renovation of the bunkers is awesome and makes the course much more playable for the average player. We teed off at 1:15 and played in 4 hours 10 minutes on a city course in season and on a weekend which I think is a miracle!

Guys in the golf shop said rounds were averaging almost 20 minutes faster now that all the hackers aren't stuck in the deep bunkers. Course OBV plays much easier....still shot a 78 because I have shooting pain in my left wrist right when I begin my back swing.

Still have 2 greens, we played the back green both times.
Very gimmicky imo same with 12, long par 5, totally blind green. A par 5 that is 600 yards should not have a blind green imo.

if anyone is looking for someone to play with in the east valley area let me know... it'd be nice to have some more guys to golf with.

I don't remember that hole being 600 yards but we must not have been tipping it out. One time I recall hitting a long iron into the green but it was a total guess as to where to aim because of the shot being blind. However, that's not unreasonable for a second shot on a par-5, and I could always have laid up to the 80-100 yard range and had a clear shot.

The particular green I recall being brutal, it's like a Golden Tee green set at a 10 degree tilt. Can only imagine trying to putt it in fast/tournament conditions.

Maybe we can organize a 2+2 outing, I'm looking for as many excuses as possible to use this Troon pass to get ROI. Prices on most courses go up Jan 1st, with other courses not going up until later in January. But even then the high-end is like $79 for a course like Whirlwind, which is good value.

Tuq, let me know and I'll be there.... or I can organize it and book something on golfnow.

Will do.

Played Papago today. There is a lot of rumor swirling about what will happen to the course but it was in decent shape and the dormant greens were rolling predictably fast and smooth. Paid $58 with cart but on the busiest day of the year and first off in the morning it was a good value.

I played at Quintero today with a friend who is a pro, and plays/practices out there.
Pretty awesome golf course, probably the best tee-green course I have played in a long time. Greens were pretty quick, not insanely fast, but probably a very nice 10 on the stimp. Beautiful surfaces, a touch on the spike side because we played so late in the day, but I have to imagine that in the springtime, early in the morning they are super pure.

If you get a chance to play this course, make sure you take it.

so whose dick did you suck to get the first tee time at papago on the friday after thanksgiving?

At some of the high end courses, Grayhawk, Troon, etc., when it's cartpath only due to overseeding, how high are the fairways? Could care less about staying on the path, but don't want to hit from fairways where you can't control the ball.

BO

the fairways aren't really high or anything, the grass is just sensitive after overseeding so all the courses here in AZ usually go cart path only for a few weeks/months to protect the grass.

That being said, I always find it hard to control the ball here in Phoenix/Scottsdale off the overseeded turf until about the middle of december when we start getting good hard frosts at night. IMO this makes the turf more firm and easier to control the ball.

bump...playing dobson ranch tomorrow and then going out to sunridge canyon for a tournament next saturday.

Anyone played either of these courses lately? Dobson ranch is always pretty nice and for 27 to ride at 1 PM during season is a no brainer. Course is a good layout from what I remember, not too hard but definitely a fun city course if you don't want to spend $95 to play.

I will report on conditions to keep people up to date.

Dobson ranch was in pretty nice shape overall and was a great value for 27 dollars to ride at 1 PM. We barely finished as it is a city course and extremely busy. Not sure if I want to wait that long in between holes again. I will probably go back to my west side boo Aguila as it's the same price and less busy.

Mini Brag...here are the 100% real stats from my round that I thought you guys might enjoy. If you remember I am the creator of the drinking/drugs during the round thread lawl

1) Drank 10 of those new 16 ounce coors light cans during my round
2) Smoked a huge cigar and a green leafy pungent substance the whole round
3) Ate a hotdog and a brat at the turn
4) Only made 5 pars all day long and shot 71 for -1....7 birdies, 6 bogeys and 5 pars
5) If I didn't make a 15 foot birdie putt on the last hole I would have shot my first ever 6/6/6 round

Obviously degenerate but I seem to make a ton more birdies when i get loaded.....if I am sober my rounds are something like 14 pars, 2 bogeys, 2 birdies

Got a golf tournament on saturday at Sunridge Canyon so i am hoping that it's in good shape as well. I played there a few years ago and thought the course was slightly difficult especially in the wind.

bump, don't know how forgot the best part of my degenerate round.......straight up puked on the 13th hole and proceeded to birdie it. And the sad part about that is that I have accomplished that feat before

It's always amazing how decent the condition of Dobson Ranch is given the massive volume of play it gets. Plus it's a fairly enjoyable course without anything too goofy, and is easy enough to score well on. Behind Antelope Hills and Papago it's no doubt my favorite muni in the state.

Sunridge was just bought, and I heard they lured away the We-Ko-Pa director of golf, so some changes out there. Those changes included dumping Troon Golf as their golf course manager, which means I no longer get the discount with my pass. A few years ago this would have bummed me out, but as it is I've gotten really tired of that massively punitive course. I think it's somewhere in the top 3 in the state in terms of highest slope rating. If you hit it off the grass fugedaboutit.

Anyway, I witnessed but did not play in an event out there the day before they overseeded and I don't doubt it will be in great shape by now since that was late September. Longer-term I'd have some concerns because courses that ditch Troon Golf tend to have a history of cutting their budget and not being as good.

Don't ever play Sanctuary Golf Course. Just terrible. At least it was yesterday. I don't think it should be considered a Troon Course.

I was about to post the same thing about Superstition Springs. Horrible layout - some really dumb holes. Greens in bad shape, pretty bad shape all around. And the first few holes are near the sewage plant. Smells like **** - guy in the proshop was really nice - about the only good thing I can say about it.

When it's in good condition I don't mind Sanctuary, it's a pretty goofy, overly narrow course that basically only exists because they can't put anything else in the wash alongside the power lines. It is however the nut low of Troon Golf managed properties.

Played Whirlwind (Cattail) today. Really good shape, best greens I've seen in a long time. They were soft and held well by PHX standards and were really fast. We played the back tees so all of 7300+ yards since they added the tees for the minitour events awhile back, plenty of golf course.

don't remember which course is which, but played the older one a couple times, probably best course i played in my time in phx