Wildfire GC - the next discovery?

[Gib_Papazian]

#1. Reading Superintendent News on the  plane down to Phoenix, I came across an ad for the new Faldo (Schmidt & Curly) course at Wildfire GC.

It opened less than two months ago and I was frankly shocked at how good it was. The golf course is very similar both visually and strategically to Talking Stick North. They left the fairways as dormant bermuda and it honestly looks and plays like a fescue links course.

This is my 2nd S&C course and although I do not know the extent that Faldo had his hands in it, these guys have definitely impressed me.

I cannot say it is better than TS North, mostly because of a few homes and the occasional ornate planting on the perimter of the playing areas. However, we would have nothing to be embarassed about if it ended up somewhere near the bottom of  our GW Top 100 Modern List. It is that good.

There is  an enormous Marriot going in on the property and as the land plan evolves over the next few years it may end up detracting from the expansive feel of the golf course. But right now, I cannot think of more than 2 or 3 in the area that are in the same class as the Wildfire Faldo course.

Has anyone else seen it? Comments?

#2. I was disappointed in Las Sendas. It seems to get plenty of enthusiastic reviews, but it struck me as a bit of a slog. The green complexes are well situated and the course is routed pretty well, but visually, the relationship between the bunkering schemes and strategy of the holes struck me as out of balance and awkward. It almost looks as if they built a rough draft version of the course without refining the details.

What did I miss?

[Slag Bandoon]

 Has anybody else played this course yet?

[RJ_Daley]

In reading Faldo's on-going column comments in "Links", it seems to me that he clearly has the right sort of traditional golf design values.  If he has serious input about the results of design with the architects, I think he ought to have plenty of good ideas.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Here's the web site:

http://www.wildfiregolf.com

layout:

http://www.wildfiregolf.com/flash/faldo.html

image gallery:

http://www.wildfiregolf.com/flash/faldo-gallery.html

can't post the pics individually, because it's $#@#! Flash, and the Help section's stuff on posting Flash movies doesn't work.

[Michael Moore]

Scott Burroughs -

I was so keen on posting my interactive yardage guide to the fifth hole at Cape Arundel (which only you and Mr. Goodale seem to have noticed) that I spent four hours researching the possibility of putting Flash movies on this bulletin board.

It goes like this

[flash=width in pixels, height in pixels]URL[/flash]

which gives us this -

http://www.wildfiregolf.com/flash/faldo.swf

and this -

http://www.wildfiregolf.com/flash/faldo-gallery.swf

[Scott_Burroughs]

Thanks, Michael!  I was thinking of trying something like that, but I'd already spent a bit of time on it already.

For those who haven't tried, you can actually click on those hole numbers or 'next' /'previous' buttons above to through the galleries.

[Rick Shefchik]

Risking the wrath of "play before you say" lobby, but here goes: From the photos, it looks like there's just an enormous amount of sand on Faldo's course. Did it play that way, Gib?

Rick

[BCrosby]

Is no. 4 a replica of the "bottle hole"? It looks pretty close to the NGLA version.

From the website, it appears to be an intersting course.

Bob

[Craig Van Egmond]

I played this course in about 3 weeks ago, a very good course indeed. Its in excellent shape,  lots of bunkers (107?), interesting green complexes and finally a good finishing hole for Curley/Schmidt. The course plays very firm.

I liked it better than many of the more highly rated courses in the area.

[Doug Wright]

Craig,

Which courses are you comparing it to?

All The Best,

[Craig Van Egmond]

Doug,

I haven't played any of the private courses in the area, but I have played the TPC, Keirland, both Grayhawks, Monument, Pinnacle, Talking Stick North/South, Keirland, Legend Trail, Sunridge, Eagle Mountain, Firerock (ok one private course), Las Sendas, Estrella Mountain Ranch, Gold Canyon, Longbow, both at Whirlwind, Raven and We-Po-Ka to name a few.  I liked Las Sendas much better than Gib did, but my favorites are still the Talking Stick Courses and Apache Stronghold.

[Chris_Clouser]

In scrolling through the hole layouts on the website, it said that the 16th was a 314 yard par 3.  Is that correct?  Or is that typo?  It looked like an interesting hole and may even be a Leven type of hole, but just wanted to see if that was incorrect on their site.

Bob,

From what I gathered in looking at George's book, the bottle hole at National features the second landing zone for the tee shot, not the approach as it shows on the Wildfire hole.  But the alternate landing zone for the approach is probably an interesting take off of the same concept that works well on a long par 4 such as that one from what I've seen on other courses.  

[Craig Van Egmond]

Chris,

     Number 16 is a 314 par 4 from the back tees. A cool short hole.