A most enjoyable day visiting Apache Stronghold for the first time. Nice to meet up with Michael Lacey and the youngster Ryan. My ex-door neighbor Bruce Hrivnak completed the foursome. TERRIFIC weather, 75 or so and a nice breeze that picked up a bit for the back nine.
As an added bonus, the wife and I had gone to see a movie last weekend and during pre-show advertising, there it was: "Bring your movie ticket stub for half off greens fees at Apache Stronghold." Sweet. The round ended up costing us less than $30 each!
The layout, as advertised, was a fine test of golf in a fantastic natural high desert setting. The conditions, well... it would seem some help is still needed.
Fairways are fine, I think the conversion to bermuda was a success. It seems they are in the process of renovating the tees. The bunkers, however, are quite neglected and the greens, well... there were bare spots, which I've seen on stressed bent greens before, but really puzzling were the numerous holes, golf ball size or slightly larger, 1/2" to an inch deep, that we couldn't tell if they were created by unrepaired pitch marks, animals, insects or what ? We all thought it odd that these holes weren't at least filled with sand.
The conditions by no means would keep me from going back or recommending this course to others.
A stop for an old school Mexican lunch at the El Rey in Globe set us right for the drive back to town.
I'm still finding my way with golf course photography, so my pics don't add to the excellent shots Ryan has already posted.
As for the snake, cuddley indeed, but it crawled into a bush by the time my camera was ready and I wasn't about to pull a Steve Irwin. I did note that for the remainder of the round, everyone was a bit more cautious looking for balls out in the desert.
As for drive time, just under 90 minutes from our meetup in east Mesa, you would probably add 20 minutes or so from the airport.
Looking forward to a return visit.
Tom