As I was doing research on which courses to play in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, I was amazed at the few photos that existed of Talking Stick North. It's profiled on the site and it certainly has been mentioned a few times, but I have seen little photographic evidence of it. What a great opportunity to do my first photo thread! Please be kind, and also respectfully critical of my photographs. I'm trying to get better at these sorts of things. I also tried to do the clickable pictures, we shall se if it works.
I played it on a chilly morning the day of the Fiesta Bowl, and the original plan was to play both Talking Stick and We-Ko-Pa, but a frost delay prevented my father and I from doing the latter. As luck would have it, on the flight down, I was reading Geoff Shackelford's collection of essays in
Masters of the Links, and one of the essays was one titled, "In Tribute to the Boys," written by Bill Coore. It happened to be about his associates, "the boys," working at Talking Stick on the construction. A few quotes from Coore about the site stuck out in my mind:
Rarely have we encountered a site so devoid of natural features for golf. We who take pride in selecting sites readily adaptable to golf, found ourselves standing in the midst of four hundred acres of flat desert floor; one percent grade throughout. The human eye cannot detect a one percent change in elevation.
Dave [Axland] wants me to ride out onto the North Course to look at grassing lines. As we slowly make our way, the slanting light reveals minute contours that were imperceptible earlier in the day.
"Scrooge's [J. Colson Clarke] work," Dave says quietly.
At one point he turns to me and says, "Bill I know that this project has been as difficult as any we've ever done, and I'm probably prejudiced, but is it as good as I think it is?"
"Yes, Dave, it is. it's a clinic on how to create a golf course on flat ground; and Dave, it's a tribute to the boys."
Congrats to all of "the boys." The place is very interesting and looks magnificently natural. Here is also a PDF with computer renderings of each hole:
http://www.talkingstickgolfclub.com/sites/www.talkingstickgolfclub.com/photos/TSN-YC.pdfHole 1: Switchback par 4 promoting the draw around the left fairway bunker to get closer to the green.
The bunkers appear to guard the front of the green, but are several paces from the front edge, as shown below.
The green is crowned at the back, making it a fairly difficult target to hit.
Hole 2Using the boundary, Coore and Crenshaw created a par 5 where left is the ideal position, but doing so brings OB into play.
Approach
The green falls off from right to left, if you bail out right, you're left with a terrifyingly difficult chip shot over one of the two bunkers to a green that slopes away from you. Given the firmness of the ground and that the site is entirely short grass, chipping a ball OB is a serious possibility.
This view from behind the green does not do the slope justice
Hole 3Another switchback hole of sorts, the bunker is cut at an angle on the left to the hole, and taking it on affords the golfer a better angle at the green. However, taking on the right bunkers would not be a bad option off the tee with a front-left pin.
View from right side of fairway
From the center of the fairway
Behind the green from the fourth tee box, you can see how much short grass is utilized at Talking Stick. There is no rough on the course, and holes like the 3rd are immensely better for it.
Hole 4Interesting tee shot with a bunker that fingers out from the desert to bisect the fairway. Both the left and right are feasible options. The tee shot is quite intimidating.
Note how well the bunker is tied into the surrounding desert
View of green from right
Closeup of green
Note how the green is crowned in this picture slightly, the bunker pictured is the right greenside bunker
More to come soon...