David -- My wife and I have been intrigued by the concept of Payson -- warm but not blazing in the summer, cool but not snowy (like Flagstaff) in the winter -- for several years, and finally decided to visit Payson this spring on our drive back to Minnesota from Tucson, where our daughter will be attending college this fall.
I concur with Matt about the area -- beautiful (really beautiful) but sleepy. After making the stunning 80-minute drive north from Phoenix, we pulled into the pine-studded community around sunset, checked into a "main drag" (such as it is) motel and drove around looking for a place to have a drink and meet some locals. In most towns we've visited, it's easy to find the center of action; in Payson, we never did. We ended up back at a bar/pool hall in a small strip mall near our motel -- where we ran into one of the assistant pros at The Rim. If he's like most other people in Payson, it's an extremely friendly town. He invited us out to his course to play the next morning, and even though we really didn't have time, we both gave serious thought to blowing up our travel plans for a round at the Rim.
Sanity prevailed, but as we left the next morning we decided to drive by the course (just east of town); it looked fantastic, from what we could see, but access was limited. It's a gated community, and even starting up the access road to the clubhouse caused the guard to start walking down the driveway to meet us. I didn't like the exclusivity of the development, which seemed somewhat superfluous, given the fact that Payson itself is really an isolated -- but beautiful, did I mention beautiful? -- town. Maybe on our next visit to Tucson, we'll swing by Payson again with a half-day to spare and see if the offer from the pro still stands. If so, I'll report.