Whisper Rock Golf Club

[Matt_Ward]

Brad:I have not played the course but a very close friend and someone who is also on the GD panel with me played it a few weeks ago.Here's the skinny from what he wrote me:The course is located near the Boulders Resort in the north portion of Scottsdale. The course was designed by Greg Stevenson with input obviously from PM. From the tips the course plays 7,359 yards. Don't have the CR and SL from those boxes but at championship tees the course plays 7,035 yards with a 74.8 CR and a lofty 153 slope! You can only imagine what the CR and Sl must be from the PM tees!!!!!The course is set on relatively flat land and is not in the same manner as other desert courses where man's hand has been overly applied. Many of the greens are elevated off the desert floor so hitting quality iron shots is a must.The course does present, as many desert courses do, an intimidating feeling off many of the tees but once you see the landing areas you can appreciate how the architect has tried to play with your head.The four par-3's play in different direction and feature a wide variety of looks. The 7th, at 234 yards from the PM tees, features a bunker that is 20 yards short of the green but appears closer. The 11th, a short 163 yards, is slightly uphill to a nicely contourd green.The course does permit walking and caddies are available. In order to keep the golf course as pristine as possible, there will be no more than four homes on the course -- with one being for Phil and Amy.In addition, this fellow GD panelist told me it's among the very best he's seen in Arizona and he's played just about all of the top ones. In simple terms --he said the course has successfully incorporated a minimalist style to avoid the forced look of man's hand. All in all, he was most impressed and as someone who thoroughly enjoys golf in the Grand Canyon State I am looking forward to seeing it as well. Hope this helps ...Regards,

[Matt_Ward]

One question to all GCA posters -- if anyone has any additional information on Greg Stevenson it would be greatly appreciated.Thanks ...

[aclayman]

Ben- This Feb is sure to be a wet one.If that is the case don't be too eager to get to pasa. The fastest drying courses are the back at PG and the two courses over at the fort. Bayonet and Blackhorse. If your former Military I believe there is still a great deal.Hope you catch a dry window adam

[Anthony_Nysse]

Greens: L-93 or A-4Fairways: Colonial Bent with some fescueTees: Colonial or Penn-TrioRoughs: Fescues with blue stem and natives  I'm from the West Michigan Area, but I worked in the great area of Long Island. Victoria National is complete L-93(fairways, tees and greens)I've been told it's some of the best surfaces people have played off. The course that I worked on this summer has the grasses described above.

[Jeff_Mingay]

This is a perspective of the course I had not seen before. At bottom left is the long par 4 second hole, bending to the right. The par 3 third plays over the watery inlet there. The short par 4 fourth heads up toward the top of the photo, and following is the par 3 fifth headed in the same direction. It's then the par 5 sixth, bending around the water, and we lose the course... until it returns to the photo with the 15th green in the centre. (You can kinda see the start of the 14th fairway as well.) See the church there? The white building to the left of the 15th green. You walk past it and cross a road to get to the tee at the short par 5 sixteenth, which is the last fairway in the photo cutting out at left on top of the 2nd.  This really is a fantastic perspective. As for my favoutite holes at Highlands Links? Off the top of my head: 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 18.

[Poa Pete]

Viper or Providence bent for greens, great cool season performers. Viper has no track record in the US (I intend to change that), but is big in Australia.Rye grass fairways, (Primo'd) with at least 40% Essence, another great cool weather variety.Fescue roughs, Chewings, Hard, Sheep and  creeping red. This is where you can get it up to 6-8 inches then turn the water off. let it get thin, wispy and that tan color we all love. Water only to keep plants viable.Rye tees, cut tight, (Primo'd).Natives from a local native guru. Or collect the seeds yourself. Start now!If poa annua control is going to be attempted, stay away from any bluegrass in the mix. Poa control tools will smoke any blue.If the budget is limited, like Don says be prepared for poa. In a cool coastal climate Poa is your friend.  

[Mike Bonner]

It is Gary S., I think.  Used to be Gary Panks lead guy.  Unfortunately, I have heard the exact opposite, that it is unplayable for anyone that can't carry it 200 and hit lots of perfect flop shots.  Also heard it is among the most narrow courses in Arizona.  Again, this is second hand.

[Ben C. Dewar]

2, 4, 7, 15, 16, 18.Nothing revolutionary there, but I really like the whole course.  I am not down on many holes out there, I may be one of the few who do not find 12 weak.It is a great view of the course.

[Ben C. Dewar]

Adam,Thanks, I am coming toward the end of Feb., so hopefully we do find it dry, fingers are crossed.Thanks for your advice, it is appreciated.Ben

[Rick Shefchik]

For some reason I thought I'd already posted my bio and vital information on this thread, but I realize now I was thinking of the e-mail thread. I read these posts from top to bottom a month or so ago when I first started frequenting this site, but that was to find out Who You Guys Are. It occurs to me, now that I've made a dozen or so posts myself, that somebody might be wondering Who I Am.Whether you wonder or not, here goes:I'm 49, living in Stillwater, Minn., and married to a relatively recent convert to golf (my index is currently 3.3 and certain to rise the next time I enter a score; my wife is a 23 and dropping quickly.) We are the parents of a 16-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.I'm a native of Duluth, Minn., where I had the great good fortune to learn the game at Northland Country Club, one of Donald Ross's few Minnesota courses (NCC is ranked anywhere from 3rd best to 10th best in the state on various lists.) Northland is built on Duluth's east hillside and overlooks -- truly overlooks -- Lake Superior; on a sun-splashed day, the view across the lake to Wisconsin from the dramatically elevated 15th tee is as spectacular as it gets.I graduated with a degree in English from Dartmouth College in 1974, returned to Duluth and worked in public relations for one year and played guitar in a band for the following year. Neither occupation seemed to hold much a future for me, so I joined the Duluth News Tribune as a copy editor and eventually forged a career writing about the things that interested me -- music, television, parenting and now, golf. I was hired by the St. Paul Pioneer Press as a TV critic in 1980, and became a general features writer and columnist a decade later. I write a column that runs under the heading "Go Ask Dad" in the Pioneer Press; it is distributed to other papers nationwide on the Knight Ridder newswire, and shows up now and then in newspapers around the country. I believe the Fort Myers paper runs it almost every week. Unlike Dave Barry, I don't make any extra money for appearing in other papers -- probably because I'm not as funny as Dave Barry.Three years ago I managed to convince our features editor to allow me to write golf course reviews. The column runs every other week during the golf season here, which is not always as short as you'd think. I have a round scheduled next Tuesday with DG contributer Dan Kelly (my Pioneer Press colleague and friend who alerted me to this site); we played into mid-December in 1998 and 1999.e-mail: rshefchik@pioneerpress.comor rshefchik@mediaone.netI play (and live) at Oak Glen Country Club in Stillwater, while I wait (and wait, and wait, as they said in "Casablanca") for my name to get to the top of the waiting list at Stillwater Country Club. I would love to play a round with any DG members who might happen to be in the Twin Cities area. I can't get you on Interlachen, but there are a growing number of excellent public courses around here.This is a great site, and I've learned a great deal in the short time I've been visiting.Rick    

[CHrisB]

When I look back on it, I can't believe I actually made the 1500 mile drive to Cape Breton Highlands National Park from N.C. a few years back (also played St. Andrews and Digby Pines on the trip); my wife and I were "winging it" at the time and we drove all over Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.The holes that still stand out in my mind are the strong 2nd, the short par-4 4th, the par-3 5th, of course the par-5 7th, (the walk from the 12th to the 13th,) the par-5 15th with the church backdrop, and the uphill par-5 16th.  Loved the undulating fairways of many of the holes.On the 4th hole we saw a fox in the landing area.  I hit my tee shot on the lower level of the fairway, on the other side of a hill from the fox.  Since he couldn't find my ball, he went up to the green to await my approach shot.  When the ball landed on the green, he picked it up and ducked down the hill toward the lagoon.  My wife gave chase but couldn't see where he went...  That fox was smart enough to know where the shots would land.  Hadn't seen that before!