Desert Mountain Outlaw

[Tom Renli]

DM Outlaw accomplished the AZ trifecta this summer, hosting the AZ Am, AZ Open and the Gateway Tour Championship.  The later is scheduled for this weekend.  The AZ Open was originally scheduled for The GC of Scottsdale, but was moved due the clubhouse not being finished, which in now scheduled for January.

Several players that I have talked to gave the course positive feedback.  I went out this past Saturday to the final round of the AZ Open.  The course is fast and firm in that it has not been overseeded yet and the wind was up a bit.  The course did produce a very wide range of scores.  I believe there was a 64 in the first round and a 66 by the eventual champion in the final round of the AZ Open.  The best player in the section shot a final round 82.

Phillip Francis, USGA Boy's Junior Champion and UCLA signee was low am in the AZ Open for the third straight year.  I have not played this course much, but I am starting to beleive some of the strong praise that Matt Ward expressed about it a couple years back.

[Daryn_Soldan]

Tom,

Not too much to add as I have never played the course but did you have a chance to watch the final group?  My college roomate Matt VanCleave had the lead after the 1st and 2nd rounds (65-68) before falling to 3rd with a 72 in the final round. We were talking after the 1st round and he said that DM Outlaw was easily his favorite among the courses that they play on the Gateway Tour.  Of course he was glad to see the tournament moved.  He did mention something along the lines that it was not nessicarily a bomber's paradise like many of the courses they play regularly.

-Daryn

[Matt_Ward]

Tom:

Glad to hear the news about Outlaw -- IMHO, I think it is grossly underrated because so many people take the view that all the layouts at Desert Mtn are the same which is clearly in error.

The only hole Tom that needs serious attention is the short par-4 10th -- the green is simply too narrow to handle any type of approach shots played from the fairway. Better players tend to bail out waaaaaaay right and try to look "into" the green without dealing with the frontal bunker.

I have to say that if changes to the hole do happen it's best if the Nicklaus team and Lyle Anderson not monkey around as was done with the 13th and 14th holes at Geronimo. Both of those holes were grand before they bastardized them to what is there now.

Outlaw is far different because there isn't the clutter of housing and because the fast and firm playing conditions allow for all sorts of different options when playing -- something Jack favored less so at a few of the other DM courses.

There's plenty in the Valley of the Sun that's overrated but I would certainly recommend anyone with the opportunity to play Outlaw when in town. Fun is certainly the buzzword when playing there.

[Tom Renli]

Bret Guetz of TCU and most recently the Canadian Tour won the event.  What little I saw, he played really well, 66 in about a 1 club wind out of the East.  I believe that was low round of the day.

I would agree, Outlaw is totally different than the other 5 DM courses.  I fully understand it is not a links course.  However, it does share some common characterists.  One being the inconsistent bounces, some being favorable and some being unlucky.  My sense is a number of the members fail to recognize and accept this, hence the course was out of favor with them.  I am curious if this has changed over time and with more play/familiarity.

[Matt_Ward]

Tom:

The bigger issue is that the ownership (Lyle Anderson) doesn't cave into the bitching and moaning of ignorant members and "soften" the original nature of what Outlaw is.

This is what happened to the 13th and 14th holes at Geronimo.

Outlaw is a very uinique layout and being free of housing clutter and having the unpredictability with the bounces you mentioned is what makes playing there so much fun.

I salute Jack and his design team involved there because too often there's a temptation to simply replicate previous courses at the same facility with another version.

That's far from the case at Outlaw and as a result the differentiation is what makes it so appealing.

[kurt bowman]

Matt,

I just wanted to clarify the changes to #14 Geronimo were not done as a result to it being very controversial. I thought the old hold was pure genius, and unfortunatley I oversaw the changes to #14 while I was building Chiracahua. The changes at #14 were driven by development, not by design. The pro tee at #15 was also eliminated at that time. It was the longest forced carry I knew of at about 240-250 yards just to carry the desert, and that was before the time of the pro-V1. WOW!!

I cannot take any credit for Outlaw, but I played in the group in front of you a few years ago, and I agree with your assessment about how fun it is. At the time I think it was probably one of the most groundbreaking courses that JN had done. In fact for the fun factor, I think it is near the top of my list. Jim Lipe, and Tom Soileau deserve alot of credit for this as well.

Cheers,

Kurt

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