I try to jot down my impressions of courses in any area I visit, for whatever benefit it might provide to others travelling to that area. In the last six months I have gotten to some great destinations with enjoyable, if not world class golf.
What follows are my notes and stab at a Doak rating for courses I have visited recently. In most cases the I played the course one or twice, with a few exceptions. Some of this material has been posted in other threads.
I did not take pictures this winter, so I have attached links to the course websites instead.
Arizona
Overall:
I enjoy desert golf. I think the courses are beautiful and have been widened to the point that too much width is a bigger problem than too little width on newer courses.
I also am always looking for value in Arizona. Apache Stronghold and Vistal therefore hold a soft spot for me. For the others, get out the plastic and expect to pay for the opportunity to play golf rather than to experience rare greatness in a golf course.
Apache Stronghold (Doak 4-8)
Best layout I played this winter and, conditioning aside, my favorite Doak course over Barnbougle and Stone Eagle. I really like the tee shots on the course, which require constant decisions, reward accurate power and rarely (if ever) take the driver out of one’s hand.
The problem of course is that you play the course in the condition it is in. Hence my range of Doak rankings. On the day I visited, it was very soft due in part to some morning rain. Other than that drawback, I found the course to be in poor, but adequate condition.
http://www.golfapache.com/We-Ko-Pa Saguaro (Doak 6?)
Is the Coore/Crenshaw team starting to revert to templates? Many of the greens and the holes seemed very familiar from other courses. Greens are fantastic. Par threes are very good. I am undecided as to whether the width of the fairways is merely forgiving or requires the golfer to make calculated risks off the tee. Need more rounds on the course to decide how much I like it.
http://www.wekopa.com/ We-Ko-Pa Cholla (Doak 5)
Very solid course. Very good challenges to tee shots. Interesting greens. I do not like the repeated use of islands of desert in the middle of the fairway. It is ok as a change of pace but too many holes have them here.
http://www.wekopa.com/ Estancia (Doak 6)
Very good walkable course with extremely difficult interesting greens.
http://www.estancia.com/http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/golf-course.asp?course=15291 Desert Mountain – Chriracahua (Doak 5)
Nicklaus formula – wide fairways, difficult iron shots. Good test along those lines. Beauiful setting.
http://www.desertmountain.com/chiricahua.aspx Vistal (Doak 4)
Vistal packs a lot of interest in a very tight land area. Much of that interest is created by very penal fairway bunkers which often impose a full stroke penalty due to the need to pitch out. Thus, off the tee, one is constantly calculating his ability to place the ball where he wants, and weighing that option against the possibility of a 175-200 yard approach if he is too conservative off the tee.
The best holes on the course are the 5th through the 9th, which play in all directions against the side of the mountain. The course presents some truly unique challenges on other holes, ranging from a tree in front of the green on the par five first (sounds goofy, but I think it works), greens that favor shots of all shapes, including aerial, right to left, left to right and run up, a wonderful reverse redan green on a downhill par four (16) and a horseshoe (or tractor seat) green on the par five 17th.
Other positives about the course include (1) it is easily walkable, (2) the service is outstanding, without the butt-kissing or arrogant flavor so common at CCFAD’s and (3) it seems to be a course frequented by a lot of good local players based on my impression of the crowd on two separate visits spaced by a couple of years. Unlike most courses, here the 7100 yard tees get as much use as the other options. Definitely consider Vistal if you are looking for an affordable option in Phoenix.
Course website
http://www.vistalgolfclub.com/index.htm Raven at South Mountain (Doak 3)
Containment mounds. Only unique aspect of course is the use of pine trees. Problem is that they are small enough and far enough out of play, it does not seem that much different from a desert course. I played from forward tees and might have liked the course better from farther back.
Florida
World Woods – Pine Barrens (Doak 6)
I came away a bit disappointed. I expected more of an intimidating golf course but found it to be pretty wide open. Some terrific terrain is used well and some outstanding par fives.
http://www.worldwoods.com/fw/main/default.asp Fiddlesticks – Long Mean (Doak 6)
Florida, almost flat, housing filled, water on most holes golf. Nonetheless, it is the best version of this type of golf I have played. Heroic tee shots, some interesting dunes type land, varied par threes and playable for my father on a recently replaced hip and an 82 year old friend.
http://www.fiddlestickscc.com/fiddlesticks/Minnesota
Dacotah Ridge (Doak 4)
Rees Jones course that is largely treeless and typically plays in heavy wind. The course has mild but interesting greens and great finishes to each nine.
There are quite a few features to soften the course. For example, greens tended to slope away from, rather than towards water hazards. In addition, fairway bunkers are often on the opposite side of the fairway from the best angle of attack. Finally, containment mounding prevails throughout the course. While many might criticize these portions of the course, given the windy site, the approach might make sense in order to allow many to just finish their round.
Interesting par fives, including one or 2 that will be reachable on most days. Par threes have a good variety of distances and have water peripherally in play, which is appropriate given the windiness of the site.
http://www.dacotahridge.com/New Mexico
Overall – In October the area is very pleasant to play. It is cooler than Arizona and the wind seems to kick up more frequently. The greens tended to be soupy and most were recovering from aeration, but the fairways were generally very firm. The area is beautiful, and, although I payed a lump sum for the trip, the price seemed very reasonable, about $650 for 5 rounds of golf and pedestrian lodging.
The courses range from solid to better than average. Go here for the weather, price and food rather than to see once in a lifetime courses.
Courses:
Sandia (Doak 3) - We played it from very short tees (this was a group event) and I did not get much of a feel for the course other than the fun of playing some short driveable par fours and par fives that were generally mid irons into the greens. Pretty wide course in a nice location but not a real memorable design.
http://www.sandiagolf.com/Santa Ana: (Doak 4-5) The surprise of the trip for me. Intimidating off the tee because of large areas of natural vegetation to carry. If one is capable of that task, a pretty interesting design with many fairways angled to the tee and severely contoured greens. It looked like there was an original 18 with additional new holes sprinkled in. The original holes seemed far superior to the new ones, which tended to use a lot of water and could have been found anywhere.
http://www.santaanagolf.com/Santa%5FAna/Twin Warriors – (Doak 4-5) Beautiful setting. I can't say that I remember a lot about the course. I was playing well at the time, and perhaps that fact reveals something about my ability to focus on architecture and golf at the same time.
http://www.twinwarriorsgolf.com/index2.htmPaa Ko Ridge (Doak 6) - Beautiful setting up and over ridges at relatively high elevations and interesting holes. We played 36 consisting of all 3 nines once and holes 1-9 a second time. The primary weakness in my view was an endless repetition of drop shot par threes (6 of them) with the only exception being an interesting slightly uphill par three on the first nine with a green 90 yards long. From our tee, we had 87 yards to the front and 162 to the pin into the wind. I hit 6 and 5 iron on the hole.
Par fours and fives tended to present interesting tee shot options with an agressive tee shot yielding a significantly easier 2nd, but at the cost of tightened landing areas. I do not know how walkable the course is but there were quite a few high school kids walking the course.
http://www.paakoridge.com/Hawaii
Overall: You are in Hawaii. There are better things to do than overpay to play mediocre golf courses.
Poipu (Doak 3) – Pretty mundane course with a fabulous view. It would be interesting to try and come up with a routing that takes better advantage of the beautiful ocean views.
http://www.poipubaygolf.com/