Blackstone Country Club, Peoria, AZ (Jim Engh Design) Pictures

[Peter Ferlicca]

I recently played Blackstone Country Club in Peoria, AZ.  It opened in 2001 if I am correct as a Jim Engh private club.  It has hopes of being a high end private in the Northwest side of the valley.  I live in the Vistancia neighborhood, so it took me about 2 minutes to get to the front gate of Blackstone.  I have played three Jim Engh Designs now (Redlands Mesa, The club at Black Rock, and now Blackstone).  I will just say that Jim Engh sure does design golf courses you won't see anywhere else.  IMO, his designs are by far the easiest to spot.  On his website it says how they are cost efficient to build and easy to maintain.  As a superintendent now, playing this course all I was thinking about was how hard it would be maintain those bunkers and steep slopes.  On a good note though, they are fun to play and make you feel good about your golf game. 

My camera ran out of batteries on the first hole, so I had to take pictures with my Iphone.  Quality isn't great, but you can see what is going on still. 

[Sven Nilsen]

Peter:

I did this write up a few years ago.  I used to take a yearly trip to Scottsdale, and Blackstone made the rotation a few times.  Always had fun there, and it always felt like we had the place to ourselves.

1 - 402 yd (4) - plays downhill to an extremely wide fairway and back up hill to a left to right sloping green.  Engh's use of contours around the green to allow for different styles of approach shots becomes evident.
2 - 194 yd (3) - the par 3's seem to disguise the depth of the greens, had to trust yardages and hope for good reads on the greens.
3 - 585 yd (5) - straight away hole defensed by bunkering around the green.  Tough two shotter, easy three shotter.
4 - 442 yd (4) - Cape style hole, with a two tiered green with a punchbowl area on the lower right protected by an approach directly over the water.  Didn't mind the water on this hole, the risk/reward nature of the drive seemed fair with the width of the fairway.
5 - 470 yd (4) - beautiful driving hole that optically asks one to hit left when the best line is out to the right.  Even if your view of the green is blocked out, it is important to avoid the bunkers on the right.
6 - 360 yd (4) - the most "irish" of the holes on the course, wide fairway with an approach to a green set in a valley that narrows the further back the pin is set.  Yardage and line are still important, as several shots that played long hung up on the slopes making for tricky recoveries.
7 - 154 yd (3) - another deceptive green.  Easiest of the par 3's.
8 - 447 yd (4) - the strength of this hole is in the demands placed on the approach, as the green shrugs off shots coming up short or right.  You want to attack this hole from the right, but the drive suggests the safe play is from the left.
9 - 555 yd (5) - a stunning three shot hole with as unique a green-site as I have seen.  The green itself is probably the smallest on the course, and makes for interesting putts if the approach is errant.  Need to hit two solid shots to set up an approach from the best line.
10 - 416 yd (4) - the test on this hole is where to put your drive.  The green itself is receptive with a back to front slope, making shots hit hole high or close there to optimal as just about any putt on this green is going to be tricky.
11 - 619 yd (5) - landing area for the drive is pinched by a bunker complex left and water right.  Second and third shots are straight forward, provided one avoids the turbo boost slope extending off of the bunker in the front of the green.
12 - 404 yd (4) - straight forward hole with the premium placed on a well judged second shot, being beyond the hole is trouble, but being short is in the canyon.
13- 203 yd (3) - extremely wide green makes for interesting pin placements, on Friday the pin was in the middle on the ridge bisecting the green.
14 - 524 yd (5) - the local knowledge hole, as the second shot can be played over the desert area to the green if one knows the proper line and where the pin is that day on the 65 yd long green.  Wonderful fairway contours to play with if one choses to play safe to the right on the second.
15 - 228 yd (3) - wonderful green site set back into a small valley.  A low runner is the best way to attack a back pin.
16 - 354 yd (4) - short downhill hole with a wide landing area, but the downhill lie for the pitch makes the approach tougher than it looks.
17 - 194 yd (3) - described as a dell hole, but only because the pin can be blind.  Recovery from around the green is possible from just about anywhere.
18 - 538 yd (5) - perhaps not as strong a finishing hole to this nine as on the front, but a good driving hole with defenses around the green to deter an aggressive second shot.  Another smallish green compared to the massive complexes found on most of the rest of the course.

Sven

[Ronald Montesano]

I would love to see Sven's write-up interspersed with Peter's photos, so I would know what I was viewing.

I like the photos and see that Jim Engh's loves the mounds. No almond joy for that boy.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Ron,

Perhaps this will help a little:

http://www.vistancia.com/vibrant-communities/blackstone-at-vistancia/blackstone-country-club/hole-descriptions.aspx

[Ronald Montesano]

Thank you, Steve. It does help.

#10...is it still like that? here is their description: "Pick a line or simply let it fly and hope to avoid one of the bunkers." why should "hope" ever be a part of golf course architecture?

[Bill_McBride]

Have to say that I have never liked that look with dormant Bermuda surrounding every bunker in the otherwise overseeded fairways. 

[Sven Nilsen]

Ron:

Here's an aerial shot of 10.



As for whether or not "hope" is part of GCA, how would you explain 17 at Sawgrass?

Sven

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Sven

I've played there 5 times. Typical Engh- muscle bunkers, punchbowl greens and even an Alps. . I've also played Pradera and Lakota Canyon in CO.

At Blackstone, 10 was the original 1 and 9 was the original 18. The nines were flipped. I think the reason was to give members a "feel good" hole on 18.

The club was opened with a high membership fee, at least for the West Valley. When the economy went south, the numbers went way down. The Club House and amenities are very good.

[Ronald Montesano]

Sven, good point on #17 at TPC. I should have written "if hit and hope is the reality, don't mention it in your caption for the hole." From your overhead shot, it looks much less like hit and hope.

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven, good point on #17 at TPC. I should have written "if hit and hope is the reality, don't mention it in your caption for the hole." From your overhead shot, it looks much less like hit and hope.

There's a bit of strategy on the this hole, and their description doesn't really do it justice.

The best line in is from the left side of the fairway, but that second trap does a good job of protecting that area.  You can play out well right, but you're faced with a tougher approach shot.

Although it doesn't have the intricacies of the 10th at Old Mac, there are some similarities in the holes. 

Sven

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Ron,

10 is still like that. When it was 1, it was perplexing.

Sven,

Blackstone opened for play in 2005 and the club house opened in 2007.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Shot 64 there over thanksgiving......great  golf course😄😄😄
That tee shot on 10 is horrible, the green on nine a disaster and some of the greens just rather silly.
The way the greens and surround are constructed, too many good shots can get screwed and way too many poor shots get back onto the green.
As such  Iam sure most people enjoy playing there!!!!
The par threes are cool and as far as having fun is concerned the course is cetsinly that.
I always enjoy playing there but is it great course architecture,well maybe not.