Had the opportunity to play for the second time Apache Stronghold and I'm happy to report the conditioning issues are on the mend and seem to be headed in the right direction.
I have always liked Apache Stronghold because it doesn't follow the motif of so many courses you play in Maricopa County. The course is blessed with being situated away from all the commotion and crowds and when you venture onto the course it's great to hear nothing but the wind blowing through the site. You also have solid routing plan that takes advantage of all the uniqueness of the site. Predictability is rarely on the menu card when you play AS.
I played AS the first spring after it opened and the turf conditions had not disintegrated at that time.
Since my first visit I was determined to return and see what progress, if any, had been made. On that front things are clearly improving.
The fairways are now bermuda and although they are dormant brown they are full in nearly every fairway. In my conversation with the new superintendent -- Ron Mahaffey -- he expressed the fairways will eventually comprise bermuda and bent grasses and eventually be reduced in cuts from the existing 9/16th's to 3/8's sometime next year. The ultimate aim -- crop the fairways really tight to maximize the ground game when playing. Rough areas has also been added and clearly will influence play.
A number of tees and are also going through correction. Among the examples include the championship tee at #14 and #16 -- plus a few others in different positions. There is also work being done make sure that irrigation is put in the proper locations to make sure that the course doesn't have the kind of wet turf / dry turf issues that have happened previously.
All in all, there is a game plan at AS and if things are allowed to continue with Ron at the helm it seems likely AS will emerge even stronger than before.
My only issue with the course rests with the differences between the front and back nines. After playing the course again I just believe the front is the weaker of the two because it has more pedestrian holes. After you play the superb long par-3 3rd -- you then have the par-4 4th which is simply average in it requirements. The short par-4 6th is also fairly tame because it doesn't tighten up so much near the green and simply allows the longer player to hit driver with little to fear. The par-5 8th is also a fairly predictable hole and is not demanding enough for those who fail to execute. There are obviously strong holes on the front with the long par-4 5th and par-4 9th along with the opener, the 2nd and the downhill 7th.
The back nine at AS is simply a big step up in demands from the tee shot at the 10th through to the 18th. You simply have to drive the ball in the correct spots for you to make headway with your approaches.
Ron indicated that additional work will be carried out at a few holes and if time permits I hope to return in about a year's time to see the results.
AS has had plenty of negative ink and clearly some of it was deserved. However, things are now moving in the RIGHT direction and the dynamic qualities of AS will only be better because of the approach being taken by the folks who are there now. I would just hasten to add this to those who read this -- AS is going through the process now -- don't expect miracles overnight -- but it's clear where they are headed and that's good news for a course that does offer so much.
P.S. It would be an interesting match play contest to compare the qualities of AS and The Rawls Course for those who have played both.
