Following the sun south this winter — or maybe planning to check out the Mariners at spring training? Here are a few of our favorite Arizona tracks.
by Kirk Tourtillotte
It’s the beginning of the dog days of winter; nearly a month has passed since my last round of golf over at Moses Pointe in Moses Lake. For a golfer that prefers to play in shorts and golf shirts rather than raingear and goggles, Pacific Northwest winters are long and hard.
The good news is that this time of year is when I make plans for my winter golf getaway to the Valley of the Sun in Phoenix. It’s a tradition with my good friends Ray, Tom and Lee and takes place over Super Bowl weekend. Something to hope for is another Seahawks Super Bowl appearance (and win!) that would make this year’s trip rival the one we experienced this past February. What could be better than four days of golf and a Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos? It was great that the golf nearly equaled the fun, excitement and joy of that Super Bowl win.
Our trip this year included four different courses from all points of the Valley that challenged our collective golf games and left us wanting more.
Golf kicked off Friday morning at the Raven Golf Club in Phoenix (www.ravenphx.com, 602-243-3636) a David Graham/David Panks design ranked 4.5 out of 5 stars by Golf Digest magazine and voted the No. 5 public course in Arizona in 2014 by Best in Arizona. Formerly known as Raven at South Mountain, the course features five sets of tees (up to 7,000 yards in length), rolling fairways and thousands of mature pine trees. The staff was helpful and ready to take care of any our needs. I especially liked the practice facility that included a driving range and chipping/putting areas.
We played from the white tees, which came in at nearly 6,300 yards. Yardage markers were on every fairway, marking 100-, 150- and 200-yard distances. The course is known for generously wide, undulating fairways — the trick is staying out of trouble on your approach shots, as the greens are surrounded by grassy swales, depressions and collection areas. My favorite hole on the front nine was No. 4, a par-four playing less than 300 yards with six bunkers between tee and green. Also No. 7, a 177-yard uphill par-three with water and sand lining the entire left side to the green.
On the back nine, No. 12 is a grip-it and rip-it par-five, at just 476 yards with six bunkers blocking your path to the green. No. 15 is a par-four with a slight dogleg right and green 30-yards deep. Both are good scoring holes if you stay on the fairway. You finish your round on a drivable par four with water on to the right of the green. If you stay left on your drive, you can run your ball right onto the outting surface, without bringing the wet stuff into play.
Raven was a fun course with great service, a terrific practice facility and good food that we enjoyed after our round (with a few beers to lick our wounds). All in all a great way to start our golf vacation!
Next up on Saturday was the Wigwam Golf Resort (www.wigwamarizona.com, 623-935-9414), situated in Litchfield Park (less than 15 minutes from University of Phoenix Stadium, home of Super Bowl XLIX). This is a beautiful resort, a Golf Magazine Silver Medal winner, with three 18-hole courses (Gold, Patriot and Heritage), two of them designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. Golf Digest has awarded Wigwam its “Top Resort Course in Arizona.”
Wigwam’s Gold Course — one of two designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (and since updated by Arizona architect Forrest Richardson) can be massive in length (7,400-plus yards from the tips) or more reasonable, in the 6,350-yard club tees. Of course, we choose the club tees for our round.
I loved Wigwam; it had the feel of an oasis inside a suburban exterior. Subtle in its difficulty and, as previously mentioned, fairly long, the real difficulty lies in the extensive and deep bunkering along the fairways and around the sloping, elevated greens.
The greens are slower than typical ones you will find in the Valley of the Sun, yet you have to watch your approach shots as the fringes are shaved and it’s easy to roll your ball off the back or sides into bunkers or a meandering stream.
No. 8 is a real challenge, a 377-yard par-four with a canal weaving its way along the right side of the fairway to an elevated green with water on the right and a huge bunker left. Good luck escaping with a par here.
On the back nine, a couple of holes stood out — No. 11, known as Horseshoe Bay is a fun par-three, 144 yards over water to a bunkered, horseshoe-shaped green. Then there was No. 14, a 488-yard, dogleg-right par-five that requires draw hitters to start your drive over water before bringing it back to the fairway, then hit an approach into a green protected by nine bunkers along the way. I was ecstatic to par both.
This was a great day of golf, I can’t wait to get back and try the Patriot and Heritage courses on a future trip.
Super Bowl Sunday was obviously a great day for us life-long Seahawks fans, a day made even better by starting our day playing the Foothills Golf Club (www.thefoothillsgc.com, 480-460-4653), a part of the Foothills Golf Group, which also includes The Duke of Rancho El Dorado, Club West Golf Club and Ahwatukee Country Club. Foothills Golf Group offers special member discounts through the Golf Card program, something well worth having if you spend your winters in Phoenix or vacation there for an extended period of time.
The par-72, championship, links-style course was designed by internationally acclaimed architects Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. Nearly 7,000 yards from the tips, it features 65 bunkers, lush rolling fairways and lots of water set against a rocky desert terrain. Golf Digest has given Foothills a four-star ranking and also ranked it one of Phoenix’s top golf courses.
Outstanding facilities are available at the Foothills, including a restaurant/lounge/patio open for breakfast and lunch, a 160-seat theater, banquet/special event rooms, and locker rooms for men and women. There is a spacious grass range and a huge practice green for putting and chipping. The clubhouse also features a well-stocked pro shop.
The proximity of the South Mountain ridges adds an aesthetic quality that makes a round here memorable — as evidenced by the gorgeous, postcard-quality backdrops behind the tees and greens. And it’s a great value for the Phoenix area, as prime-time rates — including cart — are under $100. As I mentioned earlier, if you plan on playing courses in the Foothills Golf Group, take advantage of the Gold Card for some great savings.
After our round at Foothills, we loaded up with food & drink and headed to my friend Ray’s desert home in Chandler to watch the Seahawks destroy the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. It was an awesome Sunday.
We wrapped up our Arizona trip on Monday with a truly great golf experience at The Boulders Golf Club (www.bouldersclub.com, 480-488-9028). I had been looking forward to this round of golf my entire trip and it blew away my expectations. What a beautiful setting for golf! The Boulders features a 6,811-yard, par-72 championship North Course and a 6,726-yard, par-71 championship South Course, both designed by Jay Morrish. The Boulders is world-renowned as one of the finest golf resorts in the western United States. The courses are considered the most demanding in the Southwest, and are known for their rugged beauty.
This is a first-class golf experience from the minute you arrive at the clubhouse, with helpful, professional staff, a targeted grass range, short game areas with grass bunkers and multiple putting greens. It was a great place to warm-up for our round and is also the home of The Boulders Golf Academy, featuring Donald Crawley, one of Golf Digests “Top 100 Teachers in America.”
There are multiple dining options for you before or after golf, including Bogeys Sports Bar, The Grill (a steak and seafood restaurant) and Palo Verde, the latter featuring a southwest-inspired menu.
We played the North Course, which has spectacular views of Black Mountain and is set in the desert foothills, with amazing boulder formations and natural desert terrain. The beautiful Sonoran Desert setting is a stark contrast to the challenging round of golf The Boulders offers.
You won’t see much water on this course, as it comes into play on just two holes on the North. Water sits in front of the green of the par-five third (about 50 yards out) and on the par-three 14th, which you will have to carry. The remaining par-threes (Nos. 2, 6 and 17) require carries over desert areas. Several of the par-fours and -fives demand carries off the tee or on the approach, with significant elevation changes also prevalent. Rock formations that are situated in the middle of several fairways can also be hazardous. Strategic golf shots are the key to a successful round.
The Boulders is truly a beautiful golf setting — stunning desert landscape, challenging hole layouts and top-notch facilities. Prices are at the high end, but the experience is like few others in the Valley of the Sun.
This was our fourth year in a row traveling to the Desert over Super Bowl weekend. It’s a great buddy golf tradition, combining golf, food, football and friendship.
Isn’t it time you started a tradition of your own?
