bjohn13

They were booking groups of five, and they were booking them seven minutes apart. Obviously, they fell behind. They called my 1:07 group at 1:25, and the other four I was supposed to be playing with got tired of waiting and went off out of turn. I was standing on the first tee by myself with about 20 people (who were all late on their tee times) yelling at me, and I had no idea what to do. I just about said screw it, but I tried to stick it out.

The guy in the clubhouse said to join up with the group in front of me, which was already a fivesome. Playing as a fivesome is an unacceptable form of chaos for me. A sixsome was just plain ridiculous. And we were still waiting.

Half of our group left after number 9. I don't blame them. I decided to try to stick it out after that, since we would only be a foursome. But the only thing that changed was how long we were waiting on each tee box. At 5:00, it became obvious to me that we weren't going to beat sunset, as we were only on the 13th tee box. I decided to call it quits. I found the lollygagging group on 15. There were five groups playing that hole, and there was no one on 16, 17, or 18.

I refuse to play on a golf course that intentionally books five-somes. I've played this course five or six times in the past, but I will definitely not be back.

There were a lot of bare spots out on the course. Chipping around the greens or hitting from the fairway was like playing from pavement. Best leave your wedge in the bag. I started scoring pretty well once I started putting from 40 yards out. Interestingly, the greens were in pretty good shape. There wasn't a good lie anywhere else on the course, though.

If you like blind tee shots to narrow fairways, then you'll probably love this course. The back nine here is one of the hardest nine hole tracks I've ever played, and that leads to a slow pace of play. Be prepared to be out here for six hours because that's how long the round will take.

If this is your first time on Arizona Grand, you should probably just leave your driver in the bag. And bring lots of balls because you'll lose a few. Don't expect any practice time before the round starts. What they call a driving range has little nerf balls that fly about 40 yards, and the putting green is fuzzy and bumpy.

I have two good things to say about the course, and neither is good enough to bump my overall score higher than a 1. First, you have to try the mango towels. That was a pretty neat experience. And hole number 18 is one of the coolest finishing holes I've ever seen even though it's a par 3. So if you somehow manage to make it through the first 17 holes, you'll love number 18.

I really loved this course. I played it on the last day before they were switching courses, so I think the course I played may have had a few days of neglect. However, it was still in great shape. The views were awesome, and the grounds were immaculate. The staff was extremely friendly and completely accommodating. I had a blast out here. I just wish it wasn't so long of a drive. I'll definitely be back. But I can't give it five stars because, well, the lack of water in the Phoenix area is a tough hurdle to overcome.

Overall, I really like this course, but there are a few reasons why I didn't give it more than a 3 overall. First,there is no driving range. That's a pretty key feature to me. I like to hit the practice facilities, including the driving range, for at least an hour before every round. The second part is that all of the par 4's are very short. Now I love this because it caters to my game, but it doesn't provide a whole lot of variety.

The things the course has going for it are numerous, though. The greens are well maintained. They are relatively soft for summertime golf in the Phoenix area, meaning if I land a ball on the green, it will hold. The rest of the course is pretty well maintained as well. The practice facility is pretty large. I saw three good sized putting and chipping greens, so they do try to make up for a lack of a driving range. Most importantly, though, the staff is extremely friendly. The beverage cart employee filled my cup with ice every time she passed without me even asking.

I had a lot of fun playing out here.

I've played here quite a few times, and I love this layout. It's a great little practice course. It isn't a pristine facility, but it isn't in terrible shape, either. In fact, I love the fact that there are a lot of risk/reward holes on this course. If you are accurate with your driver, you may just find yourself with an eagle. I prefer to lay up. And it serves me well.

My one beef with this course is that the driving range uses mats instead of grass. Otherwise, I foresee myself playing this course a lot in the future.

The staff here is super friendly. That's a great start. Plus, I love the layout of the facilities. The Wigwam practice facility is extremely nice, and it's not a long way from the clubhouse. The practice green is huge, and the range balls are part of your green fee.

The courses themselves aren't exactly the most original or the most pristine I've played, but I still love them. Obviously, rating pace of play in the Phoenix area is kind of counter-productive. Winter time tends to yield five hour rounds while summer time will yield three hour rounds.

What I truly love about the courses, though, is precisely what a lot of others dislike. They are well maintained, and they don't go all out trying to impress. Now there are exceptions. The Gold course has its fair share of long par threes, which I hate. And the red course has a finishing hole that borders on ridiculous. But I know that when I come out to play here, as long as I'm plying my game, the course itself isn't going to destroy me.

The greens were the best part of the course. The rest of it was really torn up. The fairways had hardly any grass, and the areas around the greens were mostly barren except sparse clumps of quack grass that made chipping a chore. I likely won't be playing here again.

I love the Biltmore. The practice facility is huge, and there are two very nice courses to choose from. It is just nice enough to be a desirable place to play, but it's not pretentious or snobby. I think that is exactly what the staff at the Biltmore strives to accomplish.

Most people prefer the Links course over the Adobe course, but I think they are about equal. If there is one hole, though, that drives me crazy, it's number 15 on the Adobe course. I've yet to figure out how to score on that hole. A double is the norm for me there. It doesn't seem overly complicated. There is just a well-placed tree and an elevated green. The rest should be elementary.

My one complaint about the Biltmore is that range balls are expensive. It's $10, and it's one size fits all. However, since the green fees are so inexpensive during the summer, might as well splurge, right? I like a variety in which courses I play, but I'll lay here just about any chance I get. I highly recommend it.

Kokopelli is a tough course. There are very few flat areas. If you're not straight off the tee, you're going to be on the side of a hill. For that reason, I would rate it a challenging course.

What impressed me most about this course is that about two weeks before overseeding, it was still in great shape. There were a few bare spots here and there, but overall, this course was beautiful. My one negative about the course is that there are a couple of holes that are adjacent to busy streets, and one bloke in my group sent a slice over the all into someone windshield. That experience makes me reluctant to come back to play. But if you can control your driver, than Kokopelli is the place to be.

I'm not a fan of Lookout Mountain. The staff acts like they are running a high-level country club, and it is impossible to get around without asking for directions. The first tee and practice area are almost a mile away from the clubhouse, so don't forget anything.

The course itself is in pretty good shape. It is a desert course with tight fairways, and the greens tend to be super-fast. The layout is pretty nice, too. If it was just about the course, I might have given this four stars instead of just three. However, my experience here was not enjoyable. It's a lot of money, and there are a lot of other less expensive courses that are in just as good of shape and a lot more fun.

There are some tight fairways on this course, so your shots had better be accurate.

My first impression was that the course was beautiful. There was a garden of bright red flowers underneath a bright red awning right in front of the clubhouse. My second impression wasn't quite so hot. The carts are old, and the driving range was very beat up. But my third impression was that this was a charming little course. The old carts are actually electric, and they work quite well. And it just adds to the charm.

You might want to bring a map, though, because you have to wind through the adjacent mobile home park in between holes. I shot a very good round out here. I had a chance to shoot in the 70's, but that last hole is a doozy.

I played well out here. At least I felt like I was playing well. The fairways are tight, especially on the front nine. But that's not what got me. What got me were the greens. They are hard and fast, and unless you really know how to get your ball to check up when it lands, it will roll over. Ordinarily, I can adjust to this by playing more bump-and-run shots, but this isn't an option on this course. Most of the holes are protected by bunkers or hills. It makes for a really tough round. I was playing from behind the first few greens which made me afraid, so then I started missing short. By the back nine, I just decided I needed to play my game, and my scores improved.

The one thing I will say about Legend at Arrowhead is that the course is always in great shape. The bunkers are soft, and the greens are true. However, you'd better bring your A game. The hard greens and the tight fairways will make some pretty good players a bit frustrated.

If your staff is going to treat me like dirt, it doesn't matter how nice the course is I'll never be back.

Specifically the lounge staff. My foursome stopped at the turn to get some refreshments and a snack. I was initially intending to get a soda, a beer, and a hot dog. The gal behind the counter helped the three others in my foursome before me, and then she looked me right in the eye and walked away. And it went downhill from there. I've played a lot of golf on a lot of different courses in my life. I have never been treated as poorly by anyone in the service industry as I was playing at Great Eagle.

Like all of the Sun City West courses, Trail Ridge is in immaculate shape. It is lush and green, and I love the layout. The desert landscaping, which a lot of residents don't like, makes this course absolutely beautiful to play.

My one complaint with Encanto is that it is only a par 70. There are only two par 5's, and that kind of puts it at borderline executive status. That said, the course itself is kind of neat. The first few holes wrap around a cool little municipal park, and that gives the course a lot of character.

But I just don't understand the Phoenix municipal course's manner of doing business, and my round here really opened my eyes. The Phoenix municipal courses are not that cheap to play, and the city's golf rewards program doesn't even give members that good of a deal. I can find better golfing rates at courses that are just as good (if not better) here at GolfNow. But the problem was never more apparent to me than my outing at Encanto. It was an absolutely beautiful Sunday morning, and the course was completely empty. I was playing in a foursome, and there were no groups in front of or behind us.

The City of Phoenix complains about how their municipal courses are losing money, and that's too bad. But they need to find a way to get people onto their courses, otherwise they will continue to lose money. With the location of Encanto, practically in the heart of downtown Phoenix, there is no reason why this course should ever be empty on a beautiful Sunday morning. And given the way the course plays, if they could make it economical to play there, I would be there all the time.

The Aguila par 3 course is more of a pitch and putt than an actual par 3 course. This was a great practice opportunity for me. The greens are absolutely the best I have ever played in my entire life. They are extremely soft, fast, and true. And it takes less than an hour to play nine, as I was the only person there on a weekday. This is a great place to practice if you want to come early before a round at their championship course.

This is a very nice course for being a municipal course. And the staff was great, as well. The course itself is very scenic, and the holes are sculpted beautifully into the desert landscape.

Now this course is also challenging. A tee shot that goes astray could easily end up with a blowup hole, and that was evidenced by my score out here.

But I do have one enormous complaint with the course that I actually view to be kind of a design flaw. I choose a tee to play at based on the length of the par 4's. A 420 yard par 4 is a bit long for my game. Hitting a 250 yard drive and still having 170+ to go to hit the green can be a bit demeaning. If I play the silver tees, I will have three such holes (with two more that will be 400+). One of those is the colossal 440 yard hole number 4 that had me gnashing my teeth. Hitting a wayward tee shot on that hole left me lying two with almost 250 yards to go.

Now if I move up to the gold tees, that makes the long par 4's manageable. But it also creates two par 4's that will be inside of 270. One of those would measure 232 as the crow flies, and that's a par 3 as far as I'm concerned.

So it's a tough decision. An astute golfer who doesn't care much about handicap would alternate tees depending on the hole. Other than that slight aberration, though, this course is beautiful, and I would recommend it to anyone playing in the Phoenix area.

Now first of all, the pace of play for the front nine was relatively abysmal because we were behind a family fivesome. But the back nine was extremely enjoyable. The course is in pretty good shape, and the variety in the holes is pretty cool. My only complaint is the fact that the bar here is a Packers bar.

There are a couple of uneven tee boxes, and that makes a world of difference especially on an executive course.

All in all, though, this was about four hours well spent.

First of all, I love the course layout. And it also appears as if they are making a concerted effort to keeping this course in great shape.

The problem I had was, the course was extremely muddy when I played it. I just missed the green on my approach attempt on number nine, and I had to walk up a very small hill to play my ball. The location of the ball was between the green and a water hazard: A place where I assume a lot of players end up having to play from. I slipped and fell hard in the mud inflicting a minor injury on my hip. After a great front nine, I blew up holes 10-13 because of the hip injury before being able to finish strong. Now I want to play this course again, but my experience prevents me from giving the course any more than three stars.

I did go into the clubhouse at the turn to try to clean myself off because my legs were coated in mud, and the staff was very friendly and concerned. So I have to give the course kudos for that.