celticstanger

Fun track. Played the Pine, which is less adventurous than the Palm. Great condition - greens in particular.

F&B continues to be a chore, however. Cart girl worked very hard at avoiding having to get out and make a sale (bolted by us multiple times without even asking if we wanted something). Then, when you get to the turn, they don't accept cards unless you spend a certain amount - not good when all you're looking for is a couple of Gatorades (one of the few courses in the area which doesn't put out water barrels every 'x' holes).

Great golf, but make sure you've got cash for the turn (maybe I'm unique in that I never carry cash anymore?).

Course was in pretty good shape, but let's cut to the chase - this is not one of the best courses in Scottsdale. It has the cache of hosting the rowdiest event on the PGA Tour and as such, is able to command fees WAY in excess of the fun to be had (truth be told, the sibling Champions Course is a far more fun day out, with fewer vanilla holes).

I like (liked) to check the place out once every year or so and was especially interested to see some of the recent changes. Course is pretty much as it was - the most clear change (for me) was the big move of the 4th green.

Still the same old fairly flat track, with a few nice holes on the back 9.

Unfortunately, this time out was a big let down as far as pace of play went. We had some hackers playing the tips in front of us, which in of itself doesn't always mean a bad day out. However, this 4some would all drive out to 1 drive - 200 yards out - then all drive out to the next - 220 yards out - then drive back to player 3's ball - at 180 out - before they all migrated to the last players ball. Rinse and repeat. No player assistant and when I called the pro-shop, got a terse "the assistant pro is out there, talk to him". Woeful attitude - I assume because we "only" paid $80 a head to play this banal track.

At $80 a pop, this course would be worth a 1-time run. At $80 a pop and this pace of play and attitude from the staff, skip it. For less $, you'll get a better course and significantly better service at Grayhawk, Wildfire, Troon North, Kierland (and air-conditioned carts!).

A great option in the value whilst most courses are still gouging the snowbirds. Great condition - very green, greens were true.

Still one of my favorite urban tracks (some really testy holes on this track you wouldn't expect to see, sandwiched in between Cactus and Shea, off Hayden).

Course was in great shape - a little soggy underfoot in a few places, but I'm guessing that the water-table is up, after the wet monsoon season, so they're probably seeing water hang around a while, after running their sprinklers.

Great attitude and friendliness of staff.

Greens were amazing. Quite quick and extremely true - aside from the odd crater left by the patron who can afford a $X00 driver, but not a pitch-mark repair tool!

Course was PACKED and we teed off 20 minutes late. The first couple of holes played v-e-r-y slow, but then the pace picked up and we were done in almost exactly 4h 30m. Not speedy by any means, but for a fully booked course, not too shabby.

One note of caution - another track with no driving range!

This is pretty good layout, however, at the time of play, the rough was 3+ inches long and the kind which let the ball settle down to the root system. This meant for not only a tough day, but a long one. Pace was well over 4.5 hours and I believe this is due to ball hunting. Barely missing the fairway resulted in a ball being almost unfindable. Do not play here right now. I'll try to upload a photo where my son is standing in the fairway and you can just make out the top of my ball, 5 yards into the rough. He even lost a bright yellow ball, having watched it run up the fairway then tail out into the rough. Bizarre and unrewarding day out.

Played with my son in an incredible 2h 15m, for the princely sum of $37 (included a bucket of balls).

This course is as flat as they come. There are many "flat" courses in Phoenix, but most of them have made an effort to add mounding - there's very little of that at Encanto. However, that's not say that the course lacks character. Play from the tips and there are a couple of 215+ par 3's (fun, in monsoon winds!). Not a lot of water and what's there isn't really in play. Still, there's definitely more to most of the holes than simply hit it straight.

Great course for experienced players and beginners - the better player can set up a lot of flip-wedge approaches (even from the tips) and for the beginner, almost every hole has a bail-out parallel hole to accommodate that "active ball-flight".

Greens were slow and mostly uninspired. One notable exception being the par 3 5th. Mounded like a giant tortoise-shell and playing 197 from the tips (182 regular, 180 forward), this green would be more at home on a hole like 10 (a driveable par 4).

Fairways were mostly green, with only the highest-traffic areas brown or bare.

Some nice views on the course. The Phoenix skyline frames many shots and even the water from the neighboring kids park (boating and fishing) added something on a few holes.

Obviously a budget course, Encanto won't leave you wondering if it was worth the few scheckles it cost you to play.

3 hour round with my 11 year old. Played from the tips, which never seemed to mean much, apart from a couple of nice surprises (565 yard par 5 - not often you get a 'proper' par 5!).

For a course which doesn't empty the wallet, the conditions were shocking good. Though there were some brown spots on the fairways, they tended to be small and infrequent - even the high-enders struggle with browning in July in the desert. Lots of watering and even fresh-laid turf out there, so these guys are working very hard to maintain conditions. Kudos for that.

Greens were on the slow side and a little inconsistent, but overall, very playable.

This is a flat course which should fail to excite - and many holes (beginning with #1) live up to that billing - but there are a fair few cool holes on the course, too. 9 and 18 share one of the cleanest water hazards and offer some options off the tee, 10 is a driveable-but-tries-to-push-you-right hole. There's a good amount of miss, but only 1 or 2 side-side holes, so you can still lose a ball with a poor shot. Some holes don't even need a very big miss to find ob or water.

This isn't a course that'll get your heart racing, but is a great option, regardless of price. With rates what they are right now, if you're in the mood for a round which won't overly tax your new box of Pro V's or your pocket, head on over to Orange Tree!

Course is in good condition. Fun challenge, but only if you pick the further back tees, unfortunately (the middles and fronts cut more than just distance).

Pace of play was awful and there was no interest in fixing it - staff said "yeah, at this time of year, you get a lot of folks out who don't know golf etiquette". Sure, in fact, all year-round that happens - isn't that what the on-course assistants are there to keep an eye on?

Not sure when I'll be back...

I play a lot of golf, all over. I feel I manage my expectations pretty well, but have to say that Cave Creek is a bit of head-scratcher for me.

This is a bargain-basement course, so if you're looking for endless greenery, pony up 5x the green-fees and go play a Troon course. However, you'd be missing out of some of the best topography of any course in the valley, for not much more than the cost of a bucket of balls at some courses! Throw in some of the most fun green-complexes in the area and Cave Creek is a must play - if you're looking for a great course, as opposed to just somewhere lush and green.

So, sure, there are a lot of bare patches on the course - when I pay bottom-dollar to play a local muni, I expect as much (some higher-end courses in the value charge far more and still suffer the same issues). However, I still cannot reconcile the pocket-change I pay to play with the layout of this course.

If you're looking for a value round, this is the course you're looking for.

This is one of my favorite tracks. Great views, great holes, elevation changes, some great greens. IF you can get it in good shape, this is probably one of the best courses in Phx area. Unfortunately, it's been a little beat-up for a number of months now.

Course conditions aside, this is still a great play - we minimized the impact of the bare-spots by playing the cracked-dirt in the fairways as GUR.

Unfortunately, it feels like some of the staff here are getting a little jaded. Pro shop guys were great, but that's about it. We even had the range-starter "get into it" with us for not being prepared to tee-off EARLY - my buddy arrived about 15 minutes before our teetime and wanted to loosen up on the range (not really hit, just warm-up the muscles) and the starter demanded we head over to the 1st tee (a 1-minute ride from the range) 8 minutes early, because he "always calls people over 8 minutes early". When I said we'd head over in 5, he barked "everyone else wants to play today!", like us not being ready early was in some way inconsiderate of the other golfers. I informed him we'd be there on time. Sure enough, after my buddy's 5-minute stretch and warm up, we headed over to the first tee and teed off 2 minutes early. And ran into a train-wreck of a 2.5 hour front 9.

If you want to show consideration towards your paying customers, I recommend not yelling at them on the range and giddying-up the pace of play on the course. The back 9 was better - but given we waited on EVERY SHOT on EVERY HOLE on the front 9, that's faint praise.

First, a disclaimer - I haven't played here recently, but I did want to review the course, as I believe it to be a golfing gem.

So, to the golf. Though this is a flat, housing-community course (though one of the most miss-friendly routings of this type I've ever seen), don't let the cosmetics (or, lack thereof - no mountain vistas, etc) distract you from the fact that this is one of the most engaging courses you can play.

Beginning with hole 1, right through hole 18, this course offers the most incredible array of shot options, with most holes offering the golfer the choice of anything from a mid-iron to driver off the tee - and any choice can be the right (or wrong!) one. This course rarely takes driver out of your hands, but nor does it insist you hit it. Where most courses have an occasional risk-reward hole , this is the running theme at Arrowhead and it is done in such an elegant manner that most "safe" decisions merely costing you the opportunity to hit a flip-wedge into the green - you're probably looking at a 9/8/7-iron in, instead.

Coupled to the incredible layout, Arrowhead has consistently had some of the most consistent greens I've ever played. The greens have some pretty good undulation, without being unfair - this is important, given how fast these guys can get them rolling!

So, in summary, Arrowhead is a golfers golf course - it doesn't wow you with huge elevation changes or cityscape views, but it presents so many options that you can play back-back-back rounds there and feel like you've played 3 different courses. The 18th hole, which features heavily in the course photography, epitomizes the course design - water from almost-tee to a peninsula green (though not an island, you will have to cross water to get to the green, sooner or later!), where a 250-ish drive, in the right spot, can leave you in the most horrible of spots, decision-making-wise - you'll have about 200 yards to the hole, almost all of which is over water, or you can knock a 7-iron up the fairway, for a wedge over the water onto the green.

Saddle up and hand me my 5-iron!