My dad and took (and are still currently on) a trip to Scottsdale.
I made the plane reservations, so I texted dad 36 hours ahead of the flight to make sure he had everything needed to check in. Reminded him that the flight was 0945. He texted back saying that his plane ticket was 945 pm. Damn, so was mine. I screwed up the flights and got the last flight out. Oh well, we didn't have anything planned for that day anyway. Day of the flight, Wednesday, got a text from SWA that the flight is delayed 2 hours, so now departing at 1145pm. Not ideal, but oh well. Tee time Thursday was set for 0942. Called the course to see about a later start, no luck, fully booked. Oh well, just gotta be tough. Flight eventually was delayed another half hour, so departure was like 0020. Finally get into Phoenix at 0100 local time. Get the clubs and uber, arrive at the resort at 0200 local time (0400 home time). Long day for me. Super long for dad. He is 79, turning 80 in a few months.
We stayed at Talking Stick. I have been very impressed with this place. Very nice, clean and no smoke. The rooms are big, new and nice. No complaints.
Now, to the golf. Thursday was Talking Stick O'odham. Pronounced like Gotham, without the G, is what I was told. Or, Mike Tyson saying the word awesome. O'odham is supposed to be their desert style course and the Pipash is supposed to be parkland. Breakfast was a fantastic burrito at the course grill.
The course was wide open. Like huge fairways. The fairways were in great shape. The greens were great too. They were fast. Weird thing is they were fast, but didn't move left to right nearly as much as you would expect. The course is covered up with these little ground squirrels. Thousands of them. They dig holes all over the place, even in the bunkers. For some reason they didn't dig in the grass, only the desert area. The course is very flat and didn't have one single water hazard. Don't think I have ever played a course with no water before.
There are many holes that run along side other holes, and despite how large the fairways are, and the desert between fairways, there were tons of balls just sitting in the fairways. Not many folks actually hitting out of the other fairway, I guess they just leave their ball and hit another one. Easily could have scooped up $100 worth, but I didn't want to grab someone else's ball, so I left them.
Despite not getting much rest the night before, I played incredibly well. Especially putting and chipping. I took full advantage of the big fairways and sprayed it around a bit. Lots of second shots 175-190. That's a lot for me. I am not a big hitter, but I am normally 150 yards in on the courses I play at home. Thankfully my second shots were pretty good, but not as good as I was putting. Dad started pretty good, then the long day on Wednesday and the heat started to get to him. He really struggled the last 4 holes, but we had a great time. He is great to play with. He keeps up pretty well and can still smack the driver over 200. We got paired with a couple from New Orleans and they were fun. Hitting from 3 different tee boxes wasn't ideal, but we kept the pace up.
Overall, fun time, fairly easy course. Lots of 20 something groups. Figure they were bachelor parties. A couple groups with the music too loud, but not many. This is not a destination course, but if you need a relatively inexpensive round to fill out your trip, it is fine.
Dinner was at the steakhouse on top of the resort. Great steak. Had to eat at the bar because they were fully booked. Some tweaker ended up sitting next to dad. Tweaker had $200 resort credit somehow and ordered $200 worth of food. Ate 1/2 his ribeye and 1/2 of his filet, one bite of his giant bowl of mashed potatoes. Dad tried to talk to him, but dude was wasted. So, that was fun.
Friday was Sunridge Canyon and the Wicked 6. Wow, what a beautiful course. Elevation changes, narrow fairways, super fast greens. Condition of the course was not pristine, but pretty good. Some bare patches on the greens, but they were always away from the pin.
Sunridge ate me up. I used up all my good shots the day before. I played just awful. I made up my mind right at the bratwurst shack that I was going to have fun, and I started to. Strange how when you make up your mind to have fun, your swing starts to come around. My back had been bothering me for a few days and I just couldn't get it loose. Well, 12 or so holes in, and 4 beers it started to loosen up and I started hitting the ball. It was too little too late and I couldn't string anything together, but had a lot of fun. The Wicked 6 was extra wicked to me and I didn't even bother adding up my score. It would have been a number higher than I have written down in decades.
Dad was moving slower than the day before. His leg was really giving his some discomfort. He hit some great shots, but couldn't putt. He couldn't get the speed or the break down. The greens were fast fast and got faster as the day got hotter. Again, they didn't go left/right as much as you would expect. I guess it is the type of grass.
Before we left the hotel for Sunridge canyon, I called them to ask about breakfast. They said they have grab and go, and had some burritos. We decided to jump in the Lyft and go eat a burrito there. Bad choice. When we got there, all sold out of burritos. Grab and go is all muffins and crap like that. That was the lone bad part. Everything else was great. The bratwurst at 9 was fantastic and the guy working the shack was quite a character.
I made the plane reservations, so I texted dad 36 hours ahead of the flight to make sure he had everything needed to check in. Reminded him that the flight was 0945. He texted back saying that his plane ticket was 945 pm. Damn, so was mine. I screwed up the flights and got the last flight out. Oh well, we didn't have anything planned for that day anyway. Day of the flight, Wednesday, got a text from SWA that the flight is delayed 2 hours, so now departing at 1145pm. Not ideal, but oh well. Tee time Thursday was set for 0942. Called the course to see about a later start, no luck, fully booked. Oh well, just gotta be tough. Flight eventually was delayed another half hour, so departure was like 0020. Finally get into Phoenix at 0100 local time. Get the clubs and uber, arrive at the resort at 0200 local time (0400 home time). Long day for me. Super long for dad. He is 79, turning 80 in a few months.
We stayed at Talking Stick. I have been very impressed with this place. Very nice, clean and no smoke. The rooms are big, new and nice. No complaints.
Now, to the golf. Thursday was Talking Stick O'odham. Pronounced like Gotham, without the G, is what I was told. Or, Mike Tyson saying the word awesome. O'odham is supposed to be their desert style course and the Pipash is supposed to be parkland. Breakfast was a fantastic burrito at the course grill.
The course was wide open. Like huge fairways. The fairways were in great shape. The greens were great too. They were fast. Weird thing is they were fast, but didn't move left to right nearly as much as you would expect. The course is covered up with these little ground squirrels. Thousands of them. They dig holes all over the place, even in the bunkers. For some reason they didn't dig in the grass, only the desert area. The course is very flat and didn't have one single water hazard. Don't think I have ever played a course with no water before.
There are many holes that run along side other holes, and despite how large the fairways are, and the desert between fairways, there were tons of balls just sitting in the fairways. Not many folks actually hitting out of the other fairway, I guess they just leave their ball and hit another one. Easily could have scooped up $100 worth, but I didn't want to grab someone else's ball, so I left them.
Despite not getting much rest the night before, I played incredibly well. Especially putting and chipping. I took full advantage of the big fairways and sprayed it around a bit. Lots of second shots 175-190. That's a lot for me. I am not a big hitter, but I am normally 150 yards in on the courses I play at home. Thankfully my second shots were pretty good, but not as good as I was putting. Dad started pretty good, then the long day on Wednesday and the heat started to get to him. He really struggled the last 4 holes, but we had a great time. He is great to play with. He keeps up pretty well and can still smack the driver over 200. We got paired with a couple from New Orleans and they were fun. Hitting from 3 different tee boxes wasn't ideal, but we kept the pace up.
Overall, fun time, fairly easy course. Lots of 20 something groups. Figure they were bachelor parties. A couple groups with the music too loud, but not many. This is not a destination course, but if you need a relatively inexpensive round to fill out your trip, it is fine.
Dinner was at the steakhouse on top of the resort. Great steak. Had to eat at the bar because they were fully booked. Some tweaker ended up sitting next to dad. Tweaker had $200 resort credit somehow and ordered $200 worth of food. Ate 1/2 his ribeye and 1/2 of his filet, one bite of his giant bowl of mashed potatoes. Dad tried to talk to him, but dude was wasted. So, that was fun.
Friday was Sunridge Canyon and the Wicked 6. Wow, what a beautiful course. Elevation changes, narrow fairways, super fast greens. Condition of the course was not pristine, but pretty good. Some bare patches on the greens, but they were always away from the pin.
Sunridge ate me up. I used up all my good shots the day before. I played just awful. I made up my mind right at the bratwurst shack that I was going to have fun, and I started to. Strange how when you make up your mind to have fun, your swing starts to come around. My back had been bothering me for a few days and I just couldn't get it loose. Well, 12 or so holes in, and 4 beers it started to loosen up and I started hitting the ball. It was too little too late and I couldn't string anything together, but had a lot of fun. The Wicked 6 was extra wicked to me and I didn't even bother adding up my score. It would have been a number higher than I have written down in decades.
Dad was moving slower than the day before. His leg was really giving his some discomfort. He hit some great shots, but couldn't putt. He couldn't get the speed or the break down. The greens were fast fast and got faster as the day got hotter. Again, they didn't go left/right as much as you would expect. I guess it is the type of grass.
Before we left the hotel for Sunridge canyon, I called them to ask about breakfast. They said they have grab and go, and had some burritos. We decided to jump in the Lyft and go eat a burrito there. Bad choice. When we got there, all sold out of burritos. Grab and go is all muffins and crap like that. That was the lone bad part. Everything else was great. The bratwurst at 9 was fantastic and the guy working the shack was quite a character.