The Kokopelli Golf Stance

6574 Yds, Par 71, slope 121, by Jack Snyder

Golfweb

They Say: "At the resort, you can experience your favorite game with an Arizona golf package that's perfect for you! Get golf lessons at one of Arizona's prestigious golf schools, play on one of the best championship courses in the state, or choose from our many packages for the perfect golfing vacation!
The course presents playability and a challenge for players of all levels. See our scorecard for a preview."

After a somewhat bilious brekky while Mr Science hit his warm-up bucket we waited expectantly on the first tee while the 4some in front played field hocky back and forth across the fairway . . . they fell way behind on the first hole. . . the marshal raced up and chased them along, since it was still in sight of the clubhouse. Still, a good thing.

But the delay had done its damage to Mr Science's equilibrium, as he floundered to a double bogey start: he hit a ball in the water hazard that ordinarily he would blithely skip around. We both parred the second. The deletorious group waved us thru from the green, then left for the 3rd tee. So we hurried. Mr. Science's second shot on #3 lodged in a palm tree. Even with the penalty drop, tho', he parred the hole. On the #4 Par 3 he pulled his t-shot out of bounds -- something he never does, for another double-bogey. On the Par 4 5th he pulled his second shot into the deep rough on the left, then parked the cart on top of the ball hidden in the grass . . . we musta looked for it a full five minutes before we tho't to look there under the cart. I about laughed till my sides ached, but Mr Science was horribly disoriented: he shot a 47-41=88, to my 44-48=92. Then he said, "Oh, shoot, I've lost my Jackalope Headcover!"

I was having my moments this day, unlike my misadventures at Tonto Verde Ranch, like on that #5, where I tailored my power slice into the inside corner of the dogleg, then powered a 6iron up on the back tier for an easy 2-putt par, but I was not consistent, and I still felt like I should score the low 80s on this course, but I didn't.

Mr Science complained about the bumpiness of the greens the whole day, and it is true that they were nothing like Tonto Verde's, but I didn't think they were that bad, and I have a technique for long bermuda rough that I brought with me for Texas; tho' it is a little rusty, it still served me well this day. No pars for me tho' on the back 9, where Mr Science got his game back in gear . . . I kept thinking I was close to turning it around, but I never really did.

This course is very odd in that the par 5s are relatively short as a group: 494, 488, 488, 491, and 491 and the par 3s are relatively long as a group: 217, 226, 173, 205, 175, and 224. I don't know when the last time I hit 4 3woods off the tee was.

So, they may call it a resort . . . it may be a resort of some sort . . but it played like a muni, it's condition was muni-like, and it's layout is muni-like, so it ranks as a 3, all-in-all. Mainly because Mr Science got his jackalope back.