Sunday, November 29, 2015
Desert Canyon, Fountain Hills
NOTE WELL: when I searched for and found this link it triggered a rash of virus warnings from my Kasperksy, so there's that . . .
Moreover, it's a little irritating and confusing they have 10 years worth of Plaques claiming to have been voted "Best Public Golf Course in Greater Fountain Hills".
I mean I like the course, but let us keep our heads here . . . with Sunridge Canyon, We-Ko-Pa, Eagle Mountain . . . I wanna know who's voting . . . 8^D . . .
They Reversed-the-Nines, some of the several changes that I noticed, and will report . . .
#1 Par 4, nee' #10
#2 Par 3
#3 Par 4
#4 Par 5, downhill, short enough to be a good eagle opportunity, or at least birdie, but that must've been several years ago por moi . .. 8^D . . . so there I was just short of the bunker fronting the long thin green, and just wanted to lob a little gap wedge over the bunker and let the ball roll towards the hole . . . it rolled and rolled and rolled . . . I couldn't figger . . . .
then I looked at my club . .. it didn't say "G" it said "9" with a line underneath it, but in the odd script used by club makers they looked like a dyslexic mirror image . . . but I thot, "I don't remember making that mistake before . . . " Several holes later I realized I was carrying 2 9irons . . . 8^D . . ."What the heck?"I exclaimed to Mr Science, I must've picked up a lost club and forgotten to turn it in!" Our playing companion said, "Wait! What is it?" I said, "You musta put your club in my bag in our cart by mistake!" . . . 8^D . . . but he figgered I had picked it up off the green . . . 8^D . . . His 9iron didn't look anything like my cobra 9iron, but it DID look like my G-wedge . . .
#5 Par 4, flat & unamusing . . .
#6 par 4, flat and unassuming . . .
#7 par 4 much more interesting than previous 2 . . .
#8 Par 3
#9 par 4, makes you appreciate the move of reversing the nines . . . not nearly as interesting finishing hole as the-now #18 . . .
#10 nee' #1 par 4 . . . a downhill driveable par 4, but the trees on the left make it more challenging than just having the length . . . I drove this green and had a missed-eagle putt last time (6 years ago)
#2 par 4 . . . this is one of the holes I feel they changed, I wisht I'd talked to the pro about it . . . I *think* they moved these tees 7.5 yards straight left . . . the look into the fairway seems much more open . . . used to be, seems to me, that those big hardwoods on the right usta block off the fairway much more . . . I remember hitting 5woods thru the dogleg trying to avoid those big trees.
Now I just powerized a towering drive past the shadow past the 150 pole
hit a 9iron 7 ft below the hole and railed the birdie . . . never played a hole so perfectly in my life . . .
it was after this our partner realized i had his 9iron so that exchange took place, then mr science sez, "Hey you didn't use that club did you?"
"I sure did, on that par 5 where i thot it was my g-wedge and pitched past the hole"
"Well, we're gonna have to tack on 2 strokes on your birdie, and all the holes back to there, for having more than 14 clubs!" . . . 8^D . . .
#12 Par 5, PBFU . . .
dang, I didn't get a picture of the green . . . but I SWEAR there was a big bunker on the right side of the green, where now there is a large mound . . .
#13 Par 3
#14 Par 5
the hole itself is not too tough, but when they put the pin in the back of the green, there's a bowl effect up there that makes 3 putts more likely . . . that's always been there . . . .
#15 par 4, HCP #1 -- long uphill, tough
#17 Par 4, dogleg right, uphill, elevated green . . . .these last two holes are bugger-bears for elevated greens at the tops of hills . . . 8^D . . .
the fairway comes down from the green in a couple of waves . . . so that . . . if one does not get his drive fairly up on the middle tier, it rolls backwards from the green down to the lower tier . . . but if you try to challenge the corner there are big trees blocking the flight-path . . . tricky . . . we wound up on that lower tier, 110 - 120 yds away, but it is so far uphill that is not an easy shot . . .
#18 par 4, same deal . . . desert trash all down the right side inside the small dogleg, and if you go left on to the flat part of the fairway you have a short wedge up a huge hill . . . it is possible to carry that trash on the right . . . i hit a majestic windblown fade that got over but the ball just kicked left back down the slope so that I had the even harder half-wedge shot up the same hill over that bunker guarding the green's left side.