The Kokopelli Golf Stance

It is always so simultaneously difficult to know where to begin, what to say and where to end, what to leave out.

F'rinstance. This week Mr. Science & I went to two wine tastings together. Fascinating as it is, I mention them only as a preamble to this week's golf at Club West.

I am not so social that I actually enjoy wining & dining out twice during the week, but the opportunity presented itself, so we did.

I enjoy them mainly for the idealized possiblites they present, rather than the actual experience: I just love to read the purple prose written to describe the mead & manna to be consumed. Often what you get is something less.

Tuesday night at the 98 South Tasting, to name names, we felt that only one of the wines was worth driving all the way down to Chandler, and the nibbles they provided hardly justified the $45 cost. One dish was called "Two Spoons" and indeed the edible spoons were the best part. So we argued about where to go aftewards for something more to eat: Guedo's Tacos, MarbleStone Creamery, or FLo's Chinese -- in the end we just went home hungry.

Thursday night at The Secret Garden, the wine flowed more freely and the menu was there normal fare, plus the free noshing beforehand. I vaguely remember some good cheeses, but nothing else.

The point is this, Friday, as usual we went into work early for a world-wide conference call, and we take advantage of it as a chance to leave early and play golf after work. Mid-morning, tho', Mr. Science appeared in my cubicle like Banquo's Ghost, feeling ill. So I took him home, and revised my plans for golf that day as a single.

I simply went over to the Sanctuary again, the course I have played most often in Phoenix, the one closest to my home. In scorching 104 degree solitude I shot a 42-42=84, with 2 birdies on the back 9; better than usual there because I didn't lose 4 balls on the front 9. I tend to overlook the first 7 holes in anticipation of the back 9, where the really interesting holes are, but the front 9 demands and deserves attention with its narrow, slanted fairways.

Hit a 200 yd. 5 wood pin high over the water on the Par 3 # 8, and then parred # 9, too.

Laid up perfectly on # 10 for a par there. Drove the traps on the short-downhill # 11, put my half-sandwedge below the hole for an easy birdie.

Heart pumping, I hooked my 7wood into the desert on the 185 yd Par 3 # 12, and was able to salvage a bogie.

Got the stroke back with an ordinary par 5 birdie on # 13.

Bogied # 14 when I pureed my new 7 iron over onto the mountain behind the green.

Bogied # 15 even tho' I finally kept my 5wood out of the desert, cuz I bladed the half-sandwedge over the green.

Finished bogey-bogey-bogey, even tho' I hooked my tee-shot on 18 into the gully that bisects the fairway. I have despaired of ever hitting that fairway.

Finished in 2 1/2 hours. Golf the way I love it.

So I was feeling confident, if somewhat weary the next morning early when I picked up Mr. Science. He definitely had a renewed spring in his step as he jogged out of the house and jumped into my car.

Now Mr. Science has a bulldog tenacity, a Calvinist spirit, and a need for his regular warm-up routine. But he was a little groggy yet from his enforced idleness, and I am hopeless at directions- to be kind -- so the short of it was that we wound up on the wrong side of South Mountain on 14th street looking for the club. After a quick cell phone call, we backtracked to I-10 and down Chandler Avenue to Club West.

We had just enough time to still make our t-time, but none for Mr. Science to warm up, but when he split the middle with his drive, then made a spectacular sandy par, I tho't it might be alright after all.

I started off with 6 straight pars -- a personal record -- before I dropped 5 strokes on the last 3 holes, for no apparent reason at all, so I didn't really notice how Mr. Science was struggling on this course he ought to have torn apart, but I did notice on the back 9 that jauntiness had gone as he ground out his pars as best he could in spite of uncharacteristic unforced errors. He blamed it all on the curried chicken at the Secret Garden, and who am I to disagree. . . 8~D. . .

The short of it is that Mr. Science showed his usual consistency, 44-43=87 despite his discomfiture, and I carded my personal best for 18, 41-41=82. I couldn't get too excited as the course lacked much challenge, tho' it was very well kept and the layout wasn't tooooo terrible -- not a good course for walking, tho'. The staff are phenomenally friendly and the views of South Mountain are very scenic above the lush green fairways.

It's only a slope 129 from the tips at 7142, with very wide fairways and a general non-descriptiveness that makes it rather unremarkable.

I remember # 10, a short par 4 with an elevated green for some reason, but I think the Par 3 # 17 is the only hole that really excites comment: The tees are elevated 75 or 100 ft above the greens (plural, one is 40 yards closer than the other). I'd never seen that before.

One of the members-there that we played with that day said on 15, the other par 3 on that 9, "I think it's playing about 132 yds, today."

His partner said, "I'm not that precise -- I just play it as if it's 135."

The first member said, "This hole gives me fits, I'm always between clubs!"

"Maybe," I suggested, "you should round to 5 yds on your distances too, so you wouldn't have that problem!" . . .8~D. . .

I don't know for sure, but bless his heart, I think the guy is sporting a vanity-handicap: I mean, he acted like a low-handicapper, talked like a low-handicapper, and he DID birdie that short par 3, but it looked like to me he decelerated every swing, pulled left an awful lot, and I don't think he scored THAT well . . . something weird that he did, too, happened when he was in a fairly deep fairway bunker. He laid his club down pointing toward s the green, next to the bunker, then stepped on the face of the club so that the shaft stuck up in the air. It looked to me, the way that he studied the angle, that he was "measuring" whether the loft was enough to get over the lip.

Mr. Science scoffed when I told him, but I think he was scoffing at my interpretation of events, rather than the misguided notion that that would tell you whether you could get a ball out of a bunker using a given club. . . 8~D. . .

Proximity compels me to compare Club West unfavorably to The Sanctuary, of which both the fairways and the "green belt" are half-as-wide, plus the Sanctuary's desert areas are much more punitive. And Club West lacked the drama of the Kierland course we played recently, tho' they are very similar layouts.

http://www.golfweb.com/courseguide/ocdata?st=detail&gwid=15499

 especially in the zoom view, it's a very ordinary, short-ish par 5 . . . if i ever eagle a hole here, this'll likely be the one . . . I only had a 5iron into the green for my 2nd shot this day, still mangled the hole. So I'm not talking about this hole.
 That little tree that guards the right side of the green has intercepted several of my approaches in different rounds . . . .
 #4 par 4 I include just because of this very awkward tee shot . . . those trees are definitely closer than standard, but if you have the presence of mind to just hit the tee shot straight out towards the left side of the fairway, and not try to shape the shot, as so many duffers seem to feel they must, you would have better luck.
# 8 Par 5 . . . presents a wide open fairway with houses on the left and the driving range on the right . . . should be no problem, but lately i find myself playing the Fenway bounce off the fences on the right . . .
 The problem here, is that the arroyo that bisects the fairway dictates most duffers should lay up . . . but since the layup is only a 8 or 9 iron, some just have to go for it . . . which is makeable . . . Mr science did it the last time we played here, but I seen a lotta guys dump it. Just an awkward hole

 #11 Par 4 is not a difficult hole, except that 75% players wind up on the next fairway from inability to hit over that trash right in front of the tee, which hides the fairway. . . . Doesn't usually cause me any grief, I've played enough times, and it's really a rather short flat hole, so that camouflage is the main obstacle.
 #12 Par 5 is my least favorite . . . with any kind of tailwind, my driver can wind up in the trash that bisects the fairway, which then doglegs left up a slope . . .
 From the end of that fairway, especially on the right side, one can actually plot a second shot to the green . . . Mr Science did that last time we played, and wound up with a short eagle putt, which he uncharacteristically missed . . . but the risk/reward on that shot is total . . . it's all carry, and if you were long, you might not find your ball in the trash on the far side of the green.
 so my game plan is just to pooch the tee shot out into the fairway far enough that I can cozy a 5iron over the trash and still keep it in the fairway, which leaves just a wedge to the green. but that requires 3 good shots, instead of 2 heroic ones . . . so you pays your money and takes your chances.


 #16 Par 5 is another awkward hole, IMVHO, for me, anyway . . . the landing area for a full driver seems really tiny to me . . . anything over 230 (downhill) yards is in a bunker or rocky rough or trash . . . a creek bisects the fairway, sort of in the middle of the dogleg, which really makes it awkward and a poor risk-reward shot for duffers. My best play has been to pull hook a 3wood off the high brick walls on the left, so that the carom bounds down into the fairway not quite to the dogleg.

I'd really rather hit a more straightforward shot, and I've hit everything from Driver to 5iron on this hole trying to just put it into play, but the hole has the hoodoo on me . . . If I can just wind up near the dogleg, it's a simple matter to hit a 5iron 2nd, then a shortiron to the green.

But that green is very elevated, at the top of a sharp rise, so 3putt opportunities are frequent.

On this particular round I absolutely crushed a 1iron off the tee . . . 2iron would have been plenty . . . maybe 3iron, now that i've taken the measure . . . but I wound up in a trap . . . bein' from west texas that don't bother me, but I caught the ball cleanly and had aimed too far right for such another pure hit . . . the ball bounced off the cart path and rabitted up into the rocky trash. . . .8^( . . .5 iron had betrayed me twice before, so this was no time to suddenly work correctly . . . . 8^D . . . I will need to replace it with a sub from the other bag in the garage, till I can get it re-shafted . . .

 #17 par 3 is interesting in an awkward way, too . . . you never know what club youre gonna need till you get there, since there are 5 tee locations and 2 greens, so club choice could be anything from 8iron to 2iron . . . 8^D

 So, a fine course, a real course, but I take issue with some of the design choices that make it tough on the first-time duffer . . . but I guess they make it challenging for heroic golfers familiar with the course . . . just seems tricked up to me. . . .

#1 short par 4, sharp dogleg right
#1 Zoom

#2 par 3
#2 zoom

#3 par 5
#3 zoom

#4 fairway

#5 long par 4
#4 zoom


#5 par 4
#6 par 3
#6 zoom

no. 7 par 4
no. 7 zoom
no 8, par 5 , hcp1
no 8 zoom
no. 9 par 4
No. 10 short par 4 downhill

no. 11 par 4, blind tee shot
no. 11 zoom

No. 12 par 5 tricky/awkward . . . the trash cuts off the fairway. . . basically can't reach it, but it blocks the vision of the next shot. . . fairway double dog-legs left around more trash . . . reachable in 2 . . . but poor risk-reward . . . but 3 shots is difficult to judge too.
No. 13 long par 4
no. 13 zoom . . . flat hole

no. 14 par 4



up on a hill . . .
looking around
no. 15 short par 3 massively downhill

no. 16 par 5
no 16 zoom. . . dogleg is awkward to navigate
traps & trash everywhere
then uphill to the green
no. 17 -- another massively downhill shot much longer than 15, to one of two greens

no. 18 wide open par 4