The Kokopelli Golf Stance

http://www.golfweb.com/courseguide/ocdata?st=detail&gwid=15503
(Weiskopf and Moorish, slope 132)

This was the second time we had played here. There are very few places we want to play twice, even if they ARE nice, because we are on a Paganican Mission: to play all 237 (increased count) Golf Courses in the Phoenix area, so no matter how much we like a course, time does not permit.

But we make exceptions:

• sometimes we get free coupons for a course we've already played;
• sometimes we just want to play at the Sanctuary, here near our homes under the McDowell Mountains;
• sometimes we have slow-play-checks (we have GOT to go back to Arrowhead sometime, we still have 9 holes there. . .)
• and then there are "rain-checks" -- something I tho't would be totally unknown in Arizona.

Of COURSE they have rain in Arizona -- not in the ridiculously named Monsoon Season, which has been blessed with less than an inch of rain for most of the last 9 years, but in the winter. I'm sure thousands of golfers from all-across-the-country have an Arizona Rain Out story. I hit a tree out here once, too. We no longer laugh at all the balls stuck in the tee-side saguaros anymore, tho'.

So one day last summer we were there at The Foothills, and on the twelfth tee, I said to Mr. Science, "We were right to come out today, despite the threat of thunderstorms, for look: it's a beautiful day and not too hot!"

"Is that lightning over there?" asked Mr. Science.

Two holes later, on the 15th tee, the rain came in buckets, without preamble. The temperature dropped 30 degrees. By the time we got past the 15th green, having abandoned our game, the hail started. Whatever the size is between pea-sized and marble sized, that's what we got . . . so fast-and-thick you couldn't see the grass on the fairway.

The hail flew into our faces blown sideways by the howling gales. The cunning drainage architecture on the last 3 holes meant the cart hit high-water-crossings that splashed bowwaves over the transome into our faces. I was blinded by the rain, pained by the stinging hail, and near-hysterical with manic amusement at our predicament, but Mr. Science put on his bulldog face and a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel as he plowed thru every obstacle.

When we got back to the Bedlam taking place in front of the proshop, Mr. Science naturally went in to see about a rain-check, while I brought the car around. I started the heater on high, threw the clubs into the trunk, and unclipped my golf towels to try to soak up some of the chill-water I'd brought in with me. When Mr. Science returned, rain-check-less, we just tore out of the parking lot to go home.

On the way, I realized I'd left his Umbrella and his head covers on the cart. . .8^0. . .

So we came back to The Foothills. They had a good summer deal and it didn't look like rain at all.

We were hot off our good games at Talking Stick, well, Mr. Science was, I was a little disgruntled. . . even a 91, on a Slope-120 course, feels like 111 when you're playing with Mr. Science with his 78. But it was relatively cool at 7:20 in the morning, say 90, we felt great & confident, and while Mr. Science took his warmup, I got a breakfast burrito from the snack stand.

I feel I play better with a full tummy than I do with a bucket of balls, so I always eat rather than practice. I hate trying to hit a golf ball while I have that light-headed, shakey feeling from hunger. But I must be brutally honest here: the quality of most Arizona golf course brekkies is far inferior to most of my experience.

And tho' I remember the acriomonious exchange between Barry Goldwater & Lyndon Johnson, where in Goldwater claimed that "Texans wouldn't know the difference between good chili and the leavings in a corrall", I have been disappointed in the quality of mexican food in general in Arizona -- not in ALL of it -- geez -- but in New Mexico, or even Texas, you can't turn around with out tripping over a good Mexican restaurant, whereas in Arizona I wanna put up a copper placque ever time I even find a half-decent salsa.

I do want to say I did have a really fine, first-rate, fried egg-and-bacon -and-cheese sandwich at Estrella one morning, so fine I think that's one of the few games where I've scored better than Mr. Science -- I KNOW he HATES THAT -- who can blame him -- but the breakfast taco at The Foothills I can recommend without any reservations at all.

It was reheated in the microwave, but it was still great:

• it was only 2.75
• it wan't much bigger than the palm of my hand
• it was hot
• the salsa was EXCELLENT.

It set me up in fine fettle for my round. We both parred the 1st hole. . . not unusual for Mr. Science, and not entirely unknown for me, just not common.

We played a couple of young fellows, sturdy fellows with soft handshakes. One never did get untracked -- doesn't play a lot -- suffered terribly all day, manfully, with no demonstrations, classy. The other could scrape it around a little bit. Built like a large fire hydrant. The kind you think are just going to CRUSH the ball, but he was a little erratic, didn't hit the ball solid often, but he was magic around the greens. Said he had seen a lesson on the golf channel on the flop shot and 3, 4, 5 times at least, he flopped the ball successfully over a trap, onto the green, stiff to the pin. Nice guys.

The course seemed harder than I remembered it, but we started on the back 9 which IS longer than the front nine, and long-ish, besides. I got around with 7 bogeys and 2 pars ( 10 & 18) which is awfully consistent compared to my usual game. So I tho't I would tear up the front 9, being that much shorter, but the treacheries of the slope-132 gave me several double-bogies.

Like at #2 or #3, I forget which: a short par 5, but the green, and the pin, this day, are hidden behind hump 20 yards in front. Made me chunk my sandwedge approach the flounder around the green. I got to # 8 vowing to get 2 pars to get me back to level-bogey 45. I totally crushed my drive and had only 235 to the pin, but I pulled back and smoothed a 4iron down towards the green. "Smart play," said Mr. Science, "better'n last time!"

"Whuh?" I groped, then I looked down by the green and noticed the water hazard, a lake bordering half of the green on the slice side. Last time, in the same place, I had pulled the 3wood and bounced into the water. "Yeah, I meant to do that," I calmly asserted.

I managed to chip on and putt close enough I could claim a gimme ( tho it was a VERY generous concession, I admit). On 18, I managed to roll my double-breaker birdie putt close enough for a knee-knocker that I went ahead and tapped in, just to show I could. 43+45 = 88. Mr Science had an 82. I said, "see, if you average yesterday & today, I'm still just 9 strokes worse than you."

 2nd Tee, short par 5
 2nd tee zoom: landing zone pinched by bunkers at dogleg



 #3 par 4

 #4 par 3


 #5 par 4


 #6 par 4
 #8 par 5 (#7 is 200 yd par 3)
 #9 par 4


 #1 Par 4 Tee
 #1 zoom
 #10 par 4
 #10 zoom

 #11 par 4 tee
 #11 zoom from tee

 #12 par 5 tee
 #12 zoom

 #13 par 3
 #13 zoom

 #14 par 4
 #14 zoom

 #15 long par 4
 #15 zoom

 #16 par 3
 #16 zoom
 #17 par 5
 #17 zoom


 #18 par 4
 #18 zoom

7113 yds, Par 71, Slope 140 by Randy Heckenkemper

They Say: "Rivaling its famous sister course in both beauty and playability, the brilliantly crafted Randy Heckenkemper designed Champions Course offers the consummate desert golf experience. Featuring 7,115 yards of undulating Bermuda fairways, pristine greens and challenging bunkers, the par-71course meanders over natural ravines and picturesque foothills, with five par-3’s and a diverse variety of par-4’s and par-5’s to thrill golfers of all skill levels. A quartet of dramatic finishing holes make this golf gem a “must play” at prices commensurate with municipal golf facilities, including being able to walk the course."

I had been anxious to re-play the TPC Champions Course (nee' TPC Desert Course) . . . Heckenkemper has done some of my favorite courses (the Sanctuary & Stone Ridge up in Prescott) -- as my playing companions this day put it, "It used to be so-o-o-o-o boring, they had to do something!" And I could tell that he had done something . . . but the something didn't include introducing his special brand of green designs, nor any major re-routings, just some touch-ups on the original lay-out . . . now some of those touch-ups are very interesting . . . but I have to admit a small amount of disappointment -- not to say disillusion -- that the changes were not more dramatic.

The first hole portended interesting if subtle changes. I remember it as kind of a nuthin' hole, except for the water on the left, but now with those new reachable traps on the right pinching the landing area, that tee shot takes a little more concentration . . . I hit a 3wood to keep it short of the traps, but sure enough, my low-rising quail had enough pepper on it to roll just past them on the left, middle of the fairway. If feels like that green has been "aimed" away from the fairway more than it usta, but it's still pretty large, which is what I remember. Chunked my wedge trying to get at the front pin placement, but I chipped up for a gimme par, easy enough. I wouldn't say it was much better, but this hole is definitely some better with the tighter fairway.

#2 has been tightened up, too, but also straightend out, which I tho't was a shame. I pulled my drive left into that tongue of rough about 160 away from the pin -- the first of many pulls this day -- had a fluffy lie that I picked clean enough to hit a bullet right over the pin. I putted with a 7iron thru a couple yards of close-cropped rough back there to kick-in distance again. This green has been massaged a little bit too, but it's still very large, but not as deep as it was. I had really liked the optical illusion of the old green & dogleg fairway, so while there's not much to critique about this new version, I can't say it is much improved from the old version.

Now . . . if there was a hole that this course could have stamped its identity on before, I think it was #5. So Heck has messed with this one, too . . . I think even apologists for target golf would have trouble with this re-design. . . see how those tongues of desert waste area intrude up into the fairway? They didn't usta do that. It usta be a straightforward proposition "How Much Do You Dare Bite Off?" Now, I question whether you really have much choice other than to go for the right side fairway. I did try to hit that middle tongue of fairway, but with that bunker buried in there too, it's not much of an option. I had the wind with me, but even so bounced once on the rough and then into the waste area -- instant double bogey. Going right, you're going to be hitting 175 - 200 yds at least to that green, which would be a challenging shot too, with the bunkers guarding the front left, and OB on the right . The way the fairway is chopped up is just too severe, too unfair, IMVHO.

OTOH, it looks to me like he's made #8 too easy. When we played this course as The Desert in a scramble, from the white tees, it already seemed like an easy hole, even with the pin tucked behind a bunker on a skinny part of the green. On another round, from the blues, that same shot seemed much more difficult, if not impossible. But now, it's wide open. This day I hit a 4iron that ballooned up into the wind to fall on the fringe in the front left of the green. I pulled my 7iron chip too far left, allowing for the break, then missed the par putt, but I blamed that on the recent aeration, more than anything else. This might have been a good chance for a few ridges intersecting the multiple tiers in the green -- and it did look like there were an amazing number of unique pin-sites, but the green complex just lacks that Heckenkemper touch that I had come to expect.

So the greens were aerated and putts did not roll true nor smoothly, it was hot as bugger-all, slow (a killer combo in AZ, doncha know), I had a terrible case of the lefts with my woods, bladed a couple of wedges, and just felt a little deflated by the less-than-awesome make-over I found. I wound up shooting 46-49=95, no birdies, 5 pars, 3 8s. I was 7 over on the 4 par5s and 5 over on the 5 par 3s. Not playing well, but pulling your drives and foozling your wedges will wear on a boy.

I got away with both on #15. I pulled my drive left of that little bunker on the left side of the fairway, out into the middle of the fairway, 50 yds away from the pin. I didn't really blade my half-wedge, but it was definitely thin, ran 25 ft past the cup. 2 putted for a par, dangit. My partners both tried to drive the green . . . it was against the wind, so I didn't have a go, since I was not so confident. They both wound up in the desert. Heck has cleared out the little Arizona Forest that usta be inside that dogleg, so that people can go for the green -- I'm not sure I like having yet another opportunity for people to hit into me while I'm on the green. I tho't the old design was better, with only the dogleg to consider . . . but oh,well . . . that green is much the same as it was before, very elevated, which mitigates the short yardage.

So, there's nothing of Sanctuary nor Stoneridge at The Champions . . . and there's not much more, nor much less, of what was the Desert course in the Champions, either. It's still a middling course, which is disappointing only because I had hoped it might become more. It's longer & harder, but not more interesting.