Las Sendas - This course is gnarly! Just look at the slope and rating. It's located east of Phoenix in Mesa. We booked our 11:40 tee time through ezlinks.com's "name your price" for $60 per player, range balls included.
The green here were by far the fastest and smoothest we played. They were also the toughest with severe undulations. I putt off the green twice on the same hole 8( Doesn't get much worse than a triple bogey on a GIR. Brutal! The fairways were in great condition and the rough was actual rough, although not very long. The course is quite scenic, although some of the holes are lined with houses. There's also rabbits all over the place. There was at least one hole where we didn't know what to do off the tee. It was a dogleg and we had no idea which way it went. Overall, it was the worst round I played but I pulled it together a bit on the back 9 after taping up my thumb. Paul shot 1 over on the front 9 and then proceeded to throw all his hard work away by shooting 10 over on the back. I'd definitely play it again for the sake of redemption.
Sanctuary - This 18 hole Troon facility up in Scottsdale is one of the most desert style target golf courses I've ever played. Ball placement and strategy was definitely key on this course. We booked our 12:07 tee time through ezlinks.com's "name your price" for $61 per player, range balls not included.
The greens were spotty but cut short so they weren't very fast and not very smooth... pretty much the 2nd slowest on our trip. The fairways were spotty as well. The rough was actual rough, although not very long. For most of the front nine, every fairway is slanted to the left or the right so you gotta aim your tee shot to account for the sideways roll. The bunkers seemed to be fluffier than any others on our trip, which made them tough to get out of, particularly the fairway traps. I couldn't believe how many dog leg lefts there were on this course! The tee box options were, again, sort of limited. Either tee off from 6600+ yards or 6000 yards and like Lookout Mountain, I ended up at the shorter tee box and it felt short. The longer tee box would for sure have been too long... something in between would have been nice. Overall, I'd play this course again.
Ahwatukee Country Club - This course is located in Phoenix just south of the airport. We booked our 7:15 tee time through ezlinks.com's for $28 per player, range balls not included.
This was our last round of the trip and we were flying out in the afternoon. It was tough to get an early Saturday tee time near the airport for a reasonable price. We had it narrowed down to Ahwatukee Country Club, Vistal, Dobson Ranch and Arizona Golf Resort. I've read and heard negative comments about all of them (speed of play, course conditions etc) so I just booked whatever was available. Needless to say, this was by far the worst course we played this week. Actually, I'd go as far as saying it's the worst course we've ever played in Phoenix! I have no idea how this place can place the moniker "country club" on their facility. It had slow and bumpy greens, worst course conditions and worst scenery. The course is not a desert style layout. There's lots of trees and there are basically retaining walls from houses along all holes. I'll never play this course again. I'll add it to Bougainvillea and Kokopelli as courses I'll never play again.
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