Posted by Dexter Francois
| Posted in
Golf Course Reviews,
Golf Courses,
My Rounds
| Posted on Tuesday, February 8, 2011
We played the Links Course at The Arizona Biltmore Country Club located in Phoenix just off the base of Camelback Mountain. The course was in excellent condition and with picture perfect weather, we were in for a great day.
Playing a new course is always tough for amateurs. This course is very fair though. It can be enjoyed by both low and high handicappers alike. There are enough challenges for the better golfer so that they do not get bored, but not so difficult that the average hacker never wants to return again. I do recommend that you get a yardage book or play with a local because there are some areas of the course that you can get into trouble if you do not know what is around the corner.
One of these holes is the short par 4, 12th hole. It only played to 282 yards on this day. What makes this hole so tricky is that there is a lake which guards the front of the green. The GPS indicated that the water was 217 yards away so I took out my 22 degree hybrid which I can usually only get out there to 200 yards.
The Doctor warned me, but I decided to choke down a little and swing the club anyway. I took a smooth swing and the ball flew of the clubface straight as an arrow and it disappeared over a little mound in the middle of the fairway. I thought I had hit the perfect shot, but when I got up to where my ball should have been, it was not there. One of my best swings of the day and I had to take a penalty.
As I looked around, I realized why The Doctor had cautioned me on club selection. The terrain sloped downwards towards the water over that little mound that I mentioned, and with the wind at my back and the lighter air, my ball was swimming with the fishes.
The signature hole on the course is the beautiful 183 yard par 3, 15th. We were playing from the whites, but The Doctor insisted that we had to tee off from the back tees for this hole. We were not disappointed. The elevation change from tee to green is about 100 feet and with the mountains in the background, it is as pretty as any hole I have ever played.
Overall I played alright. Shot a 91. Besides not knowing the course, I had trouble putting on these greens, mostly because I am not used to playing greens this good. They were a lot faster and smoother than any surface I had ever putted on. This makes me think that I would really have a difficult time putting on PGA tournament ready greens.
The pin placements made putting an adventure as well. A lot of the flags were on the front of the greens. With most of them sloping from back to front, if you are not careful, it is easy to putt your ball right off the green, which I did a few times.
We are supposed to play there again on Saturday so we will see how I do the next time around. With a little course knowledge and a some pre-round practice on the putting green (I was rushed so I only took three strokes before this particular round), I expect to do better.
If you ever get to visit Arizona, I recommend playing this course. The staff is very friendly in both the pro shop and dining area. They have a full driving range, chipping area, and two practice putting greens. If it were closer to where I live, it would definitely be a good place to practice.
Look for more posts like this one. Now that I am in Arizona, I will be doing more course reviews from the amateur perspective. Hopefully these entries will give you an idea of what courses to play if you ever venture to "The Valley Of The Sun." Arizona has so many great courses and I plan to explore them all. I just hope I can keep my ball on the fairways and out of the neighbors yard. Have a great round and always hit your target.
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| Arizona Biltmore Golf Club(Links Course) | Tees: Regular, Slope: 117, Rating: 67.0 | ||
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Posts
Dex,
Glad you enjoyed my home course. Hope to see you on Saturday.
Matt
It is a great course. Can't wait to play it again. Hope all is well and I'll see you this weekend.
Golf Club has recently undergone extensive renovations recently, including an expansion of the existing pavilion now equipped with television monitors and LCD TVs, among many other improvements. This expansion of facilities in the clubhouse reinforced his credentials as a place for banquets, receptions and parties, dishes prepared by chefs from world-class club. The culinary team of the club can easily create menus tailored to each occasion, be it a cocktail party, wedding reception, social gathering, business meeting or a simple family visit.
@Golfschuhe-Are you talking about Arizona Biltmore or some other golf club?