Camelback Links Course Opens

Great News for Camelback Equity Members – We have joined the likes of Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, and other great links courses. After last night’s rains, most holes on the Padre course run along the water. Some of them run under water.

I posted a few shots of the course taken nearly 24 hours after the downpour. If you look closely, you may notice sea otters cracking open abalone in the distance.

I live about a mile from the Padre course and last night, I enjoyed 1.7 inches of rain at the house. Yes, I now have a “links” house.

I can assure you the grounds crew team is out there busting tail, pumping water from low spots and trying to get the course ready for play. My guess is Padre will be open tomorrow, but that it will be cart path only unless you have a small dingy. Driving range – not likely. Regardless, be sure to wear your PFD.

I’ll keep an eye on the conditions and we can evaluate the situation in the morning. Nonetheless, we still have a little room if you’d like to play. In order to play, you must have a verifiable handicap and be a strong swimmer. I’ll bet we’re “lift, clean, and place.”

#10 Lake

Bring your fly fishing gear

Driving Range River

Romantic River

Count the Lakes

The Big Easy

Driving Lake

White water rafting anyone

Bridge over the River Cry

#1 Fairway

Going Native on Ambiente

With a few new members and a few whose memories come into and out of focus from time-to-time, let’s review the rule associated with playing out of the “native grass” areas on the Ambiente course at Camelback.

Native grass areas are deemed “lateral hazards”. This means:

1. YOU MAY NOT ground your club when addressing your ball. You MAY lightly touch the grass, but you MAY NOT do anything that alters the swing path such as taking practice swings that tear or uproot the grass or plants near the ball.

2. YOU MAY NOT move any loose impediments in the hazard. You MAY NOT brush any rocks or pebbles aside. YOU MAY NOT pick up or move any twigs, pine needles, coyote droppings. You DO NOT get relief from “obstructions” if you’re in a hazard without incurring a penalty stroke. This includes things like the fire hydrant on the ninth hole.

3. YOU DO NOT get free relief from standing water if you are IN the hazard. That’s sort of why it’s called a “hazard”. After the rains, many of the native grass areas become native rivers. No relief without penalty.

4. YOU MAY NOT “build a stance”. You can place your feet firmly on the ground, but you may not uproot plants or kick big rocks around while taking your stance.

Relief from a lateral hazard is covered under Section 26 of the Rules of Golf. You have five options:

1. Play the ball where it lies without penalty and subject to the prohibitions outlined above. Obviously, you have to find the ball to do this. No penalty.

2. Stroke and distance. Return to the spot from which you hit the ball. You incur a one stroke penalty. If you hit the ball from the teeing ground, you are now hitting your third shot from the teeing ground.

3. Drop a ball within two club lengths of the point where the ball crossed the margin of the hazard. You take a one stroke penalty.

4. Drop a ball within two club lengths of a point on the opposite side of the hazard, but no closer to the hole than where the ball first crossed the margin of the hazard. You take a one stroke penalty.

5. Drop a ball as far back as you wish on a line from the point of entry and the flagstick. You take a one stroke penalty.

Admittedly, it is called a “lateral hazard”, but this DOES NOT MEAN you can drop a ball laterally out of the hazard. You MUST drop within two club lengths of the point where the ball first crossed the margin of the hazard (assuming you’re taking relief as defined by #3 above).

What are the native grass areas? For most golfers, it’s pretty apparent that the arroyo area on the starboard side of the course is a “native grass” area. However, some golfers lose their clarity when they end up in a little “island” area of native grass. If it looks like native grass, you’re safe assuming it is a hazard. This includes places like (1) the tall grass between the cart path and the sand traps on the left side of the #3 fairway, (2) the grass areas running the entire length of the port side of pretty much every hole on the course, (3) the grass areas above and to the left of the traps on #18, (4) the tall grass area between the cart path and the #16 green, (5) the grassy area above the trap at the end of the dogleg on the #1 hole. These are just a few of the “native grass” areas. If it’s got flowers, it’s not fairway, it’s not rough, it’s native.

A couple of final comments on this topic: if you’re playing the Padre course and hit a ball into a native grass area that’s part of the Ambiente course, e.g., the area behind the twelfth green, IT IS NATIVE GRASS and deemed lateral hazard.

Consider this a “local rule” for The Jones Boyz Group. I don’t recall if Camelback has addressed this issue, so don’t claim it as an “official” local rule for the club without checking. There are areas on the course where the cart path runs through native grass areas. For example, on #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9 and other holes, there are sections of the cart path with native grass areas on both sides of the path. Technically, with a ball on the path or a ball adjacent to the path where the concrete interferes with your swing and the finish on your $100 club, you are NOT entitled to relief. However, by Executive Decree of the Tournament Committee, i.e., me, we will play with our own local rule. You MAY take relief from the cart path without penalty. However, you MAY NOT take relief out of the hazard. The free drop must be within a club length of the nearest relief from the cart path, but within the hazard.

We’ve got a great golf group and we should be proud that we have fostered a culture where we play by the rules. We don’t improve our lies. We don’t bump the ball. We’re pretty much “by the book”. Hopefully, this helps some of the newer members of the group to stay on the high road.

In the final analysis, the best way to avoid conflicts with these and other rules is to hit your shots into the fairway. I’m thinking about trying that approach. I’m always open to new things.

Silverado Golf Course – Slightly Better Than Nothing

A group of a dozen golfers decided to give Scottsdale Silverado Golf Club a second chance. The first chance came nearly a year earlier; we weren’t favorably impressed. But, it seemed unfair to base our opinions on only one data point. Anyone can have a bad day. Perhaps we happened to be there for the only bad day they’d ever inflicted upon golfers. The second chance came Friday, April 21^st.

Based upon our experience on the 21^st, our first experience may have been one of their better days. The second chance was as close to disaster as one can come without seeing a mushroom cloud. Most of us feel fortunate to have escaped the property with our tattered, challenged and abused senses of humor intact.

OrangeTree Very Pretty and the Orange Flower is Sweet, but …

A dozen Camelback golfers took a little road-trip on Friday, November 11^th. For some, it had been years since they had played OrangeTree Golf Course. Others had never played it. When all was said and done and the last putt rolled into the eighteenth hole, the general consensus was … as munis go, it’s a nice course, an interesting layout and a good value. In fact, had we not been spoiled with the great layouts at Camelback, we might even play it again. On a scale of zero to one hundred, OrangeTree averaged a score of sixty-five from the golfers in the group with individual ratings running from fifty-five to seventy-five. To be fair, it is not a muni, but it definitely has a muni feel. That’s not necessarily bad, but don’t expect to come away feeling like you just played an exclusive private club.

The strengths included an interesting layout. It’s mature and many of the holes are quite scenic. They were varied and offered some good golf challenges, however, the course was not a “championship” layout. With a rating of 69.3 and a slope of 119 (from the middle “white” tees), it was more than manageable for most golf skill levels. Fairways tended to have wide landing areas, but greens tended to be small. Miss the green and odds are you’ll be short-sided. With one notable exception, the staff was cordial, friendly and helpful. The biggest positive at OrangeTree is its price. We got a $49 rate in the late morning – cheap by Valley standards. It included the cart, but did not include range balls.

OrangeTree’s weaknesses seemed to be budget related. Greens were a bit “spotty” and hadn’t been rolled since the late Pleistocene. A six foot putt could be a bit of an adventure. Predicting the ball’s roll was like trying to predict the path of a pinball during an earthquake. Tee boxes either hadn’t been moved enough or were too small to allow much movement. They had the appearance of a corn field shortly after harvest. Over all, the course was in “respectable” condition, but that’s about the best that can be said.

More evidence that the drive to reduce expenses may be a touch overly aggressive appeared when I went to wet my towel at the restroom by the sixth hole. As I approached the water fountain outside the little building, it became apparent the fountain hadn’t been functional for quite some time. I went into the bathroom to find water. As I opened the door, I got the impression it wasn’t the spiffiest restroom in the golf world, but as the door closed behind me, the darkness became the cleaning agent. The light didn’t work so I could no longer discern the lack of clean. As my eyes slowly adjusted and a hint of light crawled in through the small window on one wall, I could make out the outline of the bathroom’s features. There was water in the toilet bowl. My towel remained dry. In the dim light, I saw what appeared to be a clipboard with a piece of paper on it. I took it outside to see what I had discovered. It was a “Restroom Cleaning Log – Hole #6”. There was a series of dates beginning with “27-Oct” and running through “19-Apr”. Next to each date was a space for the initials of presumably the person doing the cleaning. There were no initials for any date beyond October 27^th. That wouldn’t have been a problem were it not for the fact that it was November 11^th. If the truth be known, it had probably been cleaned in the previous two weeks, but the person doing the work couldn’t find the clipboard. Remember … it was too dark without a working light in there.

There was one employee that made the day especially memorable. The “starter” seemed to have the personality of Ukrainian prison guard. As some of the members of our group began sharing their starter experiences with me, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought there’s no way someone could have a position so closely associated with the image of the golf club without having a personality that put a “happy face” on the customer’s golf experience. I suggested that the starter may just have a very dry sense of humor and that the casual onlooker would pick up on it after a brief wait. I decided to get a firsthand look and judge for myself. After a brief exchange with the starter, I stood back and watched as he interfaced with a number of other golfers. I came away concluding that his humor must indeed be bone-dry, so dry in fact, that he came across as a real horse’s ass. But that couldn’t be the case. After all, he was still employed.

Fortunately, other staff members were friendly and helpful. When golfers were “entertained” by three twelve or thirteen year old boys in a yard adjacent to the course, the staff dispatched someone to deal with the homeowner. Mom didn’t seem to grasp the concept of golfers being accosted by boys hurling unmentionable obscenities as not being great for public relations, but the club staff did send an emissary to the scene of the crime in short order when the problem was reported.

The course offered a good value for the money. Where else in the Valley can you get to drive the old style gasoline powered golf carts. The course was fun. It wasn’t in great shape, but it was in good enough shape. It wasn’t extremely challenging, but it was challenging enough. I recommend playing OrangeTree from time to time, particularly if you’re a golfer on a budget.

Mexico, Camelback and Golf

An unnamed member of the group’s best wedge shot was into the fan in his hotel room.

Everyone is back. Everyone survived, but not from a lack of effort. Great dining, super weather, outstanding golf and a party or two (or three or … ). Our trip to Puerto Peñasco was a wonderful event … actually a series of events.

We enjoyed golf at The Links at Las Palomas. The course was in good shape. The layout was interesting and fun. The views were awesome. Matt Flores brought his “A game” and carded a 66, but only because he missed a few putts that could have easily brought him a few strokes lower.

The following day, the group played the Jack Nicklaus designed course at La Vidanta. The course was in immaculate condition. It was an absolutely spectacular layout that offered some real tough golf. I must assume Jack was fighting with Mrs. Nicklaus when he was designing that course and redirected his anger toward us. Scores weren’t as low as they were the previous day, but the experience will not soon be forgotten.

The dining experiences were top notch with (obviously) some great Mexican food, super Italian, German breakfasts, and marvelous sea food. Rocky Point is a shrimping village and we made a serious dent in the fleet’s catch. How fresh were the oysters? We watched as the fisherman hauled them directly from the ocean and put them on our plates. That’s pretty fresh.

Here are a few images from the trip. Others will remain private unless the subjects miss a payment. (Click on any image to enlarge it.)

Camelback Ambiente – In a League of Its Own

With more than 200 golf courses in the Phoenix area, we live in a golfer’s paradise. At its heart is Scottsdale. Some of the great and unquestionably some of the most scenic holes in golf are right here in our backyard. Of the courses that can be accessed without membership, the cream of the crop is the Ambiente course at Camelback Golf Club.

Ambiente is barely a year old, but is already in great shape. Greens are fast and true. Fairways are lush. The vistas are magnificent with backdrops of Camelback Mountain and Mummy Mountain. Every hole on this links style course is encased in flower laden wild areas that are beautiful to look at, but voracious in their hunger for errant shots.

The course design is brilliant. Unlike most “resort courses”, this is not one where you stand on every tee box and let it rip into a wide, hazard free fairway. This is a thinking golfer’s course. It’s real golf. You’ve got to manage your game to score well. There’s potential trouble off of every tee box, even the five pars. If you’re the macho type that reflexively grabs driver on every tee box, chances are this course is going bring you to your knees and take your balls. It’s a course for smart golfers. Even off the tee, club selection is an important consideration.

The course is playable at all levels, but if you’re not a low handicap golfer, don’t fool yourself into thinking you should be playing the back tees. At 7,225 yards, it will give the best golfers everything they can handle. The 245 yard par three fifteenth is one of Ambiente’s signature holes. From the tips, you’re hitting to a two tiered green with water on two sides, a cavernous bunker on the left and another one in front of the green. The seventh hole is a good par five over 600 yards long. The fourteenth is another par five, but it only plays at 580 yards. The greens are interesting and challenging, but fair. Stay below the hole.

Although there is a middle set of tees that bring the course down to 6,630 yards, most golfers will find the “Camel” tees give them all they can handle at 6,123 yards. If you play from this forward tee set and conquer the course, move back to the “Verde” tees the next time you play. But I’m betting you’ll beg for mercy before the course does. It’s still rated at 69.0 with a 124 slope from the forward tees. It’s at 73.9 and 138 from the tips.

Ambiente is one of two courses at Camelback Golf Club. Its sister course, Padre, is a fine course in its own right and a good test of golf, but its character is totally different from Ambiente’s. If you’re in Scottsdale for golf, consider playing both courses. Padre almost has the character of a Florida course while Ambiente is like a walk in Scotland. And you don’t even have to go through airport security to experience the differences.

Camelback’s practice facilities, pro-shop and clubhouse are up there with the best of them. The employees are friendly, well-trained and always ready to help.

If I were visiting Scottsdale and only had time to play one of its 200 courses, it would be Camelback Ambiente. But I live here and play three or four rounds per week. I still pick Ambiente. It just doesn’t get much better.

Course Review – Troon North, the Pinnacle Course

If the price of a round of golf were to correlate well with the quality of the golfing experience, Troon North would be one of golf’s great courses. The GolfNow.com rate is north of a hundred dollars with some tee times calling for a $235 fee. And GolfNow.com generally offers some pretty heavy discounts.

Unfortunately, Troon North is not a world class course. It is a fine course and I recommend playing it. The views are spectacular. The course is fair, at least as fair as a “desert course” can be. But it’s a public course. As a result, it gets a lot of play. It has been my experience that public courses with plenty of play host golfers that don’t seem to know the purpose of the little sand canisters mounted on the carts or the rakes that adorn the sand traps. To some of their customers, ball mark repair is a concept as foreign as a Tibetan poetry reading.

Up Stone Creek without a Paddle

As so often happens, members of Gainey Ranch Golf Club couldn’t arrange to play a routine eighteen hole round at the club they had joined. Once again we were forced to go off-campus to play. In that “the season” was upon us, many courses had raised their rates. Being the bargain conscious group we were, we looked for a deal. What about Stone Creek Golf Club? Most of our guys had never played it; others hadn’t played it in years. I called.

“I’ve got a dozen guys from Gainey Ranch Golf Club that would like to give your course a try next Monday, September 22^nd. What kind of a good rate can you give us?”

The man on the Stone Creek end of the phone paused, but finally said, “I can give you twenty-five dollars per player including range balls, cart and eighteen holes of golf.”

A Casual Stroll through Scottsdale Golfer’s Paradise

Image compliments of http://www.ealuxe.com

Although the majority of the readers of this site are either Gainey Ranch G.C. members or former members, there’s no reason we can’t and shouldn’t extend the domain’s coverage to include other clubs in the Central Scottsdale area. Of course, the focus will remain on Gainey Ranch G.C. because (dare I say it?) Gainey has some of the most interesting people in the gold fish bowl of Scottsdale golf. I mean… I could write a book on the subject.

As Gainey members know, one of the great benefits of belonging to Gainey is that you get to play a lot of other courses in the area. When “the club” brings in lucrative outside tournaments, Gainey is no longer a private club and members get to the end of the line or go home. When the Hyatt plans an event and calls for the 39% of the tee times it’s guaranteed, it’s no longer a private club and members get to the end of the line or go home. When ClubCorp uses all of its tee times, especially in conjunction with the other groups in

Gainey Profile – #7 Lakes – The Nemesis

It should be a simple par 4 hole. From the tips it’s only 410 yards. With a slight dog leg, it actually plays a little shorter. For the big hitters, it’s a drive and a sand wedge. Then why does it eat golfers alive?

For every birdie it gives up, it dishes out 57 bogeys or worse. The average score on “The Nemesis” is higher than bogey. It is nearly as high as the average score on the Par 5, #9 Lakes. On one recent day the hole played at an average score of 5.85 strokes.

Just because it has water the entire length of the hole on the right side, just because a safety shot to the left stands a great chance of ending up in cavernous sand traps, just because long knockers can hit it into the water that runs along the left side of the fairway past the traps, just because a stream runs in front of the green, just because the green is rounded by sand traps and just because the green is tricky to even the master putter – some people think the hole is tough. Sissy, I say. Get a grip and hit the ball.

“The Nemesis” isn’t the only name that comes to mind. It could just as easily be called “The Butcher”, “The Monster”, “The Executioner” or “The Cliff” because that’s where many a good round has fallen to its death. The only thing that can be said for certain is that it takes a lot of balls to play #7 Lakes.