Eagle Mountain (Fountain Hills, AZ) - 5/27/13

I have played a lot of golf in the state of Arizona and Eagle Mountain has to rank up there in the top 5 courses I have played in this state. If you have never played this course I highly recommend that you spend the money and play it. It's set within the mountains of Fountain Hills and many of the holes are elevated from tee to fairway and fairway to green. With its true desert feel you never know what kind of wild life will be waiting for you on the next tee box. Truly of the valley's best!

This was the second time I had played it and unfortunately didn't score as good as the first. However as much as I want to beat my previous score on any course I have played multiple times, I accept the score just because the course is that tough. Just being out there and having fun is a win by me. After all thats why I play this great game, for fun and enjoyment.

• Front 9:  45
• Back 9:  44
• Total:  89 (18 over par - ouch)
• Puts:  31
• Greens in Regulation:  5
• Fairways Hit:  7
• Eagles:  0
• Birdies:  0
• Pars:  6
• Bogey's:  8
• Double Bogeys:  3
• Triple Bogeys:  1 (gross)

My awesome scores (not)

Played on Memorial Day and the course had put these awesome messages on each cart! So cool!

In honor of Memorial Day every flag displayed our Nations stars and stripes.

Each hole had a flag holder off the green so the flag wouldn't hit the ground!

View from the 18th tee box

Las Sendas (Mesa, AZ) - 5/18/13

Las Sendas was built back in 1997 and believe it or not this was the first time I had played the course! It has been at the top of my list of courses to play within the valley since it was built and after 16 years I finally got the chance! What a beauty of a course, even in the summer the conditions were amazing. Its a desert course and makes you play 100% target golf. If you don't happen to land in the green stuff then you chalk up the ball as a loss. Unless your crazy enough to go dessert diving! The nice part of the design is that the fairways/rough are pretty wide and fairly easy to hit off the tee. However it gets harder and harder from there as almost all of the holes get very narrow towards the green. Every green is elevated and has multiple tiers. This makes getting up and down to save par tough!

The course plays anywhere from 5,100 to 6,914 yards depending on the tee box. We played the Gold tees that was 6,327 with a rating of 71.2 and a slope of 133. It was another rough round for me as I failed to break 90 for the second consecutive time. My short game seems to have gone down the toilet. What was once the strongest part of my game has become the worst part. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong so hopefully one of these rounds it will come back to me. However in the mean time I will continue to play and keep enjoying it even if my score is horrible.

The highlight of the day was probably hole 18. It's a par 5 that plays 503 yards from the gold tees. The fairway doglegs to the right off tee with water on both sides. If you can carry the water on the right it will slope down so you can get a good 300+ yards out of your tee shot. This was my game plan and I pulled it off. It left me with about 190 yards to the green, 185 of those were over water. You could play it smart and layup with a small chip shot leaving yourself with about 125 yards to the green, however where is the fun in that. After the round I was having I decided to go for it in two. I pulled out my 6 iron and stuck it on the green. It was the other side of the green and still a good 50 feet away from the hole but I didn't care as I was looking at an eagle putt. I figured I could get it close and knock down a birdie to end my round. Well that didn't happen as my eagle putt was still about 10 feet short and I then pushed my birdie put to the right barley missing it. So I ended with a par, however I couldn't be happier with how the final hole played out!

Here are some stats and photos from the round. I cant wait to play this course again as its one of my favorites now!

• Front 9:  47
• Back 9:  44
• Total:  91 (20 over par - ouch)
• Puts:  33
• Greens in Regulation:  3
• Fairways Hit:  8
• Eagles:  0
• Birdies:  0
• Pars:  2
• Bogey's:  13
• Double Bogeys:  2
• Triple Bogeys:  1 (gross)

Amazing view from the practice green!

More amazing views from the practice area.

The fairway was the other direction, however Red Mountain looked cool in the background so I took it.

Don't go left or right!

I was surprised how close this little guy got to me. Never seen a roadrunner that close. Pretty cool!

Awesome looking hole with the green up towards the mountain!

McCormick Ranch (Scottsdale, AZ) - 5/11/13

Every year come May the Coronado High School Athletic program holds a golf tournament to help raise money for their sports programs. Dawn's cousin BJ is the head football coach at Coronado and the main person behind putting this tournament together so its a no brainier that I play in this! Its a 4 man scramble and I have played with the same group of guys all 4 years I have played in it.

It's been held at McCormick Ranch for the past 3 years and before that was at Kokopelli. So they know how to pick good courses! The only time I have played McCormick Ranch is in this tournament. The course has two 18's (Palm Course & Pine Course). We played Palm from the white tees. Its measures 6279 total yards from the white tees with a 70.1 / 127 rating/slope. Maybe one day I will play a normal round and see how I do!

This year was out best team score since we started playing. We shot 9 under par for a 63, however didnt finish in the top 3 teams. The winner was 14 under and the next two teams were both 13 under. Yes 14 under is possible, however that means your getting birdie or better on all but 4 holes. Makes ya wonder how legit that score is! Oh well its still a good time. Here are some photos

Every good tournament must have a stocked cart side cooler! Code Blue!

Great view of Camelback Mountain!

Par 4 #9 has a split fairway surrounded by water. Its the 3rd hardest hole on the course.

Par 3 #17 plays 150 yards from the white tee's. It was the closest to the pin challenge and Adam from our group dropped it 4 feet from the hole! Birdie!

Hole #1 was sponsored by Babcock Plumbing, so of course Mr. Babcock had to strike a pose next to the company sign! Can you say Holiday Card!

Our 2013 team photo (Me, Brett Babcock, Adam McMahon, Bob Sowa)