I'm deathly afraid of snakes. And rattlesnakes aren't strangers to some of Arizona's golf courses.
Soon after touching down for my golf odyssey, facilitated by Gendron Travel (gendrontravel.com), which sends many travellers each year to Arizona and knows plenty about golf tourism, I was assured I was safe. Snakes hibernate through the winter months.
"No, there are no snakes out there ... but there's other wildlife," I was told as I prepared to tee it up at The Boulders. "There are coyotes, bobcats ... and watch out for the cactus. We had two guys fall into them and one was still picking them out three hours later."
The Boulders even has a Coyote Rule: If there is reasonable evidence your ball was taken by a coyote and isn't found, place another ball on the spot from which the ball was moved, no penalty.
Soon after landing, after driving past signs that advertised $2.99 car washes and $4 pitchers of beer, we were whisked off to The Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort, surrounded by expansive mountain views. We played 12 holes at the 4-star Lookout Mountain course. We were served dessert at a mountain-top dining room, roasting marshmallows and looking out into a beautiful desert night.
Next up was Troon North Golf Club, where the desert and mountains intersect. Golf Magazine named the Pinnacle course No. 1 in Arizona and 21st in the U.S. The Monument course has been ranked fourth in Arizona and 44th nationally.
We checked into the very nice Hyatt Summerfield Suites in Scottsdale. After a delicious meal at The Mission, we bought cowboy hats and landed at Shotgun Betty's. Girls in cutoffs swinging on poles on top of the bar. Need I say more?
The next day, we were off to Mesa, playing a round at Gold Canyon Golf Resort, nestled into the Superstition Mountains. We played The Dinosaur, the state's No. 1 public course. Dramatic elevation changes, plenty of wildlife and a beautiful backdrop made the day memorable.
We were treated to another wonderful meal at the Mining Camp Restaurant and Trading Post.
Scottsdale has been called the "Best Place to Live in the U.S. for golf." Hard to argue when there are more than 300 days of sunshine each year, with nearly 200 golf courses in the area.
"We market ourselves as the world's finest golf destination," says Brent DeRaad, executive v-p of the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau. "And it's not just because of the quantity of courses we have. It's a desert setting and when you think of that, you might think it's just cactus and sand. But we've got mountains, flowering plants, cactus ...
"(Tourism from) Canada continues to increase. It's our largest international market. It would rank No. 4 on our market total, behind only New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
"Climate is also a big factor. We get an average of seven inches of rain each year. It's very hot in the summer. But we've got nine or 10 months of very reasonable golfing weather. And the rates are as low as they were seven or eight years ago. It's very much a value destination."
Many of the new designs feature back to nature themes. Green ribbons of fairway grass are framed by arroyos and native vegetation.
Winter golf usually means crisp mornings, but within a couple of hours, the long pants and sweater are discarded for golf shirt and shorts.
To know
-- The Greater Phoenix Area is home to more than 200 golf courses -- and 600 restaurants.
-- One of only 13 U.S. cities with a franchise in each of the four major pro sports (Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Coyotes), it also hosts a PGA event, the rollicking Waste Management Phoenix Open and a pair of NASCAR events.
-- The average annual temperature is 23 C, and there are more than 300 sun-filled days per year.
Tom Weiskopf connections
-- Fifteen-time PGA Tour winner Tom Weiskopf is a big fan of Arizona golf.
And it's no wonder, he helped shape many of the Phoenix area's finest layouts.
"Twenty years ago when you thought about a vacation to the Scottsdale area, you thought about three things: "Image of the wild west -- mountains and cactus and horses and such -- the Grand Canyon up north, and the good weather," Weiskopf was quoted as saying in the area's Golf Discovery Guide. "Championship golf courses weren't part of the package. Today, we can compete against any market in the country in terms of the quality of the golf courses and golf experiences.
"Desert golf courses are different. The golfer has to bear with the fact that we respect our water resources out here. By law, we can only irrigate 90 acres of turf; consequently most of the new courses are target-oriented. On the plus side, this makes for a unique, dramatic look, the striking contrasts of green formality against the rugged desert backdrop. We've got finely maintained courses, beautiful mountain vistas, and the sunsets are spectacular. It's just a very fine place to golf."
Teeing off in Vegas
