Stonecreek Golf Club - Nice Track, Great Location!

The weather was perfect today, low 70s with a wisp of wind. We played Stonecreek Golf Club, which is located in north central Phoenix at about 48th Street and Cactus Road. I have not played Stone Creek Golf Club for 15 years and it is much better than I remembered. The course meanders past the Anasazi Apartments, an Embassy Suites hotel and residential neighborhoods. One of my clients used to own the Anasazi Apartments. I played with Chad Feldheimer, another friend of mine and his son. My friend played amateur tournament golf as a young man but gave up golf and had not picked up a club for 18 months. He showed some glimpses of greatness and some rust, but you can tell if he wanted to play well again it would not take him long to get back into the groove. The course is a good walking course. Chad Feldheimer claims he has plantar fascitis so he rode the cart and carried my bag and I walked. It was the perfect way to play golf!

We played from the back tees, which are 6,871 yards with a course rating of 72.8 and a slope rating of 131. The tees were at the back of the tee boxes on most of the holes so the course was playing even longer. The par-3 holes were playing between 196 yards and 226 yards and are listed as the four easiest handicap holes! The fairways and most of the rough areas were overseeded with winter grass so the course is very green and lush, but the ball generally sits up in the rough. I am playing reasonably well, but I am having trouble piecing together a good front nine with a good back nine. I play well for one nine hole stretch but not the other and today was no different. I was striking the golf ball really well on the front 9. I had four pars and one disaster. On the par-3 196 yard 5th hole I hit a nice 3-hybrid that landed pin high right of the green in a deep bunker. I tried to blast out three times with no success and finally picked up for a triple bogey maximum 6! I still shot a 43 on the front 9, which could easily have been a 40.

I fell apart on the back nine and shot a 49 for a total score of 92. I lost two balls way right on my drives and hit two balls into the water for 4 penalty strokes. I had an 80 yard sand wedge shot to the par-5 548 yard 13th hole green that I skulled 20 yards over the green for a 7. I hit some really good shots but I am no longer measuring my game by how many good swings I make, but just by the score I post. I have a hard time righting the ship when the wheels start to fall off (how is that for mixing metaphors).