Arizona Grand? Not in My Book!

On Saturday, I played in the "Landsharks Scramble Golf Tournament" at the Arizona Grand Golf Resort at South Mountain in Phoenix. I think we played from the Phantom Horse tees. The course was in nice shape but "in my opinion" (included for liability purposes) it is kind of rinky-dink at only 6,300 yards from the back tees with a lot of blind shots and tricked-out holes. The course traverses through the surrounding residential subdivision and some of the holes are fairly narrow for me. I played with Chad Feldheimer, Slim Whiskey and one of Slim's clients that was the major sponsor for the tournament.

We started on the back 9. The par-5 10th hole has a deceiving green with a big swale in front. We all left our third shot short of the green and had to chip and one-putt to save par. Not an auspicious start for a scramble! I played terribly on the front 9 but Slim Whiskey and Chad Feldheimer played well and we made the turn at 5 under par. Starting the front 9, I had one of the two shots of the day. Hole No. 1 is a 362-yard par-4. It was only playing 280 yards because the resort was setting up a wedding on the Sidewinder tee box. From our tee boxes, once you clear the crest of the hill, it is fairly steep downhill and you cannot see the flagstick from the tee box. I hit driver to about 6 feet right behind the hole. Although we did not see it, the ball must have rolled just past the hole. We sunk the putt for eagle (a double eagle hole in one would have been sweet!). Of course, Chad had to steal some of my thunder by hitting a 3-wood to about 12 feet from the flagstick.

We were 11 under par when we got to the par-3 202 yard 7th hole. The creek along the right-hand side is more like a lake at this point on the course. The pin was tucked in the right-hand side of the green only a few paces from the water. Slim Whiskey led off and dunked his ball in the lake. The client followed and also put his ball in the lake. Making sure that I did not do likewise, I hooked my tee shot way left but barely playable. This is why we bring Chad Feldheimer with us on scrambles (it clearly is not because of his pleasant personality). Chad takes dead aim at the pin and fires his 5-iron. The ball looks like it may be just right of the flagstick and I am holding my breath but it draws slightly and ends up about 8 feet left of the pin (he won closest to the pin for that shot). We ended the round with a 12 under 59 and finished in third place. The awards ceremony was at Macayo's Mexican Restaurant in Ahwatukee, the tournament sponsor, and we gorged ourselves on Mexican food and tequila.