Western Skies Golf Club – Arizona Golf Course Reviews
Players at Western Skies have always enjoyed a player-friendly course in a pleasant community atmosphere at a very reasonable rate, which is just what designer Brian Whitcomb was asked to provide in this 1992 design.
In 2012 though, new owners CBIGG and management group, Borders Golf Group of Lafayette, CA, signaled a new direction for the club and are making good on that promise.
On your next visit to Western Skies expect to find enhanced turf conditions throughout the course, including an additional 20-acres of grassed playing surfaces, as well as a new “fairway practice bunker,” putting green and turf-area targets for the practice facility, all of which are the result of the 2014 installation of a new, state-of-the-art irrigation system for the club’s property.
Western Skies’ convenient practice facility, lighted in 2010, now effectively “checkmates” any excuse for not doing your weekly, hitting-balls homework before it can be delivered.
The layout offers three sets of tees playing at 6,744, 6,236 and 5,639 yards, and offers an entertaining mix of challenging par 4’s, enticing par 5’s and “pay attention here” par 3’s. The par-72 layout is rated at 70.3 from the back tees with a slope of 125; 70.6 and 115 from the forward set.
The most memorable holes on the front-nine are the fourth, a 201-yard, “pay attention” par 3 over a piece of the pond that also hugs a bunker on the right side of the green, and the two, outward-half finishers – strong 4-pars both at 441 and 435 yards.
The back nine layout steps up the challenge a bit and plays about 300 yards longer than the front. Highlights include the 12th, a long-iron/hybrid par 3 of 220 yards to a fairly narrow, deep green, the par-5 16th at 545 yards to an entertaining S-shaped green, and the artful 18th finisher, a risk-reward 353-yard par 4.
Accuracy trumps brawn here where water can threaten a long tee ball, and green-side water threatens everybody’s second on the right side, where a bunker separates the putting surface from the lake.
When the last putt drops, head in to Mulligans Bar and Grill. The full service fare draws players and non-players alike, and the vast array of flat screen sports broadcasts and neighborhood friendly vibe keeps everybody happy.
So do Western Skies’ Thursday Skins games, Tuesday night Scrambles and special price point offers for their Players Club and Game Improvement Pass.
At its essence, the Western Skies Players Club delivers, at a reasonable price, what every avid, loyal player cherishes: The club’s guarantee of the lowest green fee in return for the player’s loyalty. All the other benefits of the program are icing on the cake.
Western Skies Golf Club likes to say it’s the place “Where Locals Bring Their Friends.” If you are looking for a fun, affordable, full-service golf facility to play for a day, or adopt as your home club, grab a friend and go sample Western Skies.
Either way, no matter what you card, you’ll end up one-under for the day.
Visit our Arizona Golf Course Reviews and read the AZGA Player’s Review for every golf course in Arizona at www.arizonagolfauthority.com/coursedirectory.
It’s “All Things Arizona Golf” from the Arizona Golf Authority.