Category: Mesa

AZGA Arizona Golf Buzz: If you haven’t played Longbow Golf Club in the past 10 years, be prepared to experience a makeover worthy of a TV reality show. Architect Ken Kavanaugh was handed a “do over’s” for this property with a bigger budget and much more acreage and he made the best of it, turning what was regarded as a “nice little course” into one of the best public layouts in the Phoenix metro area.

Longbow is named for the Longbow Apache helicopter, a prominent military aircraft that is built across the street from the course; it would be a rare day if you didn’t see at least one of them hovering overhead during your round. Longbow was transformed from a par 70 of 6,750 yards to a par 71 of 7,003 yards with an almost entirely new front nine, a striking new clubhouse, revamped practice facilities, upgraded bunkering and amenities found at some of Scottsdale’s high-end facilities.

The re-design didn’t just add length, but combined it with strategic value and infinite shot-making choices. As a result of the myriad improvements, magazines have ranked Longbow as one of the top 100 resort courses in the country and one of the top 20 public courses in Arizona.

Longbow Golf Club has hosted the Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic for 12 years, an American Junior Golf Association event, which was named the AJGA Tournament of the Year in 2010.

What is great about the re-design, which was completed in 2003, six years after the course first opened, is the course became a more challenging layout for skilled players, yet remained just as playable for weekend warriors who don’t try to tackle it from the tips, where the rating is 72.7 and slope is 132.

There are four sets of tees here, with the shortest at 5,202 yards. Fairways in most cases are generous, but transition areas offer up penalizing lies and fairway bunkers are deceptively deep and contoured – avoid both and your scorecard look a whole lot better.

Longbow doesn’t include the striking elevation changes and scenery of courses in north Scottsdale but offers a refreshing core golf course layout devoid of homes and roads.

The highlight here is the finishing stretch. No. 13 is a 429-yard par 4 with an uphill tee shot into a left-to-right dogleg with a hidden lake on the inside corner, to a green squeezed by water on the left and a huge bunker on the right.

No. 14 is a long par 4 that features a fairway that slopes to the left, toward the desert, and a tough approach to a double-tiered green guarded by deep bunkers on both sides.

The 15th might be the best hole; a 420-yard par 4 that skirts a waste bunker on the right to a long green with a sprawling sand bunker and water hazard wrapping around the front, left and back of the green complex – no flat putts here either.

No. 16 is a pretty par 3 at 234 yards with a carry over both desert and sand.

Kavanaugh served up a drivable par 4 at 17, but the green complex has a prominent ridge that plays havoc with chips and putts.

The 18th, a 538-yard par 5, isn’t quite as interesting, but does provide a reasonable opportunity to finish with a birdie.

Practice facilities here are excellent and so are amenities in the new, contemporary clubhouse. Included are a spacious outdoor event patio with fans, heaters, misters, outdoor kitchen and bar, enormous fireplace, convenient drive-up snack shop, a cozy restaurant, and well-appointed golf shop.

Something else many golfers appreciate about Longbow is that yardages are well marked, including markers on the cart paths and 150-yard stakes that also serve as directional devices. One more nice twist is the pin placement sheets posted on the back of all carts.

Green fees are quite reasonable considering all that Longbow has to offer; this is one of Arizona’s best golf course values in a State full of them.

The Buzz: Heron Lakes, an executive course, designed by Phoenix-area architects Greg Nash and Jeff Hardin, opened in 1985 as an alternative to the Coyote Run championship layout at the Leisure World master-planned community for active adults. Located in Mesa, AZ, it’s one of the area’s oldest such communities in the Phoenix-metro area and one of the most affordable, and has undergone extensive renovation and refurbishing in recent years amounting to about $10 million in improvements. Both courses feature traditional designs with lots of grass, mature trees and water hazards.

The par-62 Heron Lakes Course is defined by narrow, tree-lined fairways, well-maintained greens, several lakes that bring water into play on seven holes, and some excellent views of the nearby Superstition Mountains. Flower beds and other landscaping make this course pleasing to the eye. It has two sets of tees at 4,024 and 3,604 yards with slope and rating of 59.9 and 101 from the back tees and 59.8 and 100 from the front.

Each 9-hole side has three par-4 holes and the fourth is the only par 5 at 467 yards. The third hole, a 189-yard par 4, is the No. 1 handicap, but the signature holes are the ninth and 16th.

No. 9 is a risk-reward hole with a par 4 of 260 yards that is drivable but has out of bounds stakes lurking down the right side. The 16th is a picturesque par 3 of 155 yards with water wrapping around the front and left side of the green.

Heron Lakes added a new clubhouse in 2006 and has nice practice facilities, including a putting green, chipping area and bunker. Leisure World Country Club is a private club open to members and their guests, and has several memberships available, including annual and one-month memberships.

Other amenities include the “19th Hole” café, which serves up breakfast and lunch, two swimming pools, a Jacuzzi, a 10,000-square-foot fitness center and a general-purpose building that hosts dances, parties and other activities.

The Buzz: Coyote Run is the championship layout and first of two courses, opened in 1978, at the master-planned Leisure World community for active adults in Mesa. Designed by the legendary Johnny Bulla and later renovated by the Phoenix design team of Greg Nash and Jeff Hardin, it is a traditional style layout with wall-to-wall grass, mature trees, water in play on nine holes and some excellent views of the nearby Superstition Mountains.

Wide fairways, gentle rolling terrain and well-kept greens make it a player-friendly course but water features offer up several challenges. Coyote Run offers three sets of tees at 6,437, 6,174 and 5,697 yards and plays to par 73 with a rating of 69.7 and slope of 120 from the back tees.

Memorable holes include the fifth, a par 5 at 561 yards, the longest hole on the course and the No. 1 handicap, and the 16th, which is the longest par 3 at 214 yards, features water running down the entire right side, so bail-out left.

The 18th, a 372-yard par 4, is considered the signature hole. It also has water running along the right side, starting from about 150 yards out and wrapping around the green, with out-of-bounds along the left side of the hole.

Practice facilities include a driving range, two putting greens and a chipping area that allows practice shots from about 75 yards out.

Coyote Run is a private club that allows guests, and has several membership levels available, including annual and monthly options. The complex has undergone about $10 million in renovations and refurbishing in recent years and provides a wide range of facilities and activities. A new pro shop was built in 2008 and the club also includes two swimming pools, a Jacuzzi, a 10,000-square-foot fitness center and general-purpose building that hosts dances, parties and other activities.