I was very fortunate to be invited to play Desert Forest on Sunday, September 17. It took me a while to get the scorecard to Johnny to add it to the database, so I'll focus more on the course and less... Continue »

I was very fortunate to be invited to play Desert Forest on Sunday, September 17. It took me a while to get the scorecard to Johnny to add it to the database, so I'll focus more on the course and less on conditions, because I believe the course is now in overseed mode anyway.

Desert Forest is the original "desert" golf course, designed by Red Lawrence and opened in 1962. The course was renovated in 2013 by a former Coore/Crenshaw associate, Dave Zinkand, who came in and modernized the bunkering and added more contour to the greens. The result is a really exceptional course: No dramatic elevation changes, but wonderful ground movement on many holes. Unlike many desert courses, it's extremely walkable, with tee boxes located very near the previous green (what a contrast from Quintero, which I played the day prior). Another Arizona/desert rarity is that there is no housing on the course.

While beautiful, the course doesn't look all that intimidating, but it plays very tough. Obviously, lots of desert comes into play if you're not hitting it straight, and many greens are elevated and significantly undulating. It's a great challenge that ate me alive, but I enjoyed every second of it. I achieved a first, too: I hit a low screamer of a drive (about 8 feet off the ground) that would've been great... IF it hadn't lodged itself squarely in a saguaro cactus about 100 yards away! That was fun/funny.

Conditions were excellent for late summer, as the course hosted a 14 NCAA men's teams the following weekend for the Maui Jim Invitational. (Local boys ASU took the title.) Fairways and rough were very lush, greens were smooth and medium-fast (I believe sometimes they are much faster here), bunkers and tee boxes were all good. From pictures I've seen, I suspect the course is even more impressive after overseeding.

If you ever have the opportunity to play here, take it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Huge thanks to the member who organized this outing, if he ever happens to read this.

I posted some photos to the photo gallery here, but if you want to see my full album of 65 images, copy & paste this URL: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5rMgNL