COURSE REVIEWS

Heading South to Seville: Gary Panks Goes Mediterranean

By Rebecca Larsen,
Associate Editor

Trilogy at Power Ranch and the Golf Club at Johnson Ranch are good examples. And now the latest and one of the best among them is Seville Golf and Country Club, part of a new home development by Shea Homes of Scottsdale, about 40 miles from central Phoenix and 50 miles from Scottsdale. It's also an area of watermelon fields and citrus orchards, where dozens of orange and grapefruit farmers seem to have put "for sale" signs on their groves.

Seville, designed by one of Arizona's hottest architects, Gary Panks, opened in early March. Panks of Scottsdale has designed several other courses in the Phoenix area including the Talon course at Grayhawk in north Scottsdale, Whirlwind, on native American tribal lands well south of Phoenix, and Raven at South Mountain.

Seville is destined to go private in a couple of years, according to the course's director of golf, Todd Weiand. Membership prices will be $17,500 for homeowners in Seville and $19,500 for non-property owners. But until enough memberships are sold, the public can play at Seville.

The theme of the development and the course is Mediterranean: stucco buildings, towers and arches, tile roofs and hundreds of fairly large orange trees everywhere. The trees were actually part of an original grove on the site and were moved to new locations when the course was built, Weiand said. The transplanted trees are now in full bloom so the entire course has the scent of a glass of Minute Maid. Although the landscaping was generously done, it will be a while before it fills in and all the trees grow up a bit to throw some shade.

Conditions on the fairways and greens of this par-72 course are pristine and the grass is so new, you almost have to hunt for divots. Keep in mind, though, that the clubhouse won't be open for at least 18 months and staff is now working out of the development's sales office. A temporary trailer-clubhouse will open in a few months. The day we played, the food possibilities were limited to drinks and chips. The nearest restaurant or clubhouse for a post-18 beer and burger is a couple miles down the road at Trilogy at Power Ranch.

But a visit to Seville is a great opportunity to see what Gary Panks is all about on a very playable course. There are five sets of tees with 7,015 yards from the back tees and 5,350 yards from the forward. Playing now also offers the chance to experience a big-sky, open-land feeling with great views of the Santan Mountains from every teebox. Only about 100 of an expected 3,000 homes in the development have been built so far.

Seville is not a trick course designed to astonish you with extremely narrow fairways and targets to hit. "It's not visually intimidating off the tee, like so many places they build in Arizona," Weiand says. "You can really let your swing go."

This seems to be a course that takes into account that members want to play it again and again and shoot par regularly. "Generally, I'd say that the fairways are generous off the tee," says Todd Weiand. "Where you lose shots on this course is around the greens. The bunkers are fair; they don't beat you up."

Panks starts out here with those open, generous fairways on the first few holes before he throws obstacles in the way. On the first tee, you'll reach for your driver. The long, wide-open par 4 (410 yards from the back tees, 285 yards from the forward tees) is not what you would expect of some of the desert courses that Panks has done in the past.

In fact, this isn't really a desert course at all and it isn't a traditional course either. It's something in-between. There are spots of desert wash that require forced carries. There are lots of elevated greens and tees. But there are also miles of rolling, undulating knolls and not much in the way of elevation changes. If you visit here often enough, you'll learn the spots to hit to give your ball an extra 20 to 30 yards of roll.

Reader Forums Arizona Course Guide Past reviews by Rebecca Larsen

No. 2, a par 5 (555 yards from the back tees, 460 yards from the forward tees) is a dogleg right, for example, where flying over some righthand bunkers on your second shot is almost a necessity in order to make par. The good news is that a well-placed second shot will trickle down a little hill and edge very close to the green.

Another imaginative dogleg right is the par 5 No. 5 (530 yards from the back tees, 425 yards from the forward tees) that requires all levels of golfers to make their tee shots over a bit of desert wash studded with heavy grasses. The intrepid players who fire from the tips had better be careful about where shots land, as a bunker has been strategically placed about 240 yards from their tee. If you keep playing the right side of this fairway, you'll also find yourself making an approach shot to the green over a sizeable lake. And even if you make it over the lake, you need another 10 to 20 yards out of your ball to get over a long bunker right below the green.

Without a doubt, though, the most fun on this course are the three finishing holes, 16, 17 and 18. "Everybody comes off the course saying that they loved those holes," says Weiand.

No. 16 (pictured) is a short par 4 (315 yards from the back tees, 205 yards from the forward) with a lake that runs up and down the right side of the fairway. What's special about the hole is that those who are comfortable using the middle tees (250 yards) could probably land on the green with a first shot, giving them a strong birdie or even an eagle possibility. From the back tees you also have the option of cutting the dogleg on this hole by firing over the lake. Like many holes on this course, this one favors someone who knows how to make a right-to-left shot work.

No. 17 is a short par 3 (145 yards from the back tees, 90 yards from the forward) that requires hitting onto an island green. This is truly an island, not a peninsula green as is the case with so many "islands" on other courses. The prize on this hole goes to the Mickelson imitator who can pop the ball up in the air and make it land softly; long, hot shots will roll off the green and over a wall into the drink.

Everyone has to shoot over water again on No. 18, a par-5 hole (520 yards from the back tees, 420 yards from the forward). But you really don't realize it until you're halfway down the fairway because the water is so far away from the tees. From the back tees, you need to make a hefty drive straight down the middle of the fairway, avoiding the bunkers on either side. Then you have to lay up with a short iron right up to the edge of the water, still roughly 100 yards from the hole, or hit onto a wide stretch of fairway grass on the other side of the water. In either case, the approach shot to the green will be interesting: You could lose your ball in the water or land on a wide beach of bunkers around the hole.

By the way, Weiand actually prefers the par-4s, Nos. 7 and 13, which he likes "because I can play them well." For example, on No. 7, a hole where the green is protected by a lake, he advises golfers that if they hit a really good drive, they can use a pitching or sand wedge to hit over the lake. "But you must be accurate," he says.

Director of golf: Todd Weiand
Yardage: 7,015, 6,510, 6,130, 5,765, 5,350
Rating/slope: 72.3/126; 71.9/125; 70.1/120; 68.1/115; 70.2/117

Directions: From I-60, take the Power Road exit and drive south about 12 miles to Riggs Road. Turn right and the entrance to Seville will be a mile or two down the road between Power and Higley roads.

Where else to play If you're thinking of playing at Seville, you might consider booking a room at a motel or resort in nearby Mesa and then hitting some of the other courses in the south Phoenix area as well. We asked Todd Weiand what spots might be part of a good package and he suggested the following:

- Trilogy Golf Club at Power Ranch is located just a few miles from Seville on East Village Parkway, just off Power Road in Gilbert. This fairly new, par-71 course (6,710 yards from the tips; rating/slope of 71.5/126) was laid out in the Queen Creek wash by golf course architect Dick Bailey. It's in the middle of a master-planned adult home community. Prices during the high season were $59 weekdays and $82 on weekends but have just dropped to $49 and $59.

- Lone Tree Golf Club is located on South Mountain Boulevard just off Riggs Road in Chandler. This course opened in December 2000 and has prices that are somewhat lower than other courses in the area. Until April 15, they range from $59 weekdays to $79 on weekends. They drop on April 15 to $39 and $49. Lone Tree has a par-71 layout and plays at 6,894 yards from the back tees. The rating/slope is 71.7/120 from the tips.

- Ocotillo Golf Club (pictured) is located at 3751 Clubhouse Drive, near the intersection of Dobson and Ocotillo roads in Chandler. It's a 27-hole championship layout with traditional rolling fairways, mature trees and water features on almost every hole. Golfers choose what combination of 18 holes they want to play. The toughest is the Blue-Gold; it's par 72, 6,729 yards from the tips, with a rating of 71.3/131. During the high season, fees have been running from $110 to $155. They drop to $95 on April 15.

- The Golf Club at Johnson Ranch is located at 433 W. Bella Vista Road in Queen Creek. Travel south on Ellsworth Road to Hunt Highway and turn left; Johnson Ranch is five miles down the road. The front nine of this course, designed by Kenny Watkins, in the foothills of the Santan Mountains, offers traditional golf. As you follow the back nine through the hills, you start playing target golf. Green fees currently range from $65 on weekdays to $75 on weekends, but there are lots of specials. Spring rates start later in the month and have not yet been set.