COURSE REVIEW

Character-filled
Prescott Golf &
Country Club a treat
for seniors and women

By Chris Baldwin,
West Coast Bureau Chief

DEWEY, Ariz. (April 25, 2005) - One of the first things you see at Prescott Golf & Country Club is a man in psychedelic-patterned pajama golf pants that would make Jasper Parnevik cringe. And no, there doesn't seem to be any orderlies giving chase. This pajama man appears to be in charge of a tournament, signing in a cast that's obviously played with each other a time or two.

One of the first things you hear about at Prescott GCC is the fruit trees that golfers are encouraged to help themselves to during a round. Dennis Gallas, your large, loud, gregarious host on this visit, tells how he often comes home from the course with his shirt splattered with pear and apple juice.

Personal golfer-geared service makes Prescott's Villas At The Ridge stand out Irwin's Prescott Lakes a surprise wonder in Scottsdale's shadow From Dan Quayle to Average Joe Golfers, Prescott loves Antelope Hills North Nature trumps forced carries at Prescott's one-of-a-kind Stone Ridge

"The first few times, my wife asked, 'Where were you?'" Gallas said. "I'd say golfing and she'd just look at me with a, 'Yeah, right.'"

It's about this time, you realize Prescott Golf & Country Club stands as close to a stuffy, stereotypical country club as American Idol host Ryan Seacrest stands to a true talent. This place is country club in name only. It is a semi-private club, very open for public play and its membership is about as exclusionary as that old "We Are the World" song.

Of course, trying to break into the man with the pajama-pattern pants' weekly Thursday scramble is the equivalent of putting your name on the Green Bay Packers' season ticket list.

As Gallas sums up, "Somebody pretty much has to die for you to get into this tournament."

Getting onto the course is an entirely different matter. They'll let you play Prescott GCC to your swing's content. This isn't the course you go to for attitude. This is the course you go to for a low-stress good time. Being a little out of the way, Prescott GCC does not get as crowded as Antelope Hills , Prescott - and Arizona's - be everything tournament home. Yet, it does harbor the same kind of fun-loving vibe.

The course isn't spectacular, but it isn't spectacularly difficult either. It is the type of track women and seniors love, providing a varied, decent test without feeling the need to wow with anxiety-producing bells and whistles. Prescott Golf & Country Club measures 6,675 yards from the back tees and a friendly 5,732 from the fronts. The course takes a lot of pride in keeping all its tees maintained to the same quality, making sure the shorter hitters are not shortchanged on conditions or strategy.

On No. 16, for example, all the tees give the golfer the same type of test on this curving 391-yard, par-4. The forward tee test is 63 yards shorter than the back test, but it still incorporates the best of the hole. This is typical throughout Prescott Golf & Country Club, a 34-year-old design that harkens back to a time when no-name architects (Milt Coggins in this case) concentrated on winning the hearts of the average duffer rather than putting together a course that looks better in glossy magazine photos than it plays.

There are no signs of a six-figure designer here, no trace of ego on display. This is about as old school as old school gets.

Perhaps that's why you find so many no-nonsense golfers at Prescott GCC. There are more women-only foursomes out here than you find on most courses. On this day, Gallas is eager to get out onto the course well before a regular 10 a.m. women's group tees off.

"Those ladies like to play fast,'' Gallas said. "They'll be speeding around the course and if you're right in front of them, slowing them down...they'll let you know it. You don't want to be the group delaying their round."

Gallas laughs. That scene from Sideways isn't so funny to most manly men when it's a woman hitting down their neck. Rather than charge back down the fairway, with iron raised, a la Thomas Hayden Church, it's usually slink forward, with head tucked low in shame.

This is a course you can play quickly. The bunkers are far and few between. Water only really comes into play on two holes (No. 7, a forced carry on a par 3; and No. 18, where there's a decent pond tucked to the side of the green). There are not a whole lot of places to find trouble or obsess over club selection.

And many golfers like it that way.

"It's a fair test of golf," Prescott local Chuck Shumway said. "It has very good conditions and there's a great group of people to hang out with. What more would you want?"

Some golfers make their way to Prescott GCC after finding more than they could handle elsewhere. Gallas, a club member who started selling memberships after getting bored in retirement, tells of guys who bought into Prescott's one-of-a-kind, forced-carries challenger Stone Ridge only to end up spending most of their time at Prescott Golf & Country Club.

"Stone Ridge is just too much for them," Gallas said. "They have the membership and the house on the course, but it's too much for them, so they play us as their more regular course."

Prescott GCC does have one irregular hole that adds some character. The par-5, 510-yard 18th has an oak tree smack dab in the middle of the fairway that plays with your mind on approach shot. The branches are just enough of an nuisance to force most golfers to aim for the left part of the green, right where the pond with a shooting fountain beckons. Getting to No. 18 is like stumbling upon an eccentric uncle after meeting perfectly normal family member after perfectly normal family member.

It's a little like, "Where'd this come from?"

Of course, then you're back at the clubhouse, talking to the guy in the psychedelic pajama pants.

"A lot of people don't get these pants," Tom Conner said. "But I don't get a lot of people."

Sort of like Prescott Golf & Country Club. A lot of people don't get too excited about it. But those who do, swear by it as they swing away, day after day after day.

The Verdict

Prescott Golf & Country Club doesn't provide the sheer wonder of the nearby Prescott Lakes Golf Club. It does not carry the kind of myth-making, ball-gobbling reputation of the nearby Stone Ridge Golf Course. Yet, somehow it might have an even larger, loyal following than both those Prescott groundbreakers.

This is a course that strikes a blow for simplicity. If you want your golf basic but interesting, if you want your golf sans stress yet still somewhat strategic, this is the place for you. Prescott Golf & Country Club isn't going to dazzle, but it's rarely going to disappoint either. Coggins put in just enough to hold your interest in his design, particularly on the back nine where there is more undulation.

The $45 non-resident greens fee ($35 after 11 a.m.) explains a lot of Prescott GCC's popularity, but not all. This is more than a well-kept course in a temperate climate for a great price. It also carries a relaxed, almost family-like atmosphere. Hang out with some of these characters for an afternoon and you're apt to leave with your own nickname.

Not everyone's going to love this course. Some might think it's a bore. But those who do fall for the place usually fall hard.

The best place to find grub with character is Prescott's downtown Whiskey Row. Murphy's ((928) 445-4044) is just one of the places on the National Register of Historic Places in this Old Wild West area. Nearby, Rose Restaurant ((928) 777-8308) is supposed to have the most creative menu in town, heavily Italian. Rose is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, though.

For something more familiar there is a nearby mall with the usual suspects in a food court.

The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.