 COURSE REVIEW
Out-of-the-way
|
| Arizona FREE Package Quote Call: 866-444-0992 |
BUCKEYE, Ariz. (Oct. 27, 2006) - It's not often you see a proud "Founded 2002" sign. That's just the first indication that you've arrived in a different kind of place.
"Welcome to Buckeye, Arizona!" the attendant who takes your bag declares with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for "Free beer!" or "Naked chicks in the pool!" Everyone from the marshals to the head pro to the hostess in the grill welcomes you with vigor at the Raven Golf Club at Verrado. You're liable to think they've mistaken you for some B-list celebrity.
But no, this is the standard Raven Verrado greeting. This is the rare golf course with fawning press clippings and shiny Golf Digest plaques that still seems excited golfers are there.
The zip code has something to do with it. Raven Verrado is at the outer limits of the Phoenix-Scottsdale resort corridor - more so than club's radio ads would have you believe. It's a good hour from Scottsdale. You have to want to get to there to end up there.
Go ahead. Gas up that rental. This is one course that's worth the trip.
The service is the first thing you'll notice. They pack your cart with complimentary bottled water. That's right - in the desert home of the $2.48 water, it's free. And there's more available every three holes. If you're ever going to be stranded on a golf course overnight, you want it to be Raven Verrado.
As good as the service is - and I'd put it in the top 25 of courses I've visited all over North America - the course itself will stick with you more.
This is one entertaining battle of golf. It's desert golf with devilish greens, scenic golf that doesn't just sit there and look pretty. Raven Verrado will slap you across the cheek just as you're admiring its vistas.
There's some serious attitude in this John Fought and Tom Lehman design - much more attitude than the Ryder Cup team Lehman coached. Mr. T attitude.
No. 13 tells everything you need to know about this tude. This 310 yard par 4 looks like it should be salivatingly easy from the tee - an oasis in a flurry of back nine knee knockers. It plays somewhat uphill, but it's so driveable.
One slight hitch. Sticking a shot on the cruelly sloping green is akin to stopping a pool ball on an ice-slicked mountain driveway. You'll be praying for Phil Mickelson's touch. And watching balls roll back down and far, far away.
Calling this a raised-ridge green is like terming Barry Bonds a little testy. This is essentially a hill that goes straight up to a sharp point. Anything landing below that point is coming back down.
No questions asked. Remember, this is the driveable par 4.
"Sometimes you just want to throw up your arms and say I surrender," vacationing golfer Scott McReynolds said.
And sometimes you just want to look up from your shot and take in the view for another moment before continuing. It's easy to pick out the members from the vacationing golfers at Raven Verrado. Only a regular could speed through this course.
The green at No. 2, a sharp dogleg-left par 4 that looks like a snake in the desert, is set up to give the best view of the most striking blue sky. With its lone distinct tree behind the green, it looks like a painting you'd find in Scottsdale's art-gallery row (at least until you step onto the green and suddenly spot all the houses below).
Raven Verrado is not one of those courses where the holes start blending together. By day's end some feel less like you played them than like you dated them - psychic scars included.
The par 3s are particularly drama- and anxiety-filled. You're usually shooting down from an elevated tee, aiming for a green that seems to be lost in desert outcroppings, floating in a mountain background.
"That's usually a club difference," a marshal advised a newcomer at No. 6.
At Raven Verrado, everyone's willing to help. Chances are, you'll need it.
The verdict
Raven Verrado is worth making a day of on your Phoenix-Scottsdale sojourn. It's a contender for the Arizona top 10, perhaps less dramatic than Troon North or the Boulders but much less expensive too - $85-$109, including two meals. You can get on for as little as $29.50 twilight in shoulder season.
The only disappointment is realizing that you can drive an hour into the desert and still not escape golf's housing obsession. Nice homes are visible on numerous holes, and many more are on the way. (The back nine, at this writing, is a bit more remote.) The Verrado development may have only been around since 2002, but it's working at breakneck pace to catch up to its neighbors.
You pass a fleet of construction vehicles on the way to the course.
This is mostly forgotten by the back nine. Everything’s a little more remote and you’re liable to get some F-16s zooming high overhead from the nearby air force base.
Raven Verrado is a desert course. You’ll lose your share of balls if you spray, but the forced carries off the tee aren’t ridiculous (they are frequent).
In other words, Raven Verrado punishes with some panache. The first par 5 you reach (No. 5), you’ll look out on the wide open fairway and think what a nice benign par 5. Can you call a 588-yard par 5 benign?
At Raven Verrado, the answer’s a resounding yes.
Dining out
The clubhouse grill is a surprisingly happening scene, at least by the standards you'd expect from Buckeye, Ariz. It was nearly packed on a Wednesday night in shoulder season. The good thing about the two-meals-and-golf combo is you get to order straight off the menu.
Stay and play
A little closer to Scottsdale but still very much in the West Valley, the Wigwam Resort (623-935-3811) is arguably the oldest resort in Arizona (the Biltmore also claims this distinction).
Opened in 1929, the Wigwam retains its historic feel with small ranch and two-story guest-house areas spread out across a sprawling campus that feels almost collegiate, but the comfort is 21st century, with flat-screen TVs and plush linens as room standards.
Fast fact
The rock waterfall shown on Raven Verrado's brochures is tucked away near the jutting-out green on the 18th hole. If you're wild on approach, it's suddenly in play.
Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. 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.
