FEATURE STORY

Hitting the beach
on the fairways

By Rebecca Larsen,
Associate Editor

PHOENIX (May 8, 2004) -- Is it just your imagination or do you feel as if you need sandals instead of golf shoes on the fairways lately?

That could be possible in Arizona and similar desert locales where a number of courses have been built lately with 100 or more bunkers per course. And it's not just because architects are laying awake nights thinking of how to get back at the manufacturers of all those high-tech balls and clubs.

Arizona Golf Courses Arizona Golf Clubs, Pros, and Features Bunkers make a mark on the North Course at The Gallery Think about playing the kid brother of the TPC Stadium

A lot of it, says Brian Curley of the Schmidt-Curley design firm in Scottsdale, has to do with the restrictions on the acres of grass per course set by cities and states across the drought-stricken West. "You're only allowed 90 acres of turf," he says, "so you have another 100 acres to fill up. You have no choice. You put down tall grasses or bushes or you lay down sand or decomposed granite. And people are getting tired of losing their balls in bushes every day. At least with a bunker you can find your ball and retrieve it."

That's part of why Schmidt-Curley is guilty of helping lay out the Faldo Course at Wildfire, part of the Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix. There are 106 of those sand suckers out there. Not only are they plentiful, they also have tall flashing faces, intimidating, but also a scenic wonder.

"There's more bark there than bite," says Kevin Stockford, director of golf at Wildfire. "They look bad off the tee, but if you get into one of them, you're actually hitting out of the sides of them. The lips don't prevail."

Actually he may be taking too positive a viewpoint. My playing partner and I landed in several of Faldo's dungeons and escaping was a gritty experience, particularly around the greens where those "faces" are hard to climb. Among the most testy holes: the par-4 No. 8 and the par-5 No. 9. Lots of beach drama on No. 18 as well.

These hazards are supposed to remind you of bunkers you find at Australian sandbelt desert courses. The story is that Lee Schmidt and Curley got together with PGA player Nick Faldo to discuss a concept for their next golf course project, and the bunker idea clicked immediately. "When we met with him, I pulled out a Golf Digest with a picture in it of Australian bunkers, and he pulled out the exact same photograph from the magazine," Curley says.

Schmidt and Curley used the same concept at Shadow Ridge (also done with Faldo) in Palm Desert, Calif., and at a private men's-only golf club, Southern Dunes, south of Phoenix (created with Fred Couples).

Another bunker extravaganza built in Arizona in the past few years is The North Course at The Gallery Golf Club in the Tucson area. This course, designed by PGA player Tom Lehman and player-turned architect John Fought, has 108 bunkers that are stunningly beautiful but that offer extreme sand experiences. "They really are very difficult, and they're meant to be a penal hazard," says Fought. "But that's because we have very wide fairways and all the challenge is in the bunkers. They're meant to be like the bunkers in Scotland and Ireland."

Apparently, the depth of the Gallery bunkers has been judged to be a bit off-putting. Fought says that plans are for some of them to be filled slightly. "We're going to raise some of them," he says. "They've also been a bit difficult to maintain."

Still, when I played there it seemed that members of The Gallery, destined to eventually become a private club, were breezing past those beaches. "It's like anything else," says Fought. "If you play a course often enough, you learn how to stay away from the hazards. You can make it happen."

When Fought recently designed a second course at The Gallery, The South Course, he used a completely different type of layout. This is a course he did without Lehman. "There are shallower, grass-faced bunkers there," Fought says. He cut down on the number, too; there are only 86.

Another brand-new course that makes use of 72 bunkers to add challenge to its layout is Trilogy at Vistancia on the northwest side of Phoenix. This course was designed by Scottsdale architect Gary Panks, who used about one-third more bunkers than he has usually done, mostly to add more variety.

If you're planning to play one of these places, think club selection, club selection, club selection. That might be second nature for you, but you're going to be viciously penalized for sloppy play at these sandy courses. And once you land in one of these bunkers, it's easy to find yourself hitting monotonously out of one and into the next.

One final tip: Be sure to rake those traps. I'm probably going to be right behind you.

If you want to take on the sand

Wildfire Golf Club is located at 5225 E. Pathfinder, Phoenix, on the grounds of the Marriott Desert Ridge resort, about 20 miles from Sky Harbor Airport. Phone: 1-866-444-0992; http://www.arizonagolfpackages.com/courses/whirlwind.htm Green fees: $175 now; $145 on April 5.

The Gallery is located in Dove Mountain about 10 miles north of Tucson, about an hour and a half south of Phoenix. Take Tangerine Road off I-10 to Dove Mountain Boulevard. Phone: (520) 744-4700. Web site: gallerygolf.com.Green fees during the winter are $170; they drop to $100 at the end of April.

Trilogy at Vistancia is located at 12575 W. Golf Club Drive in Peoria about 35 miles north of Sky Harbor. Phone: (623) 594-3585. Directions are tricky: To reach Trilogy, take the 101 Loop west to the Union Hills exit. Turn right on Union Hills and right on 99th and follow it as it becomes Lake Pleasant Road. Watch for the signs leading you to Vistancia Boulevard. Green fees during the winter are $99 Monday through Thursday and $119 on weekends. Prices drop to $69 weekdays and $79 weekends at the end of April.

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.