April 26, 2008
Eagle Mountain
Two days ago I played again at Eagle Mountain, here in Fountain Hills AZ. I have played here many times and it is a beautiful course with lots of elevation changes and many sweeping views of the valley. I had a unique experience on hole # 4, a 145-yard par-3. It was getting very windy and the group in front of us had not seated the flagstick properly in the hole and it was leaning significantly and being blown by the wind. My playing partners hit their tee shots, all a bit too long, and were on the back of the green. I went to change clubs (taking one less club as the wind intensified) and then the wind blew the flagstick completely out of the hole. It laid on the green with its bottom end still hanging over the cup. I hit my tee shot; it bounced short of the green and trickled to a stop as it rolled into the top of the flagstick, stopping my ball 6 feet from the hole. “Is this a penalty?” my partners and I debated, since generally hitting a flagstick that is laying on the ground is a penalty. Then we determined, that is only the case when the player is putting. Lots of people hit the flagstick from off the green, but this was unusual, since it was lying on the ground. I missed the birdie putt and made an easy par. If anyone reading this knows for certain if we ruled this properly, send me an email at larry@golfersdreambook.com.
We-Ko-Pa
Yesterday I played at the new Saguaro course at We-Ko-Pa also here in Fountain Hills. It is my third time there, and Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore did a fantastic job with this track. It is one of the few courses in Arizona that not only allows walking, but encourages it. They provide electric pushcarts that allow you to walk with your clubs with out having to push or pull. It’s a wonderful thing and I wish more clubs out here would allow you to walk the courses.
In 2008 Golfweek called it the number one public access course in AZ and Golf Magazine rated it in the TOP 10 AMERICA'S BEST NEW PUBLIC COURSES. Both are worthy accolades, in my opinion. It is in terrific condition and has some wonderful holes. It is on an Indian reservation, which means there are no homes on its perimeter and it has some fantastic sweeping views of the nearby mountains. I had a good day with a 44 on the front and a 41 on the back, (the 41 on the back included one triple bogey). If you are ever in AZ, check it out along with
We-Ko-Pa’s other course Cholla (equally wonderful and highly rated, but it is carts only and they have a cart path only policy, with is not my favorite way to play golf (unless of course you keep hitting it near the cart path)
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