Arrowhead Country Club Glendale AZ
Yesterday Arrowhead CC hosted a “member for a day” event, designed to introduce new people to their club, I am sure with the hope that some may join. It is located in Glendale AZ about 4 miles west of I-17 and Loop 101 in Glendale AZ (a western community of the Greater Phoenix area--- This is the same town where the Cardinals and the Coyotes recently built their new stadiums.
Arrowhead, a private country club, is full service with a 36,000 Square Foot fitness facility; 3-racquet ball courts 10-lighted Tennis courts 3 swimming pools and a beautiful spacious clubhouse. It certainly has everything you could want in a country club.
The golf course was designed in 1986 by Arnold Palmer and has some very nice characteristics to it. Between 1/3 and ½ of the holes have water (a precious commodity in the desert) but most of them do not come severely into play, except in a couple cases like the par-5, sixth hole which is a dogleg par 5 around a long pond and hole #8 which has two water hazards, one of which is not visible from the tee but certainly is reachable.
So the water adds a beautiful aesthetic value, without being overly penal (most of the time).
The fairways, which like most AZ courses, are over seeded in the winter, play beautifully. The greens were in very good shape and run quick and true. There are plenty of subtle breaks, but only a few have any severe slope to them. They are firm enough that they are hard to hold unless you are an expert spinner of approach shots, so you have to hit almost everything into the front of the green
The rough is a different story, it’s not over seeded, so it’s brown and scraggly and there are several areas that are worn down to the hardpan. The good news is, it is an easy surface to hit from. So, to the eye, the fairways are not very well defined, except by the over seeded green fairways and their contrast to the brown rough. And unfortunately the fairway bunkers visually blend in to the rough as you stand on the tee. One of my playing partners suggested a bit of mounding along the fairways may help define them. Perhaps some green rough to frame the bunkers would help. The fairways are firm and you get pretty good roll from the tee shots. I like that. The fairway bunkers were very firm, which made it easy to hit from there (I know you are asking what were you doing in there?) Yet the greenside bunkers seemed to have enough sand to make them quite playable.
Number 9 and 18 are quite similar, except 18 is a par 5 with quite a carry over water near the green. I hit a great drive and actually went for it in two, carried the water and would have rolled onto the green, but I was a few yards too far right and it rolled off the wall into the water.
It plays anywhere from 5200 yards to 7100 so there is plenty of challenge for everyone. We played it from 6300 yards, which is rated at 69.5 and slopes at 121. Not too easy and not too hard. And the woman in our foursome said she was quite pleased with the women’s tee placements.
As clubs go in the Phoenix area, it is a very good value with a $4,000 initiation fee and family dues of $445 per month. They can be reached at 602-561-9648 or visit www.arrowheadccaz.com
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