Mirabel Golf
Annie and I played Mirabel in the very north of the Phoenix Area yesterday with our friends Mark and Kim. Mark had bought these rounds at a charity auction several months ago and invited us along. I am so glad he did.
The development is at approx 3000 feet in elevation, a couple thousand feet above central Phoenix, and is a bit cooler than the rest of the valley, with some spectacular sweeping views of the Phoenix valley and Pinnacle Peak. It plays anywhere from 5000 to 7200 yards with generous landing areas and strategically, well-guarded greens, with plenty of undulation in them. This style of course design is Tom Fazio's forte. So it’s a great test for the low handicapper, yet fun for your average Sunday golfer.
The course was originally designed by Greg Norman, but Tom Fazio has redone it, to what extent I do not know, but it is a terrific track now.
The 34,000 square foot clubhouse, which they appropriately call the Desert Lodge, is like a mecca of decadence with a world class restaurant, a highly rated locker room and a full service spa in each of the women’s and men’s locker rooms…. WOW. Golf Digest regularly rates the locker room amount the top 50 locker rooms.
If the clubhouse were not enough; they decided to extend the clubhouse to the course where there are two “comfort stations” like refreshment stands on steroids, with every drink imaginable, cheese and crackers, ice cream bars, hard boiled eggs, fruit, freshly baked cookies and some of the best beef jerky you ever tasted. Our caddie even said “ put some in a bag and take it home, everyone else does” and all at no additional charge.
We passed a BBQ grill on the 8th tee box where, we were told, the chef usually prepares one of his wonderful creations, but not today. That was disappointing. They even have chair massage on the driving range. With all these services, I can’t even imagine what the dues are, but who cares, I don’t have to pay em.
The greens have lots of movement and ran very fast, I would guess 12 on the stimpmeter. I know keeping them at speeds like that takes quite an effort on the part of the maintenance staff. Personally, I love greens like this, although a at least one of my golf partners today found them confounding and frustrating. I birdied number one and was even par after 6 holes, which is unusually good for me, but 7,8,9 my usual game was back. Still I shot 85 for the day, which made me happy.
This course is very walkable, and they encourage walking. We had carts but I would guess I walked over half the course. Our caddie, Mike, was an eagle eye for balls hit into the desert and a true expert at reading these challenging greens. There is a valley effect here and many times the breaks are not what they appear to the naked eye. Many people say this may be the best golf course in the Phoenix are, and although I have not played them all, I am inclined to agree.
The homes on the course are beautiful, we even passed one that is 16,000 Square feet, ½ the size of the clubhouse. Housing at Mirabel starts at well over a million dollars but they just began accepting members who do not own property at Mirabel.
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