The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Category: Golf Course Reviews And Stories (page 1 of 5)

Coyote Springs Golf Course – How They Keep it So Nice

September 19, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Here in Mesquite, Nevada, the Oasis Canyons golf course re-opened today after overseeding, and will be cart path only for the coming weeks while the grass continues to grow. (We live on this course and it’s looking good!) The rest of the courses are still in the overseeding process and closed.

Meanwhile, you can still take a short drive up to Coyote Springs, which remains open and in beautiful condition without going through any of that! How do they do that? I asked Karl Larcom, PGA, Director of Golf Operations, about their magic formula to keeping the course so beautiful year round. He was kind enough to share and allow me to share it with you – thanks Karl! Here is what he told me:

It is a combination of 3 things.

1. We have our own water. While we have restrictions and try to be environmentally sensitive, we are able to do more than some courses because our water expense is less.

2. Our owners are committed to having a Top 100 quality golf course. With that being said, our fertilizer budget is probably a little higher than your average course.

3. Winter rye (our tees & fairways) is naturally a cooler season grass. So it works awesome from late September to late May. Our Super just has to take extra care in the Summer. The same can be said about our greens. They are a hearty breed of bent grass called A-4 that reacts great 9 months of the year and just needs the extra care during the Summer. That is why we run our greens slower in the Summer to insure their health so they require a little less water.

We do aerify our fairways and greens in the Spring (early May next year). In the Fall we spike the fairways (no plugs) and verticut the greens. There will be occasional years where we aerify in the Fall as well.

So there you have it! If you’re a Mesquite local, head on up to get your golf fix on the nicest course in the area. If you’re from out of town, put this course on your travel itinerary and you won’t regret it! See our Mesquite Golf Page for links to earlier reviews of this incredible golf course as well as the overseeding schedule for the local courses.

Play soon and often. ~ May they all roll true.

 

coyote springs

Photo from CoyoteSprings.com

 

Coyote Springs Golf Course Review – Update

August 10, 2015 / / 2 Comments

This is an update/addition to the previous review of Coyote Springs.

coyote springs golf

We played Coyote Springs again on Sunday 8/9/15 at 8:10 AM.

Summer golf in the desert can be challenging. Most courses are very dry with many brown spots throughout the course including the greens. What grass there is often is much longer to help keep it alive in the heat. Coyote Springs could host a TOUR event next week. The greens were a little slower than usual. To be honest, that made them slightly easier to putt than the winter TOUR speed we’ve become used to (not as much fun to putt; please don’t ever change).

I asked the Assistant Pro, Doug, how they keep course in such great shape. He gave all the credit to the Superintendent and the best staff in Nevada. Most courses in Mesquite cut staff way back in the summer and those that are working act like they would rather be anywhere else. Not the case here, the customer service was outstanding as always.

Two things I saw Sunday blew my mind:
First, huge coolers filled with bottled water between 6 of the holes. Some courses charge $4.00 a bottle – it’s the desert.

water cooler

Second, they walk-mow the greens. I talked to the greens staff and was told it takes about 40 minutes to cut an average green.

walk-mow coyote springs

 

The course is wonderful and the layout is tremendous, but it’s the little things Coyote Springs and next week’s #2 course do that keep us coming back.

*Editor/golfchick’s notes:
Regarding the water on course – many desert courses opt for providing jugs of iced tap water on every other hole.
Regarding customer service – the awesome customer service at Coyote Springs is the friendly variety, not the kind that feels corporate mandated.

The Best Golf Course in Mesquite

August 4, 2015 / / 1 Comment

#1 – Coyote Springs Golf Club
The number 1 course in Mesquite is not really in Mesquite, but in a town called Coyote Springs, half way between Mesquite and Las Vegas. The town of Coyote Springs is home to a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course called The Coyote Springs Golf Club. There are only two Jack Nicklaus signature courses in the state of Nevada (the other one is Reflection Bay in Vegas), and to me, they’re both must-plays.

Coyote Springs

 

The golf course makes up the entire town – no houses, no restaurants, no hotels, not even a gas station. That may seem strange but you’ll get it once you’ve been there; Coyote Springs is all about the golf. Stretching out to almost 7500 yards, this course plays every bit of that. If that’s too much (as it is for me), other tees range from 6800 to 5300. Surrounded by mountains, the views are breathtaking without the extreme amount of blind tee shots that seem to be prevalent on desert courses. Everything is right in front of you, all you have to do is hit the right shot.

I’ve played this course many times and in many different conditions, and the course has been in perfect shape every time. The practice facilities are by far the best in the area. Two negatives: First, no clubhouse. The plans for the clubhouse and another 18 were put on hold after the real estate bubble burst. The makeshift clubhouse (2 trailers) works just fine. They have balls, hats, shirts, snacks, and beer. Not sure what else you’d need. Besides, the outstanding customer service more than makes up for it. The second is a pet peeve of mine – no GPS. Not a huge deal to locals who play the course frequently and know where the sprinkler heads are, but first timers may have to spend a little extra time finding yardages. Bottom line, play this course. Even if you are staying in Vegas – play this course. High season prices are in the $140 range and summer rates are as low as $60, plus Clark County residents discounts are even more generous. Coyote Springs would be a great deal at twice the price. Any player from a scratch golfer to a beginner can find a set of tees to play from and experience a tour quality course for a very reasonable price.

Coyote Springs

Contact;
1-877-742-8455
www.coyotesprings.com
@CoyoteSpringsGo

Check our Mesquite Golf page for more reviews of golf courses in Mesquite, Nevada.

Golf in Mesquite Nevada

July 30, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Mesquite Golf According to Doug

Mesquite, Nevada is a small town 80 miles NE of Las Vegas. Many of the same amenities available in Vegas are also available in Mesquite. There are casinos, restaurants, great winter weather and hot summer days. Mesquite doesn’t have the nonstop 24 hour party, mind numbing noise, or bumper to bumper traffic of Vegas. Mesquite offers 7 championship courses all within a 15 minute ride from anywhere. Also the best course you can play is a hassle free 50 minute drive. I’m a local and spend my weeks talking to tourists and locals about golf. All the courses are extremely player friendly with yardages ranging from over 7400 from the tips to less than 4500 from the reds. Don’t call the reds “the ladies tees.” The Golfchick is all lady and the only time she sees the red tees is when she starts her stinger 3 wood on that line. All of Mesquite’s courses are worth the trip, especially when it’s 10 below at home. With the exception of number 1 on the list, I will rank the courses in order according to golf course conditions, playability, customer service, and treatment of locals. If you’re planning a trip to Mesquite I hope this helps. If you need more information tweet me @protipsgolf, leave a comment here, or contact The Golfchick at kristen (at) thegolfchick.com.

Starting next week I will review a new course each week in order from best to worst according to me (for whatever that’s worth). For now, here’s my take on our town’s most famous course:

Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek Golf Club is the most well-known course in the area. For all of Mesquite’s 1st or 2nd time visitors, Wolf Creek is a must play. Bring your camera and leave your driver in the car. The views and the conditions are spectacular; it’s extremely easy to get caught up in the surroundings and lose focus on the golf. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. At 6300 yards and numerous downhill shots calling it short would be kind. The course can stretch out to over 6900 from the tips, but those tees markers are rarely put out. The service is good – the bare minimum of what you would expect from green fees in the $200 range in season and $85 in the summer. The Terrace Restaurant has casual dining as well as fine food with an extensive wine list. Wolf Creek offers no discounts to locals and seems content with making this almost exclusively a tourist destination. Playing Wolf Creek at least once should be on everyone’s golf bucket list.

Club contact 866-252-4653
Reservations@golfwolfcreek.com

Editor’s note: Keep an eye on our Mesquite Golf page for links and updates to Doug’s course reviews.

 

Snowshoe Golf!

February 27, 2011 / / 4 Comments

Since it’s snowing here tonight for the first time since 1989, I thought it a fitting time to tell you about my snowshoe golf experience. That’s right. I said snowshoe golf. What else do you do when there’s 4 feet of snow on the golf course?

snowshoe golf hole

Earlier this month, I went to McCall, Idho to see my sister. It was during the town’s famous Winter Carnival,office dog when tourists pour in and make the tiny town burst. There are all sorts of things to see and do – live music, incredible snow sculptures, comedy, hockey, theater (my sister was the lead in this year’s play), snow bike race, snowmobiling, casino night, even a “monster dog pull.” *Side note: McCall is an extremely dog friendly town, which I love. Businesses have ads in the phone book to showcase the “shop dog.”* But what was I most excited about? Of course it was the snowshoe golf!

I had never heard of such a thing but thought it sounded like terrific fun. They set the snowshoe golf course up at the city course – McCall Golf Club (which, during the winter, transforms into an outdoor winter sports venue for sledding, cross country skiing, and more – and of course dogs are welcome).

They charge $20, and all net proceeds goes to local charities. For your 20 clams, you also get a souvenir cap. You can bring your own snowshoes or use some of theirs. They give you a couple tennis balls, a styrofoam cup, offer you a club or two (why two?) if you didn’t bring your own, and set you on your way. The cup is used to pack snow to make a tee, kinda like they used to do with dirt before tees were invented (bonus trivia tidbit for you). I went with my awesome fraunt (friend/aunt) Jo, who is a local and an all around winter sports fiend! Yep, she even curls. So after a quick stop at the bar for bloody marys, we strapped on our snowshoes and headed to the first tee. Jo had never played golf before and I had never used snowshoes before. Good pair.

Surprise! It’s hard to hit a tennis ball with a golf club off the snow!

Guess what? You don’t want to hit down on the ball. Doh! That was a struggle for me the whole round. You want to try to hit the middle of the back of the tennis ball with the edge of the club. I think I had a 6 iron. Seems to me a hybrid/utility club might be more suited to this game. Most of my tee shots were decent but beyond that, it was rough out there. We were looking for the beverage cart to refresh our drinks after the first hole. I mentioned that to the group we caught up with on the next tee and they called in our order and let us play through. JJ himself delivered our refills on the next hole. What service!

beverage cart

The nine-hole course is set up to direct the snowshoe traffic away from the regular tees and greens.  According to the “course architect,” James Johnson, the ball distance is about 1/3, so they set up the holes in feet rather than yards. This year they had 3 par 3’s (100 – 125′), 3 par 4’s (275 – 350′), and 3 par 5’s (400-475′). Par is 36.  The actual holes are buckets dug into the snow with flags next to them.  In case you want to set something like this up at your course, JJ says they try to make it interesting by routing fairways through natural paths through trees and placing greens next to trees and hazards, and using contours. They also use the plowed paths as “water” hazards – play the ball as it lies without grounding club, or take a drop and add a stroke. (Or toss it out and forget it was ever in there, like we did.) One day they had a tournament and the low score was 41. I’m guessing that guy has done this before. I think I shot in the high 60s!

showshoe golf fun

Does it look like I had any fun? I made a promise to Jo that I would come back next year for some more. Looking forward to it already! I’ve got more photos from the trip up on facebook if you’re interested.

Here is a video from a couple years ago put together by one of the event’s former sponsors. Enjoy! www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFb6pa8FGCI

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Elkins Ranch is looking great!

May 26, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Without giving you a dreary blow-by-blow, occurrences over the last year or so have pounded me pretty hard. While I think I’ve done pretty well keeping my chin up and looking for a bright side most of the time, I had admitted to myself that I most likely wouldn’t be surprised by anything ever again. Happily, I have been proven wrong by an unlikely source. I’ll try to just let that stand on its own and not worry that it’s probably only the “happy” angle that caught me off guard. The happy surprise was Elkins Ranch Golf Course.

Elkins Ranch is a course in nearby Fillmore, CA, where locals go to sneak in a round at a full length golf course without paying a fortune or expecting the biggest challenge or best conditions. The course is literally on property owned by ranchers and its conditioning and patrons never seemed to be their biggest concern, if you know what I mean. All along, though, people have traveled far and wide just to enjoy one of the finest cheeseburgers in the county if not beyond. The golf course? Not so much. Like I indicated – we kept it on our rotation for its affordability, friendly service and change of scenery. Well, I just played there on Saturday and have never seen it looking so good! The greens were always in decent shape but the fairways and the rest of the course left much to be desired. This time, the fairways were beautiful, the rough was actually rough and separate from those fairways and the greens were in terrific form. There are still those holes where you might should don a hardhat due to the proximity of the adjacent holes, but that’s Elkins and you go there knowing that. I was so appreciative of the course’s conditioning that I could actually appreciate the challenge it presents by its design, which is interesting. I never really noticed that before because hitting from patchy, holey fairways is difficult enough that I never had the time or inclination to consider the thought behind the architecture.

I’m telling you, if you haven’t played Elkins in awhile, get out there soon. I don’t know if it’s the economy forcing them to focus on their golf business instead of their ranch or just a newfound interest in the golf side, but this place is looking and playing fine! I never planned on blogging about Elkins Ranch so I didn’t have a camera with me. I guess you’ll just have to trust me on this. Check it out! And don’t forget to order their famous cheeseburger at the turn.

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Oasis Palmer at the Mesquite Amateur

June 9, 2009 / / 7 Comments

Of all the new courses I played golf at the Mesquite Amateur, I was most delightfully surprised with both courses at Oasis – Canyons and Palmer. Hardly unheralded especially with the name Palmer associated with one of them, but for some reason I was expecting their layout and terrain to be more akin to The Palms or Casablanca Golf Club. That wasn’t the case at all. The rocks, hills, canyons, and overall scenery were beautiful and the designs quite challenging. Not the picturesque beauty of Wolf Creek or even Falcon Ridge (the poor man’s Wolf Creek), but not the flat and wide city courses either. They’re a satisfying and gorgeous compromise between the two.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

The Palmer at Oasis Golf Club was the last course on my rotation at the Mesquite Am. In my first round, I was driving the ball great and putting for crap. After bonding with my putter, we worked better together the next day but my approach shots weren’t working out. I had hoped it would all come together on the last day, and it did – nothing worked. Next time I play the Palmer course I’m switching tees. This course just doesn’t suit my eye or game from the forward tees. I found myself using mid-irons off the tee in most cases so when I finally got the chance to use my driver on a couple par 5s, it was cold and bitter. And my putter was… well, it’s not my putter’s fault. There were many evil pin placements and some vicious greens in general.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

I don’t know if it was the heat making the greens so hard and unreceptive, but nothing would hold. Even after recalibrating my distance for the altitude, I found myself putting or chipping from behind the green every time I “landed” one. The photo above is an example of the many holes where you can’t exactly run your ball up onto the green, either. Plus, on many holes, the greens slope dramatically back to front and it’s near impossible to be below the hole, at least with the conditions like we had. And either this was the hottest day or I was just fatigued and the heat got to me more.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

About a minute before I snapped this photo, my ears popped and started ringing and I felt dizzy and weak with heat. As you can see, this green is tucked away in a nook that was the hottest place on the golf course. It was stifling in there and I thought I was going to faint. I was so happy to be out of there but it was a good reminder to drink more water and start cooling off with a cold, wet towel around my neck, which did the trick. The white circle in the picture is just there to point out the blue flag tucked in the furthest corner of this heat trap.

Golf chick at Oasis Palmer

Here I am on one of the easiest holes on the course. But where am I aiming? Nope, I didn’t draw it. I simply landed pin-high between those bunkers. Yes, I have alignment issues as well. Yes, by the last day I had all my excuses lined up and ready. After all, I wasn’t going to let my own poor performance take away from the overall experience of the Mesquite Amateur, which was incredible. I hope to do it again and again – only with a better game.

For more information on this great event, check out the Golf Mesquite Nevada or The Mesquite Amateur websites. I hope to see you out there next year!

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Coral Canyon and Decadent Delight at the Mesquite Am

June 7, 2009 / / 2 Comments

The second golf course on my rotation at the Mesquite Amateur was Coral Canyon, a course I’d been wanting to play for some time. It’s actually in St. George, UT, about a 45 minute drive from Mesquite. I’d been there before to play Ledges, and I just love the area. I’m a sucker for the red rocks and sand and have long thought Utah to be the prettiest state in the country. Coral Canyon did not let me down.

I got into some trouble on the course and found myself in the desert on more than one occasion. I was concerned about snakes but it was wildlife of another variety that gave me a start. After one errant drive, I located my ball near a short shrub on a hillside but it looked playable. I cautiously entered the area looking around for scary creatures and making some noise to alert anything living of my presence. After deeming it abandoned, I started taking my stance which included stepping on a corner of the aforementioned short shrub. Just as I did that, a quail panicked, screamed and ran out from under the shrub, which naturally caused me to do the same and making my playing partners laugh hysterically. I regrouped and successfully punched the golf ball back out into the fairway. Now I really had a shot and thought I still had a chance to reach the par 5 in 3. As I addressed the ball I thought I saw something crawling between my feet but put it out of my head. As I began my backswing, I realized there actually was some kind of creature there. Surprisingly, I finished my swing without a total disaster. As I was running away after an abbreviated follow through I realized it was only a baby lizard. The lizard was fine but my shot was short. Two harmless critters in as many minutes shook me up a little but we all had a good laugh. I didn’t get up and down for par but managed to save bogey.

Must’ve been a really errant shot!

Early in the round, we noticed something a tad unusual that put such “trouble” into perspective. Here we were on a beautiful day and a beautiful golf course delighting in our efforts to put a little white ball into a hole. Then we saw these guys:

prisoner work crew

I’m guessing the trouble they found was of a different variety than mine. Think I’ll stick to the kind that only comes with penalty strokes and startling silly birds.

golf chick coral canyon

No idea what shenanigans I was up to here but I like the backdrop.

golf course chipmunk

This little guy actually got up into our golf cart and started rummaging for snacks in the cubby holes. Sorry, brave chipmunk. No treats for you in there.

Rush, rush, RELAX

If you’re planning on going to the Mesquite Am next year (and I highly recommend it if you hadn’t noticed), check your course rotation before making your spa appointments. Just a word to the wise. When we played in Mesquite, the golf courses were mere minutes from the hotel and we were generally back from the day’s play around 1:00 PM, give or take. I figured even with the 45 minute drive from St. George, I’d still have plenty of time to make a 4:00 spa reservation. HOWEVER… after a particularly long round and a quick stop at the feed store to pick up some hay and horse medicine for my new friend Dee’s babies, we didn’t get back to the Casablanca until 3:30. I ran into the room, plopped down my stuff, paused for a proper boyfriend greeting, scrambled up some clothes and hurried like mad out past the pool and to the spa, still in my golf clothes. Filled out the paperwork, got my locker key, hustled to the shower and got my frenzied self back out to meet my masseur just a couple minutes late. His name was Mike and he had magic hands. He found spots I didn’t even know were sore and I luxuriated in the pampering for an hour. You know how it is – quietly soothing music, subtle aromatherapy, and a confident, professional touch of a Swedish massage that obliterates any leftover stress or aches. The frenzied feeling was gone as I got dressed and headed to the salon where I enjoyed yet another foot massage during my pedicure.

The Pampered Golf chick

I was feeling a bit spoiled since just the night before I had another hour-long Swedish massage that was as good but in a different way. My Swedish boyfriend had just driven out to surprise me and at bedtime, he treated me to a downright nearly professional massage and let me drift off to sleep when it was over. He wanted to demonstrate how he was there for me, not himself. Success. If he keeps that up, maybe he’ll be around next year and he can do both. Shouldn’t be that tough to get him interested in golf, right?

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Mesquite Amateur 2009

May 31, 2009 / / 2 Comments

I’m home from my Golf Mesquite experience and what a trip it was! After four days of golf in the heat of the desert, late nights and early mornings, I was feeling pretty good. I guess the high of the trip wore off a bit because now that I’m caught up on my sleep my lower back is trying to tell me something. I’m not fluent in back but I think it’s got something to do with age so I’ll just do my stretches and ignore the nag.

My own performance in the tournament was embarrassingly poor (17th gross, T22nd net out of 31 players in the flight) but I had an incredible time.

Warm-up round

We played the Oasis Canyons course on Monday – Memorial Day – for our warm-up. It wasn’t really a practice round since this course wasn’t on the rotation for my flight, but I’m glad I got to play another course in Mesquite. It was a relaxed and easygoing round on a scenic and challenging course designed by Dave Druzisky. I played with a great group of people who developed into good friends over the course of the week and it was probably my favorite day of golf in this event. Given my love for competition, I might have picked a different day as a favorite had I performed better, but this one encapsulated my overall feeling about the Mesquite Amateur: good friends, good times, good desert golf courses.

golf chick oasis canyons

I needed a blue hat to complete my Memorial Day ensemble. Golf Mesquite Nevada gave us all blue hats but it was a couple days too late for the Oasis Canyons round.

I enjoy playing new golf courses all the time and one of the things I love about golf is all the different and gorgeous scenery. Mesquite golf provides that aplenty. Unfamiliar courses provide a particular challenge due to a lack of course knowledge and Oasis Canyons had a few holes that were particularly sneaky that way.

Oasis Canyons sneaky creek

This hole had a blind tee shot and the drawing of it on the score card didn’t show this water in front of the green. Luckily, my drive ended up just short of the cart path in the picture. I think this is #12 – can anyone confirm or correct that?

Canyons unknown hole

I don’t remember what hole this is but thought it was a good representation of the course and how it got its name.

Tournament Round One – Casablanca

As I mentioned in my previous post, we played the first official round of the tournament at Casablanca Golf Club. One of the women I played with that day (middle of the photo in that post) ended up winning our flight. Congratulations, Patti!

The Casablanca, designed by Cal Olson, was in good condition and had its share of beauty. Of all the golf courses I’ve played in Mesquite, this was the flattest and perhaps “easiest” even though my score didn’t show it. In a city of great golf courses, I have to say this one doesn’t exactly stand out. Plop it in my town – or many others – and it would be a gem. It’s just a comparison thing.

casablanca golf par 3

Here’s a pretty par 3 hole on Casablanca – perhaps # 8 – anyone?

So that’s the first two days of golf. More to come on the next two as well as hotel commentary and the spa experience. Also stay tuned for accounts of the nightly festivities which were a lot of fun including some embarrassing golf chick shenanigans.

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Indio, Shmindio. Try putting on the beach.

April 3, 2009 / / 6 Comments

As the Kraft Nabisco (Dinah Shore) got underway today, the women of the LPGA were making and missing putts on slick, true greens in their first major of the year. The announcers just would not stop talking about the “Indio effect,” which just means the greens tend to break toward the town of Indio even if they don’t look like they will.

Meanwhile, I went out for a local round and encountered the seediest sandiest greens I’ve ever seen. Seriously, it was like putting on a beach. The bunkers there seem to be mostly hard dirt, so maybe they should reconsider how they want to use all that sand. Waaaah. I’m such a whiner. Somehow I managed to squeak in at 90 but still, I think I want my money back. This photo has not been doctored in any way.

Los Robles beach

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