The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Tag: Golf Mesquite Nevada

Potential LPGA Stars Training in Mesquite Nevada

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Three potential LPGA Stars are living and training here in Mesquite, Nevada. Many in the local golf community already know these young golf prodigies as they are fixtures at the Oasis Golf Club from November through March every year. The Mulhalls are the quintessential golf family. Dad, Chris, is a PGA Pro at Rolling Green Country Club in Green River, Wyoming, where he also teaches when he’s not traveling with, coaching, and caddying for his girls in their events. Mom, Heather, is also an avid golfer. She home schools their three girls during the prime golf season, and travels with what she calls her “party of five,” supporting their golf dreams. The remaining three Mulhalls are the couple’s darling daughters Ali, 11; Molli, 8; and Palmer, 4. Notice their first initials in order? C-H-A-M-P: an unplanned, but perfect acronym for this family of golf lovers.

IMG_0942 IMG_0937Ali and Molli play on tour already. The US Kids Golf Tour, that is. At just 11 years old, Ali has already won over 170 (out of about 200) tournaments around the country in her blossoming career, plus several Player of the Year awards in multiple states. She already has two holes in one, and her personal best score for 18 holes is 65, which set the women’s course record at White Mountain Golf Course when she was only 10 years old. Ali plays a Titleist ProV1X golf ball customized with that number (65) and her personal “Aligator” logo. She drives the ball consistently around 215 yards, sometimes out to 240. She and Molli cherish their extraordinarily special putters, which were given to Ali personally by Scotty Cameron, who is now her personal putting coach. When she was just eight years old, Ali was the youngest player ever to be invited to the Scotty Cameron Tour Studio, beating out Michelle Wie, who was the previous youngest to go at 10. You may know that PGA and LPGA Tour players use the “circle T” putter IMG_0972IMG_0974IMG_0969 IMG_0970by Scotty. Rarer than those are the coveted “circle L” putters, which were originally given to Scotty’s personal friends as a joke, with the L signifying “Loser.” He gave Ali a Circle L and changed it to “Lucky.” It sure seems to be lucky for her so far. Her favorite golfers are Lydia Ko, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth – all record setting dominant winners with intense focus. She also favors Natalie Gulbis, who is known to come to Mesquite on occasion, and the two have met several times. Natalie even invited Ali to her LPGA event in Phoenix, where she walked inside the ropes with her. Ali also had the privilege of putting for Natalie in the pro-am there.

IMG_0950Ali’s goal is to be playing on the LPGA Tour by age 16. Her father told me she is the most dedicated person he knows.  I believe him and can certainly see that in not only her swing, but in her demeanor. I don’t see anything stopping her from achieving that goal, nor do I see her ego ever catching up to her ability. She’s humble, extremely poised, and charming, and will make a great addition to the Tour when her time comes. If you’re a gambling person, putting money on seeing Ali on the big stage in five years would probably be a safe bet.

Next in line is Molli Tee Mulhall (is this a golf family or what?), who has eight years to achieve the same goal and IMG_0957compared to Ali at the same age, she’s got a head start. She’s already won 50 of her 74 tournaments played. With a Barbie logo on her Titlelist ProV1X(number 8 – for her age), she drives the ball around 140 yards. Molli also has some Player of the Year honors and was the youngest ever to qualify for the US Kids World Championships when she was only six. Ali and Molli both work hard all year to get to the World Championships at Pinehurst in North Carolina. Outside of their home course at Oasis Palmer, Pinehurst #8 is their favorite golf course because of its immaculate condition.

 

The littlest Mulhall, Palmer (you know where that name originated), doesn’t quite have competition fever yet at age four, but you bet she’s out there swinging IMG_0960andputting and touring with the family. As you can see by their matching outfits, all three girls are fond of the color pink so naturally they’re fans of Paula Creamer as well.

Ali and Molli are also budding entrepreneurs. They are looking to start their own line of golf clothes for kids. They talked to me about how they have to order clothes online and how there doesn’t seem to be much representation in retail shops (and especially pro shops) for the youth market. Their mom, Heather, and I, told them about how that used to be the same way for women in general and that it has improved, but better to start now than later.

The girls are also trying to bring a US Kids Golf Tour event to Mesquite, and have already initiated talks with the tour and with The Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort to try to make it happen. It seems like it would be a perfect fit for Rising Star, great for Mesquite, and great for the tour to have an event here. If you’d like to see it happen, maybe make a call or send an email to either of the interested parties to express that.

As amateurs, the girls can’t take on official sponsors, so they operate several fundraisers on local courses during the season to raise money for their travel, if you’re interested in contributing. Meanwhile, you can follow them on Instagram @golf.champ and watch their progress and results on tour at USKidsGolf.com.

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Coyote Springs Golf Course – How They Keep it So Nice

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.

 

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Photo from CoyoteSprings.com

 

Coyote Springs Golf Course Review – Update

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

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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

#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

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.

 

Mesquite Amateur 2011 / Golf Chick Wrap Up Part 2

… Okay so where was I? Oh yes, after the night of the first Mesquite Amateur theme party, sound asleep in my room at the Casablanca, dreaming about a stellar round. In case you missed it, here is part one of the Mesquite Am wrap up. And now for another epic blog post.

Such a round did not materialize for me. Although we played the same course (Oasis Canyons) as I did during my practice round, it looked and felt entirely different. When I looked at the card and saw the red tees at 4739 yards and the golds at 5335, I assumed we would play the golds. My bad. The reds just did not suit my eye or my game. My visualization certainly didn’t involve hitting 5 iron off so many tees. I was all screwed up and I lost confidence throughout the day in all my clubs. After the round, I worked that out on the range, hitting another 100 balls while the rest of the ladies were eating, drinking and socializing.

Oh by the way – I neglected to get a photo with my playing partners Garnette and Susan that first day (although I did put Garnette’s shoes up on Facebook for the Golfchick’s best shoe contest). And while I don’t seem to have any pics of me in my golf attire that day, I did snap a close up of my top because it’s a cool Golf Chick logo shirt I wanted to share with you.

It’s not meant to be a pervy boob shot, I just wanted to make sure to get the lime green piping, the TGC logo with the bling around it and the swoosh on the button placket. I think it’s a very cute top!

Back in my room, I relaxed a bit, tweeted some more and started the shoe contest on Facebook. Throughout the week, people would take photos of great golf shoes they saw during their rounds and post them to The Golf Chick Facebook page. My favorite men’s and women’s shoe submissions would win a Daphne’s Head Cover for the person who submitted them – not necessarily the person wearing them. It was quite fun.

That night at the tent party, I was supposed to address the golfers about The Golf Chick group and giveaway some prizes but I got bumped for time. They did invite me up to make a brief announcement to the group that I would be doing the prize giveaway over by the pool after the dinner. Trouble with that is, people had plans and got lured by the casinos so we only had about 45 people show up. Oh well, more prize opps for them! That night I gave away a Callaway Golf GPS to one lucky winner and $250 in gift cards good at all the pro shops in Mesquite, so we had a lot of happy people. Plus we got to mingle a bit more with one antoher!

A quick shout out to my fellow Mesquite Amateur sponsors (shown on the screen in the pic): The presenting sponsor, Golf Mesquite Nevada, The City of Mesquite, NV, and The Mesquite Resort Association.

And oh yeah… the long drive competitions were held on the first day and they presented those awards that night. When we approached my drive on the marked hole, we were excited to see that I got to move the marker and put my name on it. There weren’t too many groups behind us so I hoped it would hold up but you never know. Incidentally, remember Jana from the Callaway demo day long drive in my last post? Her name was on the marker for her flight … about 30 yards in front of mine. At least we’re consistent. Next year I’m going to have a new swing and I will be hitting a lot further than this 200 yard crap so she better watch out.

Cuttin’ a Rug with the Canucks

After the prize giveaway, we turned loose on the casinos and lounges. I wanted to mingle with more people than a blackjack table would allow so I opted for the main lounge at the Casablanca. I arrived with a couple friends and there were several tables of golfers scattered around. I noticed a couple guys with some crazy fun energy and went and joined them at their table for a little while. Neil and Paul are brothers from Canada and they were a lot of fun. I brought them back to the table with my friends Rich and Bill. Before we knew it, all the golfers were sitting together and having a rollicking good time. Neil and I went out on the empty dance floor, where he then knelt down, removed my shoes and tossed them aside to the applause of the crowd. That was just the start of the dancing!

Tourney Day 2

On Wednesday, we played The Palms course, which is the oldest course in Mesquite and the site of my alltime record round of 82, which I shot there last year during the Mesquite Am. I had hoped for some more of that magic. Alas, it wasn’t to be. I shot the exact same score as the day before (101) which I figured would put me somewhere near the middle of the pack. Not good enough. However, it was a fun day with my playing partners. I rode with “Badass Vicki,” who is always up on stage when they need volunteers for entertainment or on the video reel doing something crazy. You can’t miss her and if you’ve been to a Mesquite Am you probably know who she is. In the other cart were Roxanne and Kathy, two terrific ladies. Incidentally, I played The Palms with Kathy last year when I shot my record round. This year, it was her turn. How awesome is that? In the pic Left to Right – Vicki, me, Roxanne, Kathy. Every one of us landed that green you see across the ravine. Sure it’s a big green but that’s a daunting carry in person. No birdies were made but two of us, including me, made par.

After the round, I did a little shopping at the Palms pro shop to spend my winnings from the long drive and got a really cute skort.  *Side note: That morning before the round I spent one of my certificates on a couple gloves since I left mine out on my bag in the hot car and it got all hard and gross.  This is exactly why I don’t leave my golf shoes in the car. If you don’t know this, hear me now. The heat and sun will remove the luster and shorten the lives of your leather goods including your awesome shoes.

Looks like I also paused in the pro shop to look at some shoes on my Facebook page and maybe tweet a little. Someone busted me and posted this pic of me tweeting on my own Facebook page. Thanks, Dana – you sneaky girl!

Cigars Under the Stars

That night at the tent party, volunteers (yup, including Badass Vicki – she is called that for her coffee company) took to the stage and entertained us with antics called out by the emcees. Pretty funny stuff.

I got up on stage and gave my Golf Chick spiel, shouted out my peeps and I think I gave away a prize or two. Then we headed over to the pool for the ever popular “Cigars Under the Stars” after-event. As a new non-smoker, this wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Although I wouldn’t have inhaled, I refrained from smoking a cigar because I thought just the motion could undermine all my mental work. I do believe I caved in and chewed a straw or two, though! Hmm… I can’t be sure, but that looks like Neil (nutty canuck) might be getting a bit frisky with Ryan (loudmouth dude) there on the ground (front left). Cheeky! Well, the single malt had been flowing! And yes – more dancing ensued.

Last Day of Tournament

Since I hadn’t played well the first two days and didn’t have much chance of getting into the money, I made up my mind to relax, drink, take pictures and not care so much about the golf for our round at Casablanca Golf Club. I also figured that might even help my game. I had fun playing with Brittany, who was a hot little number from Florida and a great sport. She wore a super short skirt (pictured at right) just for my twitter followers. She was also super chill and a cool chick. I’m sure we’d hang out and play golf if we lived near each other. I started the day with a bloody mary but moved on to rum soon after that. I was actually having a decent round but didn’t know it. Brittany mentioned it to me on the last hole, so I proceeded to take an 11 there. Let’s just say it involved water and someone’s backyard and that my “good shot” on the entire hole went in the greenside bunker. With that 11, I shot 96. Thanks a lot, Brittany. I thought you were cool. Heh. My scored landed me smack in the middle of my flight for the tournament. Much better than last year’s DFL, but still disappointing. I like to play well and I like to make sure my peeps have a good time. I’m going to be working towards doing better in both areas for next year. And if you have any suggestions, please let me know what you’d like to see to make The Golf Chick portion of the event better for you!

This swing yielded me a green in regulation and I two putted for my par.

Final night’s festivities!

Back in the tent for the dinner party, all the flight winners were announced. I was happy to see so many of the Golf Chick participants in the money and some even moved onto the championship round the next day! Huge congratulations to Dana Boyette, who was the 1st runner up for low net overall! She was also the most active Golf Chick player in the shoe contest and on FB in general (she’s the one who snapped a pic of me tweeting!) and won herself a prize for all that activity. Thanks for being so fun, Dana, and well done! Those of us not in the championship round did, of course, find the dance floor yet again.

Congrats as well to Jim and Lepha Luttrall, who both won their flights as well as the Golf Chick Couples prize, which was this fabulous golf cart cover generously contributed by Golf Shield! Thanks very much to them. They currently have a buy one get one free promotion going on so if you’re interested you might want to check it out sooner than later!

You can see everyone’s final scores and all the Mesquite Am results on their website here, then clicking “event info” and “event results 2011.”

Also a big thanks to Daphne’s Headcovers and Crystal Golf for donating such great prizes for the Golf Chick participants! Daphne’s makes the most adorable headcovers I’ve ever seen – but none better than this custom job.  Crystal Golf makes colorful and fun golf balls with 70 compression for the real player, not just a novelty! My favorites are the peach and the ladybug balls.

Some more winnahs!

Big thanks to everyone who participated with The Golf Chick group of players at the 2011 Mesquite Amateur! I had a great time getting to know you and wish I could have spent more time with you all. I hope to see you all back for more fun next year, with more crazy side-prizes, good times, great giveaways and wonderful company, and bring some friends! Meanwhile… may they all roll true!

Hugs! Kristen

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Oasis Palmer at the Mesquite Amateur

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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