The Front Nine
Time and time again I’ve heard that getting off the first tee with a solid, playable shot does wonders for the rest of the round. You can always make a comeback from an errant drive, but with a terrible first shot, you’ve probably started talking to yourself, you can feel the rolled eyes of the others you were paired with, and you will be ending the first hole one or two over par. This should be avoided at all costs. Warm up at the driving range so you are super loose standing on the first tee. At Papago Golf Course, in Phoenix, you want to be rubber man; Hole 1 is a doozie.
I hope you ate your Wheaties, because trying to reach the par five, 550-yard green in two, with the second half uphill, is tough. Even if you always “John Daly” your drive deep, be careful here not to push it right. Not only is there a less-than-90%-air willow tree immediately to your right, but keep going that way and the land of hard-pack clay and scrub-brush will greet you kindly. Trying to cut the corner is like playing Russian roulette-for most, I suppose for those who value their life or their golf score, the chance is too great. Even if you avoid the big tree and stay away from the clay, the right side features hilly mounds of heavy rough. Land there and you still might get killed, both scorewise and from golfers slicing their way up the adjacent fairway. After the slight dogleg right, the hole opens up. Fire away at the elevated green, which is forgiving if you go just a bit long. I usually like the greens at Papago, as they are slow enough to be realistic yet, yet once in a while subtle enough to be ridiculous. To me, it’s not that big of a deal.
Often there will be cursing after the first hole. Now is the time to be careful how you say the word Papago, when tensions are high. Depending on whom you talk to, it’s either Pop-uh-go or Pap-uh-go. Usually I just let others in the group say it first and follow suit.
After getting that straightened out and everyone forgives themselves for the terrible start, Hole 2 just seems easier. I think cutting almost 200 yards off the length has something to do with it. Again, don’t get overzealous with the driver. Going right is scorecard suicide. I always tell myself that I can hit that drawing boomer, but inevitably end up off the fairway, and at the least, hindered by plenty of annoying trees. The three or five wood is a much better choice if you are a long hitter, while a solid 7-iron might be the safest route. Wherever your drive lands, beware of pushing the ball right on your approach shot. The fifty-foot dropoff from the green is not readily noticed from the fairway, but find yourself down there and you might enjoy three or four humbling shots to the cup.
Just when you thought things were due to ease up, along comes Hole 3, a par four with starting 415 yards from the forward tees. Hit it straight and you will be in good shape, but easier said than done. This is the toughest hole on the course according to the scorecard and I wholeheartedly agree. Even a great drive will leave you with some meat left on the bone, so on your approach shot, make sure you have enough club. Three bunkers guard the front somewhat elevated green. Even including my best round at Papago or those rare instances of a tailwind, I’m happy with a bogey on this hole. It’s tough, so take your lumps, and try to make it up later. The only problem is now, if things are not going well, you could be 5 or 6 over.
On the par three, 4th Hole, the wind is either with you or against you, so playing from the blue tees at 215 yards, make your club choice accordingly. By the way, the wind is almost never on your side playing at Papago. The whites, at just under 170 yards, makes the hole considerably easier, while the red tees, at 146 yards, make it seem like a normal course’s par three.
In 1963, William F. Bell carefully snuck this course below the Buttes, making sure that his reputation would remain in tact with its understated difficulty and complexity. After designing ten other courses including the Tucson Country Club and Tucson’s most popular city course-Randolph Park North, I get the feeling he had something against Phoenix golfers with these lengthy par threes. I have played plenty of rounds at Papago when only one or two balls out of our foursome’s sixteen par three attempts have stuck the green.
Hole 5 is reminiscent of the 2nd hole, but just a little longer. Two solid shots will put you easily in birdieland. However, this is where your skills and confidence at reading very delicate breaks comes into play. This is not an easy hole, but just seems better than the four so far. A real testament to Papago’s quality is that there are no throwaway holes.
The 6th hole is another test of confidence. The professional golfers with the most consistent and longest drives are invariably the most confident players, just letting go and trusting the technology of the driver to do the work. I try to tell myself that, and often clear that sandtrap strategically stuck right in the middle of this fairway, but of course, a healthy slice helps me out. Sometimes the ball goes straight and seems to want to be sucked in. The sand adds at least one stroke to your score, because in most places the steep lip is high enough so you must concentrate on just getting it out.
With two bunkers on the front of the green, it is not unheard of to hit the grandslam on this hole. That is, hit your drive into the fairway trap, muscle a six iron into the right bunker, smoke one into the other bunker, and finally, with a little luck, get onto the green. Arizona sandtraps are often dried out and difficult; they demand respect and avoidance at any cost. Play Hole 6 conservatively from the tee and you will have an easy 7-iron to approach, play aggressively and fly the trap, you will just have a three-quarter wedge left. This is one of the holes where rewards might come from risks.
Hole 7 is long, but try to stay middle to right of the fairway from the tee to ensure an unobstructed shot to the green. You might be ten or twenty yards farther than if you tried to hug the left, but there are enough trees to make it too risky.
The 8th Hole might be the most frustrating of the par threes because it is straight, relatively short, and only lightly guarded. A fading mid-iron will play nicely. For the rest of us who hack most of the time, imagine the bunker to the right front is not there. Yeah, that’ll work
The scorecard claims that the final hole is the easiest of the front nine. I wish I could agree, but it gets difficult when trying to make it there in two. The water is reachable with a heavy driver from any of the tee boxes, and the hazard follows the right side of the hole almost to the green. It is off the fairway considerably, but you wouldn’t think so from the number of balls dredged out of it. Players who aim left, trying to avoid water, just opening their stance and forgetting about their club head are asking for slice trouble. Two solid shots with an easy lay-up make birdies common. Play aggressively and you might nail the eagle. One final note, try to avoid being distracted by the scenery, as the surreal Papago buttes can often be somewhat seductive.
The Back Nine
Every time I tee off from Hole 10, I do a double take. The deja vu experience can be crippling, especially if you made the front nine play tougher than it really was. Both the front and back nine opening holes are very similar. Don’t expect any let-up though, because both sides are equally tough, with no bad holes on either, except several that might turn out bad for your score. Luckily though, the par five 10th Hole plays easier. Keep your drive left to the larger and more forgiving area. Getting to the green in two is tough, but close enough for an easy chip on is more likely. Why not, just go for it.
If Hole 8 isn’t the worst par three, then Hole 11 definitely comes in a photo finish second. Why the green seems twenty to thirty yards closer is beyond me. When I first played Papago, from the whites the marker read 152 yards. With my eight iron, I flew the green at least forty yards past. Scared I had lost my ball to something unknown behind, I played a provisional, but this time with the PW. Again I went long, but this time only to the deep fringe. Try this one out for yourself. Maybe I’m just crazy, but it doesn’t seem nearly that long. If you play the second one, don’t worry. I won’t tell if you won’t.
Holes 12, 13, and 14 are my favorites. You can really let the driver rip on these three and usually it works out fine. Maybe it is that confidence thing like the pros have. By this time, I have given up all hopes of a decent score. Ironically, I am always making my best tee shots on these three holes. They are not really that much easier, but seem to play that way. Bogey golfers should be able to secure two or maybe three pars, with birdies possible. Keep your drive in or close to the fairway and often it only take a nice, easy short iron to the putting surface. Of course, no reason to let your guard down and get a little too overconfident with the #1 wood. I have found the fairway sand on 12, chili-dipped my drive on 13, and got lost in the trees on 14. On all three of these holes, a good drive down the middle will give you the easy approach shots. I guess that’s golf though-get off the tee well, and the game becomes a whole lot easier.
Hole 15 comes right after that three hole hot streak, so mind the trap on the left which can quickly kill the wind in your sails. At only 236 yards from the blue tees, that sandtrap should be flyable for many, but with an often-brisk wind rolling in from past the unsheltered green, your ball can get knocked down. Plus it is slightly uphill. Hitting the sand can turn par into a snowman faster than you can say Frosty.
If you are deadly accurate and long with the big wood, you can draw the ball back into the fairway cutting this long par four 16th Hole down to respectable size. Miss it or leave it short and you could be on hard pack. Another option off the tee is to grip it and rip it, hopefully with a little fade to turn the corner, yet carry the strategically placed sandtrap. The scorecard (if you haven’t all ready tossed it) show this hole as the second hardest hole on the course. Somehow, par seems a little easier with the gentle downslope approach into the green, which happens to be protected by only one bunker.
To me, the 17th Hole is the toughest par three and the overall toughest hole to make the Green in Regulation. Despite having seen the sign on Hole 1 reading, “Handicap 10+? Please consider playing the White Tees!” we overambitious types finally bit off much more than we could chew. Whacking away with our shank-prone long-irons, this par three plays long at 227 from the blues. Even trying to stick the green is a chore. Just hope that your chip-and-down game is on fire. You’ll need it on this hole. One time, playing at Papago, I got paired up with John Ash, a local carpenter. As he tees it up, he tells me, “This is the hole where I am going to get my first hole-in-one. Me and this hole have a history.” With heads low, as we walk towards the bunkers, John tells me that he’s been playing Papago for ten years without even once coming close.
Like the 9th Hole, Hole 18 delivers beautiful scenery, especially with the late afternoon sun bouncing colors off the Buttes in every direction. I have seen coyotes on the course every time I have played and have even named one regular, “Smiley Coyote”. He has a white patch on his hindquarter and is often seen basking in the sun along 18, in the rough just out of driver distance. It’s a mutual relationship though, where the cart-driving maniacs kick up unsuspecting rabbits, often right into the mouth of Smiley. In return, he poses in beautiful places for all the golfers to take photos or at least mental snapshots. Other than the nuisance of an occasional golf ball whizzing by, for him, life is pretty good. Watching all these silly-looking humans chase a little white ball around, each experiencing their own hole by hole breakdown, I think maybe Smiley’s more smirking than smiling. After all, for him Papago is just a jackrabbit-rich coyote paradise, but for the rest of us, Papago is an inexpensive diamond in the desert rough.
- rb