8243 E. Bell Rd. Scottsdale, Az. 85260
www.tpc.com/scottsdale/champions-course/
Tee box options: Black-7115 yds. Blue-6653 yds. White-6127 yds. Red-5342 yds.
Hello! I’m the Dry Heat Hacker and welcome to another Valley of the Sun golf course review in beautiful metro Phoenix, Arizona. Today I played the Champions course at the TPC Scottsdale facility. Scottsdale, Az., is a suburb of metro Phoenix located in the Northeast valley. Champions is the sister course to the Stadium Course where the Waste Management Open (formerly the Phoenix Open) is played. The Stadium Course is located across the street. I called Champions last week instead of using an online service and was quoted the $41 rate and a scheduled a tee time before 10 am. The facility has the normal amenities for a course: bag drop, range w/a free small bag of practice balls, and a practice green. The main practice green was closed due to resurfacing. It should be noted that the course had undergone aeration within the last month….more on that in a bit. The gent at the bag drop set my cart up and I was off to the starter. Since I was a single player, I was added to a twosome (a father/son visiting from the UK) who were starting 15 minutes before me (I’m always early when I make a tee time). Handshakes and introductions all around and we were off. The starter mentioned the cart GPS and said it was accurate to the flag within a yard or two. I normally use a rangefinder and checked the first few yardages, which very accurate. The rangefinder went back in the bag for the rest of my round. We started off on the back 9 and played the white tees. First impressions: the picturesque McDowell Mountain range. It adds a backdrop to your game and it highlights the round. Conversely, Champions is next to the Scottsdale Airpark. It is a busy airstrip with frequent landings of corporate jets and small aircraft. Personally, I don’t find this distracting, but my new English friends mentioned it a couple of times. The course was in above average shape even in the heat of our Phoenix summer. Very green and well maintained. There were a few brown discoloration spots, but no dry grass patches or bare spots to alter the lie of your ball. As mentioned earlier, aeration had been performed within the last month. You could still see the marks in the greens, but they were filled in now and our golf balls rolled true. There are fairway and green bunkers aplenty. They use the white, soft sand in their bunkers and they’re not very deep. I don’t think I saw one on the entire course that was more than 4 feet deep or so. I made it the whole round until the last hole (#9) without landing in the trap. It took me 2 strokes to play out of, but I noticed after the 2nd stroke that I grabbed my regular wedge instead of my sand wedge! Some items to mention: Holes 1, 5, 14, and 15 are cart path only. These are par 4s and in addition to the normal cart path only rule for the 5 par 3s on the course. If you violate the cart path only rule, the cart will slow down to 7 mph until you return to the cart path. The cart did it to me, once, when I drove close to a desert area. I was within 5 feet or so and the engine dropped acceleration. The course has desert as mentioned before and also its share of trees. A big body of water comes into play for hole 1 and 18. On 18, I hit my second shot with a 3 wood right off of the club hosel instead of the face and put it right in the drink. It looked like there used to be a body of water on hole 5, to the left as you tee off, but it was drained. It’s just mud now and yes, I put my ball in this, as well, yet it was still playable. Remember….hole 5 is cart path only! I had a nice hike to and from my ball back to the cart. Hole 9 also has a small pond to the left side but it didn’t seem to come much into play. Hole 15 is a true dog leg left with a yardage of 313 from our tee. But, the GPS read 266 yards from the tee if you hit across the desert and it was a clear shot. We all did and I can drive the ball about 230 on an average. I put it in front of a bunker and used my gap wedge to pop it over the sand for 2 putts and par. Most of the holes on the Champions course are relatively straight with slight elevation changes. It’s a very playable course, in my opinion.
I did like the course and facility and I enjoyed my round, but I think I was expecting a little more. I’m not trying to take anything away from Champions. The Stadium Course hosts a major PGA tournament every year. The clubhouse is decked out in ornate wood, utilizes a locker room, and has a really nice restaurant. There is a lot of money that passes through that place and I might have been expecting the same. I now understand the difference. The Champions course has a small clubhouse, a normal sized pro shop, and a snack bar. After my round, I went across the street to inquire about a tee time for next week as they are reopening from aeration. I was quoted almost $100 for a round (Golf Now has a few tee times that day for $79). When I (nicely I might add) said “Thank you, but that’s a bit more than I want to spend”. I was told that rate was much lower than they normally charge and I was welcome to go across the street to Champions. They’re cheaper. Hope you enjoyed reading. I’m still in the infant stages of writing golf course reviews. So, leave a comment, if you like. I’m learning as I go. Grip and Rip!
Dry Heat Hacker 