12575 West Golf Club Dr. Peoria, Az. (623) 328-5100
www.mytrilogylife.com/vistancia/golf/
Tee Box Options: Tournament=7291 yards. Trilogy=6868 yards. Vistancia=6508 yards. Verde=6132 yards. Forward=5573. Vistancia/Verde combo=6307. Total Par=72.
I love golf. There are so many things I love about playing golf. I wish I could play more than I do. Golf is a game you play against yourself. A golfer is constantly trying to improve their game. You hit good shots and bad shots. There are 14 possible clubs in your bag and we try to master all of them. You can play a course many times and play it differently each time. There are also many courses to play. There are roughly 180 in metro phoenix alone. The combinations of your game’s outcome are infinite. You can play against others. Most of the time, you are paired with others. Four players to a tee time is the most common. Golf is a game of etiquette. Even if you are playing against them, all players are encouraging each other on a good tee shot or a putt well played. Golf is a game where it’s inspiring to see others do well. My dad and I played the Trilogy Golf Course at Vistancia, today. This course is on a resort community located in the northwest phoenix valley. This is by far one of the nicest courses I’ve played all summer. My father made a tee time on www.golfnow.com last week and we paid $16 each, which is a bargain for this caliber of course. We arrived 45 minutes before our tee time which was plenty of time for some range work and putting practice. I noticed how nice of condition the practice facilities were in. The range wasn’t hacked up and the putting chipping greens were in the same shape as the greens on the course.
We were paired with 2 other gentlemen today and we all had a good round. They were good guys who played around our skill level, i.e. a higher handicap, and had played the course a few times before. I kept calling them our ‘tour guides’ as they would say things such as ‘ok, on this hole, you want to go down the right edge as a ravine runs down the left’, etc. The hints helped out and I personally wouldn’t have known any of the little quirks of the course. We didn’t buy or ask for a course range book, so we would have went in blind.
Vistancia is a 55+ retirement community. The course winds through the neighborhood and around the resort. There are some beautiful homes here. The course also has many ‘native’ areas. There is lots of desert and thick brush to play through. For example; one can tee off over 40 yard desert areas. I had a very good front 9. I have a bit of advice for anyone reading this: don’t total up until all 18 holes are done. When I do, it completely psyches me out. On the front 9, I hit two double bogeys, three bogeys, two pars, and two birdies. I hit 5 over par for a 41. Last week I hit an 83 at Aguila, so that’s 3 nines in a row of low scoring. I was riding a high, of sorts. On the back I completely blew it. #10 I triple bogeyed. I tee’d off into a native area.
I carry a ‘desert’ club-a 6 iron I bought at the Goodwill store for 99 cents. This club has been invaluable. No one wants to ruin a good club. We pay a lot of money for a set of clubs and try to take care of them. Clubs are meant to be hit off of grass and not rocks. I’ve used this one off of rocks, desert dirt, and cart paths. Everyone is Phoenix carries a rock club of some sort. It took 2 shots to get out of the native area as I hit a bush, then a tree. I was on in 5 and 2 putted. #11 was a double bogey with a 3 putt. I par’d #12, and then quadruple par’d #13! I just couldn’t hit a good shot. The rest of my round consisted of 3 bogeys, a par, and one more triple bogey! I had a horrible second 9 and hit a 51, but……I hit a total of 92, which falls within my average score and handicap.
This course is one of the nicest that I’ve played all summer. Trilogy is in phenomenal shape. The tees, fairways, and greens were in top condition. There wasn’t one brown spot on any green and all 18 rolled true. I particularly liked the bunkers today and there were quite a few of them. The sand traps are about waist deep when you play out of them and I’m 5’9” if that gives an idea. The sand was kind of wet and had some pebbles in it, but they were very playable as I was in the sand 5 or so times today. In particular, hole #15 was a short (275 yards from the verde tees) par 4.
In the middle of the fairway are a few bunkers and large bunkers in front of the green. There were actually quite a few bunkers on the entire course. Even with all of the bunkers on the course, Trilogy at Vistancia is very playable. As stated, I butchered the back 9, but I thoroughly enjoyed my round. The facilities are what you would expect at a resort course. There seemed to be a very nice restaurant in the clubhouse. All the people we encountered were very nice. It was a bit of a drive up off of Happy Valley Road and west of the 303 freeway, but completely worth it. I wouldn’t hesitate to play here again.
Dry Heat Hacker 