Golf Views

On my first trip to Scottsdale, Arizona this June I stayed at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa and one of the to-do items for this trip was to play as much golf as possible. I was able to do so without leaving the resort by playing at the Wildfire Golf Club located on the JW Marriott property.  The Wild Fire Golf Club features two 18-hole championship golf courses, one designed by three-time Masters and three-time British Open champion Nick Faldo, and the other designed by Arnold Palmer.  The par-72 7,145 yard Arnold Palmer course is the original golf course of the Wildfire Golf Club and was was opened in 1997, 5 years before the JW resort. When the resort was being built Marriott agreed to have another course built and designed by Nick Faldo but only if the Wildfire Golf Club allowed hotel guests access to both courses.  On this trip I planned on playing both courses, but the Arnold Palmer Course was closed for repairs, so I only played the Faldo Course.

The Faldo Course

The 18-hole, par-71 Faldo Course is carved into the Sonoran desert and features a total of 6,846 yards, with very wide open fairways, surrounded by incredible views of the McDowell Mountains, Camelback Mountain, and Piestewa Peak. The course is the more scenic of the two Wildfire courses and meanders around the JW Marriott Desert Ridge property. The Faldo Course sits on a 174-acre site that offers a slight variation from the typical desert-themed courses. For instance, the course has Bentgrass greens. This is a nice feature because it provides a much smoother and truer putting surface. It is also is something you don’t find at other area courses, typical greens in Arizona have Bermuda grass, and are not as forgiving. Another interesting feature of the Faldo Course is the placement of the 106 sand bunkers, which are reminiscent of the Australian sand belt courses of Nick Faldo’s homeland. The bunker placement becomes very evident when you play the 15th hole, where the narrow green is surrounded by  eight bunkers and also on the 16th hole, where the green is protected by six dramatic bunkers. I feel this makes the course quite challenging and fun, allowing you to really practice your sand game.

Amenities

The Wildfire Golf Club also offers a full range of amenities, including: an all-grass driving range, putting and chipping greens, an enormous green-side bunker (really deep), and state-of-the-art Global Positioning Satellite System(GPS) with CBS Sport-line updates streamed to each golf cart.

The E-Z-GO golf carts all come equipped with the Informer GPS system, featuring a 10.4 inch LCD display. This is a really nice feature and more courses should begin to invest in this technology, because it can really speed up the pace of play.

The GPS system gives you the following features:

• Detailed mappping of the Faldo and Palmer courses
• Precise yardages for tee shots and approach shots; I verified this with my SkyCaddie SG5 GPS
• Communication between the Golf Shop and the golf carts; A cool feature is that it lets you know if your  keeping up with the pace of play by displaying your pace as “On Time”.

Full service Golf Shop that was recognized as one of the “Top 100 Golf Shops in America” by Golf World. The 2,500 square-foot shop offers golf apparel and the latest equipment from Nike and Callaway.

At the end of your round enjoy a meal at Meritage Steakhouse at the Wildfire Golf Club, offering sweeping views of greens and fairways.

Overall, I really enjoyed playing golf at the Wildfire Golf Club. The staff and starters were extremely friendly and knowledgeable. I look forward to going back and playing the Palmer Course on my next trip to Arizona.

Wildfire Golf Club