Playing Apache Creek Golf Course

Apache Creek Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona is one of those courses that demand you hit a straight ball or else you'll end up with a ball sitting on hardpan.  While the fairways and greens are grass, the rough is indeed rough being pure desert sand and gravel.  Throw in a few rattlesnakes and you indeed are playing desert golf.  But look at that view of the Superstition Mountains off the first tee!

For men, playing from the black tees means the course is 6785 yards long.  Denny and the twosome we played with played the blue tees for a distance of 6363 yards, with a USGA rating/slope of 69.4/119.  Women get quite a break, with a yardage of 5315 and a USGA rating/slope of 64.4/111.  It is an eighteen hole, par 71 golf course with no houses sitting on the course which is always a bonus in a winter tourist setting. A couple of the holes have water, including the oh-so-fun island green at hole 6.

The one nice thing about that hard desert surface is that the ball will run and run and run.  I even managed a birdie on a par 3, so it's a very playable and enjoyable course.  Just remember, hit it straight and watch for slithery things in the gullies.