The Traveling Guy

View from CopperWynd

The natural place to start my 50-week, 50-state golf tour was Arizona. It was going to be a relatively short drive compared to ones that would come in the future, and it would be over a highway I had driven many times. A mere six hour drive from my home in Vista, California including a stop for lunch would start me on a journey I had been eagerly awaiting.

My first stop on my projected 345 days away from home, was Fountain Hills, Arizona, a lovely community only minutes away from Scottsdale and Phoenix. Thanks to the Fountain Hills Convention and Visitor’s Bureau my first two nights on the road were spent at the ultra luxurious CopperWynd Resort and Club. It had been a long time since I had the opportunity to enjoy a fireplace in my bedroom or the type of luxury that CopperWynd offers its guests. It was one hell of a start.

CopperWynd is an intimate luxury resort located on a 99 acre hilltop location. Guests that stay in one of its 40 rooms and villas can combine desert serenity with world-class service and have the opportunity to swim, play tennis, dine and take advantage of the outstanding golf courses just minutes away. I felt very fortunate to be able to start my golf odyssey in such an elegant manner.

SunRidge Canyon

My week in Arizona was jammed packed. After a marvellously restful night at CopperWynd, I got up early to get ready to play SunRidge Canyon which is located just minutes down the hill from the resort. I was teamed up with three Canadians who were in the Phoenix area for eight rounds of golf during their seven day trip. We had a ball.

SunRidge Canyon was similar to most desert courses in the winter…the grass on the fairways was pretty much in a dormant stage. This was good news/bad news for me as it helped make my drives run farther but made my fairway shots a bit more difficult because of the tight lies. Fortunately my home course, Shadowridge Country Club in Vista, has somewhat similar winter conditions so I didn’t have to adjust my game very much…..as if I could adjust it.

SunRidge played downhill for most of the front nine, and then headed back up the canyon on the back nine. Playing the White Tees at 6004 yards I found the relatively wide fairways receptive but the hard fast greens quite a challenge. My adjusted 92 was disappointing especially since I went 10 over par on SunRidge’s last six holes, known affectionately as “The Wicked Six”. The six holes, two par 3’s, two par 4’s and two par 5’s, were a true test…particularly since they were pretty much uphill and into the wind.

Water was not a factor on the course as there were only two holes, the short par 4 10th, 308 yards from the tips and 285 from the Whites, and the par 3 14th , 181 from the tips and 157 from the whites. But, the numerous fairway and greenside bunkers, both left and right dog legs and hard fast greens definitely made up for a lack of concern over water.

Eagle Mountain

The second round of golf I played in Fountain Hills was at Eagle Mountain. I had played there once before during a media event for golf writers and was looking forward to playing it again. I wasn’t disappointed. Like SunRidge Canyon it also has wide receptive fairways, carved through and around canyons but unlike SunRidge Canyon, Eagle Mountain’s fairways seemed to feed errant shots toward the middle of the fairway. For someone like myself who seldom drives the middle of the fairway, this made for pleasant surprises.
Eagle Mountain has only two holes where water comes into play, the par 5 10th and the par 4 18th. For some reason I am drawn to water holes as to me they are more scenic and more challenging, particularly when water comes up close to the green and the pin placements leave little room for error. Unfortunately my golf balls are more often than not drawn to the water on these types of holes.

The third course I played was the Point Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort’s Lookout Mountain in Phoenix. In my weekly report on Real Golf Radio, I characterized Lookout Mountain as a
“hybrid course”. The first six holes were more of a parkland course with trees lining both sides of the fairways. The remaining twelve holes combined both a parkland and desert setting.

Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain, which just recently became affiliated with Troon Golf, has long been a favorite of locals and guests of the Point Hilton. It weaves its way through rugged terrain and from some of its higher elevations has delightful views of Lookout Mountain. Because water is scarce in the desert climate, lakes and ponds are really a non factor on the course. However, ten dog legs and lots of native grasses make it imperative to have good course management when playing the course.

My favorite hole was the shortest and what I was told, at 105 yards from the White tees was “the hardest par 3 in Phoenix”. A quick look at the yardage book didn’t tell the story. To hit the green and stay on it provided the test. Tee shots from the elevated tee box had to clear a gully of desert and cactus, avoid the severe slope in front of the green which would more often than not would allow the ball to roll back to the gully, and then be hit high enough to hold on the narrow back to front green,

I hit a gap wedge to about eight feet above the hole and was told that I would be lucky to have my severe downhill putt stay on the green. On that cheery note, I barely, and I mean barely, tapped my ball and then nervously watched it pick up speed on it short journey toward the hole. As it was about to speed merrily bye, it caught the left edge, did a 360 and dropped into the cup for a birdie. I was ecstatic. My playing partners said it was a good thing my ball went into the hole or I probably would have been chipping back up the hill to save par. Anytime I get a birdie I’m thrilled. To realize I had just birdied “the hardest par 3 in Phoenix” made me pleased that Lookout Mountain was a course I had chosen to play.

When you combine the Point Hilton’s all suites concept with the fact that the golf shop is just a wedge shot away from the resort’s nearest rooms, you have a winning combination for a fun golf vacation. The resort also looks to be a great place for a family vacation. It has a very large pool and pool area where you can listen to water tumbling down the multi-tiered water fall adjacent to the pool; a water slide for the kids, a spa, tennis courts, casual and fine dining, etc. etc.

El Conquistador

The fourth course I played during my week in Arizona was Conquistador, one of two championship courses at the Hilton El Conquistador Golf and Tennis Resort just north of Tucson. Conquistador and its sister course Canada, along with its nine-hole Pusch Ridge Course, are the three courses that make up Tucson’s largest golf resort.

I had the pleasure of playing with a long time golf buddy, Bill Jones, his wife Helen and Jack Rickard, a retired golf writer and former sports editor from Tucson that I had met at a media event in Mesquite, Nevada. Golf to me is really a game to be played with friends and such was the day at Conquistador. Bill, Helen, Jack and I thoroughly enjoyed playing the wide fairways, avoiding the few lakes on the course, hitting to elevated greens and staying out of the desert while playing Conquistador.

Since Bill was recovering from shoulder surgery and had played only a few rounds over a period of months, and Jack and I prefer the White Tees, we let Bill join us. Bad decision.
Bill shot a three over 38 on the front nine and had me in deep trouble until he tired on the last few holes of the back nine. Jack and Helen watched and laughed as Bill and I did our usual needling of each other after almost every shot, something we had done for the more than 20 we had golfed together. It was a fun day..

All the courses I played in Arizona were to the most part still wearing their winter tan. Once the grass turns and gets a little longer, all four will be just as you see them on their websites… beautifully green. Green or dormant didn’t matter, they were all excellent and enjoyable courses to play. The next time you head to Arizona and its more than 325 days of sunshine a year, be sure to include SunRidge Canyon and Eagle Mountain in Fountain Hills, Lookout Mountain in Phoenix and Conquistador and Canada in Tucson in your golf plans.

It started with a rush and it wasn’t adrenalin. It was water rushing from a broken hot water heater line that had water flooding the garage. That was what I heard when I went to the garage at 5:30 AM on departure day of my 50-week, 50-state golf tour to get a suitcase.

What a way to start. Was this a way to test my patience for obstacles that I might encounter during my golf odyssey? Was this a bad dream? Once I realized it was neither of these, I turned off the water to the house, woke my significant other Shirley to alert her to the problem, and then went back to finish my packing. Fortunately there was a solution at hand….Sam Homant, a good friend and the contractor who did all the remodeling on our home which we had purchased a few years earlier, was called and agreed to come over and fix the problem. .

At about 10:15 AM, with the rushing water problem ready to be solved, I doubled checked my car trunk which held the clothes I would need for a year on the road, the myriad of books of information about courses and places, two plastic file containers with an assortment of office supplies I would need, my new Toshiba laptop, two cameras, my beat up but still useable briefcase, and two bags of cereal, cookies and other assorted goodies I figured I would need on my trip. And of utmost importance of course, the new TaylorMade golf bag which TaylorMade graciously presented me into which I had placed my trusty left handed clubs, six dozen golf balls and my golf rain outfit which I had worn on all seven continents.

I closed the trunk, backed out of the driveway, took a few photos, kissed Shirley goodbye and I was off to Fountain Hills, Arizona the first stop on my tour. While on the road for the next six hours I began to realize the long awaited day had come and my highly anticipated 50-week, 50-state golf tour was underway.

I was excited, not only about the tour, but also the opportunity I had been given by Wounded Warrior Project to help raise awareness and contributions during my tour. (Let me be clear about this. I am not associated with nor will I receive any compensation from Wounded Warrior Project. I just feel strongly about the wonderful things they do to help wounded combat veterans who have returned from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and am proud to be able to help them in some small way).

My plan is to urge everyone I meet to visit their website WoundedWarriorProject to see what they do and what they have accomplished since they were formed in 2003. I’m hopeful that when people understand the good that Wounded Warrior Project does, they will make a contribution to their organization.

While driving I began to hope that all the planning I had done in preparation for my tour would prove to be correct, all the while knowing that I damn well would have to be resourceful, self sufficient and able to adjust to new surroundings and challenges for an entire year. Did I have second thoughts? Sure !!! Was I going to let these thoughts stop me? Not on your life. I had planned, talked about and desired to make this tour for so long I wasn’t about to let some mischievous mind games hold me back.

I was about to do something that to my knowledge had never been done before by anyone. That in itself was stimulating. I was headed out to play golf in 50 states in 50 weeks and to give weekly reports on the nationally syndicated golf show Real Golf Radio about golf, places to stay, and things to see and do in the state I was visiting that week. For me this was going to be an exciting adventure, an opportunity to combine three passions… golf, travel and people.

I hope when you listen to my weekly segments on Real Golf Radio, and read my weekly blogs on my website, TheTravelingGuy or on Real Golf Radio’s website, that you will let me take you on a vicarious golf and travel trip. My weekly goal will be to give you insight into courses and areas of the US that you might find interesting as possible destinations for future golfing vacations.

I will be reporting on courses and areas from Alaska to Florida, Hawaii to Maine. The courses I will mention will all be open for public play. Some will be in the mountains, some will be on the seashore, and others will be in the desert. Some will be resort courses, some will be municipal courses. There will be a wide variety both in destination and style…for example, the northernmost course in the US, the highest USGA slope rated course in the US and the only FREE course in the US.

My tour, which I have titled, Golfing the US with Chuck Miller, The Traveling Guy, is going to be an experience of a lifetime for me…and I hope for you.