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Quality of Carpeting:
Carpeting appears to be well maintained with regular replacement upon wear out. Several brand new carpets were present and no older carpet appeared to have any tears,
duct tape, or lumps. Most greens and fairways appeared to be level where intended. Both fairways featuring sunken funnels veered either right or left.
Borders:
All borders are concrete and appear to be in good condition whereby balls ricochet at true angles.
Obstacles:
Many obstacles consist of "choices," whereby hitting the ball in the right area provides a positive outcome and hitting the ball in the wrong area provides a negative
outcome. Obstacles include water hazards, metallic curly cue loops, inclines, distant ramps/ditches, humps, ski-jump targets, sunken funnels with a recessed area if overshot, round volcanoes of varying
heights and depths and widths, square volcanoes, and opportunities to overshoot the hole and end up in a trap area long past or away from the hole. There are a few holes that provide
"assisting" obstacles in the form of curved rails or slots that if struck correctly (not as easy as it looks) will guide the ball directly to the hole.
Putters and Golf Balls:
Only putters with rubber heads are offered by the course. Golf balls appear to be in good condition and provide good bounce when dropped to the concrete.
Mechanical Features:
All moving mechanical features appeared to function properly as designed. On two holes offering ramps into a structure where the ball rolls through a pipe and lands on a
green disconnected from the fairway, due to a flaw in the design of these holes, there appears to be no advantage in successfully putting the ball up the ramp versus putting it in the ditch under the
ramp. On a few holes with the ramp/ditch feature, the ditch is designed for the ball to roll into a pipe and to the disconnected green; however, the ball stops in the ditch and must be prodded by the
shooter into the pipe. Also, these same types of holes don't have a soft-enough backing to the ditch and so if the ball hits the backing too hard, it ricochets back to the shooter.
Geometrics:
With the exceptions of the mechanical flaws noted above, it appears that a hole-in-one is a geometric possibility on every hole in this course. There are several holes that offer
"automatic" hole-in-one features with disconnected greens. Some are so easy that a seasoned miniature golfer should make the hole-in-one well over half the time. Some are quite challenging just
the same. As expected, all three Hole 18s do not allow the golfer to retrieve their ball and are almost impossible to attain a hole-in-one for a free game coupon.
Tee Mats:
All holes have rubber tee mats with the standard three side-by-side tee holes about two inches apart. Most show significant wear with a ball groove exuding from the center tee hole.
Landscaping and Comfort:
Landscaping is lush, attractive and well maintained. It consists of lawns, trees, rivers and thematic structures and aqueducts. Late spring and summer temperatures
here exceed 100 degrees regularly, and occasionally exceed 110 degrees. All three courses provide shade structures over some holes and large trees provide adequate shading over other holes as well as
waiting areas between holes. There is at least one water fountain located near the half way point of all three courses, which is easily accessible to golfers that have not yet reached the hole with the
fountain. One course features a soft drink vending machine near the half way point of the course. All holes feature a plastic laminate waiting bench near the tee and almost all holes feature a scoring
stand after the hole.
Noteworthy Unusual Holes:
Hole 17 on the Dragon Course offers an opportunity for an automatic hole-in-one if the ball is shot into a hole that is about 12 inches in diameter and only about
20 feet from the tee. However, there is a barrel standing up about five feet in front of it and so the only way to get it in is to bank it off the concrete fairway border on either side. The hole sits
atop a summit on the fairway. If the hole is overshot, the ball continues downward about 25 feet past the "automatic" hole to a green with a regular hole in the center. After putting the ball
into that hole, the ball travels through a pipe to a large lower terrace green where the final hole is. So, if you don't get a hole-in-one on this hole, you likely will end up with at least a 4.
Par for the Course:
The scorecard does not list par for each hole or in sum for the courses. Therefore, after rating each hole and allowing for slight variance, I rate each course with a
rough par of about 50 per course. This could be a little generous.
Location:
Course is located on the north side of US 60 Freeway at the Country Club Way exit. It is visible from the freeway. After exiting, go north to Hampton-the first street, make a
right, and it is located on the right side of the street about a quarter of a mile east. If you are passing through the Phoenix area, from Interstate 10, take US 60 east 7.5 miles to the Country Club Way
exit.
Overall:
These courses are some of the most interesting and fun courses I have played due to the varied hole designs as well as the good geometrics involved and excellent maintenance. It is
highly recommended.
David Brizel (June 2002) User Review
Best score reported: 39, 40, 35
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