Peter:
I did this write up a few years ago. I used to take a yearly trip to Scottsdale, and Blackstone made the rotation a few times. Always had fun there, and it always felt like we had the place to ourselves.
1 - 402 yd (4) - plays downhill to an extremely wide fairway and back up hill to a left to right sloping green. Engh's use of contours around the green to allow for different styles of approach shots becomes evident.
2 - 194 yd (3) - the par 3's seem to disguise the depth of the greens, had to trust yardages and hope for good reads on the greens.
3 - 585 yd (5) - straight away hole defensed by bunkering around the green. Tough two shotter, easy three shotter.
4 - 442 yd (4) - Cape style hole, with a two tiered green with a punchbowl area on the lower right protected by an approach directly over the water. Didn't mind the water on this hole, the risk/reward nature of the drive seemed fair with the width of the fairway.
5 - 470 yd (4) - beautiful driving hole that optically asks one to hit left when the best line is out to the right. Even if your view of the green is blocked out, it is important to avoid the bunkers on the right.
6 - 360 yd (4) - the most "irish" of the holes on the course, wide fairway with an approach to a green set in a valley that narrows the further back the pin is set. Yardage and line are still important, as several shots that played long hung up on the slopes making for tricky recoveries.
7 - 154 yd (3) - another deceptive green. Easiest of the par 3's.
8 - 447 yd (4) - the strength of this hole is in the demands placed on the approach, as the green shrugs off shots coming up short or right. You want to attack this hole from the right, but the drive suggests the safe play is from the left.
9 - 555 yd (5) - a stunning three shot hole with as unique a green-site as I have seen. The green itself is probably the smallest on the course, and makes for interesting putts if the approach is errant. Need to hit two solid shots to set up an approach from the best line.
10 - 416 yd (4) - the test on this hole is where to put your drive. The green itself is receptive with a back to front slope, making shots hit hole high or close there to optimal as just about any putt on this green is going to be tricky.
11 - 619 yd (5) - landing area for the drive is pinched by a bunker complex left and water right. Second and third shots are straight forward, provided one avoids the turbo boost slope extending off of the bunker in the front of the green.
12 - 404 yd (4) - straight forward hole with the premium placed on a well judged second shot, being beyond the hole is trouble, but being short is in the canyon.
13- 203 yd (3) - extremely wide green makes for interesting pin placements, on Friday the pin was in the middle on the ridge bisecting the green.
14 - 524 yd (5) - the local knowledge hole, as the second shot can be played over the desert area to the green if one knows the proper line and where the pin is that day on the 65 yd long green. Wonderful fairway contours to play with if one choses to play safe to the right on the second.
15 - 228 yd (3) - wonderful green site set back into a small valley. A low runner is the best way to attack a back pin.
16 - 354 yd (4) - short downhill hole with a wide landing area, but the downhill lie for the pitch makes the approach tougher than it looks.
17 - 194 yd (3) - described as a dell hole, but only because the pin can be blind. Recovery from around the green is possible from just about anywhere.
18 - 538 yd (5) - perhaps not as strong a finishing hole to this nine as on the front, but a good driving hole with defenses around the green to deter an aggressive second shot. Another smallish green compared to the massive complexes found on most of the rest of the course.
Sven