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From our Directory of the most recommended golf courses
Whirlwind Golf Club at Wildhorse Pass
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The course is located south of Phoenix near Chandler and is within the Gila River Native American Community. There's two 18 hole courses, both opened in 2000, and designed by Gary Panks. The Cattail course is 7029 yards with 131 slope from the black tees, and the Devil's Claw course is 7218 yards and 132 slope. The course is a blend of desert scenery with borders of saguaro, palo verde, mesquite, and cottonwood trees along with high native grasses throughout the course. There's some light elevation change to the land providing some great views across the valley to the mountains of the Phoenix area. The courses' greens tend to be larger, slightly undulating. There's a number of water features on he course, and heavy bunkering throughout. I think the prices are a bit high here compared to other Phoenix area courses, but there are lower rates for twilight, and off season.
Published by: bobbyj
Posted by: mickr
Dec 3rd, 2009
Played the Cattail course in the morning. This course is where they held the Nationwide Tour's Gila River Classic. I did not play from the tips which was a healthy 7218 yds, but instead from the Gold tees which were still over 6700 yds. The course itself is relatively flat, but there are many undulations in the fairways and quite a few bunkers placed in the right spots. The greens were very well manacured but not too speedy. Reading the greens was not an easy task, since the breaks were subtle, thus there was many a lipout to be had that day. If you play, take your time to walk all the way around the hole before putting. This course definitely placed a premium on accuracy off the tee. From many tee boxes, the view of your landing zone would be rather blind and seem to be squeezed off by either bunkers or trees. There were a few doglegs, however, where you could cut off quite a few yards if you knew the exact spot to cut the corner. I could see playing this course a few times and significantly reducing my score. Number 14, a 389 ys par 4, was a fun hole that required a long iron off the tee and then an accurate short iron over water to an elevated green. My favorite hole was number 15, the 136 yd. par 3. This had an elevated tee onto a shallow yet extremely wide green. The shot took you over a wild deep canyon and with the pin tucked on the far right, literally 12 feet from the precipice, it made for a dicier shot than its distance implied.
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