Month: January 2020

For years, I’ve loved nothing more in golf than a beautiful, colorful psycho scorecard. When I was doing my Clubhouse Newsletter, I had a section for “Psycho Scorecard of the Week,” and people on social media started to send them in on a daily basis when the PGA Tour kicked off.

The one issue? I’m not sure everyone totally understands what I mean when I say psycho scorecard. I get a lot of “submissions” of ‘cards that are wild, sure, but not psycho. So I figured why not spend a few minutes typing up a helpful guide to what is psycho and what is not.

The first rule of a psycho scorecard; it can’t be just a really good round. I’ve had plenty of 65s or 68s sent my way with guys making a whole bunch of birdies and a double-bogey and firing a solid tournament round. That’s just golf. If you’re going low and have a bad hole, that isn’t psycho it’s typical.

I’ll give you Will Zalatoris from this week’s Korn Ferry event as an example:

That’s … just great golf. An ace, an eagle, six birdies, one bad hole, and a bogey. Nothing psycho about it.

On the other side of things, it can’t be just a really bad round. I’ve seen plenty of scorecards posted on Twitter that ended in something like 78 but had an albatross and a birdie circled. That’s just a bad round with a couple of amazing swings.

The best way to explain a psycho scorecard is to find someone that shot even-par with few pars on the ‘card.

I’ll introduce Seth Reeves here to help.

That, friends, is perfect. Simply perfect. Five birdies, three bogeys, two doubles, A FREAKIN’ HOLE-IN-ONE, and in with a 72. Just beautiful.

Here is a couple more:

The top ‘card, from Brandon Harkins, isn’t my favorite psycho scorecard because the round got away from him (5-over is right on the psycho ‘card cusp) but considering he made just four pars and tacked on five birdies at least has it in the running.

Vogel, on the other hand, was right around par with a stretch of four birdies in a row, five in six holes, a double-bogey smashed in the middle of it after a wild start to his day.

And considering everyone loves the Masters, I’ll leave you with Russell Henley’s second round back in 2018.

That psycho scorecard deserves a little green jacket to drape over it to stay warm and happy. Even-par. Magnificant.

Most golf trips happen in the summer. It’s when groups of guys take over the Bunker Bars of the world in hopes of some good scores, some cold drinks, and that unreal golf experience. When I started writing about golf, buddies trips weren’t nearly talked about as much as they are now. Bandon Dunes had just two golf courses. Streamsong was, in my twisted imagination, a swamp riddled with massive alligators hoping that those large mechanical things taking over their land won’t disrupt an afternoon sunbathing. And all the other places we love to visit (Sand Valley, Cabot Links and on and on) were either ideas in a twisted brain or land that people passed by every so often and mentioned to whoever was within earshot, “that’s the spot for our dream home one day.”

Now, the golf trip is an essential part of the social media golf experience. If you go on a trip and don’t post 35 stories a day about it, did you even go on a trip at all? Planning golf trips has become as much fun as actually going on the trip itself.

What courses do we HAVE to play? Are there any hidden gems in the area? How many times did Donald Ross visit this region?!?

We spend cold months and hot summers getting ready for that moment when we can wheel our golf clubs up to an airline agent and drop them off, knowing the next time we see them (God and airline willing!) they’ll be on the first tee of a place we’ve been thinking about for hours on end at a lonely desk in an even lonelier building.

For the third straight year, a group of us packed up cars and headed a couple of hours south of Phoenix to a resort called Tubac, a 27-hole facility famous for being a backdrop to a lot of the memorable moments in “Tin Cup,” a movie that if you haven’t seen I don’t know why the hell you’re reading this piece about golf. We go either the first or second week of January, abnormal for any sort of trip (“you can’t get those vacation days back!”) but actually ideal for a little break following the stress of the holidays.

This crew is, safe to say, a golfer lite group. Sure, we have some scratch golfers in the 14-16 man lineup, but the handicaps are so all over the place that we tend to adjust numbers as the week rolls on. A +1 handicap will be in a foursome with someone in the 25-30 handicap range each and every round and that is what this trip was built on. It’s part of the appeal. It’s part of the beauty. It’s part of Tubac.

Why this trip remains one of my favorite weeks of the year is because it’s a golf trip, sure, but it never feels like one. I say that because I’m one of those in a position in my life where golf trips tend to mean work. Because golf is such an integral part of my existence, going anywhere for golf can, at times, feel slightly like a job. I feel obligated to be on my phone posting about the golf course or the resort. I know that whatever is happening probably should be documented, and that is something that happens to each one of us when we go anywhere these days. We are expected to share what’s happening in our lives on our respected channels.

Posting about trips or vacations isn’t boasting … sure, some people out there enjoy the idea of showing off where they’ve been or where they’ve played … but I believe it’s more the culture of where we’re at. You showcase your life, step by step, shot by shot, hole by hole. The problem with this is that by doing this, you are forgetting what exactly is happening around you.

Some of my favorite rounds of my life have ended in exactly zero pictures being taken. The rounds that you play and simply forget that you even brought your phone with you. It’s in the bag and you dig around for it after the 18th hole and check some texts and realize that this round won’t be documented by Instagram but by your memories and memories alone.

For the third straight year, I told myself as my pal Rusty and I jumped in the car and turned the Kia due-south on I-10 that I should spend more time filming and photographing this trip and for the third straight year I came home with about five pictures from the three days. That’s a win in my book. The less I can be on my phone, the better time I probably had.

So outside of being in the moment, what makes this trip, to a place so many people don’t know about, perfect? It’s because the perfect golf trip is perfect for the people going.

One bourbon-heavy evening last weekend, a couple of the guys started to bring up a few of the resorts I mentioned above.

“Could this group go somewhere else?!,” one of the guys presented. “We should do that!”

Now I love the golf-heavy resort more than just about anyone, but I’m not sure it is the fit for this crowd. We have twice-a-year golfers who go on the trip for the people not the pars. Everyone is hoping to play well and win, but the hang is the key and that’s what the Tubac resort is perfect for. They welcome us with open arms, they get excited to see our faces and the rules are minimal if not nonexistent. Just don’t break anything (we’ve broken stuff), disrupt other people enjoying themselves (I’d say we’ve ENHANCED those experiences but maybe others would argue against my take) and have fun. That’s it.

The key to all of this? The key to any golf trip with friends? It’s to do it at a place that makes sense for YOU and YOUR group. That’s what we have in southern Arizona in early January and that is why this trip will continue for years and years to come. It’s golf, it’s a good hang, it’s simple and peaceful and serene and absolutely utopian for our crew.

For us, it’s Tubac. For you, it’s another place. We all have one and we all can’t wait to return.

Of all the questions I get on social media, the one I answer the most is that of Arizona golf. Bachelor parties, buddies trips out west and Waste Management escapades all tend to focus their time in the Grand Canyon State on playing the courses you’re supposed to play, but what exactly are those courses? Here is a helpful guide to get you going (and I want to point out, no course paid or committed free golf for including them here … it’s just all my opinion on the courses in my area).

We-Ko-Pa Saguaro – Long before the boom of designer knowledge took hold of golf, the Saguaro course at We-Ko-Pa was one of the true gems of desert golf (This is where I’ll admit that Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw were the masterminds behind the design, which makes sense when you look at their global resume).

I think of all the courses to play in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, this is my number one MUST PLAY. It’s beautiful, it isn’t clustered with homes lining each fairway and it’s fairly playable for a desert course because the course has combed the rocks and desert 5-8 yards off each fairway to make it easier to find golf balls.

Quintero – Easily the best views of any desert course that I’ve played (especially the public ones) with the wildest downhill par-3s that you’ll play in the state. It’s the course I’ll take people to go play if they’ve never seen a desert-style golf course before because I feel this is the one that makes the biggest impact.

Two fair warnings; the golf course is not easy. It’s a tough track that demands tee shots find the fairway, so make sure to bring a good amount of golf balls in the bag and prepare to play some sort of lazy lateral for balls that find the cacti.

Second, it’s a bit of a hike from a Scottsdale hotel, so if you want to do Quintero, just prepare for a 30-40 minute drive each way (it being in the middle of nowhere is part of why it’s so beautiful, IMO. Nothing to take away from the views!).

Whirlwind (both courses) – Just two solid, “you get what you pay for” type of desert golf courses a little south of town. Both are great (I’m not sure one would rank higher than the other if you polled 30 golfers), both are fun, both aren’t overly demanding and there is a casino within five minutes of the last putt dropping. Tough to beat that lineup!

Southern Dunes – Another gem that isn’t exactly right down the street from the Old Town W, Southern Dunes was a course that opened as a private club (originally named Royal Dunes) and has transitioned over the last decade+ into a fabulous 18-hole championship golf course that has qualifiers, big collegiate events, and even Q-School from time to time.

If you decide to hit up Southern Dunes, stop at the Firehouse Subs down in Maricopa after for a quick bite (father-in-law plug here!).

Camelback Ambiente – The bonus about getting a round in at Camelback; Ambiente is one of the most unique “desert” golf courses in the valley. It isn’t desert-lined, it’s more a wind-swept “wait, am I in Wisconsin?” look, yet still giving you views and demanding holes that’ll test every part of your game. I don’t knock the other course on property, Padre (I actually think it’s a perfect spot for high-handicappers just trying to have a good time), but Ambiente is where it’s at here.

The added bonus? It might be the most conveniently located course in the Valley, sitting five minutes or so from Old Town Scottsdale, a quick Uber ride if you’re hoping to have a few cocktails.

Papago – I will say this about Papago; when you combine the design, the location, the price and the new clubhouse it might just be the best experience/value in all of Phoenix. I absolutely love playing Papago because it’s challenging for the low-handicapper (you have to move the ball off the tee a lot) and is playable for the high-handicapper (you aren’t going to lose more than a couple of golf balls at Papago even if you’re spraying it all over the property).

Mountain Shadows (Par-3 Course) – I always give this course out to people that are asking about a trip because it is the perfect spot to play 18 holes after a flight or 18 holes before a flight when departing. It’s a gem of a design set just north of Camelback Mountain and is a quick two hours or so to get around considering it’s all par-3s.

As for the others, this isn’t a knock on golf courses that didn’t make the list. I always enjoy a round at Troon North and think the Boulders is lovely, it’s just that if I was coming to Scottsdale, this would be the list I’d pick off of to play. If you ever have any questions on more advanced stuff than just this, e-mail me at shane@shanebacongolf.com and I’ll respond as quick as I can!