Vistoso Golf School

Forum member Rafcin recently visited the Vistoso Golf Club for a three-day golf school. Here is his report.

Booked Through: www.tucsongolf.com
Location: Tucson, AZ
Course: The Vistoso Golf Club
Dates: April 1st through 3rd (Fri-Sat-Sun)

Daily Schedule:

8:00 - 9:00           Breakfast, Meet the Pro
9:00 - 12:00          Lessons
12:00 - 1:00          Lunch
1:00pm - dusk         Unlimited Golf

How Did We Get There?
With two other couples we decided end-of-2004 to go for a golf trip. To actually go to golf school was my idea – I’m big advocate of a “yearly check-up” before the season. What better way of doing it than in Arizona?

Browsing through the tons of websites offering golf schools I stumbled across tucsongolf.com. (I’d definitely recommend more aggressive advertisement!) After a couple of emails exchanged with one of the customer service representative I was amazed how easy it was to customize the arrangements to fit exactly our needs. The task wasn’t small – a broad spectrum of golfers (from 4.1 to 36.0 handicap index) and limited budget didn’t give me much hope at first, but Chris Smith and Gerry Quinn were great at setting everything up. We agreed on a lodging in one of their “casitas” (condo on the East Coast), which fit perfectly our group of 3 couples, providing spacious 3 bedrooms right on the golf course.

With addition of coordinating dates for the trip to maximize our budget we booked the trip already in November 2004. Two weeks before the trip I received complete package, describing all the details of the trip, including directions from the airports, five different cell phone numbers in case of emergencies and information about the course. None of us ever participated in a golf school trip before, so it’s needless to say we were very anxious how it will work out…

Trip to Tucson
We left New Jersey on Thursday night, arriving in Tucson at 11:30pm. I picked up the key for the mini-van rented with Hertz, which according to the website description was supposed to fit 7 with room for baggage. I figured six people with six travel golf bags will fit just fine. Wrong. We were just about able to load up all the bags in the van, leaving only two front seats for passengers! Lesson one: three people per mini-van if each is traveling with golf bags! Luckily we were able to get a midsize car rented the same night, so we were off to the resort.

It was just about after midnight, we decided to get some snacks and water just in case the condo is empty. It was kind of scary, but all gas stations around the Tucson Airport were gated up and convenient store part of them was locked down until 5am. Flying out of Newark I didn’t expect to get into worse area, but I guess I was wrong. Few miles down the I-10 highway there was a gas station open (with armed security guard on duty!) and we loaded up on supplies.

30 minutes later we arrived at the Vistoso Complex and thanks to the detailed directions we were able to find out condo right away. Once we open the door, we know – this trip is a winner. The casitas was wonderful, plenty of room, nicely furnished and extremely clean. A pile of Pro V1x logo balls, bag of tees and fully stocked refrigerator (water, sodas and beer) convinced us, that it is going to be a nice experience.

Day 1

Arriving in total darkness we didn’t even know how beautiful it is around us. The view from the patio (located right by the 9th hole of the Vistoso Golf Course) was beautiful! Mountains in the background, Clubhouse a 5-iron away and beautiful contrast of fresh, green grass surrounded by desert was stunning. It was golfer paradise already, and we didn’t even get to the course yet!

Without further delay, we loaded the van and drove the entire 45 seconds to the clubhouse. Friendly greetings at the bag drop at this time didn’t surprise us at all, we were already spoiled.

Breakfast was served on a patio, overlooking the 9th green. Couple of fireplaces give this open-air setup nice and cozy feel. Food was very good, coffee and juices kept coming with a smile and face you wouldn’t expect early in the morning.

Enjoying the scenery we didn’t even notice, that it was almost 9am. Vacation is over. Time to work!

We were welcomed by Mark Oswald (General Manager at Vistoso and PGA Teaching Professional) and Robert Taylor (Head Golf Professional) and they both didn’t give us the impression that it was just another day of work. Actually, I don’t think I ever seen these guys without a smile (ok, except when they were examining my swing) and it stayed this way throughout our school.

After a short ride across the driving range we reached the lessons area, with pyramids of golf balls and whole arsenal of teaching equipment (which for me looked like medieval torture instruments). We started with a short lesson on proper warm-up routine, few full swings and short interview of all participants, where we described our expectations for the upcoming nine hours of instructions. After compiling all the information together, our teachers laid out a proposed schedule, which we promptly approved:

Day 1 – full swing lessons, video analysis
Day 2 – short game
Day 3 – full swing repeat + club customization (three of participants asked for it).

We were introduced to the basic concepts of grip, stance, and ball position with different clubs we started whiffing and shanking.

Some might think that two instructors for six players is not sufficient but I found it a perfect fit. After digging my swing out of two feet of snow, three hours a day of more intense scrutiny would be way too much. Having to share the teachers with others allowed us to catch a breather now and then. While some of us were swinging away under critical eye of Robert (thanks for not laughing too loud!) one by one we were videotaped by Mark, followed by analysis. Each of us received a complimentary VHS recording of the swings, what was a nice touch. Mark’s analysis was short and to the point, making good use of the swing analysis software we were able quickly identify the most critical area to work on for the reminder of the day.

Weather was awesome. Mid 70s with slight breeze – simply a perfect day for golf!

Before we noticed it was time for lunch. Meals offered were very enjoyable; menu (even though rather short) was offering enough variety to satisfy everybody in the group.

After short rest we were off to play our first round of golf. Course starts very smooth, with a wide fairway/short par 4, which with two good strokes guarantees a par, giving great opportunity for a birdie. Of course last thing that will happen after three hours of golf instructions are two good swings in the row, but we enjoyed it anyway.

Day 2

Today was the short game day. Our group was divided into two 3-person teams. While the first group was working on chipping/pitching/flopping under Robert’s watchful eye, the second group was fine-tuning their putting stroke with Mark’s supervision. Halfway into the practice session we switched the positions, so everybody got the same amount of instructions on these vital part of scoring game. While Robert tried to engrave feel and touch around the green, Mark was relaying more on various teaching instruments, to improve on consistency of our putting strokes. Parallel boards, strings, circles on the ground and 1-inch putter give us plenty of feedback.

After another tasty lunch we played our second round at Visotoso Golf Club, enjoying yet another wonderful day in the Arizona desert.

As a part of the package we received certificates for a steakhouse dinner. Located about 25 minutes away from the casitas the Sullivan steakhouse turned out to be yet another great surprise. Menu, specially trimmed for Tucson golf customers contained a fine selection of local specialties, from 9oz Filet Mignon to 24oz Ribeyes, which allowed (yet again, is that a motto for this trip?) everybody to find something for themselves. Attached martini bar was a nice experience as well, even though it cut way deep into our sleeping time, well deserved after two days of heavy duty on the driving range.

Day 3

The last day of the golf school started with a short review of the full swing issues we identified on the first day. While Robert was walking from one stall to another answering our detailed questions, Mark was busy going through entire fitting process with all of us one at the time. Using the impact tape, and contact tape with connection of the impact board we all get fully customized club specification sheet. Never did it feel as though Mark was trying to sell us anything. There was absolutely no pressure in any way, even though the Titleist fitting cart with all their latest products did look tempting to some of us.

We got to keep irons specifications along with recommendation for driver customization. It was amazing to see that some of us playing golf for many years found out that best clubs for them would be an inch or more different in length, with lie adjustments of 2 degrees. To make it even better, length adjustments on individual drivers were done right there at the premises within minutes and clubs were ready for our last round. Do you call that “Top of the Line” service? I do.

Our last round was uneventful. Perhaps we were tired already or maybe a bit of frustration settled in, that all these great pointers and instructions weren’t that easy to implement into our game – it’s hard to acknowledge that it takes a few weeks to make any new swing change permanent. The truth was, that we were looking forward to our flight to Las Vegas, to spend the money we saved on that super-bargain trip on the casinos floor!

Summary

Absolute Winner! Recommended for any skill level, perfect way to shorten the winter season on the East Coast and improve your game doing it. We’ll definitely do it again.

Pros:

• Price – Can’t beat it. Hands down, best deal in town.
• Instruction Quality – Both PGA Professionals really lived up to their titles, professional and courteous, these are two words coming to my mind. Sense of humor was an added bonus.
• Location – Beautiful golf course. No doubt one of the best conditions I ever played in (and I played a few courses!). Simply pristine, well maintained and taken care of.
• Condo – Beautiful, clean, roomy, well equipped.
• All-Inclusive Package – Breakfast and lunches were very, very good, Sullivan steakhouse was superb.
• Planning Flexibility – Great job by TucsonGolf.com. Personalized and accommodating are words to describe it.
• Weather – What’s better than golf in Arizona end of March/beginning of April? Cooler than Phoenix, warmer than Las Vegas. Simply perfect.

Cons:

• Fitting Method – I belong to the “modern” approach to golf. I’d like to see launch monitor, impact monitor and all these cool computer gadgets instead of the “old-fashioned” method of impact tapes and VHS…
• Information Overload – 9 hours instructions in 3 days, enough said. It takes a lot attention and endurance to soak it in. You won’t have much time to work on new things, you’ll bring a lot of homework from this trip. If you expect get better right away, you’d better adjust your expectations. It’s not a vacation – it’s hard labor!
• Driving Range Size – Lessons area was located at the opposite end of the driving range about 290 yards away. With slight breeze behind a solid drive creates a shooting gallery feeling. I practically couldn’t work on my driver swing.
• A Whole Year – I don’t get to come back until next year! And this is the biggest “con” I could come up with.