Wildfire

[keb]

Anyone ever play Wildfire in Phoenix? I have a friend who is staying there next week and I told him I would try to gather information about the course and maybe a golf partner for his stay. Being in the frozen tundra of North Dakota, I am more than a little jealous.

[tjy355]

Anyone ever play Wildfire in Phoenix? I have a friend who is staying there next week and I told him I would try to gather information about the course and maybe a golf partner for his stay. Being in the frozen tundra of North Dakota, I am more than a little jealous.

I've played both of the courses at Wildfire. They are pleasant enough, fun resort type golf, with good conditioning and good service. Not really "must plays," but in the top third of the Phoenix area public access for sure.

The older Palmer course was closed this summer to re-do the greens. The Faldo course is newer and perhaps a little more challenging (lots of bunkers!), the greens are due to be reworked as well sometime after they reopen the Palmer. (both courses were originally grassed with bent greens which just don't thrive in the heat of the Phoenix summer and consequently they are switching to bermuda.) The only thing about Wildfire is that I think they charge way too much. The rack rate is $200 right now. You can do much better for that price. That said, rack rates don't mean much this winter as there seems to be a lot of competition for golfers. Golfnow.com has them for $95/$115. He might get a better rate as a resort guest as well. Don't think I would be able to join him however, pretty busy for the next week and half.