Sedona, AZ

I made it to Sedona, AZ last Saturday for some much needed break from the massive amount of golf in Scottsdale. So far I've managed to put 1765 miles on my car during this trip. My body definitely needed to take a rest from all the torquing from the golf swing. Before I left Phoenix, Hwan and I managed to play both courses (36 holes) at Troon North Golf Club on Wednesday and another round at Quintero Golf Club on Thursday. Those three courses are probably the most picturesque on all the courses we played in the Phoenix area.

Sedona has been pretty chill and I'm staying right on a golf resort. I explored the area a bit yesterday and took pictures of the area. I have never seen some of the red rocks before and some of the views are just breath taking. I managed to bring out my DSLR and snapped some vivid pictures of the red rocks as the sun is setting. The sunset brings out a bright red glow off the red rocks. It was fun to play around with my DSLR again since I haven't really touched it since the Europe trip 1.5 years ago.

After a good 4 days of rest, I was itching to get out on the course today. I booked a round at Sedona Golf Resort (the place I'm staying at) and played as a single for about 12 holes before I joined a threesome to finish out. I knew it was gonna be windy but didn't expect a 40mph wind on the course. The wind was so strong that it would move the ball when I was setting up to putt. The course was scenic with views of the red rocks from a far. I was able to take some panoramic shots with my iPhone from the 10th hole. Didn't shoot super well today but I did manage to score a birdie on the 18th hole. I hit an 8 iron on my second shot to about 1 foot from the cup. Not a bad way to finish the round.

Below are some of the pic...enjoy!

Troon North

Troon North

Troon North

Troon North

Troon North

Quintero Golf Club

Quintero Golf Club

Quintero Golf Club

Quintero Golf Club

What's in My Bag

I've been tinkering with the clubs in my bag for about 1 year now and I think I finally got the right combination. Here is what's in my bag for the rest of the trip...




Irons

Mizuno MP-H4 3-PW with Project X PXi 5.5 Shaft

I've played with my new Mizuno MP-H4 irons now for about 10 rounds and I am very impressed with the iron and the shaft I got on them. The irons are super forgiving for the long irons and very accurate with short irons. Mizuno designed these irons with the larger soles for the longer irons and progressed the soles thinner as the irons gets shorter. The result is the 4-iron is as easy to hit as the 9-iron. I've definitely had a few 180 - 200 yard shots these past few rounds that I was able to have them land softly on the green from that distance.

 Woods

Ping G20 10.5 degree Driver with Aldila NVS 55 Stiff Shaft
Ping G20 3-Wood, Ping G20 Hybrid 23 degree

I did the coolest thing today. Hwan and I got up in the morning and headed to the Ping factory and did a custom fitting by a fitting professional at Ping! I've always liked Ping drivers ever since I got my first set of woods in 2006 so getting to go to the Ping factory was really a treat. The driver use to be my most consistent club in my bag. As weird as that sounds, I was able to hit a nice fade on my Ping G5 driver consistently for about 230-240 yards. After I moved back from Singapore I wanted to upgrade my driver to the new G20 driver. I had mistakenly (through some bad advise from the Golfsmith sales guy) bought the Regular shaft on the G20 when I should be hitting a Stiff shaft. The G20 never had any control with that R shaft so I replaced the shaft with the ProLaunch Blue shaft from my G5 and cut the driver down to 44.5 inches. What a huge mistake that was! I was even more inconsistent and I barely hit the club further than my 3 wood. So today I got properly fitting for a new shaft at Ping. It was either that or get a new club and I figured this was a MUCH cheaper option. I ended up getting the Aldila NVS 55 Stiff Shaft that's lighter and with a higher ball flight. Besides, it's burnt orange (same school color at THE University of Texas at Austin) so I had to get it. I also went back to the 45.75in standard length to get more distance on the driver. So the rule of thumb from now on...if it ain't broke, don't fit it. I should have just bought the standard S-shaft with the first place with stock everything. It would have been a much cheaper option than all the tinkering I've done with this driver.

 Wedges

Titleist Vokey 52 and 56 degree SM4 Wedges

I've had these Vokey wedges for about 9 months now and I absolutely love them. I had and old set of Mizuno wedges that I replaced because the bounce on my previous wedges were too low. I was digging into the ground too much instead of using the bounce on the club and hearing that "thump" sound when the ball is struck well. I'm finally able to get some decent amount of spin on my pitches and have been shredding some of the softer golf balls on the market. The ball stops on a dime now and I can really target the pin from 100 yards in.

 Putter

Titleist Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Blade Putter with SuperStroke Slim grip

If you've played golf with me in the past few years, you know the putter was something I've been struggling with for years. I was even dumb enough to buy one of those heavy putters (one of the worst golf purchases of all time.) It was like taking 3 wedges together and trying to put with that weight. I also found that the putter I was using was too long for me and I had grip down on the putter which caused the weighting to be off. So over Christmas, I bought myself a used Scotty Cameron putter on eBay (can't justify the cost of a new one). I got the putter in 33in length and put on a SuperStoke Slim grip on the bad boy. The difference has been night and day. I'm beginning to develop a lot more touch on the short putts. The long putts are still a work in progress. So this trip my putting average has decreased from 2.0 to 1.78 per round. This will definitely help save a few strokes a round.

96 Holes

Playing 96 holes of golf (5 rounds) in 4 days is pretty tiring :)

I arrived to Phoenix, AZ last Thursday after 10 good days of golf in Palm Springs and checked into the 2 bedroom townhouse I rented from Airbnb in the afternoon. It was good to take it easy, get caught up on doing laundry, and make a home cooked meal. While it was cheap renting a room from someone else's house, nothing compares to having your own space to relax and unwind. 

Hwan and his friend Jai flew in on Friday morning at 11am. They wanted to play as much golf as they can before Jai had to go back to Houston on Monday. I picked them up from the airport at 11am, dropped their luggage off, and headed to our first round of the trip at Lookout Mountain Golf Club. Since I had the Troon Card, I have a 2 for 1 certificate at most of the courses we just divided the total cost by 3. This really helps with the budget on my stay in AZ! 

Friday afternoon was a good warm up for the next few days. We played 36 holes (both North and South Course) Talking Stick Golf Club on Saturday. I had booked the 7:47am tee time in the North Course so we can finish by noon and see if we can go out and play the South Course by 2pm. It was $20 to replay so it was totally worth it. We rested up Sunday morning and headed to the ASU Karsten Course, a Pete Dye designed course. We had booked a 3:16pm tee time and found out ASU was hosting the ASU Thunderbird College Golf Tournament that day. We had to wait until they finished before we can tee off. We finished 18 holes in exactly 3 hours and I think the fast pace really helped my game since I shot my best score ever. 87!

We did a boys night out in Scottsdale on Sunday night and came back to the townhouse at around 1:30am only having to wake up again at 6:30am on Monday for our 7:45am tee time at Golf Club of Estrella. The course was in great shape but the weather turned by the back 9 and we were playing in 30-40 mph winds. I must say, playing in that kind of wind in the desert during the middle of a sand storm is not too appealing. 

I'm resting up today and playing another 36 holes tomorrow. I didn't take as many pictures this time since these past few rounds were a total whirlwind, but I did keep 3/5 score cards to share. Enjoy!

Indian Wells Golf Resort - Players Course

Indian Wells Golf Resort - Players Course
Yards: 6326, Par: 72, Slope: 70.6/126
Score: 91, Putting Average: 1.83
Miles Walked: 6.9
Total Miles Walked: 29.1

I wanted to end my time at Palm Springs with a course I've been hearing about for years and it has definitely lived up to my expectations. I booked a 7:10am time at Indian Wells Golf Resort and played the Players course. Since yesterday was gonna be a hot day, I wanted to get out early so I can walk the course before it got too hot. 

The Players course is the longer of the two course at Indian Wells and was designed by John Fought. There was a mixture of classic and modern feel to the golf course and it reminded me of some of the classic Dr. Alistair Mackenzie courses I've played on. The first hole was a par 5 where you have to hit ball on the left side so it can trickle down to the fairway. If you go right on the hole then you are hitting out of the hazards area. The course puts an emphasize on accuracy and provided a lot of risk/reward scenarios for the player to decide. The greens were smooth and very well manicured. Overall the course was in great condition with even better service at the resort.

After Sunday's round at Classic Club, Blue called me and invited me to play with him on Monday. We played Terra Lago and it had about a 30-40 mph wind all day. Comes to find out Blue use to give golf instruction and a playing lesson while we played! I was all over the place at first but I think after yesterday's round, I'm finally beginning to control my new swing. Not sure if it's the new swing or the new clubs (love them btw) but I'll take it. After the round Blue and his wife Kathy invite me over to their beautiful home for dinner. Thanks for being such great host!

It has been a great 10 days in Palm Springs. Played some awesome courses and met new friends during my time here. I'm heading off to Phoenix and Scottsdale today to meet up with my friend Hwan for another 9 days of golf. It'll be good to see a familiar face on this trip. More to come after my rounds this weekend with Hwan.

Enjoy the pics from Indian Wells!

First Hole at 7:10am with a huge left to right slope

The 18th Hole

Classic Club

Classic Club
Yards: 6229, Par: 72, Slope: 71.0/129
Score: 99, Putting Average: 1.83
Miles Walked: 7.1
Total Miles Walked: 22.2

Happy Easter everyone! After 2 days of not playing golf, I was itching to get out there an hit the course again. Today I played the Classic Club in Palm Desert. Classic Club is designed by Arnold Palmer and hosted the Bob Hope Classic (now the Humana Challenge) from 2006-2008. The course is managed by Troon Golf and since I purchased a National Troon Card, I thought I might as well play it to get the reward points. So glad that I did.

The past few rounds have been hit or miss with my swings and I decided to take a lesson to work out some kinks. I hooked up with Jason Smith, one of the PGA teaching Pros at the Classic Club yesterday and he worked on my swing for about 1.5 hours. Comes to find out, I've been using my hands too much with my swing and not using the big muscles (legs, hips, shoulders) to hit the ball. This caused to me casting the club at the ball and resulting in either a pull or a ballooning slice. I also have a tendency to come out of my swing and lift up and again resulting in the slice. Now I just need to remember to stay behind the ball and coil instead of having the right to left shift that I'm so accustomed to. Since Jason fixed that problem, I'm starting to hit a nice draw on the golf ball. I've been trying to do that for years....thanks Jason! If you are ever in Palm Desert, go see Jason. He'll get you fixed up.

My original tee time today was at 10:50am and since I wanted to walk the course today I got there at around 8am to see if I can get out early before it got too hot. I was lucky enough to get out at 9:10am and was paired up with 3 locals that knew the course very well. The next 4.5 hours was probably some of the most enjoyable golf company I've had in a long time. Blue, Gino, and Joe were great guys who played golf with each other on a regular basis. I have never laughed so hard at some of the jokes they told. I guess the kind of joke you told when you were in your late-teens are still funny 30 to 40 years later. Overall, it was just a good time with great company.

The course itself was in great shape. Lush fairways, challenging (but fair) holes, and smooth greens. It was a classic Palmer course with lots of fairway bunkers and water on the right. This course was different from a lot of the courses in the area since it is located North of the I-10 freeway and it had no palm trees. The course has some smaller pine trees that will grow out in the next 5-10 years and make this course a nice change from the rest of the courses in the Palm Springs area. It still amazes me that the ball will turn towards the Salton Sea on your putts even if it reads uphill. I've seen it it 2 different courses now and I'm definitely a believer.

After my round with the 3 amigos I treated myself to a nice Easter Steak dinner at Mastro's. I figures that I burned off enough calories today that I should at least treat myself to a nice Easter meal. I'm playing again with Blue, Gino, and Joe tomorrow at Terra Lago North. Will give you all an update on that course after my round.

Don't worry, I still haven't forget about reviewing my new irons. Just need a few more rounds with them. Enjoy the pics below.

Me and Jason Smith, PGA teaching pro.

18th hole

Blue, Joe, and Gino

Birdied the first hole with a 50 yard blind pitch in.

Dirty Martini with Blue Cheese Olives

Easter Dinner. Filet, Creamed Spinach, and Gorgonzola Mac & Cheese