Talking Stick (O’odham) - Arizona - USA

I am surprised it made the top 20. Nice course not great, it is a little longer than it's sister course. No real signature hole in my opinion. The par 3 11 is interesting, at 220+ yards, not for the faint of heart. The short par 4 12th offsets 11. A disappointing Coore & Crenshaw design. There are a lot of other courses i would play before heading back there

I paid a 5 days visit to Scottsdale one month ago playing 6 courses and riding another 8 more. Most of them offer the same geographic features with desert areas, level changes, mountains and sunny blue skies. But this one was the only one where "beauty" was not that much but what was good about it was design, challenge and playability.

Arrived early morning to the airport after 3 flights and directly to the course to play with 2 locales, father and son, who gave me more insights about the course and some other locales courses I was about to check so the round helped me a lot to understand the destination. It feels like all the courses are the same and it is hard to remember holes on each of them as the views don't change that much from one course to another.

Said this, a Core & Crenshaw Design will rarely disappoint you and this is another case where with a not great piece of land they did something really good and fun to play. It is important to state that in the desert ball carries 1 more club than in normal conditions due to the mix of altitude and dry light aire with no humidity at all despite the heat (it was 30C or so and no sweating at all).

Another thing to state is it was not the high ray grass season but early summer so bermuda had almost won the battle and the course showed to need maybe one more week to be perfect but it was good and fun. And it was a windy day so it added to the challenge of my first round after the long trip.

This might not be one of the greats or must play of the destination but it is one good one to start, as not very demanding off the tee and the real challenge was approach shots and around the very fast greens. It is one of those courses where even high handicappers will be able to finish the round with the same ball that they started, which is not bad at all.

Not many "special" holes but some worth an extra note:

- Par 3 8th a very nice ondulated green which played into the wind and made it tough to judge correct distance.

- Long par 3 11th which we teed it from 240yds with a false bunker in front was one of those creative ones.

- short par 4 12th was another of the creative ones, with a "creek" dividing the fairway in 2 giving you the chance of a shorter and more challenging way to the green.

- par 5 17th into the wind was great where a good driver will give you a good call to get there in 2.

All in one a good starter for the tour and with a Top Golf just 2mins from the course a great day to start the trip.

The 36-hole facility is east of Highway 101 and is located on land that really doesn't provide much differentiation. The word "subtle" is often used to describe the design but one can as easily apply the word "lackluster" too. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the talented design tandem, have done a number of stellar designs but the finished product at Talking Stick North simply underwhelms. To the credit of Crenshaw and Coore, they did not attempt to superimpose an amazing amount of earth moving in order to provide some form of artificial differentiation which would stick out in a garish manner.

The par-5 2nd is a solid example of a hole that appears easy but will bite quite quick and hard for the over aggressive play as out-of-bounds on the left side follows the entire length of the hole and then comes extremely close to the green. Those going for the putting surface in two shots cannot pull or hook their attempt without risking a big number on the scorecard.

There's nothing per se bad about the course but there's nothing that really stirs the blood either. Sometime when minimalism is used the idea that "less is more" can result in "less is less."

One of my favorite holes is the superb par-4 12th hole. The challenge is deciding one's line of attack. You can play to the wider and safer right side -- or opt to take a more direct line that features a far longer carry and greater risk with out-of-bounds again on the left side hugging ever nearby and a desert wash that runs parallel to the line of play.

The issue for Talking Stick's North Course is that the bar for golf in the Valley of the Sun has risen dramatically with various facilities at sites that include a full range of epic shotmaking challenges and visual stimulations.

The desire to include two 18-hole courses on the property meant a number of holes at the North running parallel to one another and follow a north/south dynamic. There are moments of note when playing the North Course but they are often so muted to be more in the shadows than what might have been.

by M. James Ward

The challenge of Talking Stick comes at you subtly rather than beating you over the head with forced carries or water features. Instead, it is the devious placement of bunkers that really challenges a golfer's game on this rather flat course.

The course and its sister South course are located on an Indian reservation and as such, have much better access to water than the surrounding Phoenix courses (keeping the course in a brilliant green) and also are mercifully bereft of houses to hem a golfer in.

That being said, flat and straightforward is the order of the round and while the tee boxes, fairways and greens are all in top shape, and the course is subtly devious and provides a great quiet round in the desert, the course's routing and hole construction do leave something to the imagination. I am not quite sure what Coore and Crenshaw could have done different with the land other than what they did as all the parts add up but the aggregate sum is missing that "wow" factor.

Be sure to look for the great par 3 16th hole named Roadrunner which does in fact have a few roadrunners patrolling the hole. One of the best named holes for sure!