Talking Stick (Piipaash) - Arizona - USA

The names Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw usually mean connection to top quality designs. Not so here. I concur with the previous review because the Piipaash Course is like flat beer -- there's no meaningful taste.

No doubt when you have a boring piece of terrain it will take some real imagination to get the juices flowing from the player's perspective. Sometimes the mantra of "less is more" will result in an outcome where "less is actually less."

Clearly, the greens are the defense of the course but the shotmaking requirements leading up to them is simply pedestrian stuff.

It would be most interesting to see Coore and Crenshaw return and attempt to give the Piipaash a bit of a makeover. For those who are enamored with the architectural duo the only real golf option on property is the course next door -- the 18-hole O'odham layout.

Given the quality of golf that lies throughout the area it's best to head elsewhere.

M. James Ward

Coore and Crenshaw are often lauded as one of the best golf course architects of the last 20 years and their courses appear in the top 100 rankings of many publications.

Where there is a top, there is a bottom and after having played half of their courses, this course is at the bottom. Whereas its sister North course has intriguing challenges off the tee some sloping to keep you honest and solid green complexes, the South course offers a golfer nothing but flat terrain with "tricked up" water hazards which really seem out of place in desert golf.

It is a shame because the North course, on similar terrain, offers a much more enjoyable day and doesn't deserve to be thrown in with the South. The South isn't all bad, some of the bunkering complexes are interesting and as a resort course, it is in fantastic shape during any season but overall, I would recommend playing the North course a few times if you are doing a stay-and-play and leave the South course out of your plans.