Had the opportunity to play Az National for the first time in a long time on 12/31/2007. I had played the course a few times back in the mid 90's when it was still known as "The Raven". What a great... Continue »

Had the opportunity to play Az National for the first time in a long time on 12/31/2007. I had played the course a few times back in the mid 90's when it was still known as "The Raven". What a great time. Played with my wife and mother in law. One thing anyone should know before playing . . this course is very friendly to women. There are very few forced carries from the women's tees, which made for a very enjoyable round for them also. There are "combo" tees for women who hit the ball further, and they do require some forced carries over ravines and canyons. This is a great course. The greens were as good as any I've seen in Tucson. No ballmarks, they rolled true and pretty fast. There are very few blind shots on the course, only 2 that I can remember off the tees. This makes for an enjoyable round when you're not spending loads of time trying to locate errant tee shots. The views of the mountains and the city are spectacular! There are some testers on the course, but for the most part, it plays pretty straightforward. Was not overly long from the blues (which I played). I remember playing the blacks back a decade ago . . and if memory serves, they make the course much more difficult. The staff was sensational. From the guy who unloaded our bags and let us know exactly how long a frost delay we were looking at, to the cart girls who were friendly and helpful. One exciting sidenote: On the way to the 17th tee box we ran into a bobcat ambling across the cart path. I've seen hundreds of coyotes and javalina on local courses, but this is the first time I've seen a bobcat . . it was very cool! We didn't bother him, and he didn't seem to be very bothered by us. This is a course that I can hardly wait to play again. AAA+