In Phoenix for a work trip and we took a day to play the Arizona Biltmore Adobe course. It's an old classic William Bell design with some gorgeous and impressive homes surrounding it, along with some ... Continue »

In Phoenix for a work trip and we took a day to play the Arizona Biltmore Adobe course. It's an old classic William Bell design with some gorgeous and impressive homes surrounding it, along with some nice mountain views, all while essentially being in downtown Scottsdale area - quite unique.

In truth, the course is not very difficult despite the big name architect attached to it. It was designed in 1928, and it appears they moved some of the holes around, but it's quite straightforward with some narrow fairways but plenty of room on adjacent holes to spray balls. There are some water features that come into play for sure, but it's going to be a good day to go low if you're even remotely on point.

In terms of conditions, very nice right now, and we caught it on a perfect 80 degree day. The greens are in excellent shape, running fast and straight, but very firm and difficult to keep any approach shots on. Nothing too tricked out but some of the greens are quite small so they were difficult to navigate. But very solid.

Fairways were nice and green and found good lies all day long. The rough is lush but not too penal, while the bunkers I was in were in good shape. Found a few rounded tee boxes (we played from the whites) but for the most part they were just fine. Nothing really to complain about in terms of conditions whatsoever.

The driving range is in an interesting spot where you have to drive past the first tee to get there (not visible from the starter/pro shop area), and there's a nice little snack shot there to get whatever you need. Warmup facilities are good but the range does play next to first hole and some others so range balls can make finding your own tricky if you're playing a yellow one.

Really enjoyed the experience despite playing a very poor round on a course I should have played much, much better. I would like to return for a future work trip and give it another shot, but also play the more challenging Links course here as well.