Had buddies come up from Tuscon and waited to play a higher end course and take some bite off their drive. This course is in S Valley so it's a tad off the beaten path. Since the price is higher I n... Continue »

Had buddies come up from Tuscon and waited to play a higher end course and take some bite off their drive. This course is in S Valley so it's a tad off the beaten path. Since the price is higher I never make it down there during summer when N Scottsdale has all you could ever desire. Being this is a Troon course I knew service and conditions would be top notch. Whirlwind did not disappoint! The practice facility with extensive pitching and chipping area was outstanding. As well as multiple well maintained putting greens. The staff is waiting upon your arrival with outstanding club drop service.

The course was immaculate. Not a brown spot or blade of grass out of place anywhere. The bunkers were the white crush granite but it a little more course than the powdery stuff at TPC Scottsdale. The greens rolled true and rolled medium / fast. A hair under perfect speed IMHO but I like them fast. This was likely due to keep pace of play which is always appreciated. The greens were on the firmer side but not what you would expect for AZ summer green firmness. They held shots well and would leave a minor divot. For a desert course there were no blind shots what you see is what you get. The greens reminded me of TPC and Palm springs greens. Elevated greens protected by bunkers with area to miss that would penalize and run off. The fringe wasn't moved super thin, nor the greens fast enough where the ball would run completely. The ball would stop on the fringe, which was a welcome relief as this course would be a bear playing fast and firm. A challening but very fair course. Doglegs and large elevated greens are the defence here. The greens are the type that provide me the most challenge - subtle breaks and breaks that underbreak as opposed to how they look. In order to make the course more playable every flag is on a flat area where there is no break so shots within 12 feet hold which helps makes scoring fair. The starter did an excellent drop describing how to underplay break and don't leave a putt outside the hole within 12 feet. I'm a feel putter so I could not make a decent length putt all day as the ball would stop break a few feet from the hole. I was warned but burned a ton of edges. Great views and natural desert surroundings. The only negative is the routing does not return to the clubhouse after 9. There was no halfway house and only 1 cart girl so our group was running dangerously low on alcohol. So make sure you load up on refreshments before playing ;) Will definitely play again. They used to have nationwide tournaments here and it's where they host the kornferry qualifier. It's easy to see why. A tough but fair test of golf.

Out in Phoenix this past week for a few days of work so made it out to Whirlwind for the second time just after recent re-seeding that prompted a CPO directive, however I was paired with an older gent... Continue »

Out in Phoenix this past week for a few days of work so made it out to Whirlwind for the second time just after recent re-seeding that prompted a CPO directive, however I was paired with an older gentleman who had COPD so he got a medical exemption and we were allowed to drive on the fairways which was nice. CPO is always a POP killer, but it was especially bad with the group in front of us who were simply snail's pace on the greens especially. It was very frustrating, and no marshal did anything about it. I would not have cared had I not booked a work meeting later in that afternoon with ample time, but it got a little tense near the end needing time to go back to the hotel to get ready ... but I digress. The course has just been re-seeded so it was quite wild to see the fairways actually much thicker than the rough. I think that was a first for me. They were also very heavily watered so at least on the front nine there was absolutely no roll on any shots, but we played the silver tees so it wasn't that penal. Coverage was of course very good but it's not as fun when you hit fairways and have to play rough shots. Greens were in nice condition but ran quite slow - another byproduct of the re-seeding or overall maintenance I suspect. They were also a bit on the watered-down side so it took a while to get up to the pace of the greens, and then later in the afternoon they sped up accordingly. Sand in the bunkers was actually quite nice and I made some very good bunker shots all afternoon that attest to that. Tee boxes were also in good shape and level after the latest work done on the course. It's a nice facility (with a nice driving range), a fun layout and I will enjoy returning again in the future when the course is in optimal shape. I just hope I don't get out there on the same day as the group in front of us again that made it a five-hour round. Marshals - get on that.

Day one of a two-day work trip out to the Phoenix area so we played Whirlwind first just an hour or so after getting off the plane. We were supposed to play the other 18 at this 36 hole facility, but ... Continue »

Day one of a two-day work trip out to the Phoenix area so we played Whirlwind first just an hour or so after getting off the plane. We were supposed to play the other 18 at this 36 hole facility, but it was even more crowded after a frost delay in the morning so we had the opportunity to get out on the Cattail 18 right away and took it.

It was a very cold and somewhat windy day so I'm not sure how much that factored into the day's performance, but it was certainly something one doesn't expect when playing out in Arizona. But it wasn't raining so that was a nice change from LA of late. As for the course, really nice. I'm not sure if it's quite the rack rate price nice (over $150), but it's very close to that for sure.

It's also a fun design with plenty of water in play, lots of risk-reward holes, some hilly areas but no major elevations, and lots of strategic placement off the tee that will require some assistance of the in-cart GPS. Conditions are pretty great all around, from the dark green fairways with great lies all day, to the super nice and glassy greens that were fast, true and held shots pretty well all day. Rough was a nice length to hit from and the bunkers and tee boxes were in very good shape as well. Really zero to complain about at all.

Practice range is grass with Callaway balls provided, plus there's a large chipping and sand area right behind it to test your skills. No actual 'turn' on the Cattail course, so make sure you either have enough food and drink from the start, or good chance you'll get cart service if it was around numerous times on a cold and windy Tuesday afternoon.

Overall, a really nice facility and a great day of golf, even if I did have to trade the hat for the beanie on the back nine and put on a third layer to fight the cold. I would love to come back here on a perfect AZ spring day.

Played Cat Tail one week after playing its sister course, Devil's Claw.

I found Cat Tail to be an overall more enjoyable experience. Played from the Silvers (still 6,300 yards/69.2 rating/123 slop... Continue »

Played Cat Tail one week after playing its sister course, Devil's Claw.

I found Cat Tail to be an overall more enjoyable experience. Played from the Silvers (still 6,300 yards/69.2 rating/123 slope), which was appropriate for my handicap and distance off the tee (Silver recommended for 12-18 handicaps).

Tee boxes were in far superior shape than Devil Claw. Like hitting off living green pool tables, just the few divots from today's rounds marred them. Fairways again in excellent shape, some dried out areas but nothing to really upset my game. Rough was also penal, with balls frequently sitting down (I found two from previous rounds that were hidden from their former owners), but it also prevents mis-hits from going off course or into a bunker. Speaking of which, bunkers in great shape, plenty of nice soft sand to hit whatever shot you desire. Greens were soft and fast, still a little sandy from earlier aerating and some dried areas around the outer ring of a few greens.

Despite it being a relatively flat course (though plenty of mounds and dips), I found Cat Tail to be more aesthetically pleasing, especially from the tee boxes looking onto each hole than its resort counterpart. It has three relatively benign Par 3 holes, then one bear: #10, which was 202 yards for Silver, 231 for Gold and 245 from the Tips! Cat Tail's one major design flaw, in my opinion was Holes 3-6. Not that there was a problem with the holes per se, but having #3 as a short Par 3, then #5 as a drivable Par 4 followed up immediately by another short Par 3 on #6 definitely led to bottlenecks for all the foursomes on the course.

As always, Whirlwind was crowded...even with a post 12pm tee time in the dead of summer, still took over 4 hours to complete our round. Had to wait on virtually every shot from tee to green. Customer service was excellent today, btw.

CP

I have lived in phoenix for 17 yrs and have played almost all of our beautiful courses. There are a few that I love to go back to and I just found one more. I played the cat tail course at whirlwind f... Continue »

I have lived in phoenix for 17 yrs and have played almost all of our beautiful courses. There are a few that I love to go back to and I just found one more. I played the cat tail course at whirlwind for the first time and found it to be a great track. It plays like the wildfire Palmer course but better. The fairways are more generous and overall layout just plane better. It has been a long time since I used every sing club in my bag and at cat tail it happened. The distances on every varied to the perfect degree to me to play a full set of clubs. If you are on you will shoot a good score if you are off slightly there are opportunities to make back strokes. I will definitely be back although it is 60 miles from my house. Would much rather play here than any other Scottsdale resort course.

Played Cat Tail on 05/25/13. What a fantastic course. Very beautiful and lush. Wide open and generally fun to play. Greens are huge and in excellent condition. sand is fluffy and deep. I would return ... Continue »

Played Cat Tail on 05/25/13. What a fantastic course. Very beautiful and lush. Wide open and generally fun to play. Greens are huge and in excellent condition. sand is fluffy and deep. I would return here any day to play Cat Tail !!!!

Played this course for the second time. It is a very nice course to play, fairly wide fairways, large greens. Today the greens were very fast, they were a bit thin in spots, but were smooth and ran ... Continue »

Played this course for the second time. It is a very nice course to play, fairly wide fairways, large greens. Today the greens were very fast, they were a bit thin in spots, but were smooth and ran true if you could read them, which I sure couldn't, and would hold a shot if you were fully on the green. Many of the greens have run off areas some with false fronts so if you weren't fully on the green the ball would run off into depressed areas. It seemed as if most of the greens were slightly elevated, so after a few holes I was hitting an extra club in. Some of the greens on the back nine seemed to have a fungus and were very thin in spots and 2 or 3 had some bare spots. All in all though it was in good shape. We were finished in 3 hours 40 minutes, had a deuce in front of us, never saw them after the third, and never did see anyone behind us. Troon resort course, good to very good customer service.

Played Feb 12, 2009. Teed off about 11am. A few groups ahead of us and behind. Superbowl Sunday. Finished in time to see the end of golf tournament and beginning of Superbowl back in Tempe. Cardinals ... Continue »

Played Feb 12, 2009. Teed off about 11am. A few groups ahead of us and behind. Superbowl Sunday. Finished in time to see the end of golf tournament and beginning of Superbowl back in Tempe. Cardinals were robbed. The course was in good shape, the greens medium fast. First time here, nice layout but fairly standard. Don't want to upset the resort guests. In fairness, this is in very flat country, hard to have a lot of character. Especially with all the original desert gone.

Played this course for the first time on 7/20/2008. It is an interesting layout. Was supposed to play up in Prescott, but a heavy rainfall came, and on the way back to Tucson stopped to play here be... Continue »

Played this course for the first time on 7/20/2008. It is an interesting layout. Was supposed to play up in Prescott, but a heavy rainfall came, and on the way back to Tucson stopped to play here because my wife has "always wanted" to play at WildHorse Pass. The rain that was hitting Prescott when we left had already come through Phoenix, so it was a very humid day, keeping people away from the course. We pretty much had things to ourselves. There was a 3-some 2 holes in front of us, and a 2-some 2 holes behind us .. It was very relaxed. This course is not particularly challenging . . it's actually a pretty easy course if you hit the ball even semi-straight. The rough was cut short enough that playing out of it wasn't hard at all. They had recently aereated the fairways, so they were a little rough, but I would hazard a guess that when they're back to "normal" then they'll be great. As it was, they were very playable. The greens are pretty large and flat. There are some that have some undulation to them, but for the most part, they're pretty flat. They rolled very true, and held shots without any problem. We played at the "after 10am summer rate" of $45 which may be a little steep considering they'd aeraeted recently, but I don't feel cheated. There's a nice mix of water holes, desert holes with forced carries, and all fairway holes. Landing areas are wide and the pins weren't tucked away in some god awful have-to-make-a-shot-of-a-lifetime to get to them. I'll play the course again . . after it's had a chance to grow in a little bit.