Forest Highlands Canyon Golf Course
If I asked you where the above photo is from, you’d never guess it was Arizona. I couldn’t believe it either. That’s the cool thing with Flagstaff though, it’s a break from the desert. So I went there with my work buddies Mike and Ronnie during a 2012 work-trip in Arizona. It was summer, August 10th to be exact. We were doing work with the Purple Heart (what an awesome group of people and true Americans) and they were having a convention in Scottsdale. In August. And there was a golf event. In 116 degree heat. God bless those old codgers, they all went out in that crap and played. My buddy Ronnie said no way and got us hooked up to play at Forest Highlands (traditionally ranked as the #1 or #2 course in AZ). The temperature difference was 30 degrees in a two-hour drive.
Forest Highlands was a great “mountain” course with a weird twist; it had 6 par threes, 6 par fours and 6 par fives. Really loved this course. The elevation changes were awesome. The seclusion of each hole within this massive property was awesome. The conditioning was (you guessed it) awesome. I don’t know how much trouble it was getting on here but well worth it so definitely worth the trek up from Phoenix if you happen to be there in the summer months.
My favorite hole was the ninth. You are towering above the hole and have a creek down the left-hand side. You easily clear a 50-foot pine tree that is sitting in the middle of the fairway without even getting incredible height on the ball – that’s how much the elevation drops. The approach is to a narrow green sitting on a pond. You’ll see the photo below. The par threes were all very, very good as well. Honestly this is another course where hole after hole was not only beautiful but featured some intriguing strategy to figure out to score.
Then the drive back is awesome, too. We drove through Sedona as the sun was setting and that is a really pretty drive to the point where three guys were stopping the car to get out and take photos. The last two photos are from the drive back down. Sorry about the antenna blocking the one rock formation, maybe I can get my buddy to photoshop it out.
Beyond this I’ve never been back to Flagstaff so don’t really have any recommendations to stay or for food. If you’re in Phoenix or Scottsdale and decide to do this like we did, it’s a good drive. Give yourself 2-1/2 hours up or even more if you detour through Sedona. It’s a long day so we didn’t stay for cocktails or food after. I don’t really have any good stories from the round that I remember. I do know that Flagstaff is where Johnny Cocktails’ Drunkle lives. While I have now heard that term more and more, JC was the first that I know to use it and give it to his uncle. You know if you’re getting called Drunkle by Johnny Cocktails, you got some real problems.
Golf Scrapbook 