This isn’t a great time to be playing golf in the Phoenix-Scottsdale resort corridor. Many courses are closed for overseeding. Others are just coming out of it and not looking their best yet. Everyone’s pretty much still dealing with the aftereffects of a brutally hot summer.

In a few weeks, it will be back to paradise as usual.

But now’s a weird time to be holding a golf tournament in Scottsdale. That’s just what the PGA Tour is doing though with the Fry’s Electronics Open - otherwise known as the tournament they convinced Phil Mickelson to play so it exists.

The silly season event is being held at one of Arizona’s best courses, Grayhawk Raptor. Only you might not get an idea of how good this course is if you’re watching it this weekend on TV.

It’s not that Grayhawk looks bad. But it doesn’t look like Grayhawk does in its prime. The fairways aren’t super green. Many of the greens are downright grainy. It’s even more noticeable if you’re walking the course watching the tournament - which would make you one of about four dozen people.

Usually golf courses look better than they’ll ever look again, much better than they’ll look when you get to play them, during PGA Tournament weeks. This is the rare exception. You’ll get a better Grayhawk this winter than Mickelson did putting for dough.

In its own way, I guess that’s sort of cool.

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