This Week at TravelGolf.com: Oct. 26, 2007

Don't wimp out on Arizona desert golf

There are golfers with less game-time intestinal fortitude than an 85-year-old on his sixth bowl of extra spicy chili. Guys who talk tough and come up smaller than Mini Me.

You know who you are. You're the duffers who avoid Arizona desert golf.

Which is like a dedicated skier only sticking to the bunny slopes. Sure, there are nitwits who claim desert golf is boring, or unnatural or just plain weird. These are the same folks gripping their space-aged drivers tighter than Homer Simpson strangles Bart at the first sight of a cactus near the fairway.

You know how people from Arizona lower their handicap? They go to someplace like Hilton Head or Florida. I had a great time playing a bunch of Florida golf courses last winter, but there's no doubt it's a step down in difficulty level from the desert. Another hole flatter than a pancake with a water clear? Whoo, how frightening.

Similarly, if you go to the Northeast after a prolonged run of desert golf, you feel like you suddenly discovered that long-sought swing fix. Until you get back, play a course like Boulders South and realize that no, the swing still stinks, the game's just easier without desert creeping in on doglegs.

This is why you need to take on desert golf if you're serious about the game. And no place offers a better combination of desert courses and off-course fun than Phoenix-Scottsdale or Tucson.

You'll lose more golf balls than you've ever lost in your life and find out if you have any guts. Heck, even Phil Mickelson, who knows desert golf much better than most pros having played at Arizona State, sprayed balls into the rocky sand during his brief missed-cut run at Grayhawk Raptor last weekend.

There's just something about hitting into the desert that messes with your mind like no other bad shoot too. Plop one in the water and it's sort of cool in a perverse way to see the splash. Sail one into some Canadian pines and at least you get a nice walk in the woods. There's nothing neat or romantic about trudging through stark desert rocks, trying to avoid cacti and other prickly bushes that sometimes seem to jump for you, in a vain ball search though.

It's just tough, a reminder of how bad you screwed up.

Arizona desert golf isn't for everyone. Wimps should stay home.

As always, TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

When's the best time for an affordable Phoenix-Scottsdale golf trip? Try the early winter

It goes without saying that if you want a great deal on golf in Phoenix-Scottsdale, you'll find plenty of reduced rates in the midst of summer, when triple-digit temperatures are the norm. But the fact is, some great deals are available for this amazing Arizona golf destination in November and December, as well. The heat has subsided and golfers cam play some of the courses of their dreams for much less than they ever would imagine.

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