Prescott Country Club: Wide-open course and easy to score on
Prescott Country Club, which is actually in Dewey, Arizona, about 15 minutes from the town of Prescott , is a public course quite popular with summer visitors. Prescott has a reasonably mild climate and is becoming quite a haven for Phoenix people who want to cool off without driving clear to Colorado or San Diego. It's only about l-1/2 hours from Phoenix, and the town has some history as well as good watering holes and restaurants.
I played Prescott Country Club in February, so it certainly was not in pristine condition, nor was it green. In fact, the fairways were quite brown and clumpy, and we made an executive decision to play winter rules.
The course is wide open and should be easy to score on, but the greens are somewhat tricky and are faster than they appear. Modest houses line the open fairways, which are also dotted by poplar trees.
The number one handicap hole is number nine which is a dogleg uphill with a slanting green. Good par five. Water can come into play on five of the front nine holes, but only if you are really errant. Numbers five and six are a bit dangerous because they are parallel with no protection between fairways from the wild slicers out there.
The back nine is somewhat more interesting since the fairways are more undulating, and a few pine trees are interspersed among the poplars. The most interesting hole design is number eighteen which is an uphill par five and the number two-handicap hole for women. It has a large tree in the fairway which comes into play, and water lines the left side of the green, jutting out into the fairway. The overall yardage for women is 5771, and the course rating/slope are 71.5/126.
The good news is that Prescott Country Club is real inexpensive in the winter months compared to Phoenix/Scottsdale prices. We paid only $30.00 (Nov.1 to May 1), then it jumps a bit to $44 from May 2 through Oct. 31. You can deduct $5.00 or $6.00 from those greens fees if you play after 12:00 p.m. The clubhouse is new and improved, and they have some women's clothes which are decent for a small pro shop. There is a snack bar at the turn and a full dining facility.
Although the course design is basically uninteresting, it would be unfair to rate the condition of the course in February since it is winter afterall. I'll check it out in the summer months to see if I like it better.