Arizona Spies

[fixyurdivot]

This question goes out to my fellow full time Arizona spies.  How many of you live there full time and does the summer heat put a crimp in your golf schedule?  My wife and I are considering a home in Sun City Grand, for sure to spend winter season but possibly full time at some point.  Our biggest concern is whether we could survive summer months.  Lots of folks say "just get out and do things before 10:00 am.  That sounds like a major traffic jam .  I suppose the upside is that, for those who can stand the heat, the courses are nearly empty the rest of the day.  Anyway, love to hear from from our desert dwellers.

[Kenny B]

My BIL lived across the street from us until last June when he moved to Surprise AZ.  He's 69 and has 8 stents and a pacemaker/defibrillator.  He played here in the summer when it was over 100; first tee time.  He plays there during the summer, but like you say... early.

I've spent many days during summer in Phoenix and Tucson for meetings when I worked.  It's not bad early, and you are right, courses are empty and cheap.  It's been several years now, but I played TPC Scottsdale for $65.

When you move and we visit my BIL in the winter, we will give you a shout!!

[sp0rtsfan86]

9 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

This question goes out to my fellow full time Arizona spies.  How many of you live there full time and does the summer heat put a crimp in your golf schedule?  My wife and I are considering a home in Sun City Grand, for sure to spend winter season but possibly full time at some point.  Our biggest concern is whether we could survive summer months.  Lots of folks say "just get out and do things before 10:00 am.  That sounds like a major traffic jam .  I suppose the upside is that, for those who can stand the heat, the courses are nearly empty the rest of the day.  Anyway, love to hear from from our desert dwellers.

Lived in Yuma 3+ years full time. It really depends on how tolerant to heat you are and how willing to deal with it. I've played in 117F before and can confirm it sucks. 105 is doable without any humidity but during monsoon season there will be at least 2-3 weeks where half the week is stay inside. Difference is you get plenty of sunny days to more than make up for the few days where heat keeps you inside.

As for the courses, in summer they are generally empty. Mesa and Las Barrancas are ghost towns after noon in Yuma. PGA west I've played for 50 bucks in may when it was over 100 but had no issues with the heat other than drinking a metric ton of water. PGA Scottsdale is similar. Mornings can be busy, but never found a course too jammed in the morning. Then again I didn't play much in the morning.

[sp0rtsfan86]

10 minutes ago, sp0rtsfan86 said:

Lived in Yuma 3+ years full time. It really depends on how tolerant to heat you are and how willing to deal with it. I've played in 117F before and can confirm it sucks. 105 is doable without any humidity but during monsoon season there will be at least 2-3 weeks where half the week is stay inside. Difference is you get plenty of sunny days to more than make up for the few days where heat keeps you inside.

As for the courses, in summer they are generally empty. Mesa and Las Barrancas are ghost towns after noon in Yuma. PGA west I've played for 50 bucks in may when it was over 100 but had no issues with the heat other than drinking a metric ton of water. PGA Scottsdale is similar. Mornings can be busy, but never found a course too jammed in the morning. Then again I didn't play much in the morning.

Worth also pointing out that there's maybe 2-2.5 months of intense heat starting June and going through September where you have to want to play. The best seasons for golf are late April- early June and September through October before the winter visitors get in. Courses are generally empty and the weather is not awful but still pretty hot.

[mnfats95]

Lived here for 4 years now coming from Western Kansas.

Golf in the summer in AZ.

Pros:

Prices are very reasonable on most of the courses. Compared to winter prices it feels like a steal.

If you can tolerate 105 to 110 you don't have to have the first tee time, but obviously the earlier the better.

Rarely is the wind over 10 mph which is great golf weather.

Most of the courses I've played are very accommodating with water on every other hole or every three holes to refill your bottles.

The courses are much less played which makes it easier to get a tee time but still busy enough that if you are a single you can always find someone to play with.

The ball goes a mile due to the dry conditions which can make some of the courses play much easier than in the winter.

The "dry heat" saying really is true. 100 degrees here feels nothing like 100 back home. The sun is intense, so floppy hats and covering exposed skin can be more comfortable than a cap and shorts/short sleeves.

There are so many courses you will never run out of new challenges and fun venues.

Cons:

If you can't tee off by 8 or 9 you will absolutely be playing in the hottest part of the day as it's usually almost there by 10 or 11 am.

Rarely is the wind over 10 mph which doesn't help cooling you off as you sweat.

The courses are dry and the ball goes forever, but they also generally aren't in as good a shape as keeping grass alive in the heat is a challenge.

If you aren't a morning person, playing well at 5:30 am can be a challenge.

Wildlife is out in the morning just like you due to the heat. Snakes are a hassle so looking for balls in the desert is an adventure sometimes, buy a ball retriever to reach into bushes and cactus, best club in my bag.

You have to think about prep a lot more. Make sure you have sunscreen, water, etc... Check to make sure there will be water on the course or at least a beverage cart.

 

The worst time I've had we played in 120 degree heat with a 25 mph wind and it was brutal. But the price was right for an expensive course. I would not do it again however even for the price.

Overall I love living here and the golf is fantastic.

In my opinion the pros outweigh the cons.

[Kenny B]

2 hours ago, sp0rtsfan86 said:

Worth also pointing out that there's maybe 2-2.5 months of intense heat starting June and going through September where you have to want to play. The best seasons for golf are late April- early June and September through October before the winter visitors get in. Courses are generally empty and the weather is not awful but still pretty hot.

In October the weather is great but nearly all courses are overseeding then and closed for a couple of weeks.

For the most part playing in AZ in the summer is not that much different than playing here in E. Washington.  We have many days over 100º and some days over 110º with low humidity; except when playing here early in the morning, the humidity is high as the sun sucks the water out of the ground after overnight watering.

I could live there full time, no problem.  

[azstu324]

If you had asked me 4 years ago or any of the 20 years prior, I would have said it's not bad. Stay hydrated and sunscreen up and you'll be good to go.. well we ended up moving to Pacific Grove, CA.. aka the northern entrance to Pebble Beach. We were there for a little over a year when a career change forced us to move back to Chandler. Just 1 year in heaven and we completely declimatezed to hot weather. Summer golfing is just a painful experience now. I still push through and manage ok but it's just not a very pleasant experience for me.

One day we plan to move back to PG where it's golf season year round

the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get..

[azstu324]

On 6/16/2019 at 5:44 PM, mnfats95 said:

The worst time I've had we played in 120 degree heat with a 25 mph wind and it was brutal. But the price was right for an expensive course. I would not do it again however even for the price.

con·vec·tion ov·en

noun

 

1. a cooking device that heats food by the circulation of hot air.

 

Yes, we are litereally being slow-cooked in Arizona 

 

Edited June 19, 2019 by azstu324

[deauxrite]

Lived here for 4 years now.  Just got home from the course after a morning round that started at 9 AM.  High temperature here today will be 92 and humidity around 10%.  A bit breezy today, but manageable.  Not all of Arizona is like the Phoenix and Tucson areas.  Here in Sierra Vista we do not have the number of golf courses that the larger cities do, but our golf is truly year round.  Our monsoon will begin in a couple of weeks and our summer days will be glorious and the evenings even better.  As for playing in the Phoenix area..I tried it last summer.  Great prices, excellent courses..excruciating temperatures during the middle of the day.