Capital Canyon Club, Prescott. Tom Weiskopf, 1998.

This private club was originally called Hassayampa, but that club closed a few years back. After sitting idle for a few years some of the residents got together and got the club open again and the course back into shape. I thought very highly of Weiskopf’s work (with Jay Morrish) at The Rim Club in Payson—also a course playing through mountainous pine forests about a mile above sea level—so I was quite excited to see this course. Judged on that standard, this course is a disappointment. It feels short and vaguely claustrophobic in too many places, especially given how the ball carries at altitude.

The best holes come around the turn, at the bottom of the hill—the par 5 8th tumbling downhill through the tall pines, the simple down-then-up 12^th, and the 14^th that climbs the hill gently as it turns toward the green. But the short par-4 7th is a mess (are there any good holes outside of Scotland that require a periscope?) and the back-to-back par-3s at 16 and 17 are gorgeous but feel contrived, especially given the lengthy cart ride between them.

Arizona 3rd Decile [2015]