A Long Hot Afternoon at Apache Creek Golf

A lazy morning today, especially after my personal trainer decreed that we’d forego the morning hike so that we wouldn’t be too tired to golf in the afternoon. Okay. Dave had booked us for a 1:45 tee time at Apache Creek Golf Course, a course that Sue and I had golfed a few years ago when we were just learning how to golf — and all we remember about it is that it is one huge gopher patch where we lost quite a few golf balls. Dave had golfed there a couple of weeks ago and his review of the experience was about the same as ours. While Sue sat at the pool and read, I went out to the driving range just before lunch — and who shows up? Ed. He’d manage to cancel his tee time at Gold Canyon and had booked the fourth slot at 1:45 at Apache Creek. He tells me that when he had mentioned where he was golfing to his neighbour earlier that morning, the neighbour had said that course was one of the few on his list that he should never golf again. Oh oh. Looks like we’re in for a long afternoon.

Sue and Rudy at the Apache Creek Golf CourseAfter lunch we picked up Dave and Ed and Val (who’d arrived in AZ last night and would come along for the ride while the rest of us scattered golf balls among the gopher holes) and headed to the golf course, just down road on Hwy 60. Our first sign that the game would not be a quick one (like we’d had a few days ago at Mountain Brook) was when the four old guys ahead of us on Hole #1 all took two shots off the tee — from the Professional/Black tees, no less! and then drove their carts 80 yards, down just past the red tees, and circled around the thorn bushes looking for their balls. We’d be spending a good part of the afternoon sitting in 80 degree heat waiting for them at every tee.

But Dave gave us a little lecture about patience on the golf course, and once we’d “adjusted” our attitudes, we had a fun afternoon in spite of the long waits. The weather was beautiful. The views of Superstition Mountain were unobstructed. The greens on the course were as well maintained as they were tough. The gophers did their best to stay out of our way. What’s not to like about that?

Ed and Val at the Apache Creek Golf CourseSue and I didn’t play all that well, but we had a fun. Somehow my ball managed to find water (WATER?) on the first hole, and on my worst hole I whacked the ball back and forth ACROSS the green, scoring 8 on a par 3. Sue got into a rhythm on the back nine, shooting a six on EVERY hole! By the time we finally arrived at Hole 18 it was ten minutes after six and the sunset on the mountain was already fading. Quite a few golf carts passed us on their way back to the clubhouse — they would not finish today. But we did. And then we piled our golf bags back into the van and headed back to Gold Canyon.

After dropping everyone off, Sue and I went back to Bashas, the grocery store, to pick up a couple of steaks. We barbecued them and had a late supper. After Sue had cleaned up the dishes we poured ourselves another glass of wine and sat down to watch TV. I cued up another episode of “Suits” and fell asleep. Probably I’d had a little too much sun. Too much fun.