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| - Got the pleasure to play Grayhawk's Raptor course on 06/12/17. We had a 0630 tee time to beat the heat. We got there a little early, so being the tourists we were, we had some time to look around and take some photos. Hello green Rolex clock tower. After settling in, we warmed up on their complimentary driving range. When it was time, one of the staff came over and told us that we were next up on the tee box. With our luck, it was just my buddy and I. The field was practically ours.
I wouldn't call Raptor true desert, target golf. The fairways were forgiving enough that you had some room for error off the tee boxes. What I appreciated the most about Raptor on that day was the condition the course was in. Everything was nicely groomed and green. The greens were rock solid; I had a few approach shots with my wedge and it barely even made a divot. Because of this, the greens were pristine. There were hardly any divots or dimples around. Our putts were rolling true. It did help that we were one of the first groups out on the day too.
Speaking about the greens, this is where I found Grawhawk Raptor to be most challenging. Everything leading up to the green on each hole was pretty much straight forward. Not too many dog lefts or rights or dramatic elevation changes. The field was mainly straight and flat. With the exception of a few fairway bunkers or purposely positioned trees to make your golf life a little challenging. Other than that, the hard part was around the greens. If you missed your shot onto the green, you may be sitting way below and having to take a high lofted wedge to come back up onto the green. Greens were like floating islands in the sky, you definitely do not want to miss it or you'll be rolling down. There were a good number of greenside bunkers to consider as well. Do look out for false fronts and multi tiers.
I didn't notice any water hazards until the 18th hole on Raptor. I actually loaded my bag up with golf balls thinking I would lose quite a few and to my surprise, that didn't really happed. Raptor wasn't as difficult as I would have imagined it to be but nevertheless, it was a great first course warm us up for our Scottsdale golfing trip. The round was about $80 pp (low summer season) and a big thanks to the staff serving us on the course. They gave us pointers and took care of our equipment for us. We got through Raptor in about 3.5 hours and were off the course before any triple digit weather was casted upon us.
I'd would like to come back to try Grawhawk's Talon course next time and see the differences between the two courses. Hopefully, we would have more luck on our side and get to meet the great, Paige Spiranac since I heard this is her home course. We even gave her a shout out on IG but she never got back. Lol. =(
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