Short and sweet
That is how I'd describe a recent trip Dale Hoerauf and I took to sunny Arizona in mid-March. We flew Allegiant airline which features non-stop, cheap flights from Bismarck to Phoenix. Ours was supposed to leave at 9:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night but was delayed an hour. Jim Potter, a former school principle and golfing buddy in Bismarck, and his wife Penny now live in Gold Canyon. Jim met us at the airport and chauffeured us to what would be our home away from home for the next three days.
Thursday morning, Dale picked a grapefruit in Potter's back yard. I'm not a huge fan of the fruit but these babies were almost sweet. Excellent! Potters also have a lemon/orange tree.
By 8:00 a.m., we were searching for balls on Gold Canyon's Dinosaur golf course. You can see the back of the dinosaur on this photo of hole #1. Dinosaur is the highest rated public course in Arizona.
The course features dramatic elevation changes reminiscent of a course in Mesquite, Nevada we played last year, Wolf Creek Golf Course.
According to one of the locals who played with us on Friday morning, the owner of the house in the distance ran into some problems during construction. It seems the design of her house required footage that infringed on federal land. She applied for but was refused a variance. She asked what would happen if she went ahead with her original design and was told the authorities would levy a $100,000 fine against her. She plunked down the money without batting an eye. Build, baby, build.
In the afternoon, we prepared to tee off at Sidewinder, the sister course to Dinosaur. They are situated side by side and share the same clubhouse. Jim and Dale point to a large saguaro cactus left of the tee boxes on #1.
Many of the cacti on or near the course sported wounds from errant golf balls. Jim said it takes 75 years for one of these tall boys to grow its first arm. He also said they are incredibly heavy and a 12" tall cross-section of one weighs 100 pounds.
Speaking of cacti, Jim warned us not to wander to close to the jumping cholla cacti.
This guy evidently didn't get the same advice. I guess they call it jumping cholla for a reason. Incidentally, Potters live on Jumping Cholla Drive.