A Tucson Venture

Spend the extra money and stay at the Arizona Inn. During the week you can get it for $140 a night, do it. First-class pool, rooms, etc. Classy, old-school digs.

Fresh off a month's chirorpractic after the last golf binge, I went to Tucson to play Tucson National and then El Conquiistador Country Club, both in the Oro Valley about a 20 minute drive north of Tucson. I would get so focused that I had to remind myself to look off at the nearby Catalina mountains, which provide the backdrop for both courses.

I got National for $60. This track is a classic layout. Played it from about 6610 yards but did not get much role due to humid conditions and a recent rain. You can score at this place, greens were a little on the slow side. It's the only par 73 on which I have played. The back nine has a few rolling hills.

My only knock on National was not enough signature holes. Eighteen was close, 400-plus dogleg right between two ponds, aim for the fountain in the middle and then hope you are inside 200 yards to an elevated green. Outstanding practice facilities. I managed an 89 here but did not feel that good about my game.

It threatened rain all day and doused us on the 10th hole for about 20 minutes. I had to play with a guy who claimed to be a 5-handicap but who started throwing clubs after his fourth consecutive 6. I take my golf seriously but if I wanted conflict and bad feelings I would just work. Guy was a straight-up douche.

The next day I popped for $40 at El Conquistador. Practice facilities are not very nice here, ratty mats on the range, no short game or putting area available and just a general feeling of cheapness. Staff seems jaded from all the play the place gets.

This was a tougher course than I thought, played from 6300 yards. The fourth hole was a par 4 with a desert strip making up about 150 yards. So to score on the hole you had to hit it about 225 yards to the edge of the sand and then blast over the hazard. I did not do this and took an ocho, lost ball drive, shanked lay up, into the sand, out, etc., etc.

It also had uphill and pretty tough par 3s. The front offered nothing surprising other than the desert-hazard hole.

The back nine at this place stood out for the changes in topography and thoughtful, challenging holes. The back has blind shots and elevated tee boxes. I would say the signature hole here is 16, a 410 yard dogleg left, then a downhill slope to an uphill, tiered green guarded in front by bunkers.

The greens role true but not lightning quick. (I developed an annoying problem with my irons in that I felt as if grip shifting just at impact, leading to weak hits.)

El Conquistador requires a lot more course knowledge than National, and the back nine at El Q. rocks. I blew at El Q., hitting a 98 but I am blaming 5 strokes on lack of course knowledge.