Arizona Golf Course Reviews
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Course ReviewGold Canyon, AZ
|
Sidewinder Scorecard from the Longest Tees as of the date of last review
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Golf Course Summary: Located at the Gold Canyon Resort about an hour to the east of Phoenix, the Sidewinder Golf Course is the easier track in the 36 hole golf complex. The routing is relatively flat, and has a few houses along the way, but mostly offers a fair outing with only a few tough holes. There is more trouble off the tee (usually on one side only) than there is for the approaches, which allows the player with his "A-Game" off the tee with a great chance to score well. The best golf holes are reviewed below:
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Hole 1: The first shot of the day is one of the more difficult on the course and also possibly the most scenic. With desert left and right, and not a lot of room to stray, accuracy is at a premium. The lake also can come into play, but only with a mammoth drive. For the player who nails the tee shot, birdie possibilities await as it is a short par five with very little trouble surrounding the flat and accessible green.
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Hole 1: The first shot of the day is one of the more difficult on the course and also possibly the most scenic. With desert left and right, and not a lot of room to stray, accuracy is at a premium. The lake also can come into play, but only with a mammoth drive. For the player who nails the tee shot, birdie possibilities await as it is a short par five with very little trouble surrounding the flat and accessible green.
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Hole 5: The Sidewinder golf course has a lot of relatively short par fours that are easy, but this dogleg left is engineered better than most. The farther left one goes, the farther the carry, but also, the closer the green. However, the far side of the fairway ends in desert so the golfer must commit to their line and execute. The green is then snug against a very large bunker short and to the right.
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Hole 6: The best par five on the course is not particularly long, but the aggressive player is challenged to be perfect. The drive features a wide landing area if the player wants to leave 230 yards or more to the green. From there it tightens significantly between large bunkers right and desert to the left. Then, the green is situated right behind a creek-bed, with a collection bunker back left. The green is also very shallow, so approaches that are anything but high and soft will be challenged to stay on the putting surface.
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Hole 8: The number 1 handicap hole feature bunkers to the right (with desert right of that) and a tree in the middle of the fairway. There are bunkers left but also more grass to that side than is visible from the tee. However, the approach to the narrow green is tough as any shot right will be lucky not to bounce into the desert. Also, the green features a large knob that makes putts break a lot.
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Hole 15: The back nine is not as picturesque or memorable as the front, but it is definitely more challenging. The 15th, however, may win the awards for both of these categories. With desert to the left, the lake on the right that is in play on the tee shot and approach shot seems large in the mind of the golfer. It also pinches in around the 175 yard mark from the green, so the player can stay "safe" by leaving close to 200 yards for their approach (over water) or has to hit a big driver to the "wide" portion of the fairway a little farther up.
Sidewinder at Gold Canyon Hole 18: The final golf hole typifies a lot of what Sidewinder brings to the table. It is short and the drive features big trouble to the left in the form of houses, but is more docile to the right or the layup. The second or third shot as approached to the green is uphill and must carry the creek, but there is plenty of bailout room short / left. However, the green is shallow and wide, which makes hitting it from far away difficult.
