At GOLF.com, the sport isn’t just our job but a passion. In this month’s editors’ picks, we’re dishing on the best courses, training aids, grub and more we discovered in November 2022.
What we’re wearing
Let me set the scene for you: it’s late June, and I’m pulling up to Cruden Bay in Scotland with far too little clothing. Yesterday, it was 70 degrees and sunny, but today? Today might qualify as “indoor weather” — 45 degrees with a 30 mph wind that slices through even your favorite windbreaker. Perhaps, if I’d been smarter, I would have packed this beanie or this fleece, both from Adidas, both of which have proven warmer than even the worst fall weather days in the northeast. But I was not smarter, so I have 27 freezing holes ahead of me without either of the aforementioned items. Yes, the golf was still incredible, but I’ll always wonder if I might have scored a little better had I only packed better.
The lesson? Don’t be like me. Buy the proper gear for the elements, and if you’re buying for cold weather, trust this notoriously cold New Yorker by buying Adidas’ Cold.RDY line. — James Colgan
Adidas Golf Pompom Beanie
How we’re training
I’m usually a bit skeptical when my dad tells me he’s got a new training aid that’s going to fix his (insert golf skill here), but this one seemed more legit than others: the Tour Aim alignment trainer. The Tour Aim is a small board with several different slots to put in alignment rods. You can use it on full shots and chip shots in different configurations, but it also offers a great solution for putting.
The board has a small cutout the size of a golf ball, and above that is a rod that provides a track for the putter head. Similar to Tiger Woods’ gate drill, you roll the ball through the opening and the rods provide an excellent visualization.
When I first tried it, the only putter I had available was my backup, but I found it so easy to use that there soon might be an internal putter controversy. Regardless, it’s an amazing tool for working on your start line which, no matter what putter you use, is crucial to making those putts inside 15 feet. — Jack Hirsh
Where we’re playing
A dozen GOLF.com staffers spent a few sunny days in Scottsdale in mid-November for the Top 100 Teachers Summit, and for us in the northern part of the U.S., that meant bonus golf. I left the snow behind and teed it up twice in Arizona, and the round I played before my flight took off — the Cholla Course at We-Ko-Pa — was a fond farewell to the area.
The Cholla usually doesn’t rank as high as the other 18 at We-Ko-Pa, the Saguaro, designed by Coore and Crenshaw, but the Scott Miller design is still one of the best public courses in the state. While the Saguaro seems more linksy, the Cholla calls for more target golf.
But target golf too often becomes confused with golf that’s too penal, and that’s not the case here. Fairways are wide and there’s still some room to play shots if you trickle into the desert (if one of the strategic bunkers doesn’t save you first). There’s a good variety of risk/reward options and the greens are huge, most guarded with tight run-off areas that collect poorly hit shots.
Few spots beat the value you find at We-Ko-Pa — and even fewer have a better breakfast burrito offered at the turn. — Josh Berhow
What we’re eating
Nachos are generally irresistible to me — even in their worst, movie-theater-cheese-sauce form — and I’ve made a habit of ordering them whenever they appear on the menu. My now-extensive nacho experience has given me a few personal best-practices: I generally avoid cheese sauce when possible, meat is kind of a turn-off because it’s generally dry or chewy (though chili is an absolute yes), and beans and copious jalapenos must always be present.
So when my colleagues and I sat down for lunch at Talking Stick Golf Club’s Wildhorse Grille at our recent Top 100 Teacher Summit in Scottsdale, Ariz., I initially wasn’t sure about the Machaca Beef Nachos I spotted on the menu. Not only were they served with — gulp — jalapeno cheese sauce, they also included the aforementioned Machaca beef. Could be iffy! But we decided as a group to try them as an appetizer and … OMG — they were perfect.
Turns out, the cheese sauce is made from scratch in house, the beef was tender and delicious and the jalapenos were fresh, not pickled.
It was the ultimate nacho trifecta — truly, the best batch I’ve ever had. We ordered them again the next day and they were just as excellent. Now I’m just grateful I live nearby so I can return to order them a third time — but this time, I’ll be hogging them all as my entrée. — Jessica Marksbury
