Why this daily-fee course with a smokin’ summer deal is my favorite course of the year

At GOLF.com, travel — and playing golf — is a part of the gig. Here, as we count down the final days of 2024, is a look at some of the favorite courses our staffers played over the past 12 months.

***

Phoenix, Ariz., is known as one of the country’s golf meccas — and for good reason. With nearly 200 courses in the region — and mild winter temperatures in the 60s and 70s — there’s no shortage of places to play all year round. The fact that the area is a coveted destination for vacationers escaping the winter cold, however, creates a bit of a problem for locals like me. As soon as the weather gets nice, the price of golf increases dramatically — sometimes to several hundred dollars per round. (Check out the eye-popping green fees I found around town during last year’s Super Bowl weekend — yikes!)

If you aren’t a member of a private club, you need to be prepared to shell out in a big way to play a round during the prime season. But unless it’s a special occasion with friends and family in town, I’m generally not inclined to spend top dollar on golf. This year, though, I learned why it pays to play the bulk of my rounds in the off-peak summer months when I discovered a smokin’ late-summer deal at a local course.

Travel

Stonecreek GC is a public course located just minutes from my home in Phoenix. The par-71, 6,871-yard course was originally designed by Gary Grandstaff and Roy Dye, and later re-designed by Arthur Hills & Associates. The vibe is friendly and low-key, and the links-style layout offers beautiful views of the Squaw Peak mountains.

Prior to the start of summer, my mom, who also lives locally, expressed an interest in re-establishing her long-dormant handicap index. We decided to play a series of rounds together, and as I was investigating a good venue for us, I happened upon a summer deal from Stonecreek that seemed too good to be true. The Stonecreek “6-pack” offered six rounds of golf for $159 — that came out to only $26.50 per round, and included the cart. The only catch? All rounds needed to be completed by the end of September, and the earliest you could book a tee times was 72 hours in advance. Even though we’d have to brave 110-degree temperatures, we were immediately sold.

Signing up for the 6-pack was the first time I had multiple days of golf on my schedule — one round per week — since my college days. It’s remarkable how much better each round feels when you get in the groove of regular play. I hadn’t experienced that in a long time! And aside from spending the quality time with my mom, which I loved, it was also fun to get to know a nearby course as our “local.” Stonecreek is tricky, with some lay-ups required off tees, numerous inconveniently-placed penalty areas and lots of bunkers. Water comes into play numerous times. In our first round, I lost two sleeves of balls. (!) But each week, over the course of our six rounds, my mom and I discovered how to play each hole strategically. By the end of September, I suffered no such losses. We knew were to miss and how to mitigate potential blow-ups.

It felt good to call a new course my home. I felt like a regular, so much so that when a friend came to town last week, Stonecreek was where I wanted to bring him to play. Our high-season green fee? $105. While the price stung a bit, considering what I had paid to play less than three months before, the cost was still a relative bargain, considering the cost of other area courses.

More than anything, the Stonecreek 6-Pack reminded me of golf’s core joys: Playing with people you love and enjoying the outdoors — even when it’s sweltering. The fact that it was also ultra-affordable was the icing on the cake.

While the Phoenix temperatures are positively ideal at the moment, suffice to to say that my mom and I are already looking forward to the summer — and another Stonecreek 6-pack.