Las Sendas Golf Club: Review from Arizona Golf Guides

480-396-4000 7555 E. Eagle Crest Dr. Mesa, AZ 85207 www.lassendas.com semiprivate/public holes: 18 course par:71 rating/slope: - Black 72.5/145 - Blue 70.8/135 - White 68.7/129 - Red 69.9/128 range of yardages: 5,100–6,914 general manager:D.J. Sedivy cart & green fees: fall $79-$99, winter $119-$139, spring $99-$119, summer $49-$69 course designer:Robert Trent Jones Jr. shoe policy: soft spikes only

Las Sendas Golf Club presents a formidable layout etched into the Usery Mountains east of Mesa, where carpets of turf roll and tumble through this semiprivate golf community in contrast to the desert setting. The commanding views of the city and distant landmarks from elevated tees are an added attraction.

Robert Trent Jones II built this course in 1995, marking his solo debut in Arizona after earlier projects in the state with his father. He designed this moderate-length test of golf to play to a very specific strategy over the par-71 track that tips out at 145 with a 72.5 course rating. The course plays to 6,914 yards from the back, but the 6,657-yard Black/Blue Combo configured on the scorecard is more manageable for most players.

Generous landing areas allow every guest to put a ball in play off the tee. From there the game begins. With the sensible route tee to green always in clear view, the more heroic options taunt the lowhandicap gambler looking for shortcuts.

Las Sendas gets down to business on the first tee. The long dogleg par 4 makes a sharp right along the expansive lake. An attempt across the water probably poses greater risk than reward. The key for most would be to make every effort to negotiate the advised course strategy and steer clear of the massive signature fairway bunkers and mounding.

Las Sendas is challenging but not relentless. The sequence of holes unfolds in such a way the subtleties on one fairway bring a little respite from the trouble on another, such as the open play on No. 3 after a faceoff with the string of bunkers before the second green.

The front side works around Spook Hill, the dominating natural feature of the community. Holes four, five, and six play to elevated greens tucked into the boulder-ridden mountainside, lending the quintessential look and feel of desert golf. The sixth hole, a short 485-yard par 5, poses one of the more interesting challenges. After the dogleg right, the line of play keeps bending right to the green set high on Spook Hill and heavily guarded by sand bunkers on the left. Finesse the second shot into position for an unimpeded approach uphill to the green. The tendency is to pound it toward the bunkers at the end of the fairway below and left of the green, which results in a pitch straight left up and over the greenside bunkers.

Favorites on the back nine include No. 11, a 135-yard par 3 that plays uphill to the blind green set into Spook Hill. Twelve, a 440-yard par 4, plays delicately uphill and down on a narrow fairway to an open green sloped front to back.

Eighteen is a prodigious double-dogleg downhill par 5. With ample room to stay dry, water threatens off the tee and a large lake challenges the green from the riskier shot across the water. Enough to say strategic play has its own reward in the risk Las Sendas throws down.

The club offers golf memberships for local and out of state visitors, and extends resident rates to Las Sendas homeowners.

DAVID HUBBARD

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