Recently, noted golf writer Dan Gleason visited us and played a round of golf at ASU Karsten. We want to thank Dan for sharing his impressions, and we hope you’ll enjoy reading his article about his experience at our golf course.

ASU Karsten: A Delightful Place to Spend a Day
By Dan Gleason

Whenever I play the ASU Karsten Golf Course in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to be able to go back and be in college again for just one more wild football Saturday night.

When I was a contributing editor for Golf magazine and later for Golf Digest — and while writing for just about every national golf publication that existed (if there was a Golf for Midgets, I probably had something in there) I played hundreds of really good courses.  I never pulled any punches if a course was overpriced or overrated, so that when I said nice things about a course, readers knew they could trust my opinion to be sincere, whether they agreed with me or not.

So when I tell you that Pete Dye’s ASU-Karsten Golf Course is among a handful of my favorite all-time campus golf courses, realize that I am not a gusher, and keep in mind that I have had the pleasure of playing a lot of good college courses. I put the ASU course right up there with Stanford’s beautiful track, with the U of Iowa’s Finkbine (my alma mater), and Jim Colbert’s heralded namesake layout at Kansas State.

This lovely, well groomed course is in a pretty part of town, southeast of downtown Phoenix, handy to the 202 and 101 freeways. The Sun Devil football stadium is in full view, a few blocks west in the backdrop. Since opening in 1989, this has been the proving grounds for the likes of Phil Mickelson and other ASU All-Americans such as Billy Mayfair and Grace Park, and a lot of other fine college players.

For me, there is no one single factor that puts the ASU’s Karsten course into elite company; it’s a combination of things: a great variety in the layout; the excellent conditioning in which I’ve always found the course; and because even though there are some really long, tough par fours, several others are short enough to give up frequent birdies. The birdies are there not just for the single-digit player, but also for the average Joe and Jane. Yes, the course is challenging, but if you use your head and keep your tee shots in play, this course not only won’t bash your brains in, you will also come away with a really enjoyable day on the links.

Another variable is that there is a lot of grass on this course; it’s not what you might expect when you think of a Phoenix area course. That is, it’s not a desert target course inundated with giant cacti and thorny brambles. There are big hardwood trees, and almost wall-to-wall grass, which makes it seem very Midwestern and reminds me of home.

Again, I love the variety of the holes—some short par fours, some long par fours; short par threes and one long par three. Straightway, tight fairways but also plenty of doglegs, so that placement is usually more important than power when it comes to scoring.

Unless you play the “professional” tees, you come right out of the chute with a hole you can birdie with a short or mid-iron second shot, a dogleg hole with a slightly downhill approach shot into a low-lying green. It’s only 301 yards from the middle tees and 340 from the champion tees (the second set). If you can put your approach below the hole and not have a slick downhiller, you can get started with a par or even one up on Old Man Par and have that psychological cushion.

Hole #2 is another short hole that can give up a birdie, as long as the drive doesn’t reach a big, deep fairway bunker. Number 5 is one of those monster par fours, (493, 462, 421 and 363 all the way forward), which is why it is good to come to this hole with a previous birdie in your pocket. The 9^th and 18^th holes both use the same dramatic lake, on the right and left sides of those respective fairways, for a great finish on both sides—fairly long par fours with tough approaches into peninsula greens where the six-letter word “splash” has produced some four-letter expletives.

Other long par fours include the 10^th (498, 478, 440 and 409); 15^th (not as long as the others, but moderately long and with water lurking on the right side approach). But along the way there are some other shorter par fours, and a par five that can be reached in two if you don’t play on tees beyond your abilities. This is one of only two par fives on the course, so par is 70, which is nice for the ego when you tally up the final score. There is one relatively long par three but the rest of them are reasonable length.

No two holes seem quite alike to me, something I’ve noticed in all the Pete Dye courses I’ve played. While Dye is renowned for being contracted to build really tough private courses, this is a very fair course—not a pushover, but one where most players can score well if they are on their games. It’s what golf ought to always be—challenging enough never to bore a player, but always great fun.

A lot of college kids work at the course and the service is really top notch. So is the restaurant food—from snacks to burgers to full meals served indoors or out on the patio.

All in all, from the moment you step out of your car in the parking lot, start to finish, ASU Karsten is an absolutely delightful place to spend a day.

For more information on ASU Karsten Golf Course, visit www.asukarsten.com or call (480) 921-8070

Dan Gleason, a former contributing editor to Golf Digest, is an award-winning, Scottsdale, AZ-based writer and book author. His fiction and non-fiction have appeared in a wide array of national magazines over the years. You can contact “Writer Dan” by email at writerdan1@cox.net or call 520-219-8881.

Proceeds Benefit The 100 Club Of Arizona

 
Join Arizona Sports 620 hosts Dave Burns and John Gambadoro, Burns & Gambo, at the ASU Karsten Golf Course on Wednesday, December 14^th to raise money for The 100 Club of Arizona in their fifth annual Holiday Heroes radio-thon. The event will take place at the ASU Karsten Golf Course between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., as Burns and Gambo solicit donations, sell amazing sports memorabilia and host a fundraising golf tournament during the 12-hour fundraising marathon.

The mission of the 100 Club of Arizona is to provide financial assistance to families of public safety officers and firefighters who are seriously injured or killed in the line-of-duty, and to provide resources to enhance their safety and welfare.

The Holiday Heroes golf tournament will begin with a noon shotgun start. The event is open to the public. Everyone is encouraged to golf, eat, play and join local athletes and celebrities as Arizona Sports 620 and ASU Karsten help the 100 Club of Arizona raise funds for families of public service officers in need. The Republic Monetary Exchange Golf Ball Drop will take place at 11:45 with one lucky person guaranteed to take home $5,000 in gold.

There are also many exciting on-site activities , such as:

• Ping Gambo! — Take your best shot at Gambo on the ASU Karsten Driving Range as he stands at the hole in a police dog bite suit and helmet! For donations only!
• Holiday Heroes Raffle — Purchase raffle tickets for your chance to win autographed sports memorabilia and golf packages/supplies.
• Police and Fire Displays — Come check out patrol cars, fire trucks, vintage police and fire vehicles, the bomb squad robot, K-9 units in action, and much more! Free to the public, it’s a perfect family activity that everyone will enjoy.

For more information regarding donations, sponsorship opportunities or to play in the event, visit www.holidayheroesaz.com.

The ASU Karsten Golf Course was named one of the Best Campus Courses in the Country by Golfweek Magazine in the September 9, 2011 issue. Golfweek ranked the Top 30 Collegiate Courses and placed ASU Karsten 29th on the list. The Course at Yale in New Haven, Conn. was the top ranked course on the list followed by Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, Mass. To qualify for Golfweek’s Best Campus Course list, a course must be part of a school’s recreational life in terms of preferential access for students, faculty and alumni.

“We’re thrilled to again be named to Golfweek’s list of Best Campus Courses,” said ASU Karsten Director of Golf Daryl Crawford. “Our staff does an incredible job of caring for this Pete Dye-designed golf course.”

ASU Karsten was one of four Pete Dye-designed courses to appear on the Best Campus Courses list. The other Dye-designed courses to make the list are Pete Dye River Course in Blacksburg, Va. (9th), Radrick Farms Golf Course in Ann Arbor, Mich. (17th), and Birck Boilermaker Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. (18th).

Beginning Wednesday, August 17th, and continuing every Wednesday through August 31, Happy Hour Golf rates will begin at 11 AM. That’s 1/2 off the posted rate of $36!!! We’ll do the math…wait for it…that’s $18 for golf starting at 11 AM. You can’t beat that deal.

Can’t wait until 11 AM to play golf? Here’s another special deal for you. Beginning Monday, August 15th, ASU Karsten will be offering a twosome golf special — $50 plus tax and includes golf, golf car and one bottle of water or Powerade each (must be booked as a twosome). This rate will be available after 8:00 AM and is good Monday – Thursday of each week.

To book your tee time for these two late summer specials, please call the GOLF SHOP at 480-921-8070. We hope to see you here!

ASU Karsten is proud to welcome Tim Mickelson as the new men’s head golf coach at Arizona State University. Tim, we’re proud you’re a Sun Devil. Welcome to the PAC-12, and welcome back to the Valley of the Sun.

Read more about Mickelson’s hiring on the ASU Athletics website.

What do the Rolling Stones, Ludacris, Aretha Franklin and Blood Sweat & Tears have to do with playing better golf? Check out my story “Find Your Groove” in this month’s Golf Infuzion Magazine to find out! Subscribe FREE Today! http://www.golfinfuzion.com/Fi​nd-Your-Groove.news

For more information on coaching with Jeff Ritter visit JeffRitterGolf.com

Congratulations to three of Arizona’s best and brightest junior golfers for their terrific play in the State Junior Golf Championships. Jacobo Smith of Chandler and Zachary Wright of Phoenix finished first and second respectively in the Boys Division, and Saki Iida of Gilbert placed second in the Girls Division.

Each of the teens is a student of ASU Karsten PING Learning Center Instructor Matt Trimble. Coincidence? We don’t think so, as Trimble has been working with the junior golfers for years and has helped take their golf games to the next level. Way to go Jacobo, Zachary and Saki. And, congratulations also to their proud instructor Matt Trimble.

By far one of the biggest frustrations for golfers is mastering the proper backswing sequence. Everyday on my lesson tee, I have players from all over the world telling tales of woe as it relates to how much they have struggled in this critical area.

Your golf swing is highly reactionary, meaning each movement is built upon the one before it. With this idea in mind, It’s safe to say that possibly the two most critical junctures of the swing are the start and the transition. Screw these two up and you’re in for a long day!

Click here and subscribe to Golf Infuzion Magazine FREE to read the entire story!

PING Learning Center Instructor, Jeff Ritter, presents the brand new iPING Putting App. Download FREE in the iTunes App Store!

People often ask me “What’s the most important aspect of the golf swing?” This may sound oversimplified but for the average player the number one thing they have to do is simply make sure the club strikes the ground where the ball is!

Look at any player who lacks compression or really struggles with fat and thin shots around the green and chances are, the bottom of their swing is occurring too early. Golf is a game of cause and effect and there are a number of ways a player could be inclined to bottom out prior to the ball, however, one key cause is poor turning fundamentals.

Keep in mind when playing golf, we are dealing with an “offline” game. This means our body’s position to the line of flight is away from or off to the side. This is the key relationship we play from in sports like golf, baseball, side arm throwing, hockey and some strokes in tennis. Conversely, in a sport like basketball we position ourselves by standing directly on top of the target line prompting us to consider basketball to be an “online” game. Online games require movement “along” the line of flight in order to be played effectively, whereas offline games require movements that are “away” from the line or arcing in nature. The big problem many golfers get into is creating movements that are too “linear” or back and forward along the target line. In most cases a move too much away from the target and or lack of rotation through will result in an early strike and poor performance!

The solution? Learn how to use your body more effectively to create a “centered” pivot complimentary of an arcing swing!

For the full story click this link and visit Golf Infuzion Magazine an entirely FREE monthly online magazine with tips from the game’s top coaches!

For more information on coaching with Jeff Ritter visit JeffRitterGolf.com