There are two Trilogy Golf Clubs in the Phoenix metropolitan area – Trilogy Golf Club at Vistancia in Peoria and Trilogy Golf Club at Power Ranch in Gilbert. I haven never played the course in Peoria, which is supposed to be great, but both courses were built inside gated residential communities developed by Shea Homes. When you make the turn onto East Village Parkway toward the course in Gilbert, there is a really nice water feature, and that’s about the time when you start to think this course is might be good.
The Trilogy at Power Ranch website describes the course as, “Eighteen holes of spectacular Arizona championship golf meander their way through the cleansed desert of the Queen Creek wash, following with every turn the subtle elevation changes of the area in the southeast Phoenix Valley. Natural undulations and strategically placed mounding combine with Trilogy’s natural setting to create a golf course that is able to both challenge the accomplished player and accommodate the novice.”
The course was designed by golf course architect Dick Bailey in 1999 and is surrounded by the views of the San Tan and Superstition Mountains. It plays 6,932 yards from the Black Tees to a Par of 71, a rating of 71.5, and a slope of 130. The difference in yardage between the Black Tees and the Blue Tees is fairly significant at almost 600 yards, which is why we played from the tips. Here are some of the highlights of the round:
Holes Worth Writing Home About
When I asked the pro shop what I could expect, one staffer told me the greens would break every different way and that the course wouldn’t yield a lot of birdies. After playing the course, now I know why. The bermuda greens were firm, fast, and crusty, and by the time we teed off a little after 1:00p in the 115-degree heat, they were really baked out. The earlier you can get out on the course, the better your chance of playing receptive greens.
All of the fairways were very lush and still in great shape heading into the hot summer months. There were a few holes I liked on the front side, but No. 9 was my favorite – 420 yards to a green bordered by water and sand. It’s a very nice Par 4, and you really have to try to find the fairway with your tee shot. Your approach shot is over water left and a mouthy greenside bunker short and left that guards any front pin placement.
Trilogy’s back nine curves to the east toward the Superstition Mountains. The 16th hole is bordered by the Queen Creek Wash, and usually plays 450 yards into the wind. After hitting a solid drive, I still had 223 yards left! It’s considered the most difficult hole on the course, and it is. But in my opinion, the 18th and final hole is the best hole on the course. It shares the same body of water as the 9th hole, and if you’re not careful you can certainly find the water off the tee because the fairway narrows. The good news is that if you can hit the fairway, you should have little more than a wedge in. This is a great finishing hole.
Quiet Please…
Trilogy has a really nice practice area. They just put brand new Nike practice balls out on the grass driving range, and there’s a huge practice putting green where you’ll definitely want to roll a few putts before you play. You need to see how fast the greens are rolling down and into the grain.
There are a couple of other things I really liked about this course that I will mention here. There was plenty of water throughout, which really appreciated on what was one of the hotter days of the year thus far. And the tee boxes were really, really level. We’ve all played courses with bumpy, uneven tee boxes. So it’s nice when you play a course where some care was taken to ensure that the teeing grounds are flat.
Fore!
My best shot of the day came at the Par 4 10th hole. I pushed my drive a little to the right into some small-sized gravel lining the fairway. I hit an easy sand wedge that spun right up next to the hole giving me little more than a kick-in for birdie. It was my only birdie of the day. Birdies are hard to come by out here.
While We’re Young
There was no one out on the golf course when we played, so we were able to get around in about three-and-a-half hours. That’s one thing you can say about playing Arizona golf in the summer – if you can take the heat, you can really fly around a golf course.
Next On the Tee
Omni Tucson National Golf Resort. The site has hosted several PGA Tour events and most recently played host to the Champions Tour’s Tucson Conquistadores Classic in March. There are 36 holes out here. I’ve played the Sonoran Course, but in all of my years living in Tucson, I have never played the more famous Catalina Course.