Casa Grande 1

Monday, 25 February 

Leisurely start this morning as our tee time was not until 1:10pm, and the RV park office to check in was not ready for business until 8:30.

The Escapees Co-Op is running a special - stay for a week and get 3 nights free.  So we opted for commit for 10 days for $110 plus tax & electricity.  One minor challenge is that park rules do not allow renters to park by yourself - the staff has to park you.  Apparently the concern is that you might hit the electrical post.  As all the sites are “owned”, sites available to rent belong to an owner, and park management does not want to be responsible for damage to the electrical post.  No matter that you have parked yourself just fine for over 300 nights in the last two years.  That is the basis of the challenge.  If you return after the office closes, you have to go into boondocking which has no hookups.

On the way to golf, we did grocery shopping as it was conveniently on the way.  We arrived early as we normally do, got checked in and warmed up.  By tee time, the temperature was in the upper 50s, partly sunny, and only a light breeze.

We were paired up with Jerry and his son, Ken.  Jerry, a member and winter resident in the development, decided to just drive his cart and watch.  Darrell and Kris opened with nice drives and both making par.  Darrell picked up a couple strokes on the next two holes.  By the turn, he was one over par and 6 strokes up on Kris.

On the back, Darrell started with a par, only to blow up on the next hole.  He settled down and made five pars and a birdie on the last seven holes to finish the day with a 76.  Kris continued to hit well, just could not get some putts to fall for birdies.

To celebrate Darrell’s birthday, we enjoyed a dinner at Olive Garden.  As we drove back to the RV park, we were treated to a gorgeous sunset.

As we pulled into the park, we saw the park managers, Rhonda and Rick, out for a walk.  We had arranged our late return with them this morning, and Rich walked us to our spot to park us.

Already we are considering ourselves fortunate that we were not about to find a campsite near Goodyear, AZ.  As Jerry said, Casa Grande is a hidden gem.  Big enough to have most everything you need without the traffic and prices of Phoenix or Tucson.  We have several golf options nearby at reasonable prices, and the options double if we are willing to pay a little bit more or drive a little further to play.

Tuesday, 26 February 

Early start this morning - had to set an alarm clock for before sunrise so we could head up the road to the Mercedes dealer in Chandler, AZ to have routine service done on Sprinty.  Not knowing what traffic might be like, we left much earlier than Google Maps said we had to, and were treated to fairly light traffic and an early arrival.  An early arrival meant early check-in and they took Sprinty back almost immediately to start the service.  

The early start gave us some of the day back, which we used to hit some stores in Chandler, like REI and Golf Galaxy, that we have not encountered in quite awhile.  On the way back to Casa Grande, we checked out a golf course we found on line.  The reviews were less than average, and we found the course to be very rustic.  We decided there were better options in the area.  As we went back through Casa Grande, we checked out the the par 3 golf course at Palm Creek Golf & RV Resort  course, and it was drop-dead gorgeous.  A definite course to play even though only a par 3.

Once we got back to the RV park and got parked, Darrell took advantage of a beautiful day - mid-70s, partly sunny, light breeze - to work on the new front window insulating covers that he started back in Yuma.  He made some good progress.

Wednesday, 27 February 

Golf today was at the Francisco Grande Hotel And Golf Resort in Casa Grande, AZ, about 2.5 miles from the RV park.  The resort was originally built to host the San Fransisco Giants baseball spring training which has since moved to Peoria.

Course was in nice shape.  We played with Brian and Ed, both from Alberta, Canada.  Ed winters down here, Brian was visiting.  Ed said the overseeding they did and three days of soaking rain helped the course condition a lot.  He shared it was in the best condition of the last three years.

We started off pretty well, both making a bogey.  Darrell made seven pars on the front to lead by 2 strokes at the turn.  Kris upped her game on the back nine, to tie up the round for the day.  We both shot an 81 and were quite pleased with our play today.

Even though we tied, we treated ourselves to a Frappuccino to celebrate both of us playing well.  We enjoyed the course enough that we made a tee time to play it again next week.

Thursday, 28 February 

Golf today was at the Arizona City Golf Club in Arizona City, AZ, located about 25 minutes away.  Based on their website, price and Google satellite view, we had low expectations.  Just as well as they did not have the tee time reservation we made using their on-line tee time system, the driving range was closed, and the starter and cart guys both had attitudes.  Fortunately, they gave us the on-line price of $30 vice the posted price of $40.

We found the course was, for the most part, in better shape than we expected.  The greens were a little slower than the other two courses we played in the area, however, they rolled very nicely.  The fairways had good grass, but several of the fairways were overdue for grass cutting.  We were the first group after the men’s league, and we followed two five-somes.  We were glad we decided to get carts so we had a place to sit while we waited on the groups in front of us.  Once they finished, we got to play the final holes at our pace.

Kris opened with a par to Darrell’s double bogey, which set the tone for the day. Darrell was four strokes back at the turn, and made up a stroke on the back nine to finish 3 strokes behind on the day.  Kris was itching to pay up having shot an 80.

We enjoyed great weather.  A sunny day, about 55 degrees when we got to the golf course, and 76 degrees when we got done.  Both of us enjoyed playing in shorts.