FireRock Country Club

Want to know what the new year brings for our favorite golf communities? From the addition of state-of-the-art tech and new neighborhoods to course conversions and programming to take you to the top of the class, 2019 will definitely be above par for local golfers.

 

The Country Club at DC Ranch: Incorporating Physical and Mental Fitness to the Game

The Country Club at DC Ranch will open its new Fitness and Performance Center in April, with an emphasis on golf fitness, as physical and mental fitness have become a necessity for golfers, of any age, aspiring to optimize their game. Here, golf professional JT Hamamoto and Director of Fitness and Wellness Danielle Fryer explore the topic of golf fitness.

AFM: Can you discuss the importance of physical fitness for the golfer? What about mental fitness?

DF: Developing a golf athlete’s rotational power is one of the most important functions to improving their game. There is a lot that goes into being able to swing with power from a physical stability and mobility aspect. As random fitness provides random results, the opposite is also true. Specific, physical fitness provides specific, physical results. Creating speed and power in the gym has a specific recipe. Physical fitness is not just about burning calories and losing weight. To create strength, cardiovascular, flexibility, speed and power, periodizing workouts is key. What we do to get mentally fit matters. This is true because the body follows the brain, not vice versa. Mindfulness practices are worth investing your time, energy and resources into. Take your mind to the gym, whether it be a home-meditation cushion, writing self-inquiries in a journal, cognitive behavioral therapy or enrolling in yoga classes that practice conscious breathing along with structural lengthening postures. There are numerous ways to connect, and that is what we are doing for our members here at The Country Club at DC Ranch.

AFM: How does the club aim to offer fitness to its golfers?

DF: The club aims to offer fitness for golfers with scientifically backed methods of exercises that are specific to golf athletes. Our fitness and performance professionals, along with our golf pros, want to improve drive, accuracy and overall wellness and golf game. In the gym, we are set to offer small group classes that focus on golf-specific exercises designed to help increase strength, flexibility, balance, rotary power, core stability, mobility, posture and endurance. We strive to create a golf fitness culture that is consistent with specific training, to maximize game consistency and decrease the risk of injury.

AFM: What will set the golf facilities and amenities at The Country Club at DC Ranch apart from other clubs?

JT: We have a lot of plans for The Country Club at DC Ranch. We plan to renovate the practice facility entirely. This includes increased tee space, enhancing the short game and putting green areas as well as plans for a player development center. We will add more greens and redesign our practice areas with our performance center in mind. In our Performance Studio, we plan to utilize cameras to video players’ swings, TrackMan and other technologies to create the most advanced teach center in the area.  We are working hard to develop programs that work well with the new fitness facility and all that it has to offer our golfers.

AFM: What sets your fitness golf program apart from other country clubs?

DF: Our team truly loves to work together! We pride ourselves on group-minded action plans to get the job done. It takes the Strength Coach, Sports Dietitian, Golf Professional and other health experts here at our club to shift the results. Leaning into one another as a group mind truly gives the member an advantage to facilitate change where desired.

To Learn More: Contact Melanie Halpert, Director of Membership and Marketing at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 480.342.7246.

 

Blackstone at Vistancia: Moving On Up

Who wouldn’t want to call Peoria’s Blackstone at Vistancia home? The private community, which offers beautiful desert mountain and golf course views, welcomes the new David Weekley Homes’ Eagle Crest neighborhood this spring. Eagle Crest will mark the final builder neighborhood in Blackstone at Vistancia and will be an intimate collection of 28 50-ft.-by-90-ft. homesites featuring golf villa-styled floorplans and nestled around the 10th hole of the Blackstone Country Club golf course. The luxury homes are single level and will range from 1,901 to 2,686 square feet. 

The private Blackstone Country Club offers a 30,000-sq.-ft. Hacienda-styled clubhouse providing members year-round casual and formal dining, a 24-hour fitness center, four lighted tennis courts, a pool with private cabanas, a lap pool and a children’s play area. Plus, golf members enjoy the 18-hole, par-72 Jim Engh-designed championship golf course inspired by the links courses in Ireland.

 

 

Verde River Golf & Social Club: Happy Anniversary

Verde River Golf & Social Club just marked its one-year anniversary! The club, which offers many amenities and services to the public like access to its Alvea Spa, signature Needle Rock Kitchen and Tap and golf course, has much to celebrate as it heads into its second year. The Resort Collection, featuring lock-and-leave homes, is set to debut this month. On Feb. 9, Verde River hosts a grand opening showcasing 10 models in a brand-new model gallery. Come springtime, the club will be the 2019 host site for the Arizona Senior Open Championship on April 23 and 24, conducted by the Southwest Section of the Professional Golfers Association of America. 

 

FireRock Country Club: Renovation Station

Starting in May with a reopening planned for October, the private golf course of Fountain Hills-based FireRock Country Club will see quite the makeover. The renovation will comprise turf and top soil replacement; a bunker refresh, including new sand and lining drainage; the addition, reshaping and removal of some bunkers to aid in the playability and aesthetics of the golf course; and the improvement of tee boxes. 

 

Mirabel Golf Club: In Session

In this new year, Mirabel continues its trendsetting golf instruction program. Led by Director of Instruction Shane LeBaron, its comprehensive program includes weekly ladies clinics, Full Swing and Short Game Golf Schools, individual lessons and Get Golf Ready initiatives. What separates Mirabel from other top clubs are the special guest Top 100 Instructors who make appearances throughout the year. “Mirabel now conducts multiple Golf Schools that involve Top Instructors like Stan Utley and Jim Hardy. Mirabel’s Shane LeBaron is an excellent instructor also but having the network he has to bring some renowned guest instructors is great for our membership,” says Head Professional David Engram, PGA.

LeBaron’s next Golf School, featuring guest instructor Stan Utley, will be Saturday, Feb. 23, and will offer a morning session from 9 a.m. to noon and an afternoon session from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, e-mail Nissa Sjoberg at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Talking Rock: Gather ‘Round

Prescott’s award-winning Talking Rock is taking your four-season game to a new level. In the fall, Talking Rock opened a new practice facility and double-sided driving range on the south end of the course while this spring brings about the Silent Moon Park, a new nine-hole, three-acre putting and chipping area. The new area has been crafted with the casual golfer in mind, allowing for all ages and abilities to enjoy a game without taking themselves too seriously. Silent Moon also provides a party-perfect spot for members and their guests thanks to the on-site ramadas, a barbecue and restrooms, in addition to its new half-mile trail.  

 

Silverleaf Club: Tech Savvy

To kick off the new year, Silverleaf Club concluded a complete renovation of the Practice Facility to include a new range fairway with multiple target greens and bunkering. The Practice Tee Patio has been enhanced with a bar as well as fun, fresh offerings, while a larger short game area now includes USGA-built target greens for chipping, pitching and short game shots. After time on the course, members can now settle into the newly expanded outdoor patio featuring more than 50 additional dining seats, fire pits, new landscape and outdoor lounge seating, all highlighting views of the McDowell Mountains. 

Silverleaf is about to be the only club in the Scottsdale market that offers members TrackMan technology, which provides personal performance reviews, key metric data and will allow players to improve their shot-making skills. 

Photo credit: Extreme Aerial Productions

 

Desert Mountain: Fresh Greens

Scottsdale’s Desert Mountain greets some incredibly exciting changes in 2019, starting with the completion of Seven Desert Mountain. Seven, which is slated for completion in the spring, is a brand-new 18-hole, par-54 golf course designed to appeal to all skill levels. Keeping with Desert Mountain’s first-rate standards, Seven will still feature bentgrass tees, fairways and greens but also a lighted putting green, seating areas and music that extends from the clubhouse; the result will be a lively, interactive experience for golfers. Along with the fresh greens comes Seven’s family-friendly gastropub clubhouse, designed by Drewett Works. But that’s not all the good news for members this year: the award-winning Jack Nicklaus Signature Renegade Course is in the midst of a renovation for the first time since it opened more than 30 years ago. Over the past year, Renegade has undergone a complete renovation that includes new greens, bunkers, tees, cart paths, drainage, irrigation, lake construction and grassing. (Nicklaus himself created the new master plan.) Renegade’s back nine is expected to open in late March 2019, with the full facelift debuting by late April. The course will play from 4,000 to 8,000 yards.

The 90-acre Seven Desert Mountain will feature 190 custom homes designed by Cullum Homes, Camelot Homes and Family Development. The homes range in size from 2,300 square feet to 6,500-plus square feet and will be priced from low-$1 million to $3 million-plus.

Rock On The Good Life Festival at Encanterra, a Trilogy Resort Community, is slated to return on March 23. Alongside performances from Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Three Dog Night, Nate Nathan and the Mac Daddy-O’s, event-goers can enjoy libations, food trucks, cooking demos, a peek at the model home gallery and much more. This will be its ninth and final festival.

All is Well Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club is continuing its increased focus on non-golf offerings including the addition of bocce leagues, more casual dining options (as well a remodeled dining room) and member activities. Plus, the club recently welcomed a physical therapist to its lineup of professionals and extended spa services. 

End Game This season, Pine Canyon in Flagstaff opens it renovated caboose, known as Morrish Station. The vintage railway car-turned-cafe is named after the course’s designer, Jay Morrish.