October 2004

Fore! Quote the Raven

THE INTRAWEST BRAND IS A HARBINGER TO WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ANOTHER PART OF PHOENIX

By David Hubbard

Before the ball leaves the tee, even a hint of the engineering and rearranging of the desert floor to accommodate some very exacting specifications makes a day at The Raven Golf Club at Verrado even more impressive.

Course designer John Fought and PGA Tour standout Tom Lehman attribute their success at Verrado to a well-coordinated give-and-take effort and mutual respect among the visionary developers and themselves, and all associated engineers and construction companies.

Open for daily-fee play since January 2004 as the focal point of the burgeoning new 8,800-acre master-planned community under development in far west Phoenix, The Raven at Verrado Golf Club spreads at the very foot of the imposing White Tank Mountain Range. Long before DMB Development of Scottsdale envisioned Verrado, this scarp was the Caterpillar proving ground and test site.

Obviously, the previous owners didn't put much stock in aesthetics and landscape design where behemoth earth-moving equipment of every sort dug, cut, bladed and scraped endlessly in the granite and scrub. No harm to anyone, but over the years Caterpillar altered the nature considerably, which was a huge consideration in the new design.

The developers had four ideas in mind for Verrado. First, they didn't want the new landscape to appear they had merely worked around the massive pits and gouges. Their initial challenge was to restore the site as it was in 1 B.C. -- Before Caterpillar. They even reconstructed and re-vegetated an entire mountainside that big D-9s once bulldozed into rubble.

Second, the routing, design and construction of the golf course as the prime water-retention area would direct the mountain runoff away from the community.

Third, DMB wanted a comfortable walking community, which meant leveling and evening out the entire core area to a consistent 1 percent grade from a natural 5 percent grade.

Finally, the corridors between the golf course and homesites were to be open and spacious, with fairways set deep enough into the terrain to afford ample views down onto the golf course.

Fought worked feverishly for six months to find a routing that would thrill golfers and still "do the math" to ensure runoff and drainage, and satisfy all construction guidelines.

"We have never worked on a project that required as much attention to water retention," says Chris Brands, a senior architect on the Fought-Lehman Design team at the time. "Most developers would spread the runoff throughout the entire development. Here, we had some very stringent specifications to consider in the design and construction of the golf course."

Ultimately, earthmovers scraped away and redistributed 4.5 million cubic yards to meld the golf course and community site -- and have it still look natural. Fought, Lehman and Co. were able to workout a smooth, flowing design without -- safe to say -- one quirky hole.

"I think any ‘quirkiness' in a course design, an odd hole here and there, can sometimes be attributed to a poorly coordinated effort between the architect and developer," says Josh Taylor, another member of the Fought-Lehman Design team. "That certainly wasn't the case at Verrado. Where we were required to make changes, we were allowed complete flexibility to work out the details to our full satisfaction."

The Raven at Verrado is the eighth facility in Intrawest Golf's premier brand of Raven golf clubs across North America. Between the superlative golf experience and the futuristic vision for the community, Verrado is the harbinger of the development coming down the pike for the City of Buckeye and Greater Phoenix's far West Valley.

The look and feel is unique in that particularly smooth fairway surfaces have the appearance of long undulating sheets of turfgrass, as opposed to the customary humps and bumps. With a little imagination, the visual motion to the fairways is akin to shifting surface patterns on large bodies of water. Rising into the foothills, sweeping down into the Verrado community, the course winds through massive rock outcroppings, desert washes, canyons and ravines.

And it never lacks for variety.

"With a development as large as this, the only way to achieve everyone's goals is by teamwork and that certainly was the case at Verrado. DMB, Intrawest, Landscapes Unlimited and everyone else involved made up a great team and the final product is testament to everyone's talents and efforts," Lehman said during the opening ceremonies last January. "I'm very proud to have my name on this course and to be associated with Verrado."

When it's all said and done, 14,000 homes ranging from $140,000 to $400,000 will fill the Verrado development, separated by 325 acres of open park areas, and 4 million square feet of commercial space. Across from the golf club, the Town Center commercial plaza carries off a nostalgic theme of Main Street USA, in which architectural and design accents are reminiscent of the early 20th century. While a few critics have likened the concept to The Truman Show and Mayberry, Verrado is a bold departure in the urban landscape, and it beats the heck out of the run-of-the-mill strip mall.

Just keep an eye on Phoenix's west side. The explosive growth is going to spell even more tremendous new golf experiences.

Raven Golf Club at Verrado is located at 4242 North Golf Drive in Buckeye. For more information, call (623) 215-3443 or visit www.ravenatverrado.com. Ask about their Special Offer, where players enjoy true Member for the Day status with unlimited golf, unlimited use of the practice facility, two full meals (breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner ordered from Cocina Grille), golf cart, and on-course snacks and non-alcoholic beverages.