BEST PLACE TO RIDE YOUR MOTORCYCLE REALLY, REALLY FAST 2005 | State Highway 238 between Maricopa and Sonoran Desert National Monument | Arts & Entertainment | Phoenix
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BEST PLACE TO RIDE YOUR MOTORCYCLE REALLY, REALLY FAST

State Highway 238 between Maricopa and Sonoran Desert National Monument

Carbon buildups are bad, and downright dangerous for the modern exhaust system. In the interests of safety and proper maintenance, the conscientious motorcycle rider must occasionally remove small carbon deposits before they have a chance to become big ones. And there's only one way to blow carbon out of your pipes. You need a road less traveled, a place where snowbirds, cocker spaniels, deer and assorted other road-kill-in-waiting are scarce, where driveways are few, a road that's not too far away and accessible year-round both to the rider and, in case of calamity, Medevac helicopters.

State Highway 238 on the eastern outskirts of Maricopa County is perfect. The sparsely populated stretch between the town of Maricopa and the Sonoran Desert National Monument is scenic, unincorporated and rarely patrolled by police, who have better things to do than scout for speeders on a highway that leads nowhere. The biggest obstacles are garbage trucks going to and from the Butterfield Landfill, but once you're past the dump, you can really open it up. This isn't twisty territory, nor is it a yawner straight shot -- there are just enough turns to keep it interesting as the roadway's width shrinks in direct correlation to your speed. An ideal side trip on the ride to Tucson.

BEST PLACE TO CATCH A WAVE

Big Surf

Of the Valley's three water parks, all owned by the Mesa-based Golfland Entertainment Centers, only Big Surf offers a wave pool where you can actually ride the waves -- and even then, the only spot the curls break strong enough to carry your rental raft all the way in to shore is at the three-foot depth marker, about two acres in from where the underwater gates release the rolling manmade pipelines.

For FOGs (surfer slang for Frickin' Old Guys) who remember the lagoon when it first opened in 1969 as the world's first inland wave pool (pictures of the park's original layout still hang in the front office), it's hard to see so much of the gnarly water going to waste on pintsize kooks and hodads. During regular operating hours, the deeper third of the lagoon remains roped off, as are the stairways surfers used to descend at the deep end to short-cut paddling out from shore.

But at least once a month during the summer, Big Surf returns to its glory days by offering an after-hours run of the entire lagoon to anyone itching to really catch a wave. For $35, anyone over 12 can grab one of the old '60s longboards the park still hangs onto and ramp it up on a series of 10 extra-big waves that Big Surf's patented plunger sends curling down the entire two-and-a-half-acre length of the pool. Call early to reserve your spot, though; even ocean-lapping Californians are known to show up for this way-cool after-hours pool party.

BEST MINIATURE GOLF

Golfland/Sunsplash

Sandwiched between the barreling tube slides of the entertainment complex's water park and its oddly secluded bumper boat lagoon, the mini golf course at Golfland/Sunsplash wins points for funneling the park's fascination with H2O throughout the typically hot, hot, hot putt-putt setting. It takes the average player a few holes into the course to notice the elaborate Rube Goldberg-like contraption that carries water up, down and all around the course, threading around the miniature buildings and obstacles like an early Central Arizona Project design gone crazy from the heat. But once the dusty duffer catches a wind-blown mist from an errant wooden gutter, it's all cool.

BEST QUICKIE GOLF COURSE FOR DOWNTOWN WORKERS

Encanto 9-Hole Golf Course

So you're sick of the grind -- the tough morning commute, the uptight boss, the boring gig. And you like to whack the little white ball around now and then. Then why wait for the weekend, when there's so many other things facing you? The Encanto courses may not be as challenging or as beautiful as any of the fancier tracks to the north (we've heard of Troon, mind you). But if you can spare a few hours for nine decent holes with the goofy sticks, you won't go wrong with this venerable city course. The price doesn't hurt -- no more than a sandwich and a fancy Starbucks drink -- and the relaxation factor is incalculable. We know a prosecutor who routinely strips down to a tee shirt at lunchtime and slips over to the driving range to hit a large bucket or two. Then he drives back downtown and returns to his job of sending people to prison. See? It works.

BEST MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE

Bear Creek Golf Course

A good city golf course must have open arms to all ages, skill levels and pocketbooks. And if it's a city course in a course-saturated and golf-crazy place like the Valley, it needs to offer good golf, too.

Bear Creek in south Chandler fits both bills. Besides offering good golf at a great price, the course has an expansive and affordable driving range as well as an 18-hole executive course great for a quick $10 round. The main attraction is still the Bear course, designed by Nicklaus Design's Bill O'Leary. The course, while built for speed, offers subtle risk/reward scenarios on each of the links-style holes, with water, sand and gnarly desert scrub waiting to eat an errant or ill-conceived shot. In the off-season, you can have this private-club-caliber golf challenge for around $20, and even less if you find a deal on Web sites such as www.golf602com. And you can often bag 18 holes in three to four hours. Also, yearly memberships can be had for around $1,000, which includes unlimited driving range balls. For a golf nut on a budget, this is an incredible deal.

BEST PUBLIC GOLF COURSE

Gold Canyon Golf Resort's Dinosaur Course

On the Dinosaur Course at Gold Canyon Golf Resort, central Arizona's most spectacular mountains are on full display as you play one of Arizona's most impressive golf courses. Nowhere else do you feel like you're getting the vistas you'd find on a long, challenging hike when you're actually in a golf cart. The Dinosaur Course, simply put, is a unique sport-and-aesthetic experience that shouldn't be missed. If you can, try to hit the final nine as the golden hour of evening approaches. Nothing in golf compares.

BEST GOLF WEEKEND GETAWAY

Apache Stronghold

Apache Stronghold remains Golfweek magazine's top golf course in Arizona.

This is heady stuff, and certainly debatable. Better than Troon North? The Boulders? Grayhawk? That's like saying Ferrari is better than Lamborghini. It's more a matter of taste than quality.

But for a weekend golf getaway from Phoenix, especially in July or August, particularly if you're not a trust-fund kid, Apache Stronghold is a hands-down winner. It is a lovely course in a lovely high rangeland setting 3,000 feet above the Valley.

Apache Stronghold, part of the Apache Gold Casino/Resort complex east of Globe on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, is probably better suited for the under-10-handicap golfer. The San Carlos Tribe offers great stay-and-play deals throughout the year. As for the course, not only is it long, at about 7,500 yards from the black tees, but most every shot is greeted with a brain-grating risk/reward scenario.

Expect to shoot poorly and love it.

BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO GOLF SINCE THE CREATION OF THE 19TH HOLE

BlueBallSports' "Putt-Her"

Chris Wehrle and his mom, Candy Phelps, are at the top of our "Wish I'd Thought of That" list, thanks to their Putt-Her golf club, which is flying out of pro shops across the land. The Putt-Her, like those old stag-party ballpoint pens, displays a bikini-clad woman when you tip it over. Although Mom, a retired peddler of golf attire, nixed the idea of the Putt-Her's shapely model winding up naked when you upend her, the duo's company, BlueBallSports, is hoping to introduce an all-nude stick featuring porn star Jenna Jameson one day soon. In the meantime, they've hit a hole-in-one with a photo of a local Polish babe, not to mention a deep understanding of the relationship between the birdies and the bees.

BEST PLACE TO PLAY TENNIS

Scottsdale Athletic Club

Serious racqueteers are unanimous in their praise of the Scottsdale Athletic Club. The enterprise began decades ago as the Scottsdale Tennis Club and over the years has evolved into a full-fledged tennis, fitness and dining/banquet facility. The club's pride and joy are its 11 immaculate courts, each featuring a lighting system that is the equal of any tennis center in the Southwest. This is the place where the touring pros come to practice.

Non-members are welcome for lessons and clinics by club pro Jarek Jabczynski, a world-ranked player and member of the Polish Davis Cup team.

And no, we don't know how many Polish tennis players it takes to win a Davis Cup match.

BEST PLACE TO CLIMB THE WALLS

Phoenix Rock Gym

Phoenix Rock Gym's personable owner Paul "Dief" Diefenderfer has been scaling the big buttes around Arizona for 30 years -- he favors Pinnacle Peak and the giant domes of Cochise Stronghold near Tucson -- and he designed his indoor rock gym, now situated just across from the APS power plant on University Drive in Tempe, as a small-scale replica of his favorite canyons, cliffs, crags and crevices.

Phoenix Rock Gym was the first indoor climbing facility in the state, and still carries the most cred with the outdoor extremists. On weeknights, once the kids have cleared out, the 15,000-square-foot mini-canyon is filled with Dief's pro bouldering buddies. But the 17-foot overhang in the spacious beginners' area is designed to bring home the thrill of the big-time climb to the lil' lowlanders. "The kids love it, 'cause when you fall, you kind of swing out, and go for a ride," Dief says. "As long as you've got a rope on, falling is fun!"

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