Sometime this year, El Rio Golf Course will turn 80. Given its hard living and often threadbare existence, it sometimes looks 180.
El Rio is closed this summer, and not many people have noticed or protested. In essence, Tucson City Golf shuttered the West Speedway course because the economy stinks. That's more polite than saying there's still a problem with the weeds.
On its good days, El Rio is a museum piece. Ben Hogan and Sam Snead played there. Hall of Famer Leo Diegel was the club pro. For a half-century, 1930-80, every Southern Arizona golfer of note nurtured his game at El Rio.
Those grand men of golf and their predecessors share a connection with those who insist on frequenting what is now something less than a museum piece: the provocative tee shot at the par-3 No. 8 hole.
"When Ken Kavanaugh redid El Rio a few years ago, we studied old aerial photographs and did a lot of research on the eighth hole," says Mike Hayes, deputy director of Tucson City Golf. "And we decided to keep everything the same."
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It looks the same today as it did when it was built in 1930 by William P. "Billy'' Bell. It is about 200 yards from the middle tees; 220 from the back. There is no elevation change. Not a drop of water. And the green is the golf equivalent of Rhode Island. Size: small.
"It's blocked by bunkers in the front," says Carl Pickett of the Saguaro Golf Club. Formidable bunkers.
Blocked doesn't quite suffice. Former Tucson City Amateur champion Cory Crowell estimates that the entry to the No. 8 green is a mere 12 feet, and he isn't far off. On Tuesday, I walked it off: It's 21 feet.
Retired Tucson postal worker Raul "Lefty" Quiroz, who grew up caddying and playing at El Rio, conducts a Skins Game on most Friday's at El Rio, often with 40 to 50 golfers. Quiroz sometimes has a "closest-to-the-pin" competition on the No. 8 hole (nobody's getting rich, the winner gets $10) and, amazingly, there are days when none of the golfers hits the eighth green. The money goes unclaimed.
"We've had some 0 for 40s out there," Quiroz says with a laugh. "That hole hasn't changed since I was a kid."
On Tuesday, Hayes dropped 10 balls on the No. 8 tee and used a 17-degree utility club in an attempt to exhibit that the green is indeed reachable. Hayes is a golfer of considerable background; he played at Pima College, and for three years he was a caddie on the PGA Tour. He has been the pro at Forty Niner Country Club and at El Conquistador Country Club.
But Hayes was scuttled Tuesday because his natural fade detoured most of his tee shots into the yawning bunker at the right front of the eighth green. Only one of Hayes' tee shots made it safely onto the putting surface, even though he hit most of them square.
Yet that 10 percent success ratio is probably a better greens-in-regulation percentage than the daily average.
"When Kavanaugh reworked El Rio, we talked about making the eighth green bigger," Hayes says. "But we decided to stay with the original layout. There are no tricks on the hole. I think it's easier to hit it now because the technology allows for higher shots. I can imagine how difficult it was to hit years ago when you'd hit a 2-iron in there.''
When Crowell was making a name for himself on the junior golf circuit in the 1960s, he remembers hitting a driver on the No. 8 tee.
"It hit the pin," he says. "I found it three inches from the hole, but that was an exception. Over the years, I think I've seen more balls sprayed right and left on this hole than just about anywhere else. It's just visually intimidating. You see people going away shaking their heads."
El Rio is scheduled to reopen in September. The weed problem has diminished and the old course, though bruised and battered, remains one of the most challenging golf courses in Southern Arizona. It's neither long nor hilly, but there are hundreds of century-old trees guarding small, hard greens.
If you've ever seen a hole-in-one at the eighth hole, we await your call.
"If anyone had kept stats on the total of holes-in-one over the years, No. 8 would have by far the fewest," Hayes says. "I can't remember any."
THE TOUGHEST SHOTS
• What: Fourth of the nine most difficult golf shots in Southern Arizona
• Course: El Rio Golf Course
• Holes: No. 8
• Par: 3
• Yardage: 200 yards from middle tee
• He said it: "That hole hasn't changed since I was a kid,'' says Raul Quiroz, who grew up caddying and playing at El Rio.
• The series: 1. Del Lago Golf Club, hole No. 1 2. Fred Enke Golf Course, hole No. 5
3. El Conquistador C.C., Cañada Course, holes 7 and 8
