A WM Phoenix Open oddity: Saguaros get blasted by golf balls

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A couple of saguaros to the left of the first hole at the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale stand as icons welcoming the PGA Tour to the desert.

They look like something Clint Eastwood would ride past in an old Western, except they’re pocked full of holes.

“All the golf balls in ’em? I’ve noticed,” Taylor Gooch said.

“It makes you chuckle every time. I’ve had a few friends come out over the years, we’ve made a few trips to Scottsdale, and every single guy I bring out here says the same thing, ‘Look at all those golf balls in that cactus.’”

The would-be hazards are only 30 or 40 yards from the tee box, but that’s from the back tees, a distance most amateurs shouldn’t even consider. A weekend hack shouldn’t have a decent angle to hit a cactus from the front tee.

‘Not something I want to be thinking about’

Adam Hadwin didn’t even want to consider the mechanics problems that might cause a drive to go that far offline.

“Probably not something that I want to be thinking about right now …” Hadwin said. “It happens. I’ve dedicated my entire life to playing golf. It’s not an easy sport to do.”

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The punctured prickly plants each stand about 30-feet high and probably weight more than 3,000 pounds. They’ve got branches, so they’re at least 30 years old.

We know this because The Arizona Republic recently wrote a “things to know” story about saguaros that answered almost all of the cactus questions that get stuck in people’s minds. (It didn’t discuss the grammarians’ grief of whether the plural of cactus is cactus, cactuses or cacti, so we’ll leave that debate for another day.)

The story included a reminder that it’s generally illegal to cut a cactus, although the legality of damaging saguaro with a bad slice isn’t clear.

If a case ever comes up, perhaps Gooch could come in to testify as an expert witness.

“It has to be hit pretty hard to actually go into it,” Gooch said. “I would say more of those are intentional than unintentional. Because if it’s that far offline and it’s still hard enough to stick in the cactus, I don’t know how that math works.”

‘You can go by and see golf balls in it’

Julie Etcheverry, a marshal at No. 1, has an idea of how it works. She has a lot of time to consider the cactuses during her volunteer shifts.

“It actually stays in the cactus,” she said. “You can go by and see golf balls in it. … If you go up there and look, I betcha you will find a golf ball in at least one of those holes.”

Also, an observer might find a bird in one of those holes.

Apparently, cactus wrens take advantage of the damage to peck their way in to make nests, sort of like brown, desert-dwelling woodpeckers.

Cactus wrens are the state bird of Arizona, so it would be fitting if a few of them lived in the saguaro cactuses with Titleists, Callaways and Kirklands as front doors to the left of the first hole at the WM Phoenix Open to help welcome the PGA Tour to the desert.