Lunch on the Greens: A New Golf Cart, a Wall That Still Gets Me, and a Salad Worth Bringing Home
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A RELAXED AFTERNOON ON THE GREENS
Johnny B has a new golf cart.
I mention this because we drove ten miles mostly to have a reason to use it at Springfield Golf Resort, which tells you everything you need to know about how that's going. He was in a very good mood before we'd even reached the first tee.
Springfield is a semi-private executive course that's also open to the public — an easy one to fold into an afternoon, whether the plan is golf, lunch, or letting both just happen.
Photo courtesy of Springfield Golf Resort
THE COURSE (AND THAT WALL)
Springfield is one of those places that reminds you why Arizona golf gets so much love this time of year. Green fairways winding through the desert, and a course that feels relaxed from the moment you pull in.
Mostly relaxed. Then there's a stretch of wall on the 17th hole that I've personally nicknamed the Great Wall of Chandler, and it gets me — every single time. I know it's coming. I still lose to it.
The pro shop staff are genuinely kind—which helps, because my golf game is usually doing enough to test everyone's patience already.
THE SETTING
Once a month, our friend Todd plays live music at Springfield — genuinely talented, voice like an angel. His set list leans hard into 90s rock, which is not the decade of my youth, but I end up with Wonderwall stuck in my head all the way home.
That's Springfield in a nutshell: soft desert landscaping, comfortable patios built for sitting a while, and just enough going on to make you stay past the point you meant to leave.
THE LUNCH (AND A DRINK WORTH MENTIONING)
Lunch here doesn't try too hard — and that's exactly why it works. Fresh ingredients, bright flavors, nothing the server needs to explain twice.
This visit I went with the Mango Chicken Salad, and it was the right call — bright, a little sweet, exactly what you want after eighteen holes in the sun. I liked it enough that I've created my own version.
Get the Mango Chicken Salad recipe →
Johnny B had the Moscow Mule, and I'll give Springfield credit — it's a good one. Not quite my Maggie May Mule, but I'm biased, and you gotta love the name.
Looking for another easy lunch idea? Visit From the Kitchen.
Mango Chicken Salad
RECREATE THE FEEL AT HOME
You don't need a golf course patio to pull this off — though I won't argue the view helps.
A few simple pieces set the tone:
That's really it. Nothing elaborate. Just the kind of table that makes people stay for one more iced tea.
THE FIREBIRD MOMENT
This is the window we get in Arizona, and firebirds know it well: the crowds have thinned, the pace has slowed, and it's still comfortable enough to eat lunch outside without regretting it fifteen minutes in.
These are the afternoons when lunch runs long, someone starts humming a '90s song, nobody remembers all the words, and somehow it doesn't matter.
Some afternoons are worth recreating.
And if you can bring just a little of that feeling home
…that’s for the birds.
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