Yuma Trip Report Nov 2024

Bonneville85308 · November 12, 2024

I just played 3 rounds in Yuma the past couple days, here's my report.

Las Barrancas. I'll start with the positives. Most holes aren't surrounded by houses and there are some nice mountain views. There are a few somewhat interesting holes mainly on the back nine. There was a fun 3-tiered green on what was otherwise the worst conditioned hole on the property. I was first off early AM solo so pace was no issue, and the cart attendant was very friendly and helpful. I was actually hitting the ball decently and had a good score despite the conditions.

Now the conditions, woof. You get strong vibes here of "mid 2000s housing bubble course that wasn't 100% completed before the developer ran out of money and it has struggled ever since". If you've played Los Lagos near Bullhead City in the past 5 years, this is very similar if not worse. Fairways were a total mess. Everything from bare hardpan to dry dormant bermuda to saturated dormant bermuda to to 3" deep wet growing grass to ponded water and mud bogs from leaking sprinklers. Lots of leaking sprinklers. Major leakage pond in the middle of the 11th fairway probably 25' in diameter and several inches deep. All of the bunkers on the course were grassed over, fine with me, they'd be trash if they were sand anyway. Approach aprons were pretty wet and the ball would just stick in them. Rough, I don't know that there was much to speak of, and some of the fairways were at rough length anyway. Greens were probably the the relatively best part, most were in pretty decent condition, average speed and fairly smooth, but a few had serious bare spots. I don't know what if anything was overseeded on this course.

@Argonne69 said it was one of the worst conditioned he had seen in a long time, and I feel the same. Once and done, unless it gets serious renovations. $65 was a ripoff. What's real funny is that they are starting site work to construct a brand new clubhouse (current one is a worn out trailer in a dirt parking lot) and a top tracer range, but no word on course improvements. Due to the site work, there are some off-road temporary cart paths to get to #10 tee, and it seemed like the normal back & middle tees were closed. The practice putting and chipping greens were also not being maintained and I'm guessing are getting relocated.

Mesa del Sol:

Housing development course. Way better condition than Las Barrancas. I believe only the teeboxes were overseeded. The grass in the fairways wasn't quite dormant yet (it's that new TiffTuff bermuda that holds up better in winter), there was generally good grass coverage all over and the lies weren't tight yet. Not a ton of roll in the fairways though. Some wedge and pitch shot approaches that landed short would stop dead on the aprons, others would roll up, so hard to figure out how to play to front hole locations. Rough was low and easy to hit out of. Bunker sand was decent. Greens were fast and smooth, fastest of the 3 courses I played by far, but very receptive to short irons and pitch shots, and in good condition. In general there was good attention to detail in the maintenance for the price point. Not a very difficult course if you stay in the fairways and play it a couple times to get a feel for the locations of the water hazards and other spots to avoid. It's a decent enough place to golf your ball, and I'd probably play it often if I lived in the area. $57 including cart was a fair deal. Played second off behind a single with a pleasant Canadian snowbird couple who were quick players, we finished in maybe 2:50-2:55.

Yuma Golf & Country Club: This is the "private" course in Yuma. I noticed they recently started putting some afternoon tee times on Golfnow so I figured I might as well give it a try while the opportunity is available. This is a 1950s William Bell Jr & Sr design, parkland, core routing style, pretty flat piece of property. The most memorable hole is probably #10, where your second shot has to navigate a wide creek and very large tree in order to land on an elevated green. The fairways, tees, and greens were overseeded a few weeks ago. Carts had to ride in the rough for now. Greens were in great condition, semi-firm, but on the slower side of average. Fairway overseed came in great, a few a bit shaggy and in need of a mow, they were still a little soft so not a ton of roll yet. Bunkers were on the firm/crusty side but easily playable. Tees were level with good overseed. Rough (not overseeded and going dormant) nearest the fairway was getting matted/worn down from the cart traffic. Everything was generally well manicured. $85 with cart, though they did offer a walking rate ($67?). The course is a very easy walk, and there were a LOT of walkers out there. Could use a combo tee between the 6254 yard "member" tees and 5541 yard "forward" tees, this course also plays very long for women and other short hitters. Teed off solo but ran into a wall of people around hole 6, finished in about 3:30. Given the dearth of decent golf in the area, you might as well play this first if you can get on it. The difficulty of the course mainly seemed to be in the long par 4's that demanded two solid shots, the par 3's which were long for the overall course yardage, some small-ish greens, and the need to stay out of the trees.