2025 Phoenix Area Course Conditions

[puttnforthe8]

Poston is in pretty good shape tee to green.  Bunkers real good, greens rolling nicely. Dormant rough near greens has some variability, but just gotta deal with the lies.

 

POP was superb even though the course was packed.

[r2edline]

On 2/21/2025 at 11:06 PM, puttnforthe8 said:

🤣Boulders is never “mint”!!  It should be fine; it’s been about 6 weeks.   Not $340 fine!  It’s not worth half that.  
 

 

Thanks appreciate it. 

I lucked out this morning and got Southern Dunes on a hot deal, so happy to cancel Boulders 😊

Edited February 23 by r2edline

[puttnforthe8]

2 hours ago, r2edline said:

Thanks appreciate it. 

I picked out this morning at got Southern Dunes on a hot deal, so happy to cancel Boulders 😊

Umm…that is like hitting a small lottery game, having a hot ginger chat you up and being given a complimentary bottle of 2006 Opus One for dinner!!

[Hageman11]

We got back from our trip last week:

 

Rancho Manana: OK shape, not great.  Tee boxes were in bad shape, fairways were decent, greens ok.  Had some sketchy areas around the course either worn down to dirt or very hard packed like maintenance vehicles drive in the same spots daily.  POP was bad, seems like a heavy retirement area.  Didn't help I wasn't the biggest fan of the design either.

 

Dove Valley: Pretty good shape.  From my understanding they changed head greenskeeper fairly recently and conditions have improved.  Tee boxes were iffy at times, but the rest of the course was enjoyable and in good shape.  Lots of playable desert area.  POP was excellent. Very nice staff.

 

Boulders South: I know there was talk on here recently but I thought conditions were very good for the time being.  My only complaints with Boulders were maybe a few areas or tee boxes needed some more attention and the greens were sandy, but rolled fine. Good views.  I would consider this course a perfect buddies golf trip course.  We expect to pay a premium out there every year, but beer prices were outrageous.  They know they have you at a resort course.  POP was average.

 

Legend Trail: Similar conditions to Dove Valley, maybe a bit better.  Let a couple 2 somes play through, but ranger was very nice and personable.  Good design, especially on the back 9, but tougher.

 

TN Pinnacle:  Of course best conditions, well designed challenging golf.  Fast greens but rolled true.  Very good views. 

Edited February 25 by Hageman11
Spelling

[FlashNoonan]

Union Hills over the weekend. New owners are definitely making improvements. Tee boxes could have used a mow but the fairways and greens are the best I've seen them in the past 10 years or so. Price is a bit steep without their loyalty card though. 

[AzSuperHack76]

On 2/26/2025 at 2:24 PM, FlashNoonan said:

Union Hills over the weekend. New owners are definitely making improvements. Tee boxes could have used a mow but the fairways and greens are the best I've seen them in the past 10 years or so. Price is a bit steep without their loyalty card though. 

Played Union Hills on Sunday after reading your post. Completely agree on your assessment on the conditioning, best I have seen it in years as well. Tee'd off around 10, paid $82 with the veterans/first responder discount, so not too terrible, $97 for the regular rate is steep, but when you take into account the inflation of everything else, I suppose it's right in line with all of the other overpriced courses. 

 

Greens were quick, a little firm but not overly firm. Bunkers were decent, slightly thin but didn't have any issues getting out of the handful I was in. Only complaint was the pace, 4:45, but the weather was perfect and the company was good, so can't complain too much. 

 

Played the black/back tee's, one of the most ridiculous tee shots I have had to hit in a while is the par 3 #7, maybe a 10 yard window through the pines, just insane. 

[DKgolfAZ]

Dove Valley is in good shape overall. Tee boxes could be a bit better on the par 3’s but overall very playable. Greens are great, fairways are great. It’s a good track in great shape, especially with the traffic they have this time of year. Pace of play can vary depending, could be good, could be slow. 

[puttnforthe8]

Verrado Victory today in these horror winds!  It was brutal on the front with no protection. 
 

First off, it’s been a bit - the houses and changes are crazy!  And all the new stuff going in…making it not as picturesque as it used to be. 
 

fairways and greens quite good.  Bunkers were solid hard pan!  
 

pop today was 4hrs - prob because many didn’t want to play in the wind and it rained early there.

 

still one of the most fun courses.  
 

The staff is tired, sad, angry and just downright unpleasant. Except the cart girl in the front. 

[hackeraz]

Headed to Putt Shack on Sunday. Hoping for good weather, slightly worried about POP. 

[puttnforthe8]

SD is perfect…so good!  One blemish on 5 where looks like someone drove the cart and spin out ruining the grass.

 

greens quick; bunkers good.  

 

POP not good…440 waiting on groups playing the wrong tee box(gold):  not making carries, etc.

[Baraethon]

GCU monday, greens were in rough shape. Lots of bare/dead patches. As usual, the price they charge the public for that is criminal

 

Got to Palo Verde for the first time this morning, fun little course with tough greens. My approach shots need some practice so a great set up for me

[puttnforthe8]

So not a real course!  But tried Stingers for the first time.

 

The place is pretty cool.  .75 wings Wednesday!

 

The sim has different types of “turf” for the different conditions including bunkers.

 

They have most of the top courses around the world.  Played Kingsbarn, then Pebble.  
 

The algorithm definitely adjusts for the lie you have. The board adjusts the lie (side hill).  I had a hard time deciding if it was accurate to at least an acceptable level. I am going to say yes.  It is not bad.  
 

the putting is not good.  The person I played with set the gimme to 16 feet circle because he says it’s not great.  By the end, I felt that it was video game putting and not real putting…I think the real 15 foot putts would probably go 40 feet.  The break accuracy was pretty solid though.

 

Disclaimer:  apparently some guy shot 61 in the recent weekly tourney and that’s with the settings all to normal with no concedes.  So maybe it is better than it seemed or people just know how to game it.  My buddy mentioned that some bays suck and others are really good; and we got one of the bad ones.

 

i left with mixed emotions.  I am a feel player.  That was definitely missed by me and made it very hard.  But it was ok.

 

the really cool option/extra was the app.  After the rounds, you get video analysis done by AI on your swing and a score telling you the good and the bad.  I think it probably has a “don’t hurt feelings” bias, but the analysis it provided me was really cool.

 

my buddy has the monthly pass for $175/mo.  That seems steep to me.  But there were some good golfers there that mentioned they use it daily.  Apparently during the week, they are quite lax on the time you can spend there and on the weekends/busier times you are held to your hour allotted time.  We went over because there were only 2 other bays in use.

 

Wings were decent, good beer options, plenty of other food options. Very good service! They seem to want to make it work.

 

overall I would recommend.  Only one person needs to get the package and they can bring guests.  So if you have a regular group, it might be worth considering tossing in $50 each and then any of you can use it. 

Edited March 13 by puttnforthe8

[FlashNoonan]

Played Palm Valley North/South this weekend. Greens look diseased? I'm not sure but they definitely didn't look healthy for being green. I should have taken a picture of them. Sand was great in the one bunker I was in.  

[Olson12]

Played at GCU today, and I can’t believe people are paying $150+ for such a disappointing experience. The course conditions are absolutely terrible… far from what you’d expect at that price point. With all the money GCU has, it’s shocking that they’ve let it deteriorate this badly. Nearly half the greens looked diseased, possibly from some kind of fungus, and #13 was by far the worst of the bunch. It’s a real shame to see it in this state, but hopefully, they turn things around soon.

[AZ_JHWK]

10 hours ago, Olson12 said:

Played at GCU today, and I can’t believe people are paying $150+ for such a disappointing experience. The course conditions are absolutely terrible… far from what you’d expect at that price point. With all the money GCU has, it’s shocking that they’ve let it deteriorate this badly. Nearly half the greens looked diseased, possibly from some kind of fungus, and #13 was by far the worst of the bunch. It’s a real shame to see it in this state, but hopefully, they turn things around soon.

I played there a few weeks back and would never pay $150 because I have the PHX City Card. I think it was around $60. Of course, I've never paid anything over $100 to play golf locally. I am going to break that rule in May when I have friends coming to town that I haven't seen for 5+ years. Going to Southern Dunes for around $130. 

 

I don't remember the greens being horrible, but they don't overseed and maybe something sprung up after the rains. I do think the course looked a little ragged due to the fact that they only overseed a handful of fairways. When I first started playing there 5 years ago it was one fairway on each 9 that was left dormant. This year it seems like more than half of the course is left that way.  I'm not sure what their strategy is, all of the other City courses do a full overseed.  

[Olson12]

I played both Verrado Victory and Sterling Grove on Sunday, what a perfect day for 36 holes!

 

Victory is in great shape from tee to green. They don’t overseed their greens, so earlier in the season they were a bit rough, but now that it's warming up, the greens are rolling nicely.

 

Sterling was incredibly pure tee to green. It was an interesting transition going from the fast, dormant greens at Victory to the slower, fuzzier greens at Sterling. I had four three-putts on the front nine and 35 total putts, but still managed to shoot a 73. Definitely a rollercoaster round. Sterling’s greens usually aren’t that slow, but I think I was just thrown off after adjusting to Victory’s speed. I want to point out that #13 at Sterling may be one of my favorite par 3s in the valley.  

[puttnforthe8]

Sterling is so good.  Took a friend who is member at a private here and felt Sterling was better than the private in many aspects. 
 

They had cut the grass to about fringe height out about 10-20 yards on holes.  Looks like they are prepping for a big event.  
 

imo, it was the most perfect condition I have seen an AZ public course ever be in. 

[Olson12]

3 hours ago, puttnforthe8 said:

Sterling is so good.  Took a friend who is member at a private here and felt Sterling was better than the private in many aspects. 
 

They had cut the grass to about fringe height out about 10-20 yards on holes.  Looks like they are prepping for a big event.  
 

imo, it was the most perfect condition I have seen an AZ public course ever be in. 

When did you play it?

[puttnforthe8]

45 minutes ago, Olson12 said:

When did you play it?

Today. 1040.  

[FlashNoonan]

Played Vistancia Saturday morning. Pleasantly surprised. Course was in really good shape from tee to green. The fringe was mowed slightly higher than green height to about 30 yards from the green. I used my Texas wedge more often than normal. It was a lot of fun. 

[dj6627]

We arrive next week.    Staying at JW Marriott.

 

The Palmer and Faldo courses good ?

 

Other suggestions near by ??

 

I see TPC Stadium is $300ish.

[puttnforthe8]

10 hours ago, dj6627 said:

We arrive next week.    Staying at JW Marriott.

 

The Palmer and Faldo courses good ?

 

Other suggestions near by ??

 

I see TPC Stadium is $300ish.

Courses are average.  

 

play TPC Champs for sure;  you can play Grayhawk for two courses head and shoulders better than Wildfire.  Legend Trail.  Of course Troon North.

[puttnforthe8]

10 hours ago, FlashNoonan said:

Played Vistancia Saturday morning. Pleasantly surprised. Course was in really good shape from tee to green. The fringe was mowed slightly higher than green height to about 30 yards from the green. I used my Texas wedge more often than normal. It was a lot of fun. 

Curious, why are you “surprised”?  Over the years I have almost never experienced Vistancia in anything less than pretty good shape.  They have always done a great job taking care of the course.

[Golf Pig]

Just played Poston Butte for the first time yesterday. I really liked the layout but that was no surprise given that I'm a fan of Gary Panks' courses - Whirlwind, Raven, Legacy, etc.

 

The tees and fairways were in excellent shape. The bunkers were mostly good with the exception of a couple greenside ones that had very little sand.

 

Now that the positives are out of the way - the greens were horrendous! I understand from talking to a few members that they have some sort of disease right now and they've gone through a few superintendents lately. I would describe the greens as burnt out, crusty, and very bumpy - basically dead and diseased. They're lightning fast but not in a good way.

 

I was also disappointed that the "red shale" areas showcased in all the photos I've seen online is more like brown dirt.

 

POP was painful - 5+ hour round on a Thursday. We didn't see a single marshal all day.

[puttnforthe8]

6 hours ago, Golf Pig said:

Just played Poston Butte for the first time yesterday. I really liked the layout but that was no surprise given that I'm a fan of Gary Panks' courses - Whirlwind, Raven, Legacy, etc.

 

The tees and fairways were in excellent shape. The bunkers were mostly good with the exception of a couple greenside ones that had very little sand.

 

Now that the positives are out of the way - the greens were horrendous! I understand from talking to a few members that they have some sort of disease right now and they've gone through a few superintendents lately. I would describe the greens as burnt out, crusty, and very bumpy - basically dead and diseased. They're lightning fast but not in a good way.

 

I was also disappointed that the "red shale" areas showcased in all the photos I've seen online is more like brown dirt.

 

POP was painful - 5+ hour round on a Thursday. We didn't see a single marshal all day.

Ugh!  PB is my go to lots of times.  Haven’t been out in a while so it is surprising that it has gone south recently.

[melodrameric]

On 4/4/2025 at 9:43 AM, Golf Pig said:

Just played Poston Butte for the first time yesterday. I really liked the layout but that was no surprise given that I'm a fan of Gary Panks' courses - Whirlwind, Raven, Legacy, etc.

 

The tees and fairways were in excellent shape. The bunkers were mostly good with the exception of a couple greenside ones that had very little sand.

 

Now that the positives are out of the way - the greens were horrendous! I understand from talking to a few members that they have some sort of disease right now and they've gone through a few superintendents lately. I would describe the greens as burnt out, crusty, and very bumpy - basically dead and diseased. They're lightning fast but not in a good way.

 

I was also disappointed that the "red shale" areas showcased in all the photos I've seen online is more like brown dirt.

 

POP was painful - 5+ hour round on a Thursday. We didn't see a single marshal all day.

Heard a similar story about Poston Butte from some guys I played with earlier this week. Going to avoid it for a while.

[cbbaron]

Troon North Monument Saturday

 

Conditions were great 

 

Fairways were getting plenty of rollout

 

Tee boxes greens great

 

Teed off at 1120 POP as to expected that hour awful

 

Played 15 holes on Pinnacle afterwards same conditions

 

 

 

[cbbaron]

Saguaro today 

 

All in all pretty solid 

 

Pop teeing off 940 just a tad over 4 hours

 

Played front 9 Cholla

 

Also great shape

 

 

[Bonneville85308]

Coyote Lakes early this morning. Greens were all in excellent condition but a little slower than public course average even after the dew burned off, which is fine given some of the tough hole locations they had today near the ridges/tiers or close to the fringe. Fairways were great. Rough was thick and healthy but cut down to a reasonable height. The fairway approaches were decently firm and the ball would roll up onto the greens easily. Tees were unlevel as usual. My ball landed in 2 greenside bunkers; one had a big pond of water, one was rock hard. Played as a foursome in a bit under 3.5 hours. Staff was good as usual here.

 

 

Edited April 12 by Bonneville85308

[Baraethon]

GCU today, greens still atrocious but everything else was decent. Not mad at city card prices, can't imagine if I'd paid $120 for it.