2025 Phoenix Area Course Conditions

[Bonneville85308]

Wickenburg GC (not Ranch) today. Quirky short layout, but it sets up well for how I hit the ball and I enjoy it because it gives me a lot of birdie opportunities.  Greens were the highlight, near perfect condition and a bit faster than "public course average" speed once they dried out. Fairways were a mixed bag, cut short, some good but some had patchy bare dirt areas that look like they had trouble in the rye-bermuda transition. Wasn't in the bunkers but they didn't look great. Tees had good grass coverage but many unlevel/uneven. 

 

Since I was here last a couple years ago, the long-stalled mid 2000s housing project on the front nine has resumed and lots of new homes are being built or already done. The long cart ride from #5 green to #6 tee that used to be on a dirt path in the desert now has you driving on the sidewalk through the new neighborhood. Some of the holes that felt isolated and natural before are now lined with houses.

 

It was oddly empty for a Saturday so pace was no issue. $45+ tax with cart, good deal. Even saw a bobcat on one of the back nine greens.

 

 

 

[Bonneville85308]

Coyote Lakes today. Greens were soft/receptive and looked like they would be slow, but were actually faster than public course average. Fairways generally in pretty good condition for this caliber of course, not many burnt out/bare spots at all; some of the other lower end west valley courses have half-dirt fairways right now. A couple on the front were in need of mowing, but good rollout on drives on all. Bunker sand was good. Rough was in good condition and cut low. Really nothing to complain about for conditions. $30 with cart and the place was pretty empty, but it's a Monday in July.

 

Edited July 22 by Bonneville85308

[AZ_JHWK]

Papago today. This course is in great shape overall. The greens have fully healed after aeration. The staff is top notch and really makes you feel welcome. Golf, cart and a small bucket for $52 with PHX Card. That's hard to beat given the quality of the course and facilities.  

[Bonneville85308]

I just crossed off another one of the few remaining metro Phoenix public courses off my "never played it" list.  I think I'm down to less than 6 now. McCormick Ranch - Palm course this afternoon. The Pine course is currently closed for renovations, and they have that one all ripped apart, looks like they are renovating/re-grassing most of it. Design-wise, Palm feels like one of those "Floridazona" courses like Ocotillo, but you generally had to hit a really awful miss to find water, it wasn't very penal. Some of the greens, particularly on the front, had some decent contouring to keep things interesting. Course is pretty flat on the front and has slight elevation change on a few holes on the back. Overall, a snoozer of a course.

 

Conditions on the Palm were a tale of two different nines. The front was by far the better of the two, I'm guessing they did a renovation on it in the last couple years. Tees, fairways, and rough all had excellent bermuda coverage and a well-kept appearance. Greens looked like they had been aerated maybe 3 weeks ago. Speed was "public course average" but some putts were still zig-zagging a bit from the aeration. Fairways and greens were semi-firm, some good roll-out on drives. Conditions were dry. Bunker sand was decent.

 

Back nine was a mess. Fairways in worse condition, thinner, some still saturated in the afternoon causing mudballs and not much roll. Seems like they have a lot of sprinkler leaks on this nine, leading to every hole having numerous mudpits in the fairways or rough with standing water and 10"+ high grass around them, a few right in front of the greens. Greens were generally comparable to the front nine without the lingering aeration effects. Bunkers were truly awful. Either dry but total concrete, or filled with water at 3pm, with 6" deep rough surrounding them. My third shot on the last par 5 landed short of the green in a large bunker, looked like it bounced a bit, and I never found it.

 

I picked a time when it looked like the tee sheet would be pretty empty, and it was - just a bunch of scattered singles and twosomes out there, so I was done in a little over 2 hours. $59 with cart and range balls included. I can't believe they are charging $99 in the morning right now and are apparently getting it. Seems like they get a very young clientele here and the range was busy. I don't see myself going back.

 

Pics are from the front nine.

 

[AZ_JHWK]

22 hours ago, Bonneville85308 said:

I just crossed off another one of the few remaining metro Phoenix public courses off my "never played it" list.  I think I'm down to less than 6 now. McCormick Ranch - Palm course this afternoon. The Pine course is currently closed for renovations, and they have that one all ripped apart, looks like they are renovating/re-grassing most of it. Design-wise, Palm feels like one of those "Floridazona" courses like Ocotillo, but you generally had to hit a really awful miss to find water, it wasn't very penal. Some of the greens, particularly on the front, had some decent contouring to keep things interesting. Course is pretty flat on the front and has slight elevation change on a few holes on the back. Overall, a snoozer of a course.

 

Conditions on the Palm were a tale of two different nines. The front was by far the better of the two, I'm guessing they did a renovation on it in the last couple years. Tees, fairways, and rough all had excellent bermuda coverage and a well-kept appearance. Greens looked like they had been aerated maybe 3 weeks ago. Speed was "public course average" but some putts were still zig-zagging a bit from the aeration. Fairways and greens were semi-firm, some good roll-out on drives. Conditions were dry. Bunker sand was decent.

 

Back nine was a mess. Fairways in worse condition, thinner, some still saturated in the afternoon causing mudballs and not much roll. Seems like they have a lot of sprinkler leaks on this nine, leading to every hole having numerous mudpits in the fairways or rough with standing water and 10"+ high grass around them, a few right in front of the greens. Greens were generally comparable to the front nine without the lingering aeration effects. Bunkers were truly awful. Either dry but total concrete, or filled with water at 3pm, with 6" deep rough surrounding them. My third shot on the last par 5 landed short of the green in a large bunker, looked like it bounced a bit, and I never found it.

 

I picked a time when it looked like the tee sheet would be pretty empty, and it was - just a bunch of scattered singles and twosomes out there, so I was done in a little over 2 hours. $59 with cart and range balls included. I can't believe they are charging $99 in the morning right now and are apparently getting it. Seems like they get a very young clientele here and the range was busy. I don't see myself going back.

 

Pics are from the front nine.

 

All credit to you. Only six courses remaining in the Metro is amazing. 

 

On a side note...anybody have an opinion on Red Mountain Ranch? This one isn't far from my place and it is the only Pete Dye course in the valley or so they say. It would seem to be a tight target-oriented kind of track. I question the conditions as there are always so many early, weekend tee times available even the night before. That's kind of a red flag for me. 

[GolfGuy321]

23 hours ago, Bonneville85308 said:

I just crossed off another one of the few remaining metro Phoenix public courses off my "never played it" list.  I think I'm down to less than 6 now. McCormick Ranch - Palm course this afternoon.

 

Front palm was redone last summer.  Pine front will reopen in Nov.    They redid everything, tee to green, all new grass, green contours, bunkers, drainage.  Literally everything.

 

Back 9s will be done over the next two summers.

[Bonneville85308]

Cimarron in SC Grand early this morning. Pretty much everything was in great condition. Not really anything I could nitpick; maybe a few small muddy spots in the rough? $60 w/cart. Paired up with 3 quick randoms and finished in 3:15. 

 

 

 

[azgolfer44]

On 7/26/2025 at 5:52 PM, AZ_JHWK said:

Papago today. This course is in great shape overall. The greens have fully healed after aeration. The staff is top notch and really makes you feel welcome. Golf, cart and a small bucket for $52 with PHX Card. That's hard to beat given the quality of the course and facilities.  

Arizona Open starts there tomorrow. Last two summers have been great out there although I did get some mudballs yesterday. 

[puttnforthe8]

2 hours ago, AZ_JHWK said:

All credit to you. Only six courses remaining in the Metro is amazing. 

 

On a side note...anybody have an opinion on Red Mountain Ranch? This one isn't far from my place and it is the only Pete Dye course in the valley or so they say. It would seem to be a tight target-oriented kind of track. I question the conditions as there are always so many early, weekend tee times available even the night before. That's kind of a red flag for me. 

RMR is - mish mash of holes strung together.  There is no real continuity and the obligatory Dye features strewn about. There are holes packed in close to homes.  
 

Conditions are always all over the place..:bare patches to over grown grass; some greens good others patchy.  
 

The par 3s are actually ok.  
 

My stance is if you find a round on the $30s(maybe not any more) it is worth the play.
 

 

[ZephyrS4]

16 hours ago, AZ_JHWK said:

All credit to you. Only six courses remaining in the Metro is amazing. 

 

On a side note...anybody have an opinion on Red Mountain Ranch? This one isn't far from my place and it is the only Pete Dye course in the valley or so they say. It would seem to be a tight target-oriented kind of track. I question the conditions as there are always so many early, weekend tee times available even the night before. That's kind of a red flag for me. 

Karsten ‘was’ a Dye course too, but that’s long gone….shame….was a fun course.

[chisag]

17 hours ago, GolfGuy321 said:

  They redid everything, tee to green, all new grass, green contours, bunkers, drainage. 

 

 

... I have said this before I think, but coming from the Midwest with a nice amount of sand in the bunkers and rare to find one green side with high lips I was shocked to play McCormick Ranch with very high lips and absolutely zero sand in them. Not even a dusting and more like a NC rural country road. If you aren't gonna put sand in your bunkers, why design them with high lips? Raven re-did their bunkers two summers ago and they are already back to hard pan. Yea, I have heard the wind is the issue 🫣 but Chicago gets even more gusty and I didn't run into this in Texas where winds are stronger than both Chicago/Phoenix. Typical example at Raven is #7 the long par 3 with a bunker running down the entire left side and a very high lip around the green I still haven't figured the best way to play if my tee shot from 200+ lands in it so I end up plating to the right of the green and chip/pitch to the pin. I can at least par from there while I have no chance from that hard pan they call a bunker. 

 

[SilverBullets]

2 hours ago, ZephyrS4 said:

Karsten ‘was’ a Dye course too, but that’s long gone….shame….was a fun course.

Was it really though? lol

[ZephyrS4]

2 hours ago, SilverBullets said:

Was it really though? lol

lol…..I enjoyed it….was fun to drive the cart all over those hills to get some shade!

[cbbaron]

2 hours ago, ZephyrS4 said:

lol…..I enjoyed it….was fun to drive the cart all over those hills to get some shade!

Karsten Sucked

[azgolfer44]

18 minutes ago, cbbaron said:

Karsten Sucked

Most of the holes were bad but I enjoyed 9 and 16-18. They really had to shoehorn the course into the space. I have fond memories of the course.

[DKgolfAZ]

Anyone played power ranch lately? I know it was in rough shape a few years ago.

[Bonneville85308]

38 minutes ago, DKgolfAZ said:

Anyone played power ranch lately? I know it was in rough shape a few years ago.

 

As of late last year, it was in good shape when I played it. They had just completed renovating all of the greens and greenside bunkers, and they cut out most of the junk growing along the holes. 9 months later and in summer could be a completely different story, so hopefully someone can give you a more recent report.

[puttnforthe8]

2 hours ago, DKgolfAZ said:

Anyone played power ranch lately? I know it was in rough shape a few years ago.

It is ok.  Cleaned up as per above.  They redid the greens - but really it was a recut and some minor reno.

 

it is not in “rough shape”; but don’t expect it to be any more than it is. 

Edited July 30 by puttnforthe8

[AZ_JHWK]

I played Power Ranch in early May. It looked good then, but I don't know about summer conditions. Greens are firm due to the green renovations. If remember correctly, most of the summer issues were due to the greens. Hopefully that has been addressed with the reno. 

 

[Golf Pig]

On 7/27/2025 at 6:55 PM, AZ_JHWK said:

On a side note...anybody have an opinion on Red Mountain Ranch?

 

I was fortunate enough to play RMR when it was fully private about 25 years ago. You wouldn't believe the conditions back then compared to now. It was one of the few courses in the valley that overseeded everywhere. It was green and lush all year and always in fantastic shape. Things have gone downhill since but the last few years the conditions have really improved. That aside, you'll either love the course or hate it. It's a true target style desert course that will really test your short game. Apparently Andrew Magee played it and shot 78 calling it the one of the toughest courses he had ever seen. He won the PGA Tour event in Tucson later that week. The green fees seem to be way lower than most courses so I would definitely give it a shot!