Albany Golf Course

Albany is a very well laid out track. A good challenge but very fair not tricked up at all very good shape. Would recommend to all players of all silk levels. The staff is incredible so nice helpful real add to an already excellent experience.

We visited the exclusive, gated Albany community just after the 2015 Hero tournament. Ernie Els’ design looks and plays like a desert layout as it winds through the Albany community. It is framed by manmade sand dunes and features sandy waste areas, desert scrub vegetation, and big white sand bunkers.

The front nine weaves around more of Albany’s housing lots. Our favorite holes were the cape-style par-five 3rd and the short par-five 7th. The back nine is scenic and intriguing—it’s the highlight stretch of the round. Albany’s small greens are hard to hit and hold and when our shots didn’t hold, steep falloffs were looming off the sides.

Albany tops out at 6,944 yards. Most take it on at 6,504 yards, as there’s no shorter option besides the 5,365-yard forward markers. When the wind is up, we found it almost impossible to reach the longer par fours in regulation. The two high-handicap women in our group managed well from the forward tees. Neither water nor forced carries was much of a factor. Also, when the ball rolled into the desert, our chances of finding it and playing a recovery shot were good.

We played twice. Since carts were restricted to the path the first afternoon, we opted to walk. The walk with pull carts was so enjoyable we elected to walk again the next day.

Albany’s practice facilities and amenities are great and geared for the pros that live here. There’s a double-ended driving range and a few short game areas. As guests staying in the community, the green fee was $300 per person, per round. It’s very expensive to stay at Albany, but as we detailed in our in-depth article in GOLF ODYSSEY, you definitely get what you pay for.