My playing partner and I drove up to Dove Valley Ranch from Chandler and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.
In my opinion the course was in great shape. The greens were good and fast! Add to that, there are some beautiful views of the surrounding North Phoenix area. The staff was friendly upon our arrival and we were even called to the 1st tee to actually start the round EARLY! The only issues we had were with the GPS monitor on our cart which wasn't working (and yes we tried the power button on the monitor), the pace of play, and the fact that some people have no knowledge or care of how to repair pitch marks. On one green alone I thought I was on the moon when I counted 6 deep unrepaired pitch marks. It would have been nice to have the GPS working since I don't currently have a laser finder. The pace of play was slower but not terrible and since it was a beautiful day it was tolerable. They also had a beverage gal who actually made several trips around the course. I am looking forward to my next round up at Dove Valley.
Well worth the drive from Chandler.

The good news: Johnson Ranch GC was in pretty darn good shape including some fabulous but TOUGH greens as well as some beautiful 360 degree views which seemed to extend for a hundred miles. Very nice. The. Bad News: Extemely, and I mean EXTREMELY SLOW play!!! Everything you've read on this site about this course, about slow play is true to a tee (no pun intended)! We arrived for an approximate 1 pm tee time and were promptly told they were behind by 25 minutes due to some "improperly working carts" that morning. Well, 35 minutes later we finally teed off as a twosome behind 4 of the absolute WORST golfers I've ever watched in my life. Granted, I'm an 18 handicap and by no means the perfect golfer, but I do have a grasp of etiquette and know when I'm slowing play down to simply pick up and move along. These guys drove their carts around the fairway like Joey Chitwood. Due to the delay and the play in front of us what should have been a 4 hour and 20 minute round (according to the placard in the cart) we were subjected to a 6 hour round including the delay.beforehand and playing the last 3 holes virtually in the dark. It's a shame because like I said, nice course but I won't be driving 25 miles anytime soon to subject myself to that!!!