MattBressers

I really do want to like Deer Creek as the layout is very challenging given how tight certain holes are from the tee boxes and how the greens have their own quirks towards reading them. This just seems like a course that could be a gem if it was kept up a little better, but as with other GreatLifeKC courses, the theme continues of mismanagement and neglect.

While the course itself is subject to flooding when any measurable rain occurs in the KC area, it seems given the track record that they would be ready for it. On this particular day, my 3-some witnessed ball washers that had been pulled from the ground simply laying on the side of the cart path. We witnessed EVERY SINGLE BUNKER having little to no sand, if not completely washed out...what sand was there had been baked in the sun for a week and still had beer cans, tree branches, plastic bottles, etc. sitting in them. How is that even acceptable from a management perspective?!? Clearly you can get out to mow (fairways and rough had both been recently cut), so how can you not attend to the bunkers unless you're just giving up on them?

Ultimately, the neglect of the course, along with others in the area also owned by GreatLifeKC, have made me want to spend my time/money elsewhere. I'll not be back.

The course has a very "resort" feel to it if you've played any golf at all within the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Generous fairways, larger greens and the desert only truly comes into play if you've put a bad move on the ball. We played from the tips and found several of the long par5s a challenge to hit in two (a couple were pushing the 600+ number) while the par4s really didn't offer any respite either. The first par3 only measured out at 140, but the rest of them were all in the 175+ range with some elevation changes as well. The fairways, as mentioned, were pretty wide in the landing spots, but they offered very few even lies. The one thing we noticed after the first few holes was that a majority of the putts rolled TOWARDS the mountains to the south/southwest, but once we figured that out, we were in business. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone as it is easily accessible from about anywhere in the city, offers a nice challenge with everything right in front of your for the taking and the condition of the course is in the top 10%-15% of public courses in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. The only things that kept me from rating this a full 5 stars across the board were that a few of the tee boxes were extremely sloped, slanted or left you standing in a hole (remember, we played the tips) and range balls were not included.

I had read many posts online through other sources about Verrado being a "Must Play" if you happened to be traveling in to play golf in the area and considering I live almost 2 hours from the course, I figured it was worth the drive out to Buckeye from Prescott. From the moment I was on the course I was made to feel like I was a "guest" and was treated extremely well by everyone from the bag drop and pro shop to the beverage carts and members I was paired with. They truly went out of their way to show their gratitude for coming to their facility. The course itself was in really good shape for coming out of the overseed season...the tee boxes were all nearly perfectly level with great grass on them, the fairways tee'd a ball up, the rough was THICK and the greens rolled very true (still a bit sandy, but that goes away within a week or two). This is very much a desert layout with forced carries and trouble when the deep rough doesn't catch a ball going off target. It was a challenging course for someone who had never played it and also decided to play from the black/silver combo set of tees at a little over 7k yards in length. Most of the length comes in on the Par4s and Par5s as several of the 4s were 450+ with 2 par 5s stretching to 588. The Par3s were all fairly benign in the 150-175 range...as long as you are accurate with severe elevation changes and hitting to greens far below you, you'll be fine. I ended up shooting 81 (4 strokes above my handicap), but I only have myself to blame as there may have only been one or two shots from the tee that were blind to your landing area (both of which I hit). I definitely want revenge, but this course is one I would suggest to anyone to get out and play as it was truly a great experience.

Let me start off by saying that I am a fan of anything that Troon manages as they are some of the most upscale and pristine courses I have had the honor to play. This course, however, was not necessarily up to the standards I would pair with the word "Troon" when spoken in the same sentence. Breaking this down by category: 1) Staff. The two nicest people our group met were the gentleman at the bag drop and our beverage cart girl. They talked with us, made us feel welcome and were outwardly happy to have us there. The gentleman in the pro shop was there to handle my money...period. Nice pro shop, great selection of clothes, but a total lack of engagement rushed me out of there when I have always been willing to shell out for new gear when playing a course for the first time. 2) Pace of Play. We only had 3 and the group of 4 placed in front of us let us through after a few holes. We ran into another group of 4 when we hit the back 9, but they also were more than willing to let us through. We sped through 18 holes in 3.5 hours and it was great. I think we saw a marshal once, but he just nodded as we zipped by. 3) 19th Hole. We had a few drinks and our bartender was more than happy to change the channel from bowling to the RBC in Harbortown without us even having to ask. Beers were cold and she was very attentive for our second round of drinks when we were all left with about 1/4 left in our glasses. Spot on. The upper patio was out of service due to some pretty nasty repair work that needed to be done to the stairs leading up, but otherwise it was a good experience. 4) Course Conditions. For the most part, we were all generally happy. The greens held shots coming in from all distances, but they rolled very well. Putts held their line and definitely had some run out to them as mid-morning arrived. Fairways didn't give us any bare lies, but they were definitely not sitting up on top of the grass either. The rough was longer, but fair and manageable should you find yourself in it. 5) Course Difficulty/Layout. Here is where my largest complaint comes in. Now, we played the tips because 2 of the 3 in our group carry handicaps of 3 or lower with the third being in the low teens. The distance between the tips and the next tees up was HUGE and the tips are not overly long either. Being this was our first time playing, we were all a bit cautious, but apparently not cautious enough. First, the par5's are SHORT and at least one of us got home in 2 on each of them. The problem we had is that the #1 handicap hole is a par5 that takes driver out of your hand, not to mention it is a blind tee shot. We had no idea that anything over 260 and down the middle would end up in a waste area. I hit 3W and was blocked out by trees 10 feet in front of me while at the very end of the fairway while my partners hit Driver and were in similar situations. Bad layout for the #1 handicap hole to have to hit an iron off of the tee. There were also several other holes, #13 sticks out in my mind, that feel as if during the design of the course they ran out of land and had to manufacture a hole somehow. This was also the same hole that we found the yardage plate on the tee box to be horribly inaccurate. 216 to the beginning of the fairway, I hit 5 iron and almost blew it into the bunkers where the holes makes a 75-80 degree turn to the left . Play it more like 195-200 and you'll be in the middle.

Overall, it wasn't a "bad" experience, it just isn't one that I will go back for to see if it can be a "great" experience. I'd love to say I was impressed, but I simply cannot with this Troon property. Just an FYI, I shot my handicap, so all of the above is not based upon me having a bad day either. :)

Stoneridge has long been my favorite in the Prescott area as it represents a very challenging layout that is reminiscent of many desert style courses you will find in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Every tee ball requires some kind of a forced carry over the desert and scrub brush, even if for only 50-100 yards, it is always there. This is very much a target course despite the yardages indicating it is open for bombers as many of the landing areas funnel towards trouble.

If you play the tips, you'll quickly realize that a lot of the yardage differential is made up on the Par 3's, however #9 & #13 stick out in my mind as having some of larger differences as well.

The staff has always been extremely friendly. Scott will generally meet you at the club drop off point before teeing off and is always a pleasure to speak with. The renovated grill area looks amazing and they have significantly upgraded their food menu and beer selection without putting the pinch on their customers.

My overall review would be higher, however I was very disappointed in the greens during our round today. The head greenskeeper seemed to cave to pressures around late season tournaments, which pushed the verification schedule into mid to late November. As Prescott sees snow and colder temps in the winter months, this means that even as of today the greens still splashed with sand when hit from about any distance. Once on the greens, they were EXTREMELY slow and it was hard to keep putts on line that didn't have more pace than necessary to get to the hole. The greens will get better as the weather warms, however they need a good 2-3 weeks with 70+ degree weather and a good cut/roll to get them back to their late season form from 2015.

I'll be back and will look to exact some revenge on the back nine after going 37-41 today.

Nothing about Troon North disappoints. From the minute you hit the parking lot and drop your clubs to the minute you pay for your 19th hole drinks or spend money in the pro shop, you're expectations are exceeded. The golf in the middle of all of that is simply spectacular. We played the Pinnacle course as it had come out of overseeding a couple of weeks prior to Monument and the course was already in great shape, but will only continue to get better. A couple of the greens looked like they had seen some traffic, but overall they were running 10+ and rolled true. The entire staff was as friendly as could be and it was obvious they all truly enjoyed being there as well. I always enjoy my rounds here and cannot wait to get back for more this winter.

If you're tired of constantly hunting for a ball in the desert and scuffing new irons up or just looking for a place where EVERYTHING is green, then look no further than Elephant Rocks. I was pointed here over a local Prescott course by another area course pro and this did not disappoint. While it was not an overly long course, it still required us to hit shots off of all sorts off of varyious lies in the fairways. The fairways themselves placed the ball on a tee each time we were in it...not one person in my foursome ever complained about the fairway. The rough, while long and penalizing, still allowed us to take a shot at the green provided we missed on the correct side of the fairway as the pine trees lining the outside of the rough lines would come into play. I cannot say enough about the greens...they rolled very true and had good pace to them, but would we had no problems holding long irons or hybrids if going for Par5's in two. The beverage cart was out and about very regularly and the marshall even made a point to stop by and comment how beautiful of a day it was and that we essentially had the course to ourselves. Everyone from the gentleman in the pro shop through to the marshall and beverage cart exhibited a high degree of customer service that only further increased our group's experience and satisfaction with making the drive north. I will absolutely be back over the next couple of weeks.

I had a great time playing Stoneridge for the first time last week. The course is extremely challenging with a number of forced carries over the desert to reach the fairway, risk-reward shots on shorter par 4's and a general need to have played the course a couple of times to know where you can take a rip and where you need to play conservatively. Most of the staff was extremely friendly, most notably Ray, the starter, was very helpful in pairing me up with a group similar to my skill level. The guys in the pro-shop were too busy to bother asking for anything other than my form of payment, so I didn't really start the customer service experience off with a bang upon checking in. I played the black tees, which measure out just a little more than 7k yards. The course was well maintained outside of a handful of tee boxes that had just been top dressed and the sand still sitting on top of the grass, which as you can imagine, made it a little tough to get a good footing for your tee shots. My handicap generally hovers around a 5, but I ended up shooting an 83 on this day. I would expect a better score next time simply because I have some idea of where to hit he ball and where not to. For the money, this is a great local track, but come prepared to drop a few balls off with the Golf Gods prior to the end of your round...especially if you've never played the course before.

My threesome, two women and myself, played on arguably one of the hottest days Kansas City saw this summer. The course was well maintained for the heat and lack of water. I played from the tips (6 handicap), so the tee boxes did not look to have been used much as there were no tee remnants or divots. A few of the tee boxes on the front had little to no grass and the par 4 10th had absolutely none. The fairways had recently been mowed so the ball was perched 9 times out of 10, however on the 9th, 12th and 18th holes large clumps of mowed grass clippings made it hard to find balls in the fairway. The greens were great. They had a good pace to them (I personally like them fast) and despite being a public facility, did not have a lot of unreparied ball marks. The rough was not penalizing, but that is quite simply due to the heat and lack of water. That said, there are plenty of places to get into tree troule on most every hole, so in order to shoot a good number you must keep your ball in the fairway. This is not a course for beginners. The pro shop staff were very short and unattentive as they were either talking to eachother or watching the GolfChannel. The grill has ample space, a great bar staff and they were very attentive of our needs on a 110 degree day for fluids. Overall, I enjoyed my experience as well as the course itself.