Dinosaur Mountain at Gold Canyon Golf Resort

Gold Canyon Dinosaur Mountain Course. If you enjoy great views this course is a must play. Bring your camera and do forget your patience. This is not a short course. You need to remember it's a par 70 with 6 par 3's. The original back 9 ( holes 1,2,3,4,14,15,16, 17 and 18 ) the greens are smaller and more undulating. On almost every one of the original holes long is bad so watch your GPS for pin position carefully. In the late 90's Gold Canyon built the rest of the Dinosaur Mountain holes 5 thru 13. Larger greens and less undulation. This is a course you will want to play more then once. Getting a feel of the greens will improve your score dramatically. Plus the true beauty of the area is worth the extra round.

I last played this course in 1988. It has not lost a step since then. The course was in magnificent condition. The greens were quick and undulated. The vista's were spectacular. It is everything Arizona Mountain golf should be. Great public course.

First time playing Dinosaur Mountain and this is one of my favorite courses I have played. Lots of Elevation changes and great views. If you play from the right tees the course is a lot of fun and you can shoot decent scores. The one downside I have for Gold Canyon is that their Driving Range needs an update. For the prices that you pay for Dinosaur Mountain hitting off an artificial mat is unacceptable. All in all though I really enjoyed the course and would play again.

Finally decided to put some money down. It was "only" $95 which is a good rate for January. Got paired up with a couple who have played it a lot and they were essential for having a good round there. The greens are CRAZY to read. I 3 and 4 putted so many times and loved it. Defiinitely nothign like I ever faced. They had so many cool views and options to hit over. Only negative I have was the replay rate was $80. What kind of discount is that? :( I will be back again in the summer.

Played all the best courses in the valley and this course is by far my favourite!!
Can't think of anything bad to say about it. Maybe the rubber matts on the range (no big deal) everything else is top notch ! You won't be disappointed if you play here.
The elevations and views are spectacular!

I did not think it was possible, but Dinosaur is just as beautiful as the Boulders. The fairways and greens were immaculate and the only negative about the course is that my concentration would sometimes waiver due to the magnificent surroundings. This course is a must if you come to Arizona to play golf.

Omg what a beautiful course and so player friendly wish I could play here more often

First of all I will say the course itself was nice and has some spectacular views and I am glad I played. Everything else was disappointing. The driving range has old balls and has you hitting off mats. They do not have drinking water available out on the course, which downright shameful when it is well over 100. I'm sure they do it to squeeze more money out of you. And yet we saw the beverage cart only once. There is a snack shack that you pass twice during the round where you can get an overpriced beverage of your choice ($5 for domestic beer). So in conclusion, decent course, substandard amenities. If you play, bring plenty to drink.

Played Sidewinder last week and the greens were still healing from a recent "punching"; Dinosaur greens are S-L-I-C-K! Practice by putting downhill on your driveway and try to make the putt stop 1' before rolling into the street!

STAY BELOW THE HOLE! Took me 1 hole and four putts to figure that out!

I've played some target golf courses before (Ocean View-now Trumps Palos Verdes layout, The Champions course at The Retreat) but Dinosaur is by far the better of those two hands down!

The dinosaur course is a real gem in the East valley. Every hole is a photo op. The course was in great condition and challenging, but yet provides plenty of opportunity to score. I will definitely play this course again, soon.

Severe elevation changes. Beautiful views on every hole. Played from the tips and it was a fantastic experience. A course very much worth traveling to.

Beautiful course!! Winds through the mountains, spectacular scenery. Lots of elevation changes. Hole 5: par 3, 200 ft. drop tee to green! It was HOT, but overcast (we were lucky). Course in great shape for AZ summer. Excellent value, $50 on Golf Now. Locals, now's the time to play the Dinosaur!!

Fabulous course that is always in great shape with terrific views. Practice facilities are laughable and need to be updated. But other than that, one of the best courses in the valley.

played as a two-some..course in excellent shape.
No one was playing...

Anyone that comes to play golf in AZ must play this. This is my favorite course as the views are second to none.! Stellar staff makes this a wonderful experience. I've played the likes of troon, Quintero, tpc, boulders... This is the most fun you will have in golf out here. Very fair course, pins can be tough though. Great greens make the putting fun.

What an amazing place!!!

We came to Arizona for a 6-round trip. We played Southern Dunes, Quintero, Gold Canyon (both courses) and We-Ko-Pa (both courses). At the end of the day, many members of our group thought that Dinosaur was the single best golf course we played on the entire trip, and every single member agreed that it was by far and away the best value deal in the entire state of Arizona.

To begin with, it is hard to beat the staff at Gold Canyon. Ryan in the pro shop worked with our group and he was excellent. They were on top of everything we needed, and ensured everything went off without a hitch. The rangers are awesome, and the staff is friendly. This isn't the private club atmosphere like you have at Quintero or We-Ko-Pa, and yet the staff treats you that way. It has all the great qualities of an exclusive club, just minus the pretentiousness.

The course is plain amazing. The front 9 takes you up into the mountains and the back takes you through them. Some of the holes have entirely dramatic elevation changes that make you feel like you're hitting into the vast desert beyond. Both the fairways and the greens were in incredible shape. Putts rolled true, but multiple tiers and heavy undulations placed an emphasis on hitting your approach shot to the right spot. Our afternoon round finished with a spectacular sunset on the back 9. The 15th hole has one of the best tricky drives out there - make sure you ask a ranger for the right line (which is in between two cacti well left of where the fairway points you). If you catch it right, you can hit the green or at least the green side bunker. Speaking of the rangers, they were so incredibly nice and helpful! Just added to the overall experience.

I think there would be debate among the group on what courses we would return to on our next Arizona trip, with the exception of Gold Canyon. It cannot be missed. And if you're looking to avoid the $150 - $300 rounds that comparable courses will stick you with, even better.

This course was in the best shape of any we played on our golf trip this year and we played other courses in this price range. The views are spectacular. The fairways are wide so the course wasn't as hard as the starter made it out to be. There are no total distances on the scorecard but they say what handicap should play which tees. This is flawed logic to me since I prefer to use total distance to pick tees. Blue tees are 5900 yds for a par 70 course. Ask starter for distances. Lots of memorable holes and would play this course any time even if it is a bit of a drive.

We played for $100 which was a good deal. Course scenery is beautiful. Course was in perfect shape. Pace of play was ok. Practice range was lousy making you hit from crummy old mats but that is my only complaint.
I played 5 courses on my trip and this was the best. Greens are very challenging and hard to read. Par 3 downhill from 246 yards was one of the best holes I have ever played-great for pictures!

This course is as fun as it is beautiful. Very friendly staff that treat your clubs like they were theirs. They load and unload them and wash all of them when you're done. Lots of deer and hogs running wild. Wide fairways for a fun round.

Just an outstanding course. Driving up you might not think that this is a 5 star course. However, once you are out there, it is wonderful. Fair, forgiving for the most part and beautiful. The course will challenge you at time, but you will always look at it a fair.
The views are fantastic and the course conditions were pristine for so close to overseeding.

A little spendy for this time of year, but the overall value considering golf, condition, layout and vistas was well worth it. Will be back many, many times.