Sedona Golf Resort

Sedona Golf Resort was, a long time ago, a spectacular place to play. Not because of the design, nor due to shot values... both of which ARE better than average. Simply put, the incredible views are unlike any other course, anywhere. (Then we got Seven Canyons!) Dramatic elevation changes allow for sight lines that are breathtaking, no doubt. But one comes to a screeching halt when you look at just HOW goofy some on the holes are (beginning with number one)... Much less the routing of par 37 on the front nine and 34 on the back. Then you take into account course conditions, the overworked staff and you have to come to the conclusion that Sedona Golf Resort has seen much better days in the past.

One of the difficulties that you cannot get past lies in the golf course architecture, itself. It's the desert Southwest (this is NO desert course - it's high desert, maybe) and that means, if you play golf, your going to be playing one of the numerous designs by Mr. Gary Panks that exist in Arizona. Nothing personal about him, but his designs are just NOT that great...at all. His two best courses, perhaps, are in Phoenix: The Talon Course at Grayhawk (back when he was paired with newly-inducted Golf Hall of Fame member, David Graham) was the site of the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf, the progenitor of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. The Raven (formerly The Raven Golf Club at South Mountain) was also designed by the Graham-Panks duo. One of the most unique elements of the course are the 7,000 or so pine trees that line the fairways of the course. Needless to say, in the Sonoran Desert, pine trees are generally not a hazard one has to contend with. But the fall-off from those two courses to the rest of Gary Panks Associates portfolio is precipitous: His designs rarely are intriguing. They are much closer to pedestrian, save for his penchant towards brutal bunkering the likes of which Poe could write about.

Pank's fairway bunkering can just get out of hand, as evidenced by the rework that was done on his Aguila Golf Course in Laveen, a southern suburb of Phoenix. Ostensibly renovated due to deterioration, the fact of the matter was that some of the bunkers were almost unplayable, leading to brutal group mashups on holes nine and eighteen. Say hello to Mr. Five Hour round. As for bunkers protecting greens, they, often times, were even worse (see The Legacy in Phoenix, next door to The Raven): Faces that are horizontally steep, sculpted and scalloped to the point of overkill, with no real entry or exit points. Say Bataan Death march quietly three times and click your spikes together. The same stands true for Sedona Golf Resort.

While trying to maintain the ambiance of the Red Rock experience of Sedona, the sand in the bunkers is a reddish clay based mixture. It is hard to play out of consistently because it is so clumpily inconsistent. Pank's also loves multi-tiered greens, yet he also likes to build them small. That's all fine and good if you have playable lies when you have missed one of the greens but too often that is not the case. While the rest of the course rarely ever suffers from too much water, the surrounds of the greens almost ALWAYS do. So, you're either faced with heavy, thick collars of blue grass rough, OR closely-mown bent grass that is sopping wet and spongy. More than once I've played a shot like an explosion out of a bunker off of those lies than I have trying to nip clean a Phil Phlopper, leaving me to be a sod farmer, instead.

Finally, as the course gets significant tourist play, the marshaling is next to ineffective. Pace of play is often brutally slow. Primarily the player at Sedona Golf Resort is playing it with their camera in hand, their handicap thrown out the side of the cart after the 5th hole and more beverages than are necessary. They're on vacation, don't you know? Getting them to move along isn't part of the gig. Nor is asking them to make sure to repair their ball marks. A few of the greens which receive a brunt of the shots are eternally pockmarked. Certainly that is not an exclusive to Sedona Golf Resort, but I have seen courses invest a few dollars in hiring additional grounds staff to repair them in the early morning or late evening. Not here...

OB Sports has managed the course since 2010, taking over for SunCor Golf when they crashed and burned the previous year. Perhaps that's where the real heat should placed. Not everyone can run a Troon. Nor even a ClubCorp. But one should be able to do better than an American Golf. That's the real puzzler: Orrin Vincent and Ed Francese are two deeply respected men in the game of golf. OB Sports manages some extraordinary properties, too: The Rim Golf Club in Payson, AZ; Monarch Beach Golf Links in Dana Point, CA; Somerby Golf Course in Rochester, MN and Tetherow Golf Club in Bend, OR. It's apparent that OB Sports has an affinity for quality conditions when you look at those golf courses. They have a terrific VP of Agronomy in Like Beardmore. Let's hope they hear more about what it is like to ACTUALLY play Sedona Golf Resort and invest a bit more into the course. The vacationing resort players may not see the difference but the returning players from Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff and Las Vegas who make more than just the occasional trek to Sedona might be more inclined to include Sedona Golf Resort in their rota than they do now.

Overall this is one of my favorite courses. The staff is friendly, the views are magnificent, and the layout is challenging but fair and the greens are in excellent condition. But all four of us were disappointed in the condition of the bunkers. Most had only shallow sand and some are actually hard pan. For what this course charges for greens fees, we expected better. With that said you will still enjoy your round at Sedona Golf Resort and we all agreed we would recommend this course.

Beautiful course. Well kept, and clean. Fairways, greens and bunkers were pristine. Highly recommend this course

Beautiful scenery, very good layout, greens had many Unrepaired ball marks, course conditions good.

I was accused of shoplifting. My sister was there and they were talking to everyone about it laughing. They said I put a ball marker in my pocket and we're calling me names. They were also bad mouthing other players and courses. I went up to confront them and they admitted they were talking to people about it. They said they never accused me of it, they just told everyone that I did. I would never go back. The course has amazing views but everything else is trash. Pro shop guys were the biggest A- holes I have ever encountered.

The day of our booking had rained all day and was raining prior the our tee time. I went in to talk to the pro shop and canceled our round. The course looked beautiful and was looking forward to playing but not in 39 degrees and rain was not going to be a enjoyable experience

Staff was great , views amazing. They did have a number of areas where the rough was dug up because of wild pigs.

Everything great except they were aerating the areas around the greens do chipping was difficult. Not a huge deal but a heads up woulda been nice.

This course has beautiful views. Staff was friendly. Lay out was fun and challenging. I recommend getting a tee time before the afternoon price drop. I teed off at 1:20. Pace a play was a little slow but we still finished in under 5 hours. We were keeping up with the group in front and not holding up the group behind. Apparently, a few holes back was a 5 group back up. They drop the price to significantly around 2:00 and I think they pack people in. Pay the little extra and go earlier. I was really disappointed the pro shop and restaurant were closed when we finished around 5:45. I was hoping to get some merch and go the bathroom. That seemed strange and very disappointing.

If you love golf and you love beautiful scenery, well this course brings both of these together like nothing else ...very enjoyable!

Fun enough layout but nothing too special other than the surrounding butte views. The price tag for a non member $170 warrants MUCH better in terms of maintenance. Houses next to most of the holes.

Try for a hot deal if you can get it.

I'm glad I can check it and Sedona off my list but no immediate desire to return. Oak Creek down the road was the better deal and closer to the surrounding buttes and mountains.

My take home message is that Sedona is a great destination but not really a golf destination. (I only played the 2 highest Golf Pass rated courses).