Catalina Course at Omni Tucson National Golf Resort & Spa

Great coarse and well maintained. I have played many courses in the Tucson and Oro Valley areas and this is clearly the best of them all.l

Excellent course condition and excellent and friendly staff.

The course is in decent shape for this time of year, but the greens were excellent. Some of the layout is a little funky. The staff was friendly and very helpful..

Rode the Blues (6529/70.7/129) in 3H, 15M mid morning. Most of the round as a single, part as a 3some and a few holes as a 4some. 107, clear and calm on the weather front. Par 70 courses I usually do not care for. This one is an exception. Very challenging layout with many forced carries. Very tough driving course. Many holes turn even though there are hardly any true dog legs. More elevation changes than I would have expected. Plus grade for the layout, but you better play the correct tees and keep it straight or it could be a long day on this course. Tees semi lush, mostly good with a few needing divot repair. Fairways and rough were both lush and excellent to play from. Rough not tall or overly penal, the ball sat up nice. Sand traps were well maintained with nice quality sand. Greens rolled very nice. Medium to medium fast and firm. I made more than my normal share of putts on these greens. Customer service outstanding. They changed out my cart in a matter of minutes and Daulton in the pro shop in particular was especially friendly and customer service oriented. My towel was left in the old cart, he quickly tracked it down and was calling me to come back and get it before I even left the property. Saw the cart gal once, $5 for an Arnold Palmer is a bit steep. Very fun course to play on a day I was hitting it well from tee to green. Good collection of holes, never felt like I was playing a hole I just played a few holes ago. Highly recommended.

Rode the Whites (6610/71.4/128) in slightly over 3H mid day as a single. The weather was clear, fairly calm and in the low 100's.

COVID-19: Doodles in the cups and no rakes in the traps. But very relaxed overall compared to Southern California courses when I usually play.

Bruce Devlin teamed with Robert von Hagge as co designer of this layout that has hosted dozens of PGA and Sr. PGA events over past 50 years. Rare par 73 with five par 5's, four par 3's and nine par 4's. Liked the traditional parkland style layout. Holes that stood out were #18, an excellent demanding par 4 finishing hole with water left, right and long on your tee shot, then a uphill approach shot to an elevated green. #11 was a unique par 5 that was barely 500 yards but was a true 3 shot par 5 for most because you had to lay up short of/go around a lake, then go over the lake to set up your uphill approach. I hit three irons on this hole because of the location of the lake and the way it jutted out into the fairway.

I was told the course was not in great shape and was getting ready to close tomorrow for maintenance. Wanted to play it anyway as this was going to be my only opportunity this trip. Greens, tees and some of the rough had recently been aerated. Kudos to the pro shop staff for full disclosure on the conditions ahead of time.

Bermuda tees, fairways and rough were all semi lush with some browned out areas. Mostly good.

Sand traps had good quality sand could have been excellent if they had been raked today.

Bermuda greens were as advertised unfortunately. Bumpy and medium slow, they were at least a week from being fully healed. Positive was that they were not firm. I had numerous irons stop right at their ball mark or back up. Unfortunately wasted a rare 9/10 (by my standards) ball striking day trying to convert putts that were bumpier and slower than most courses fringes.

All grass range included in your fee. Complementary bottled water. Friendly starter and saw the cart gal twice. Really look forward to coming back and playing here again when the course is in better playing shape, because the layout is fun. Recommended.

Well worth playing. Course flowed nicely. Fairways and greens in excellent condition.

I have avoided playing here due to the community courses tee times being significantly cheaper however I decided to take my father here for Father’s Day as a gift. After playing it I can see why it is a little more to play here. The course is in great condition and you’re never hitting out of a bad lie (dead grass or dirt). The bunkers are actually soft sand not the usual desert concrete bunkers. Unlike another well known course you always know where to hit your tee shot, there aren’t any hidden shots. The unlimited range balls before the round is also a nice touch. The gps golf carts help a lot with some trickier shot placements as well. What I can say is this course is well worth the extra money! I will be playing here a lot more often now.

I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to play the Catalina and Sonoran courses at Tucson National a few times. Without question the Catalina is a pro's course (or low handicap) with good hole geometry, good greens with nice contours, and the course is well maintained. Also, you can walk the course as opposed to many of the so-called ranked courses in Arizona which are just looking to increase their profit by making you rent carts.

The staff is very friendly and helpful. The pace of play and condition of all parts of the course were great.

The golf course that time has passed.
This is a typical 1970's Arizona Parkland golf course that has seen better days. Several other similar Arizona parkland courses from the same era have been redesigned. Camelback and Wigwam are two examples.
Joe in the pro shop was courteous but harried, Steve was the excellent organizer out in the cart area as he deftly handled the swarms of golfers coming to play in their junket shuttle.
Rick was our starter on Catalina and he did a great job of orientation.
This course is not in the best condition right now. The fairways are starting to brown, the greens were infested with foreign grasses, the tee boxes were decent.
There are no ice chests on these carts, the only water on this course is every third hole with little paper cups. The beverage cart made one brief appearance during our round. This is less than acceptable in desert heat.
The course maintenence folks are too intrusive and distracting here
and management should increase awareness training. Mower operators in close proximity to players then starting and stopping engines, workers watering fairways manually with no regard for golfers and walking in front as shots are being addressed are some examples.
This is not a player friendly course. You might as well be cart path only. The draconian cart control governor does not permit full use of the golf cart, and makes a round of golf a nasty sloug.
The tree lined fairways are wide and forgiving. There are several lakes where the hazard extends past the red stake. Hole #10 is a ball collector for first timers with a draw, #18 is a nasty long par 4 with water all around.

The Greens on both courses at Omni are fantastic, the staff and practice facilities are fantastic, but the Catalina course is by far the preferred 18 here.

A Very fair, and balanced layout. I especially like the variety of the par 5s: Some are tight and short, others are wide open and long; and the balance of the par 3's in yardages (though 3 of them are in the same direction) and layout: Over Water, Up hill, Long, Downhill and well bunkered.

The fairways are very forgiving, though

The Greens on both courses at Omni are fantastic, the staff and practice facilities are fantastic, but the Catalina course is by far the preferred 18 here.

This is simply not a very walkable 18, with some awkward holes (15) not conducive to high handicap players. In addition, some of the forced carries in the middle holes are unrealistic given the low course rating and slope.

That said, if you want to sandbag your handicap for your next club tournament, this is the course for you.

Although it is not a true desert course, the Catalina Course is a great resort course in the desert area. I enjoyed watching Johnny Miller win the old Dean Martin Tucson National Open on this course multiple times 40 years ago. The course has withstood the test of time. A few new 'tips' tees have been added, but most of us do not play from back there anyway. You have some elevation changes, water to steer through and a lot of well placed bunkers. The tee shot on #18 is one of the most demanding you will face anywhere. The course is in great shape, perhaps because the Champions Tour is stopping by in March, but I believe it would be kept that way regardless. The course is spread on two sides of major wash area, but the bridges take you over that. Development has gotten a bit closer to some of the holes, but are by no means on top of you. There are a few stretches where holes from Catalina intersect with holes from the Sonoran course, but it is hard to get lost. The Omni Resort is the starting and ending point for your round and Legends is a great 19th hole, where you can sit on the patio overlooking the 18th green and enjoy a refreshing margarita. I recommend Tucson National as part of any rotation of Tucson vacation golf courses.

This is a fabulous course with a great layout and excellent maintenance. A bit pricey for guests but worth the visit. I would play it more if I could get a discount.

We enjoyed a great round of golf. Played quickly, greens and fairways in great shape. We reached a twosome in front of us, must had been a member with his girlfriend hitting three balls each which was the only negative. Slowed us down otherwise we would had been done in under 4 hours.

Would play again. I suffer from a bad back but found the course better on my back than most.