Cholla Course at We-Ko-Pa Golf Club

I got to play the Cholla course on a perfect Wednesday while vacationing in AZ. I had played the Saguaro course 2 years ago and loved it, so I had high expectations for Cholla. With temps in the 70's, it was a perfect day to let the ball fly. We played the Composite tees at 6500 yards, and that was right on for us. Every aspect of this course was excellent on this day from tees to fairways to greens and even the hazards. There are 18 clearly unique holes on Cholla that use elevation changes and natural effects to challenge your game. You must be careful to cautious when putting, as some putts can easily get away from you if you are too aggressive. We enjoyed every minute of the 4:20 we spent on Cholla. It was a perfectly paced and well managed round on this deservedly busy golf destination. The only back up was at the halfway house on the 10th tee that we hit at exactly 12:00. I would urge any golfers, regardless of handicap, to get a round or 2 in at We Ko Pa if you are anywhere within 50 miles of it. You will not be disappointed. I assure you that.

Cholla is a very fun course, I played all 36 and will be writing an additional review for Saguaro. We started the day with Cholla and I was really looking forward to playing here. Very cool restaurant and pro shop area, they have a fire pit as well which was quite neat. We Ko Pa had least friendly/welcoming of the 5 courses we played during our trip, which was disappointing. It was fine, but when we compared to the others we realized they were the only course to literally not say "Welcome". This is being picky but for the money being comparable to Grayhawk and Troon, this could have been better. The starter was the nail, by far the most unwelcoming started of our trip. The 2 guys we were paired with felt the same thing. Now to the course, awesome views with some memorable holes. I enjoyed the course but felt it wasn't nearly in as good of shape as Saguaro. Bunkers were good, well groomed and they played pretty fair. A few were packed and hard to play out of. Greens were pretty good minus a few bad patches but that happens everywhere. The views are spectacular on both courses, the mountains were a great back drop. This course, like most in this area, is pretty tough. Keep it in the fairways or you are playing in spots you will regret. I recommend this course, but if I could only play 1, it would be Saguaro. Great place but the least friendly staff I dealt with on our 5 course trip.

Love We Ko Pa, don't feel like the Cholla course gets the love it deserves, Cholla recently underwent renovations which only improved the product. Cholla/We Ko Pa are a must on your next AZ trip.

Played both courses on a 36 hole special today....You can't find better public golf conditions anywhere in the valley! Both are gorgeous and there is not one maintainence issue with either.

I'm a huge fan of Scott Miller designs and in my opinion the Cholla is a better layout and is far more challenging. The course is a lot tighter and the sight lines from the tee and fairway are more demanding. The greens seem to have more variation as well......I definitely don't agree with the slope ratings being so close to each other....Cholla should be 5 points higher.

This course is in my top 5

This is a tough golf course, but unlike it's sister course it is fair. Plenty of bunkers, but they are sand, not dirt and they don't have stones in them. The layout will challenge you off the tee & on many of the approach shots. I would definitely play this one again.

This course was amazing. It was in beautiful shape and every hole is one of a kind. The greens were rock hard and fast, which is ideal for someone looking for a challenge. Plus, the views are breath taking. This is a must play when going to the Phoenix area.

I recently played the Cholla course and absolutely loved it, especially the front 9. The layout is spectacular and the setting is beautiful. The conditions were perfect as well, the greens were pretty firm but i wish they were a little faster considering how firm they were. My only complaint was with the bar at the turn. We quickly went up to the bartender and asked if there were any quick meals specifically made for golfers at the turn. He said yes, breakfast burritos and breakfast sandwiches. We ordered 4 breakfast burritos and I kid you not they took close to a half hour. We were getting relatively impatient and when we finally got them we had to slyly cut in front of another group making the turn which is a complete pain and rude to do but we didn't have a choice.

I was tempted to give the Cholla Course, which was recently renovated, five stars, but in fairness to the Saguaro Course, which I like a little better, I'm giving it four, but it's really 4 1/2. It's obviously one of the best conditioned courses in the desert, and like its sister course, the views are amazing. This a course that never gets old, from the tee to the terrific greens complexes.

Got to do 36 holes on both the Cholla in the morning and the Saguaro in the afternoon. Both tracks have beautiful picturesque views as well as just about perfect course conditions. The facility is top notch from the pro shop/clubhouse to the practice range. Despite the wet morning round, greens still have speed. To me the Cholla plays a little tougher because you must pick your tee shots (target golf) as well as the undulating fairways. The Saguaro to me is a little more forgiving with wider and flatter fairways. Price is a little steep but you definitely get what you pay for.

The original course at We-Ko-Pa, the Cholla, is back open after a summer under the knife. With the exception of the 8th hole, there really isn't all that much of a noticeable difference besides about 7 acres of turf removed (all in areas where balls don't normally go - like around tee boxes and behind greens). New sand and greens were installed as well as a brand new irrigation system. Also worth mentioning, the golf carts for both courses now have GPS and USB plug-ins.

The Cholla is indisputably among the ten best public courses in the valley, and when you consider that peak rates are closer to $200 than $300, it is very good relative value. I like the Saguaro more for a few reasons, most notably the pace of play. Cholla seems to have a few more bottlenecks on it, particularly early on. That said, there are as many candidates for signature hole on Cholla, like the 8th and 17th holes among many others, as on Saguaro. It would be silly to come here and play one and not the other.

Played Cholla Thursday morning and Saturday afternoon on the 36-hole package.

The new greens seem to be coming in well, but they are quite fast and won''t hold even well-struck approach shots. Had to play every approach to the front edge and hope for the best.

Tees and fairways were uniformly excellent.

The changes to #8 make the hole much more playable.

The course does take some getting used to. Given the absence of GPS on the carts, a more robust yardage book would be a great help.

Range has no distance markers. A board with distances would make warm-up better.

Clubhouse staff on Thursday was professional to the point of coldness.

This is a great golf course. The scenery is stunning, with mountain views everywhere. It is the kind of course you want to play while in Arizona. The condition of the course was excellent from tee to green with the exception of the bunkers. The bunkers were hard and full of stones, pebbles and rocks. An unacceptable condition given the price you pay to play. I have heard they plan on a bunker refresh later this year, but it is too late for me. This would be an easy 5 star rating with good bunkers.

The layout is fun to play, and yet very challenging. It has a great mix of holes with tremendous variety. The greens were a joy to putt, as they were 12 - 13 on the stimp and very smooth. Have fun.

I prefer the Saguaro course over the Cholla. The Cholla is a bit too gimmicky with all sorts of target shots and hidden views. There are several holes that are just bad designs. Where you are penalized for great tee shots. If this is your type of golf, then you'll love the Cholla course but if you like to actually see where you're going, have a decent chance for risk/reward and like to play at a decent pace, the Cholla is not the course for you... I think the biggest problem with WeKoPa is the number of mediocre and / or beginners who play out there. They are both very difficult golf courses but they seem to attract a lot of tourists and beginners who really should not be playing a course of this caliber. And the result is 5 hours rounds and a whole lot of waiting... On the plus side, its fairly open in the summer as the tourists are elsewhere.

Bottome line: Nice course, great conditions, bueautiful views and a real challenge but not for the begniner or the short hitter.

Cholla offers one of the most interesting rounds of golf in Scottsdale. There's lots of thinking and decisions to be made during the round. There are two holes with split fairways (holes 7 and 10), another one with three bunkers in the middle of the driving zone (no. 9) and two short, drivable par 4s. There's also plenty of angles in play on a handful of doglegs. The course will close this summer for three months, while the club upgrades the infrastructure (new irrigation, new grass on the greens, etc.). The update will probably also reconfigure the controversial eighth hole, a dogleg par 5 with a cross hazard protecting the green. If the right changes are made to make the decision to go for it or where to lay up clearer, Cholla will get even better.

I played both courses in one day. Segauro is straight forward not very challenging design. Cholla is very unique. Some blind shots and some difficult par 3's. Course was in great condition, greens rolled true and pretty quick. Great views off in the distance. Approach shots are pretty tight and can be penalizing.
My only complaint would be the $. 175.00 to play here is a bit much but it is a very good golf course.

These two courses are definitely worth the quick drive from Scottsdale. The practice facilities, golf shop, restaurant, and both courses were excellent. The Cholla course was definitely the more challenging of the two courses, but in my opinion the better course. If you are a low handicapper, the cholla course can really be enjoyable and rewarding, but high handicappers will definitely get frustrated. If you don't hit the fairway your ball will end up in the desert where it is almost impossible to find. The saguaro course, on the other hand, had much wider fairways. Although, the same problem with the desert does come into play. Nevertheless, the saguaro course was definitely easier. My only complaint about both courses was that there weren't any yardage markers in the fairways. If there was a blind shot into the green, there was no way to get your yardage as rangefinders can only work if the flag is visible. Other than that everything was great. I played at Troon North the day prior and noticed that the course mantenence at We-Ko-Pa was much better. The fairways at Troon were chewed up and looked dead in places. Here they were flawless. The greens did run very slow however. I left many putts short. If you are in the area, one or both of these courses are must plays. They give the other top courses in the area a run for their money.

I had read about this course and was happy to see it was in the rotation on our 2013 buddies trip - we played the Cholla course. The course itself was challenging and the desert views were fantastic. Looking forward to our 2014 trip, we will be playing the Cholla again and also adding the Saguaro track