Lives
Monument, CO and Sun Lakes, AZ
Handicap
15-19
Age
65+
Gender
Male
Skill
Intermediate
Plays
A few times a week

Review Statistics

Average Rating

4.2
4.2
Total 19 Reviews

Rating Breakdown

19 Reviews
5 Stars
8
4 Stars
7
3 Stars
3
2 Stars
1
1 Stars
0
Recommended Courses
17
Not Recommended Courses
2
Helpful Votes Count
5
Not Helpful Votes Count
0
First Review
11/10/2015
Last Review
05/24/2018

Reviews Map

Reviews

4.2
Advanced Filters
Overall Rating
Course Difficulty
First time playing this course
Recommended
Review has
I Recommend This Course
5.0
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

I'll be back!

Wife and I played this course for the first time. Her game was pretty good, mine was poor. Normally I would call this a lousy day of golf but it was far from it.

A. The customer service was exceptional from end to end. Friendly, helpful and welcoming, all staff. The Marshall spent a lot of time with us leading us up to the practice green, discussing the greens and downhill rolls (the kiss of death this day), and various holes. Wow, what personal service
B. Course conditions - exceptional, especially for this time of year
C. The course - We were alone so we had no one who knew the course with us. This would have been a boon as the ups and downs, and especially the sideways fairways, all need shots placed in the correct spots. I would play it very differently a second time, and no doubt score increasingly better all of the first 5 or 6 rounds. Challenging but very fair, every hole unique. Plenty of elevated tee to green shots, as well as some uphill fairways that will fool you (hit at least one more club).

All in all, an excellent golf course with a PRIMO staff with scenery that makes your eyes pop

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Extremely Challenging

Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club

Played On 04/24/2018
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played
Hot weather
Used cart

Always great

Played a foursome, wives and hubby's.

My wife loves this course as the forward tee's are set up so that a shorter playing golfer can still have a great and challenging time of it without having to struggle with unreasonable tee shots. She and her girlfriend shot very well, but were still challenged with creative shot making on every hole.

We 2 males of the group play to 12 and 18 handicaps, played from the Blue tees, score 89 and 93. Every aspect of this course bring me back again and again. The Fred Couples design in my opinion is brilliant whether you are and old gheezer like me (I still average about 250 on my drives), or a single digit handicap.

Greens putting to a 13, fast but very fair. Excellent fairways and tee boxes. The only sub par aspect were some of the sand traps which were hard and crusty. Perhaps that is due to the time of the year, but they could use some attention.

Great course, will be back again and again.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Ocotillo Golf Club - White/Gold

Played On 04/09/2018
2.0
Previously Played
Hot weather
Used cart

Does anyone work here?

Wife, friends, and I have played Ocotillo for a number of years, have always loved the course and staffs.

Not so much anymore, this may be our last time playing at Ocotillo after over 100 rounds there.

Arrived 12:30 PM at the bag drop. One staff member was within a few yards of us, hosing down golf carts. 3 or 4 minutes standing there, never made eye contact, as if we were invisible. I pulled and stacked our bags myself at the rack while hose boy and one other staff member continued to perform their busy work. 2 staff members, no acknowledgement of our presence. 3rd staff member (seemed to perhaps be a manager), stayed a few yards back in the shop, within eyesight and earshot of ourselves. Go figure, no notice of us, the only two customers present.

We left for the pro shop, hopefully someone would eventually assign us a cart and secure our bags to it. (They did not, wife had to go find someone later in order to obtain a cart).

Pro Shop, similar disinterest from staff member and management behind the counter.

Course conditions: Greens OK, somewhat beat up, but scratch that up to heavy traffic.

Fairways - dry, short, large brown spots, some are now just dirt. NOT the Ocotillo of years past. Mediocre at best.

Tee Boxes (White) - beat up, chewed up, bumps and holes. Poor

Sand Traps - all but one were closer to concrete than sand. Could not hit a normal sand trap shot out of any bunker. Hard crust, better to try and putt it out.

Restaurant: At about 12:40 PM, went to have lunch and meet our third for the day before our round.

Inside: no staff to be found, stood for about 5 minutes. Went outside and seated ourselves. 15 minutes after we arrived, server with whom we had previously had good service from, appeared. There was one other group drinking outside, one group inside, so 3 tables total to serve. 1/2 hour after our arrival (tee time now getting close), food arrived. My quesadilla served cold. Not warm, cold.

Poor service/quality/attitudes is indicative of poor management. Ocotillo needs a major overhaul.

Conditions Fair
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Poor
Pace Excellent
Amenities Poor
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club

Played On 02/20/2018
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart

Can't wait to play here again

Threesome - wife, friend, and myself
2 seniors from Blue tees, wife from Red
It has been over a year since we last played here, we snowbird and live near Chandler 5+ months of the year. Only a little over 1/2 drive from Sun Lakes, we couldn't wait to play here again and Ak-Chin did not disappoint.
Course conditions are perfect in every way, staff from the curb to the course are always friendly, welcoming, and extremely helpful.
Course layout is magnificent for most golfers, probably not the best for earl;y beginners but there are tee boxes for all levels. We really appreciate the unique features on almost every hole. New challenges abound, major quantity of sand traps but all are well maintained and very fair in design. Greens roll well and true, can almost putt on the fairways.
We would play here every day if we could.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing

Almost 5 stars

Played with my wife and paired with two wonderful Canadian gents. I am an improving 17 handicap, found the course layout challenging but quite manageable. Upon arrival, we were immediately greeted at the bag drop by 3 friendly and helpful young men who grabbed our clubs and pointed us toward the clubhouse.

Similar friendly and professional staff at check in and Marshall station.

The course is immaculate, tee boxes, fairways, rough and greens were immaculate and a real pleasure.

The only negative to the day was a remarkably lame ground crew over the course of 3 holes. One gent stopped his large mower while we were hitting but numerous others continued there work and noise even when right on top of us. While my wife was in her backswing on a tee box a worker actually fired up a chain saw within 20 feet of her. By the third hole these guys were affecting our game. After about 50 years of golf, I can honestly say that this was the most rude ground crew in memory. What a shame as the rest of the staff seem to go to extremes to insure a Nordstrom experience for the customer.

I would highly recommend Desert Willow and will return as often as possible, but strongly suggest that management spend some time working with the ground crew.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good

Ocotillo Golf Club - White/Gold

Played On 01/05/2018
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart

Conditions not up to past years

We couldn't wait to get down to our winter home near Ocotillo as we play this course often and enjoy it immensely. Wanted to see what changes had occurred over the winter now that it is a property in Phil Micklesons stable. Assumed that it would be improved.
Unfortunately, after playing it twice in the past 3 days, we were disappointed.
A. Tee boxes - most are domed and chopped to pieces
B. Drainage - Mud and slippery areas all over the place
C. Greens - Slower than usual and pretty beat up
D. You now pay for the driving range
The good news, Marshalls have been extremely friendly, polite, and helpful, as are the cart ladies. Very positive.

Conditions Fair
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club

Played On 04/13/2017
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played

Challenging, don't miss this course

Vast amounts of well kept sand traps, challenging layout, always well manicured. Our favorite Arizona golf course. Greens today a bit scruffy due to recent dressing, sand. Almost a perfect golf day with the the exception of the arrival and departure experience in recent visits. Today, we pulled up to the "drop bag" area. Attendant was about 20 yards away in a conversation with another staffe member. Both saw us pull up and proceeded to ignore us. I dropped our bags at the curb, a which point the gent runs over to find out our tee time and names. Normally at a Troon course, and always in the past at Ak-Chin we would have one or two staff members all over us as we pulled up. Upon departure, similar disinterested staff. This is twice in a row, hope that it is not a trend.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average

The Classic Club

Played On 01/28/2017
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Just one hiccup otherwise a great day golfing

Course conditions as good as almost any course that I remember playing, very well done in every way.

Challenging and creative layout with enough tee boxes for most skill levels. Will definitely try and play here again.

Challenging scene while checking in. I asked the gent who was checking us in to please be sure that our Troon account numbers were recorded. He responded with a very negative attitude, informing me that since we booked the golf through Golf Advisor (ultimately Golf Now), that they do not give Troon members credit since Golf Now receives all of the green fees. Not something that you would normally dump on a customer, AND we found the course via reviews on Golf Advisor.
HOWEVER, seeing the we were obviously disappointed, a different clubhouse attendant followed us outside, retrieved our Troon numbers, and assured me that he would not only enter our Troon numbers against our green fees, he would also see to it that we received credit for the $$ that we spent in the clubhouse. THIS is what creates loyal customers. If not for this gent, we would never have returned to this golf course. Because of him, we shall try to play it many more times, and recommend it to our golfing friends who are plentiful. Good job kid, make him the GM.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Fair
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
I Recommend This Course
5.0
First Time Playing
Cold weather
Used cart

Doesn't get much better

Played on January 27 with my wife, wedding anniversary trip. Indian Wells lives up to the accolades that I found online.
Staff: Have grown to expect Troon course staff friendliness and professionalism, Indian Wells sets the bar. Excellent from arrival to departure
Course: Perfectly manicured, every hole unique and challenging. Will definitely play this one again, as often as we are in the area. Worth the trip from Phoenix
Play: I am not one who measures the golf experience by how fast I got around the course. When I play golf, I have nothing to do afterwards, I go to enjoy golf. That said, we had very little waiting on any tee box, just a couple of times people coming up behind us. Very comfortable pace

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Ocotillo Golf Club - White/Gold

Played On 11/14/2016
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

Love the course, not the restaraunt

We play Ocotillo often and can always expect a challenging and well maintained golf course. Cart path only in White, 90 degree on Gold but some Gold holes also cart path only. Course is in great condition, play moves along well, Ocotillo is a great value for golf.
Wife and I tried to have a 2 PM lunch after golf. Workers passed by our table countless times, no eye contact, no "someone will be with you shortly"...nothing. After 20 minutes with 0 acknowledgement of our existence, we left. They were not busy.
A worker stopped us on the way out, but frankly could have cared less. Unfortunately, the F&B service has most often been poor, but once in a while OK
Since Ocotillo is constantly advertising the eating venue and working to increase their food and beverage traffic, someone there needs to understand that their best advertising is free, and creates return business and referrals. Good service is easy with the right management.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Average
Pace Excellent
Amenities Poor
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Arrowhead Golf Club

Played On 09/04/2016
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Good weather
Used cart

Stunning settings, excellent course conditions

Played this course for the first time with wife, son and daughter in law. Son was married here 5 years past.
Greens are fast, very well kept, and typical challenging mountain twists and turns. Fairways excellent.
First cut rough a ball and club eater. I never have understood why some courses feel the need to make their first cut rough so deep. Difficult to find your ball, use one or two clubs more just to get the club through the thick and heavy grass.
Unfortunately, whenw e arrived we were informed that the driving range was closed (11AM tee time) as Arrowhead had booked 3 weddings for the day and they needed the driving range for one of the weddings. As an apology, they were giving each golfer ONE drink ticket. In addition, the grill was closed until 5PM, also due to the weddings.
My take, if the golf course is going to take away a portion of the golfing experience (some of us need to warm up) and not tell the golfers in advance, one drink ticket is a poor effort at Customer Service. Should have reduced the $149 greens fee by at least 10%. Felt like the Accounting department was running Sales and Marketing. Other than this, fine course, great staff, maybe rethink whether the increased wedding revenue is worth leaving their golf customers feeling second class

Conditions Good
Value Fair
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Poor
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
I Recommend This Course
5.0
First Time Playing
Fair weather
Used cart

We liked it so much we came back a second day

This course is almost 4 hours from our home, will be back as often as possible. Staff is exceptional, locals warm and friendly, all 3 courses are unique, challenging, extremely well maintained, with some really interesting holes and spectacular scenery.
Course Marshalls all went out of their way to explain the course and particular holes, stopped by every day while we were playing not to yell at us, but to offer friendly howdies and advice for the hole. Wow.

Had some issues with the maintenance crew on 3 different holes. Apparently no one has told them that when golfers are approaching and in their midst, good customer service dictates moving away from the golfers as much as possible, and stopping their machinery while the customers make their shots. One guy did park his riding mower but at the edge of the green during our approaches, directly between one golfer and the pin.
Other than that, darn near perfect!

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

King's Deer Golf Club

Played On 06/11/2016
3.0
First Time Playing
Excellent weather
Used cart

Plenty of potential

Played on a Saturday, 2 couples. Love the actual layout as every hole has unique challenges. However:
A. Greens were like putting on gravel. Therre was no telling which way the putt would bounce. One chip to the green actually bounced at a 90 degree angle. We understand that the course had its recent challenges, hopefully the greens master can improve the roll
B. Our wives play golf often, but do not hit long off of the tee. My wife's good drives are 165 yards, not too bad for an over 60 female but also not every drive gets 150 yards of loft. The tall rough (12" to 24" and thick as a brick) extends too far on front of the tee box on a number of holes, especially on the front 9. This seems like a great way to discourage repeat visits from beginners, intermediate hackers, and especially women who do not hit longand high off of every tee. Psyched out our wives, they opted to skip a few holes because of this.
Not sure what the point is of the long jungles in front of the tee boxes, unless they want ONLY longer hitters as customers.
Very friendly staff across the board, marginal golf shop with minimal inventory.
With proper management, this course could be one of the better public courses in Southern Colorado, but really think that cutting the jungles 20 yards closer to the tee boxes could make for a more pleasurable experience for some golfers.

Conditions Poor
Value Average
Layout Fair
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Fair
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

Ocotillo Golf Club - White/Gold

Played On 03/01/2016
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

Conditions not up to snuff

We play Ocotillo often, live in AZ for 5 months of the year. Normally, the course conditions this time of year are excellent, up to Troon expectations.
Currently, some greens have issues, as do portions of some fairways. Not up to what we have grown to expect at Ocotillo.
Other Troon courses in the area (Whirlwind, Southern Dunes) have exceptional conditions so it is not a weather issue as far as we can tell.
Further, players are pushed to fast play as is typical at Troon. Very difficult to keep up with Marshall demands when so many fairways are roped off, a normal condition at Ocotillo. Currently, some fairways that are in great shape continue to be roped off.
All in all, we have loved playing at Ocotillo, but current conditions along with the constant fencing off of fairways is beginning to cause the luster to tarnish

Conditions Fair
Value Fair
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

Always a good value

Changes made over the past year have greatly improved the courses. conditions are generally fair to good depending, right now, quite good.
My normal beef is the sand traps which can be close to concrete or mud. Somewhat improved this season but could use an overhaul.
Greens in good shape, pace of play is fine, Lakes and Palms present more challenges than Sonoran.
0 amenities, they don't even run a coffee pot in the clubhouse, no beverage carts. BYO.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Fair
Pace Good
Amenities Fair
Difficulty Moderate

San Tan Highlands

Played On 02/21/2016
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

Nice course, great people

Played with friends from out of state and wife, all high handicap golfers but play regularly.
Unloading clubs, chcking in, starter, marshall, all first rate friendly and professional
Course conditions mostly excellent.
Very little water, some fun challenging holes (18 my favorite), front 9 is tame, back nine gets interesting with ongoing and fun altitude changes.
All in all an excellent value.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Difficulty Moderate
I Recommend This Course
5.0
First Time Playing
Excellent weather
Used cart

Geat course, great people

Played with wife, son (6 handicap), and his wife. Course conditions excellent, great course for our range of expertise, as advertised, some killer views. No one behind us so we spent 1/2 hour watching the whales about 3/4 miles offshore.

Have to mention the level of service. Way over the top. Clubhouse staff, cart guys, starter, all with exuberant personalities, fell all over themselves to make us feel welcome and appreciated.

Marshall Rick cannot be topped. As often as I have played golf, from muni's to 5 star resorts, never met a more concerned, accomodating, human beaing of a Marshall than Rick. Hats off, the bar has been raised.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging

San Tan Highlands

Played On 11/08/2015
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Excellent weather
Used cart

Back 9 a lot of fun

Played this course for the first time. We were a bit hesitant to book as we read a few very unsavory accounts of the staff friendliness.
Staff - really excellent, especially the course marshalls. Couldn't have been better
Course - front 9 plenty of challenges from narrow fairways, sand, etc. Back nine completely different with numerous elevation changes, desert barriers, very little water
Rules - a bit to Nanny with the signs and so on. Points to a management that might be more concerned with asqueezing a bit more revenue than customer experience. If not for that, would give a 5 star rating
We will be back and will reccomend to friends

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Difficulty Moderate

Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club

Played On 11/06/2015
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

Love this course

Staff: truly excellent, friendly and experienced marshall's, very engaging and helpful. Staff at curb/carts not quite as on top of things as most Troon experiences. Guy was cleaning our clubs, I gave him his tip while he was cleaning our clubs, didn't hang around to help load into the car.

Course - cart path only: a drag but has to be this time of year. Next time we'll bring hand carts and walk it. Sand trap placement makes this one a challenge, will have to play it a few more times before we really know how to play the course

Conditions - really excellent

Always look forward to playing here

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Now Reading