JayhawkWTS

Both Ventana courses are outstanding. Played the Mountain Course this time. It was in great condition. Pace of play got slow on the back nine leading to a 4:45 round. It is a resort course with wide landing areas, but mounds throughout can call for some careful shot selection. Enjoy the tee shot on 3. Beware the green on 13. Staff was extremely friendly and welcoming. Will return.

This is still a reasonable option for a visiting golfer to Tucson. I’ve played this course on visits over several years. It is unfortunate they shut down the driving range but there is still a nice chipping area near the first tee. Make use of it if you can.
Course conditions in February were ok, not pristine or great but playable. Greens were firm and surprisingly fast. Bunkers a little heavy, they could use some work.
Wind was strong this time around which hurt my score but threesome got around with minimal delays. Back nine which is the unique part of the layout takes longer.

Could be a good layout. Probably was in its day. Now, it is tired and in poor shape. Expected better even this time of year (Feb). Greens were bumpy, Weed throughout the fairways and tee boxes. Bunkers looked miserable, but I managed to avoid them. Best part was playing on Sunday as a twosome and getting around in just over 3 hours. Played through a foursome early and never ran into anyone else.

Course plays well and is in reasonable condition. Front nine offer more interesting holes. Hard ground with thin winter grass offered a lot of roll. Windy conditions made you think about the right shot and right club. Will return.

Found the Brute to be challenging playing from the white tees ~6500 yds. Large elevation changes typically off the tee offered the chance to go a bit longer than I normally do, and there was often a bunker at or near that great dive position -- Go for it or play safe?

Bunkers and greens were large and well maintained. Not fast-fast greens, but very consistent. If in doubt, they break from back to front.

Staff - very friendly and helpful. Pace was great on the front then caught up for slower foursome; back 9 slower.

Would go back again

Played the Tortolino / Wild Burro nines. Course was in the best condition of several Tucson courses I've played this month, largely because of the overseeded and irrigated rough areas. Greens were also in very good condition. Layout is good and challenging but course knowledge critical to posting a good score. (My first trip around the course). My criticism of the design is the precision required particularly on approach shots. Miss a spot by 5 feet and you are in a trap or 30 feet off the green. Greens are also very challenging with both major undulations and also very subtle, difficult to read breaks. Rather windy conditions added to the challenges of the day. Got around losing only one ball, but my playing partners were not so fortunate.

Overall, I am glad I took the opportunity to play with a good end-of-day rate, but I don't expect to hurry back, a sentiment echoed by my partners for the day. But at a good rate and with less wind, I would play it again.

Several others recommended the course which I now pass on. Played the Catalina 18. Rather a flat course with a more midwestern feel due to trees than a desert feel. Mostly a what you see is what you play type of layout. My first time on the track it was easy enough to get yardages and figure out the right shots. Greens were very firm, don't count on the approach checking up. (Champions Tour is coming in about 2 weeks which may be a factor.) Don't need driver on every hole. 18 is likely the best (most challenging) hole on the course - a great finishing hole. 4.5 hour round felt pretty much on pace for our unfamiliar foursome.

Have always enjoyed the Starr Pass courses (Rattler / Roadrunnner nines this time). Some blind tee shots place a premium on placement rather than length. Hit it online and you'll be OK. Landing areas are wide enough but not overly generous. Variety of forced carries add to the challenges on both drives and approach shots. Greens in good condition and quick, but very playable and readable. Look for a good rate and enjoy the round.

Course played well, though the fairways were a little thin. Greens were in good shape. I downgrade the layout because of the difficult carries off the tees for the women. Staff was friendly. Patio is a wonderful setting though we were sort of run off at 6 pm for an art class that was starting up. Got a great Golfnow hot deal making the value rating excellent. It's a good deal up to $40 to 60 / player. Pace was about 4:20 as we waited on a slower foursome ahead several times.

Played the Mountain Course twice from the gold tees during our Tucson vacation. Course was in very good condition. Greens were wonderful to putt on though faster than I was used to, especially in my off-season. Fairways offered plenty of room in the landing areas. Course requires good distance control to score well, which I didn't, but it is a very fair layout and creates a beautiful setting. Signature hole is #3 where we used the Black tees for the view (only 107 yds downhill).

A fair value at the GolfNow rates.

I found the meadows course at sunriver a quite forgiving layout. Not much danger on most holes. Some challenging shots, but forgiving of the errant swings. Greens were quite firm and thus a bit difficult to hold. Their condition was good. Ninety percent of the fairways were in very playable condition, but there were some bare spots. Virtually no rough as it was cut perhaps only a half inch longer than the fairways. Enjoyed the course, would play it again, but not on a regular basis.

I found Providence to be a decent course at a fair ($30) price. Condition was good, no real rough, greens ok, but a little thin in spots. Couple of nice-looking scenic holes on the back side. Overall nothing too challenging or thought provoking. Our pace was by us rather than other players on a tuesday morning. Greens were slower tha I am accustomed to which is one reason I didn't score as well as I should have.

Played this course for my second time on a Friday afternoon. Although we we among the last groups off, the pace was comfortable for our threesome. The course is in good condition having been well overseeded for the winter. Greens maybe a little slow, but as we were late in the day, there had been pretty good traffic on them before us.

The course is a nice forgiving layout that requires some good shot selection. Not a course that needs to be overpowered to score well. We played the silver - middle - tees with a 123 slope. It was a windy day that made some of the club selection more difficult. But even if the tee shot missed the target, there was usually a playable second shot that allowed you to advance the ball.

The staff was friendly and accommodating. They were short on range balls as we headed to the range - they ended up giving us a second bucket at their initiative.

For the GolfNow special rates, I think this is a course well worth the money and I look forward to playing it again on my next visit.

We very much enjoyed our round at Quarry Pines. The staff was very friendly. The course was in above average condition, very playable for early February. The front nine is a pretty simple layout with not much elevation change. The back nine is not like any other course I have played as the course takes you in and out of the former rock quarry. The views become quite striking and the golf shots make you think about how to compensate for the drop from tee to landing area. It was not windy on the day we played. Wind would be really challenging on the back nine but I suspect the shelter of the quarry might mitigate some of those effects. The other contrast I noticed -- noise. No. 7 on the front is parallel to I-10 with all its truck traffic. Hole 10 descends into the quarry where all the quiet of the world surrounds you. Look forward to a return visit.

It was a 45+ min drive up from Tuscon to a pretty empty part of Arizona, but the course was in good condition and offered a nice layout. Back nine has more challenging shots to make. I was fortunate to be paired with someone who could offer some course knowledge. With my Golfnow price, it was a good value, but there are equally good values somewhat closer in to Tucson. As a 3-some we were on top of the 4-some ahead of us throughout the morning, but still got around in about 4:15 - 4: 25. Some holes required a target shot but most were pretty forgiving of errant directions. Would like to play the course again, but the drive up may give me second thoughts given other area course options.