Talking Stick Resort & Casino

Perfect weather! Great pace of play! Great breakfast in the new grill, perfect day at talking stick!

I am staying in Scottsdale with my young grandsons. To escape the lunacy, I booked a tee time at the last minute on an other wise wide open afternoon on the North Course at Talking Stick. After paying, I approached the starter who said that I could not play as a single - “because I absolutely forbid it.” To reinforce his point he strode off to find anyone to pair with me. After a while he returned with a guy in a Golf cart who he proceeded to tell that he could not use it “because you only paid for 1/2 a cart in your green’’s fee.” We either had to ride together or go back to the pro shop and pay extra. Well, to avoid another 30 minute delay we headed to the first tee. I normally do not like playing with people I do know (and certainly would have gone elsewhere had I know of this treatment ahead of time) but my new “partner” turned out to be a nice guy, very interesting and carried a handicap close to mine. Anyway, we had a lively and enjoyable match on the front nine which he won by 2 strokes (largely because he cheated like a MF - but then it was a random Tuesday afternoon and certainly not a USGA event). We had fun. O’odham is billed as a “Links” design. As I have played more than 50 courses in Ireland (the Republic and the North) England and Scotland I think that is laughable marketing hype. Coore and Crenshaw would never say that. The course is flat easy and repetitive. There are some holes in the middle with fields of yellow flowers that look like heather. Those holes resemble English parkland courses like Walton Heath or Woodhall Spa. But those courses like Talking Stick are hundreds of miles from the closest water and would never be considered links. Anyway our very pleasant and enjoyable match continued until roughly the 16th hole when my new friend and partner could no longer easily get out of the cart because he had began drinking heavily on the first tee. Well, we hurried in while my cart mate got a call from his other friends who wanted to know why he was late picking them up. So we raced to the parking lot (or sorta close because of course we could not go there in our cart. My partner hustled away with not so much as a handshake as I stayed to generously tipped the attendant who seemed very funny and engaged. After hiking to the top of the steps I noticed that my very expensive, custom made 7 wood cover was missing. So I hiked back down to the cart return and asked about my headcover. The kid I had tipped said “oh yeah - I liked that - i distinctly remember putting that on your club”. No I said: you put it on the other guys club”. His response was: “I was in a hurry.” No apology. No remorse. S… happens.. The pro shop was even worse: “huh, what, beats me”. So I sat in my car and tried to order a new one even though it cost more than the round of golf. Well as you might expect -‘it is no longer made. So the best part of this long, silly tale is that I get to enjoy the hunt for a new headcover that will remind me to never book a round again at Talking Stick

No phone number or QR code to order food on the advertisement in the cart as we approached the turn. Looked the number and called. Wrong restaurant? Were transferred to nowhere. Walk into the bldg that is completely unmarked, finally find a place to order and everything is 12-14 mins. Unacceptable. We were aware some of the amenities were new, but the absolute lack of thought in the rollout of whatever this was supposed to be was a giant mistake

On a fairly wide open afternoon I booked a round as a single. That is apparently unacceptable. So I had to wait until the starter could find another person to play with me. Ok - very bad start as I would have gone somewhere else had I known this was the policy. Luckily, however, my new
Partner was a very interesting guy of roughly my the same
Handicap. The course is billed as a “links” course. But after probably 60 rounds in Ireland, England and Scotland- that is nonsense. The course is very flat - pretty easy and fairly repetitive. It is though very pleasant and actually pretty fun. So all-in-all things were looking pretty good when we were headed to the parking lot (which you of course are not allowed to enter). After tipping and carrying my bag up the stairs to bag drop, I noticed that one of my expensive, custom made leather head covers was missing. Back to the guy cleaning clubs who said he distinctively remembered putting the cover on a club. But he said he was in a hurry and didn’t remember which club. It was - as you might expect -‘my new “Partner”’ who was long gone. No apology and no regret. Just a stupid job. The staff in the pro shop was just the same. “Duh- huh”. I even tried to order a new one $$$$ which is more than the cost of the round. But they are
Not made anymore. I guess I will get the pleasure of shopping for something new to remember not to book Talking Stick again

Like the courses on our reservations in Washington this one is exceptional. since 150 is the standard in Az. now a days, this course is hard to beat.

since all courses in the scottsdale area are all around 150, this is a fantastic course. fairways are fairly wide and fairways and greens are excellent.

I had only heard good things about this course. It was average. I played with a couple great guys so that made the day. However, the pro shop attendant needs some work on customer service as both the people checking in in front of me and myself were left feeling like he just wanted us out of his pro shop and he would rather us not buy anything. Weirdest experience I’ve ever had in a resort pro shop.
Unfortunately that’s going to be the impression that I leave Talking Stick with.

It was my first time playing this course. I enjoyed the layout but the greens were lightning fast and took quite a few holes to get used too. They had recently been aerated but they recovered well.

Greens and fairways were in excellent condition. Enjoyed the scenery and wildlife during the round.

Have been coming to the valley since the late 80’s and knowing when Talking Stick opened up in the late 90’s I’m surprised that this was my first play here.

Played the North Course. Very enjoyable, great shape and speed of play was excellent. My pet peeve is slow play so I welcome rounds like this.

I’ll be back!

Thanks,

Bob K
Alberta Canada

Our cart died 100 yards after teeing off on first hole. So, by the time they got a new cart out to us we were 35 minutes behind on time. After getting new cart, 3 different Marshalls came up to us to tell us we were behind on time as we tried to catch back up. All 3 had very bad attitudes and didn't want to hear the reason why we were behind.
The first time someone in our group hit a ball into the so called rough (nothing but gravel and weeds) a Marshall came up telling us to just throw down a ball because we were holding up play and made a sarcastic statement that if he we didn't have balls, he could get us some. This pretty much ruined our day of getting out to play golf.
Also, want to state that we paid $200+ each to play a course that if the ball went off of the fairway 2ft it was in unmanaged weeds, or the ground was rutted out from water so bad that you couldn't play from where the ball laid.
Overall: horrible treatment of guest and course management. I will not play or recommend this course to anyone.

~$100 to tee off after 3pm. Appropriate value for the course at this time of year. Good greens and fairways. Pace of play was pretty much exactly 4 hours. $5-$7 for a beer, which is reasonable. The greens/pins were fun but thought the layout was, overall, a little plain. I would not go out of my way to play it again, but i’d still recommend it if you’re in the area.

First time playing Talking Stick. Great course. Fair but challenging course. Would play again.

Overall good conditions. Couple of greens with a lot of hallmarks not repaired. Slower pace of play at 4:35 hrs.