Played this course 8/30/09 in a 3-some. The course is a little bit of a drive north of metro Tucson, but ended up being well worth it. The facilities are still a little bit spartan, their operating the pro shop out of a trailer, but the course was a lot of fun. This is a course that will someday be surrounded by a housing development that has yet to be built. So the course is wide open by housing development standards. I got the sense that the front and back 9's were designed by different people. The front 9 is pretty straight forward while the back 9 has numerous holes with split fairways, doglegs, and blind shots. The greens were in great shape, they held shots, and putted quick and true. The bunkers were in very good shape, with plenty of sand that wasn't all tromped down by wear and age. The course isn't all that long, and certainly isn't super hard, but it is a lot of fun. I played with my wife and 84 year old mother in law, and they really liked the fact that the forward tees remove a lot of the forced carries found so often in local desert courses. This is a fun course, and I'll definately make the drive "off the beaten path" to play it again. I recommend you take the time to discover Saddlebrooke Ranch before the housing development surrounds it.

Traveled to the Phoenix area on 8/15 to play this course again. Was in surprisingly good condition considering the lack of monsoon rains and extreme heat we've had in the state this summer. The service was excellent as usual. The fairways were nice and green. The only drawback were the bunkers. The sand was very thin and very hard underneath the 1" of sand in the bunkers. The teeboxes were nice. The greens were a little bit bumpy, but we were following a construction company tourney, so many of the bumps were caused by spike marks and guys dragging their feet. The course is pretty wide open with a nice mix of 3's, multi-distance 4's, short and long 5's. I enjoy this course and will look forward to playing it again next month on another trip up to the Phoenix area.

Avoid this course at all costs now! I have no idea when the last time they watered the fairways was . . I would guess months! Most of the fairways are bare dirt with some weeds mixed in . . an occasional patch of grass. The tee boxes are almost nearly all bare dirt, I broke a couple of tees trying to get them into the rock-hard dirt. The traps are virtually without sand and the greens are bumpy and pretty torn up. There are rumors flying about that this course is headed toward bankruptcy . . don't know the validity of those rumors, but it has certainly been neglected. It's sad because this has always been one of my favorite "close to the house" courses, but it has fallen into a terrible state of disrepair and neglect. There are inexpensive greens fees to be had online . . even they are way too much to pay to play this course now.

Do you like sand? The ranger informed me that most courses have an average of 2 acres of sand in their bunkers. Southern Dunes has 12 acres of sand! Fred Couples helped design this formerly private club that's now open to the public. Every hole had some sort of bunker to be avoided, most holes had numerous bunkers to be navigated en route from tee to green. The sand quality was very good . . nice and fluffy! I really liked this course. The customer service was great, and this is definately a thinking golfer's challenge. Not a "grip it and rip it" course by any means. You always have to be thinking a shot or a couple shots ahead on this course. The conditions were very good. Tee boxes were nice and lush, fairways were great, the greens had been punched about 3 weeks ago, and were in very good condition. And the sand in the bunkers . . very nice! This course is off the beaten path, about 15 miles southeast of Chandler, but well worth the drive. I will definately be back and play this course again. It ranks very highly in my favorites in the Phoenix area.

Played the Sidewinder course on 7/17/2009 as the 2nd half of a Dinosaur/lunch/Sidewinder special. This is definately the more forgiving and easier of the two courses at Gold Canyon. It's a resort course, and very wide off the teeboxes. The Sidewinder course is much more women friendly than Dinosaur, the forward tees are designed to eliminate many of the forced carries Dinosaur has. There are a few holes with water that's pretty easily avoided on the Sidewinder course. The greens had been punched about 2 weeks before, and were coming around nicely, although they were a bit bumpy. There are many holes where houses can come into play on errant drives on the Sidewinder course. Not nearly as scenic or challenging as Dinosaur, this is still a nice resort course and worth the trip around the links. I'll make plans to play it again when it's not 114 degrees.

Played Dinosaur on 7/17/09 as part of a "Play 36 with lunch" special. Phenomonal views on this course. The tee boxes and fairways were in great shape. It's a resort course, so the landing areas are generous. There are a lot of elevation changes as you play up, through, and around the Superstition Mountains. The greens were fast, and had quite a few bare spots, which is not out of the norm for Phoenix courses in the dead of summer. They did roll pretty true, and has some serious undulation on them. There are no water stations, so you have to take plenty of fluids with you and rely on the cart girls for replenishment. I liked this course a lot, and will definately make plans to play it again in cooler temperatures. The customer service was first-rate. Well worth the drive to the east Valley to play.

This is one of my favorites, particularly of the muni layouts in the Tucson area. It's pretty challenging desert golf. We played relatively early Sunday (6/28/09) and many parts of the course, fairways and teeboxes were flooded which made for a lot of plugged balls and slippery footing on the teebox. The course has been rumored to be getting ready for a re-design, but I'm not sure why. The rumor is that it's too tough for the weekend golfer, but that's one of the charms of the course. If you don't hit it straight then count on going through a few balls. The course has a nice practice area, so you can hit driver, SW, and putter before your round. I like this course because it has some "personality" and differs from the other muni's in the Tucson area. Worth the play if you're in Tucson and looking for an inexpensive round.

Played the Roadrunner and Coyote 9's on 6/13/2009. Have played the Roadrunner several times recently, but this is the first time I have played the Coyote 9 (StarrPass has 27 holes) in more than a decade. Personally I think it's the hardest of the 9's. It certainly doesn't set up well for my game, so I struggled. But that aside . . the course was in great condition. The greens were fast and true. They held shots well. The Coyote 9 isn't a "grip it and rip it" 9. On numerous occasions the smart play is to keep the driver in the bag and play the safe shot. Several of the holes have severe doglegs to the left that create trouble if you run it through the fairway past the dogleg. #4 is the most troublesome for this. As always at StarrPass, the customer service was outstanding and the course was in great shape. When you're in Tucson you have to give this course a play.

Before playing this course I thought it was all about the views. I'd heard all the hype about being on the edge of Lake Tahoe and how beautiful the scenery was. So imagine my surprise when I find that this is a very solid golf course! Yes, the views were spectacular. But if this course were stuck in the middle of nowhere, without any decent scenery, it would still hold up as a very good golf course. The conditions were very good as you would expect, since you do pay a hefty greens fee to play Edgewood. The bunkers had the best sand I've ever hit from. It was nice actually having the club move through the sand without bottoming out on rocks underneath as we're so accustomed to in desert courses. The greens were fast, true, and held shots. There is a very nice mix of long and short par 3's . . straight and dogleg par 4's . .elevated teeboxes and greens throughout the course. The pace of play was great. It was busy, but the tee times are spread far enough so there was never any waiting on anyone ahead, or rushing to avoid the people behind. The customer service was second to none! I'll definately play this course again when in the Tahoe area. Oh . . did I mention . . the scenery and views are spectacular!

I've played this course before on trips to Tahoe, and was looking forward to the return visit. I was not disappointed! My wife and I played as a 2-some on 5/28/09. Beautiful day! We started with a leisurely drive from our Rustic Cottages lodging on the North Shore with a trip past Emerald Bay. The views around the course are much better now that a good portion of the fire damage of a couple years ago is gone. The course surprisingly was not overly crowded, so we got off a little bit ahead of schedule. The front 9 on this course is pretty pedestrian . . a lot of long straight holes, but once you make the turn it really gets interesting. Shots through the trees on par 3's . . over the water on par 4 doglegs . . risk and reward opportunities on short par 4's and 5's abound. The greens were in very good condition, and the fairways were nice and green. The bunkers were in good shape, which was somewhat surprising considering it had rained the day before and we were playing relatively early in the morning. This might be the best "value" in the Tahoe area. Greens fees are inexpensive for the area, and the course is just a lot of fun. The customer service is always very good and I look forward to playing the course again on my next trip to the area.

Played this course with a friend on 5/27/09. We were the 2nd group off the teebox without any crowd at all. The back 9 was still closed, the starter told us they had some flooding problems due to the snow runoff so they were "making sure it dried out completely" before allowing any play. This means we made the tour of the front 9 twice. The fairways are tree-lined and pretty narrow for the most part. The rough is severe! RTJ Jr did a nice job of putting together a very interesting trek for the front 9 through gaps in the mountains and trees. The course advertises itself as a "links" course, but the front 9 certainly doesn't play like a true links course. This is the first time I've played this course, and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, having just opened the course for play . . but the greens were not good. They were very bumpy and slow. They did not roll true at all. I really like the layout, and wish we had the opportunity to play the back 9 to get a complete picture of this course. The staff was very helpful and friendly. Customer service is taken very seriously at Squaw Creek and it shows. I will come back to play this course again so I can see the back 9 and pass a true judgment on the course.

Played as a single (first off) on the morning of 5/24/09. Let me begin by saying that this course will be on my "must play again" list when traveling to the Reno area again! Excellent customer service and a very well manicured golf course. There were lots of elevation changes, both tee boxes and greens. The conditions were very good, with tee boxes, fairways, and greens all in exceptional condition. The greens held shots as well as any I've ever played on, and coming from some of the rock-hard greens down here in the Arizona desert that took some getting used to. I liked the layout, there were a nice variety of long and short par 3's, some "danger shots" over severe rough, and a nice mix of straight ahead and dogleg par 4's and 5's. I had to rely on the yardage book since I didn't have a playing partner that had ever played the course before, but it was very complete and detailed. There's a nice putting green, chipping green, and driving range to warm up on prior to your round. The counter personnel and starter were very friendly and helpful. The only improvement I would recommend to the staff would be to place legends at the teeboxes with yardages and pictures of the holes for those who didn't buy the yardage book. I like this course a lot and would recommend you put it in your course rotation whenever playing in the Reno area!