played fri 3/20, 11am tee time... 109 temp, lord. 4:15 round. one of those things you book months ago, part of a big group, so you play. Was looking forward to getting out here, as it has been like 15 years. Pretty wide open driving course, good size greens.. water and desert features to avoid. Course in pretty good shape... these desert courses aren't hurting for water... » More

played fri 3/20, 11am tee time... 109 temp, lord. 4:15 round. one of those things you book months ago, part of a big group, so you play. Was looking forward to getting out here, as it has been like 15 years. Pretty wide open driving course, good size greens.. water and desert features to avoid. Course in pretty good shape... these desert courses aren't hurting for water... green and lush throughout. Tee boxes look like they are working on, as they were sanded and there was a lot of wear. Greens a little bumpy and slow, like a slow 10, held shots predictably. Bunkers a little worn down; thin and pebbles, but definitely playable. survived, barely. Had fun, other than not wanting to be in the heat.
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Great weather dry and hot after Santa Ana conditions the prior week. Tee boxes, fairways were fine with me. Greens were firm and fast with some crazy hole locations. Memo stay below the hole at Los Lagos. Play there now before they punch in April. Oh, POP is always like 5-5.5 hrs.

Work trip out to the Phoenix area and decided to brave the bad reviews and check out Kokopelli Golf Course. My playing partner lived about halfway between where I was and his house and we had to lock down a very early 6:40am tee time due to the heat in the afternoon currently.

I was surprised to see so many people hitting balls on the range at 6am, but there was good ... » More

Work trip out to the Phoenix area and decided to brave the bad reviews and check out Kokopelli Golf Course. My playing partner lived about halfway between where I was and his house and we had to lock down a very early 6:40am tee time due to the heat in the afternoon currently.

I was surprised to see so many people hitting balls on the range at 6am, but there was good energy and the range itself wasn't too bad, although the mats definitely need some replacing. We grabbed our cart, joined another twosome out from WI, and played from the yellow (back) tees. Things looked promising as the holes around the clubhouse were very green and well-maintained.

Things changed quickly once the facilities were out of range. Each hole was progressively worse as we went along, with many having horrific dirt patches before and adjacent to the fairways, while the water features were empty bits of reed and bush carnage. The fairways are incredibly hilly throughout, which isn't a knock - just an observation. If you're expecting level lies all day - you wont' get them. But I always get a bemused chuckle when golf courses gussy up the first few holes and let the others slide. It's just kinda dishonest.

As for the course conditions, the greens were actually not too bad and had some crazy pin placements. There were a lot of flags on precipitous slopes that didn't allow for any misjudged speed. They varied greatly in size but never in difficulty. Coverage and speeds were pretty good, though.

The fairways were good to decent on a lot of holes once if you got past the mayhem, but again - that really depended on clubhouse proximity. Other holes farther away were really struggling to be up to standard. The rough was quite thick in some areas, super thin in others - no consistency. Bunkers didn't have sand per se, but more playable dirt that looked pretty bad but played better than its appearance. Tee boxes were all pretty good.

We had cart service throughout the day and POP was sub four hours since we were one of the first groups out and never once saw the twosome that was ahead of us at the first hole. These two factors were a good saving grace. I might have lost it had we been waiting and thirsty.

All in all, there are of course a hundred better options than Kokopelli in the Phoenix area, but if they ever got the conditions good and really put the work into the place, I think the bones and layout would be quite fun. But it's a long way from that at present.
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My last review of the North in February was very cold in the morning. How things have changed in 30 days. 70+ degrees when I teed off at 7am. Quick round to beat the heat. Course is in really great shape right now. Nothing to complain about. They have slowed the greens down a bit, which makes playing much more enjoyable. For a while it was brutal - borderline unfair at times. ... » More

My last review of the North in February was very cold in the morning. How things have changed in 30 days. 70+ degrees when I teed off at 7am. Quick round to beat the heat. Course is in really great shape right now. Nothing to complain about. They have slowed the greens down a bit, which makes playing much more enjoyable. For a while it was brutal - borderline unfair at times. It gave me more glimmer of what tour players face on a regular basis. With the South course closed this past week for aerification, course has been very busy, paticularly in the early morning. Very enjoyable to play right now.
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Mid morning 4.5 hour round on a ninety degree day. The staff is always friendly and helpful and the carts are comfortable but lack GPS. The tee boxes were all level and trimmed but a few were slightly firm for getting a tee in the ground. The rough was in good condition and trimmed at an appropriate length. The rough would slow down wayward shots and you could find it and ac... » More

Mid morning 4.5 hour round on a ninety degree day. The staff is always friendly and helpful and the carts are comfortable but lack GPS. The tee boxes were all level and trimmed but a few were slightly firm for getting a tee in the ground. The rough was in good condition and trimmed at an appropriate length. The rough would slow down wayward shots and you could find it and actually hit from it fairly easily. The fairways were all in great condition with lots of roll if you kept it down the middle. The fairways grass was cut at the perfect length and had great coverage from start to finish. There were few divots and the course was being watered to keep it soft and green. The traps in the fairways are still hard and brown but easy enough to hit from it you weren't near a lip. The green side traps have nice white sand and are well maintained. Hitting from those bunkers was nice but some were slightly damp. The greens are in the best condition I've ever seen them in over the thirty years of play here. They have total coverage on every hole and hold shots well. They were fairly quick especially with the warm dry weather recently. The ground crew was watering a few during our round to kept them from drying out. There was not the usual spongy feel to them. The greens are very similar to TCI and Cross Creek now which is great. The elevation changes and water features make this a somewhat challenging course. The rates are very reasonable for the area and it continues to draw a good amount of play. Definitely recommended now that they no longer are using the criminal Golf now app to book tee times. No longer are you paying them to book a tee time. We saw something today I've never seen before on a course. Waiting to hit from the eleventh tee a red hawk had a mud duck in its grasp and a couple of the geese chased the red hawk off the mud duck who scampered back into the pond. Didn't know the geese ran the course but evidently they do!
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