Overview: Wildfire Golf Club is a 36 hole facility located at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa and is composed of the Faldo Championship Course built in 2002 by Sir Nick Faldo and t... Continue »

Overview: Wildfire Golf Club is a 36 hole facility located at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa and is composed of the Faldo Championship Course built in 2002 by Sir Nick Faldo and the Palmer Course designed by Arnold Palmer in 1997. Wildfire Golf Club has been the home of the LPGA Founders Cup from 2011 - 2018. The LPGA uses 9 holes from the Faldo Course and 9 holes from the Palmer Course. The Faldo Course has generous fairways, large greens and 108 sand bunkers. Sir Nick Faldo built this course to be reminiscent of the courses that are in the Australian Sand Belt region.

COVID-19: All the staff were masked up and did social distancing where they needed to.

Clubhouse/Pro Shop: The clubhouse is attached to the north end of the resort and has easy access from the parking lot. Check in was smooth and we headed right out to the practice area. The practice area is quite large and you hit your practice shots toward the McDowell Mountains. The practice area was in fair shape while the practice putting green was smooth and rolled at about a 9.5.

Course: The Faldo Course came out of overseed on 10/19 and will be cart path only till 11/13. I normally do not play a golf course within a month after they finish overseed, but I had a friend that was staying at resort and he offered me a free round of golf. The course was in decent shape and was not wet, did not have shaggy greens or fairways. The rough was dormant bermuda and was easy to hit out of. The greens were smooth and ran at about a 9.5. The tees were in good shape and the bunkers had the hard packed "Arizona" sand in them. As stated earlier, the fairways are quite generous and the major defense of the course are the bunkers and if the wind comes up. If you stay out of the bunkers there is a good chance that you will score well.

Final Thoughts: Comparing the Faldo Course to the other Faldo Course out in Palm Desert ... Shadow Ridge, I probably enjoy playing more at Shadow Ridge. There does not seem to be any real memorable holes here at the Faldo Course. Nothing that really forces you to grab your phone and take a picture. My biggest issue with Wildfire Golf Club are the green fees. Here we are on 10/31 ... cart path only and the price was $219 for the regular rate and $139 for the twilight rate. It's a nice resort course that has a lot of bunkers, but in my opinion .. I would not pay that price for this course.

Played here Saturday at 3:15. POP 3 hours. I was looking for a course in better shape as most are going through their transition. The Faldo side is in the best shape of any course I've played in th... Continue »

Played here Saturday at 3:15. POP 3 hours. I was looking for a course in better shape as most are going through their transition. The Faldo side is in the best shape of any course I've played in the last 2 weeks. I love Faldo courses. They usually aren't the most scenic but are a blast to play. He also has a flare to his bunker lips which adds extra challenge, and the Wildfire did not disappoint in this regard. This course is similar to Shadow Ridge in Palm Springs but is much more scenic, less resorty and fits in more with the native desert features. The fairways are good. There are yellow/brown patches but on the light side. Good coverage for the most part. The greens are a little dried out but are in great shape and rolled very well. I was banging putts all over the green. Bunkers are in great shape, great soft sand quality. Tee boxes are good. Very level a little thin but not bad divot damage. Green side turf was very good giving plenty of grass to get the ball up vs hard packed lies found elsewhere. The course is straight forward. What you see is what you get and not very tough if you avoid the bunkers (The course' main defense) I avoided all bunkers on the front and shot 1 under while hit damn near every one on the back for a 9 over. This is the Marriot course and it is a little resorty with wider fairways and holes lining up against each other but it is not a bad resorty feel with bumper fairway edges like Kierland. Avoid the bunkers and it is pleasant driver wedge golf. Get in the bunkers are you have to be adept at getting the ball up high as there are some serious hacker devouring lips. The greens are good sized and not very undulating so scoring and birdies are to be had here. Its a pleasant playable course, in good shape with bunkers galore. I enjoyed the links desert feel the numerous bunkers provided and this is a great course to have a few drinks and play with friends.

Two days at Faldo's Wildfire 18 this week ... nice. I'm a huge fan of Shadow Ridge so I was excited to find out if I would like Wildfire as much as that Palm Desert gem. In the end, I think my bias of... Continue »

Two days at Faldo's Wildfire 18 this week ... nice. I'm a huge fan of Shadow Ridge so I was excited to find out if I would like Wildfire as much as that Palm Desert gem. In the end, I think my bias of always seeming to play well at Shadow Ridge still gives it the nod, but I really enjoyed Wildfire, just in different ways. If you're having a good, straight day, you can score well at Wildfire. It's not crazy tricky in any way, but it does make you consider options off the tee almost every time. And the landing areas for the most part are fairly generous, but the misses can be brutally punished. The layout is hard to follow even for a course geek like me, and while I can't say that each hole just screamed out to be remembered like so many at a place like Oak Quarry for example, the overall product is incredibly satisfying. It's just a fun course to play even while you're working hard to get into the best areas to enjoy it. Great conditions all around. Tee boxes were all good, even with some divots showing on the par 3s - expected (tee box markers are funny cutouts of Faldo's silhouette reading his yardage book). Fairways were in great shape with that nice carpet feeling to them. You'll find very few little dry spots in places you shouldn't be anyway, but you're in the middle of the desert so there's that. The green complexes can be very tricky and intimidating, but if you hit your strokes confidently, you will be rewarded on the excellent greens. Good, solid speed to them, nice roll, accepting of many shots, and full coverage. Bunkers were very good but just a bit shy of great. Nice driving range using Taylor Made balls, however it was noted they seem to use decompressed (or was it compressed?) balls because it's a very short range, only allowing shots up to 225 yards. It is odd with nothing but a wide open desert around that they couldn't figure out how to squeeze in a full-size range, especially with two 18s on the property of very high quality. Cart service was excellent and the overall resort is just classy through and through. Hope I can come back again sometime later this year and play the adjacent Palmer course, but I would have zero problem playing Faldo a few more times either ... almost forgot - pics of all 18 holes coming soon. Crime for this course not to have any pictures.

Played on 11/16/16. Still cart path only after fall maintenance, but shouldn't be for much longer. Condition was very good to excellent - lots of green grass around, fairways nice. My only minor compl... Continue »

Played on 11/16/16. Still cart path only after fall maintenance, but shouldn't be for much longer. Condition was very good to excellent - lots of green grass around, fairways nice. My only minor complaint would be a moderate amount of unfixed ball marks - sad to see people so lazy.

This is a fun challenging course. Bring every bit of your sand game. Very nice layout, challenging holes, but never anything too difficult - huge fairways and fairly flat greens that I still couldn't make a putt on. No real WOW factor other than the 4 million sand traps, but a real nice course that is fun to play.

I played the Wildfire Faldo course to kick off a three day golf buddies trip. The course was closing the next day for seasonal overseeing of the fairways. We booked an afternoon round as we arrived ... Continue »

I played the Wildfire Faldo course to kick off a three day golf buddies trip. The course was closing the next day for seasonal overseeing of the fairways. We booked an afternoon round as we arrived in town just an hour before. This course and its companion course (Palmer) are true resort desert courses. Not a lot of trouble off the tees with mostly wide open fairways. If you can keep it in the fairway you should score well. The tee boxes were in great shape with no visible damage and level teeing areas. As mentioned before the fairways were generous and in great shape. Even though they were about to overseed there was no evidence of thinning or bare spots. The rough was less then an inch thick and no penalty. At times you wished it was thicker to keep your ball from advancing into the desert. The sand was soft and playable. Above average. The greens were large and held approach shots well. My biggest complaint is a matter of preference, they are Bermuda greens. I dislike Bermuda greens. I know they are a product of the temperatures and are very heat tolerant. But they tend to be slow and bumpy. That was the case here as well. It was hard to keep a putt online and put enough pace on a putt to get to the hole without it hopping all around. We arrived late in the afternoon (3:00pm) so there was no beverage cart. But there was water on about every 3rd hole. The gentleman at the proshop counter was very friendly and helpful. I wanted to tryout a demo fairway wood but he said that the proshop would be closed by the time we were finished and so he couldn't let the club out. I suggested returning it as we made the turn after 9 and he was very willing to make that happen. He was eager to help us get out ahead of our scheduled tee time as we arrived early. We didn't eat or drink in the bar or grill so no review on that. But the facilities looked clean and inviting. This was a fun course that was not difficult and scoring was there for the taking. It was a great place to start our trip. As a side note we stayed at the Marriott Canyon Villas which are onsite of these two courses and they were fantastic and beyond our expectations. They were also centrally located to all of the good golf in Scottsdale/Phoenix.

Arrived at the golf course after booking a huge discounted tee time ($90 total with a rack rate of over $200). When I arrived for my 9AM tee time on Friday, March 15th, I was surprised at the amount ... Continue »

Arrived at the golf course after booking a huge discounted tee time ($90 total with a rack rate of over $200). When I arrived for my 9AM tee time on Friday, March 15th, I was surprised at the amount of security in place to get to the pro shop. I then figured out what was going on as the guy at the pro shop desk told me I would be playing the front nines of both the Faldo and Palmer courses as the back nines (and the practice area) were being used for the LPGA Founders Classic. I had no idea the event was going on until I arrived. On the course, it was fairly surreal to look over and see the LPGA pros playing with the galleries following them. Made for a fun time!

The course itself was immaculate. The fairways were as lush as any I have ever played. It is sad that I was in the rough and sand so much as I wanted the opportunity to hit off the fairways more. Every lie was literally perfect. I found the Faldo course more difficult than the Palmer 9. There were many, many more traps on the Faldo course. The Palmer front 9 was a little tighter, but had a lot less sand.

The greens were in great shape and rolled fairly quickly. The Faldo course had more undulations. I found the Palmer course much easier to putt.

All in all, I enjoyed the experience of playing the two front nines. If I were to return (and I would if the price is right) I would rather play the Palmer course as it seemed more suited to my high teens handicap game.

Fairways: A+
Greens: A
Rough: B+
Sand: A
Beverage Service: A
Scenery: A-
Clubhouse: A
Arrival/Departure: A
Overall: A

Played 3/28.

Staff friendly, professional. Sent off as single, caught up with nice threesome at 3rd hole.

Course is loaded with traps. If your sand game is below average, avoid this course. Bu... Continue »

Played 3/28.

Staff friendly, professional. Sent off as single, caught up with nice threesome at 3rd hole.

Course is loaded with traps. If your sand game is below average, avoid this course. Bunkers, bunkers, bunkers! Too much sand for my taste. Was in them all day.

Fairways and greens in okay /fair condition. Tee boxes good.

Noticed a lot of garbage along the 3rd hole rough - bottles, cups, trash, food - that should have been cleaned up by the ground crew.

Ball washers missing on the back nine. Posts are there but no washers.

Beverage cart makes plenty of passes. $6 beers. 4.5 hour round.

Replayed the Faldo front nine again, then jumped to the front nine of the Palmer course, which I liked much better. Fairways not as wide, but less bunkers. Nobody left playing, so second 18 took about 2hrs.

I received a deep discounted rate - $75 and thought that was a fair price, but I personally wouldn't pay the $109 rate on golfnow.com for these courses. Just have a feeling there are better deals in the PHX area.

Wildfire Golf Club Reviews
Phoenix Arizona Golf Course Reviews

When I called, was told the course was in great shape. It's not. Several fairways missing huge chunks of grass, others thin and too wet. Greens and sand traps were good. Layout winds through lots of c... Continue »

When I called, was told the course was in great shape. It's not. Several fairways missing huge chunks of grass, others thin and too wet. Greens and sand traps were good. Layout winds through lots of condos. Not to many memorable holes. Service was great but for what they are charging, go to Grayhawk or Troon.

The Faldo course was in decent shape despite the fact that they are going to close it starting in June for renovations. Sand abounds on the wide open target track and if your driver is errant then yo... Continue »

The Faldo course was in decent shape despite the fact that they are going to close it starting in June for renovations. Sand abounds on the wide open target track and if your driver is errant then you will find the beach. More memorable than the Palmer course in my opinion, while also being less difficult than the Palmer course. The greens are largely manageable. No undulations like the Palmer however, finesse is required on some greenside chip/pitch shots due to elevated greens.