I’m in southern Oregon with the family for the last summer vacation this year, and I managed to sneak in a round at Pacific Dunes. I asked a friend who had played here which course to play if I only had time for one, and this is the one he recommended. And I’m totally satisfied with the choice.

Conditions throughout were just phenomenal. Tee boxes were very flat, with no significant divot damage, even on the par 3 holes. Fairways were very firm, offering tons of roll and a great surface to hit from. There’s a little bit of rough off the fairways, that can be very tough, or not a problem at all, really a roll of the dice. The fairways here are very wide, so I didn’t find rough very often. If you stray really wide and go into the gorse, it’s a guaranteed lost ball. Bunkers are deep and punishing, with very heavy sand. The sand in the few that I found was very consistent, although unfortunately a couple weren’t very well raked. Greens were very pure, rolling super smooth and very quick. Shots into them didn’t hold very well for me as they were super firm. Even hitting a high, well struck wedge would release, and not leave much of a ball mark. Very tough greens to read as well, lots of subtle breaks.

The layout is really awesome, lots of holes that shouldn’t be too tough, and some that I would think always are. Wind wasn’t much of a factor in the beginning of the round, but picked up a bit over the day. I shudder to think of how a seriously windy day (like there was here a few days ago) would make the course insanely tough. Every hole is really nice to look at as well, not just the ocean side ones. And man, those ocean side holes are just amazingly jaw droppingly gorgeous.

Customer service was very good, check in was easy and it’s a quick shuttle ride over to the practice area to warm up. If I were staying here I could see spending an entire day just practicing and really having fun. Perfect all grass driving range, a massive putting green, and a really nice chipping green available as well. I’m sure there’s more than one bunker for practice as well, I just didn’t bother looking for them. I had Brian as a caddie, and he was very helpful, and a very pleasant kid working towards the Evans Scholarship. If I were to play here again, and I hope I do someday, I’d definitely spring for the caddie again, the help is so worth it. I was really worried that I was going to be hung up on the price tag for the day, and that I would be feeling like I wasn’t getting much value (I paid the rack visitor rate of $345, plus $100 for the caddie, plus gratuity). In the end though it was absolutely amazing and totally worth it.

Walked the blue tees this morning at Coyote Creek with a friend and had a really nice time. Greens are very good right now, holding shots pretty well and rolling pretty true, at a medium pace. Fairways are in rough shape at the moment, some of them will give you a great lie, but there's quite a few dead spots out there. Unfortunately a good ball of the tee can find some of those spots on a few holes. Rough is pretty good, long in some places but usually not too tough. We didn't find any sand, so I can't really comment on the bunkers. Tee boxes remain a bit inconsistent, not always flat, and some of the short holes have quite a bit of divot damage. Customer service in the shop and restaurant after the round was excellent as always. I had a really good time, but I think due to the issues we found in a few of the fairways I'd try to play their other course here for the next few weeks. Still worth it in my opinion.

I spent a nice long weekend at Suncadia Resort with the family and played their Rope Rider course on Friday morning, teeing off right on time at 7:30 am. This was the first time I'd played this course (I had played their other course once years ago) and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Greens rolled really smooth, and were very firm and not really holding any of my shots like I expected. Over the first few holes they actually felt a little slow, but the wind was blowing, and as the sun started drying them out the pace picked up quite a bit. I definitely had trouble adjusting, I found myself fairly confused for the bulk of the day. Fairways gave plenty of roll, and were very nice to hit from. Rough wasn't too long, and generally not too difficult. If you strayed far enough into the woods, you could have some trouble finding your ball. Tee boxes (we played the white tees) were great, very level with little to no divot damage. I found one fairway bunker that had nice even sand. The layout is really quite nice, there's plenty of room off the tee but most greens have some protection. With how firm they are, you really do need to hit a good shot to hold them. With a 1 to 2 club wind it was definitely a solid, fair challenge.

The 2 courses here each have their own clubhouse, about a mile apart. So while there is no range at this course, they have a nice range at their other course and you can warm up there for free if you like. I had gone to do that, but unfortunately they didn't have any balls out yet and I didn't want to have to rush to get to the other course on time so I skipped hitting balls before the round. At Rope Rider they do have a very nice, large putting green, and a short 3 hole course you can use as a warm up. The holes there are pretty short, you won't hit more than a full wedge. Saw the beverage cart a couple of times, and also had an excellent breakfast burrito at the turn.

Suncadia Resort is a really nice place, it was awesome to get in a good round of golf yet still be able to do some other fun stuff with the family. If you only want to golf, it'd be a great place to do 36 in a day. It is a little bit pricey, but definitely worth it.

Played the blue/white combo tees at The Home Course this past Saturday, July 3rd, and had a decent time. Conditions are very good right now, greens roll much better than the last time I was here, pretty smooth at a medium pace. They're holding shots pretty well too. Fairways can be thin here, but right now they felt much healthier. I don't think I could call them lush, but they were pleasant to hit from, and gave tons of roll. The rough is cut down, and not too much of a penalty. If you stray real far off line, there's some tall native grass areas where it is very easy to lose a ball. Tee boxes and bunkers are solid as well. Customer service in the shop and at the turn was very good. The only downside to the day was the pace of play, we teed off a minute or two after our 7:35 am tee time, and it took about 4:40 to finish the round with waiting on most every tee box. Conditions almost make up for it, but I feel like if I'm teeing off that early, I really should be able to get the round in a lot closer to 4 hours than 5. Still worth it, but I might make my next round there during the week if I can sneak away from the office for a day.

Walked the blue tees on Coyote Creek yesterday with a couple of good friends and really enjoyed it. With the heat and dry weather, the course is playing very firm and fast. Greens rolled nicely, and only hold well struck shots. When coming in from the rough, I got a lot more release than expected. Fairways and rough are both in good shape and pleasant to hit from. The rough isn't too difficult to get out of, but long enough to make you work a bit harder. I didn't find any bunkers, but they all look much improved from the last time I played this course. Tee boxes can still be a bit uneven, but the divot damage wasn't too bad. Customer service in the pro shop and restaurant was excellent.

While visiting family this week in Bullhead I was able to get out and play Mojave Resort early in the morning on Monday and Tuesday, teeing off around 6 or 6:30 each day. Conditions are really good, especially considering how hot it gets here. Greens rolled really nicely with just the occasional bump at a medium speed. They’re pretty firm, I found that my shots weren’t making very deep pitch marks, and any club longer than an 8 iron or so would release a fair bit for me. Fairways gave lots of roll out, and provided a really nice surface to hit from. Rough wasn’t too long and not really a penalty. Tee boxes were solid as well. Bunkers are greatly improved compared to when I was here last a couple of years ago. Splash shots near the greens are possible now, and the fairway bunkers really are a penalty, if you don’t pick it clean you’ll pay. Getting out early made the pace real quick, we got around in about 3:30 as a threesome both days. There’s a nice grass driving range to warm up(included with the green fee), and a good practice green that matched the course greens pretty well. Service in the pro shop and at the bar was excellent. If you’re in this neighborhood and ready to play some golf I really don’t think you can do any better.

Walked Eagle's Talon this past Saturday (6/12/2021) and had a really good time. Teed off right on time with our 7:39 tee time, and finished the round in just a hair over 4 hours, waiting just a tiny bit here and there. Conditions are very solid in just about every aspect. Greens rolled quite nicely, with just an occasional bump, at a medium to quick pace. Fairways and rough are excellent right now. Tee boxes for the most part are reasonable, a couple of the recently updated ones are a bit thin, but at least they're in their proper spots. The par 3's that were playing from mats (no. 7, no. 9) are now at proper distances. A couple of the others have a little bit of divot damage. Bunkers are decent with nice heavy white sand, and they even have rakes now. Customer service in the pro shop, halfway house, and restaurant excellent as always. The rack rate can feel a little steep, but its definitely worth it.

Walked the white tees yesterday early morning and enjoyed the round a lot. My buddy and I teed off about 10 minutes before our 7:12 am tee time and got around in about 3:30 never waiting and never pushed. There was a pretty consistent light rain falling for the whole round, which probably kept a lot of people at home.

Conditions were pretty good, fairways and rough are really nice. Greens look pretty terrible, but rolled decently, medium pace with an occasional bump. A little bit firmer than normal as it has been pretty dry for the northwest over the last couple of weeks. Bunkers are very good, although I really do miss the rakes. Tee boxes in general aren't very good, but some of the worst ones are actually closed now, and being re-built, which makes me pretty happy. It does kind of break the two par 3 holes on the front 9 (nos. 7 and 9) to hit off of mats from about 90 yards out, but it should be worth it in the long run as those 2 tee boxes have always been very chewed up.

Driving range is always hitting off of mats, but they are covered from the rain and in reasonable shape. There's also a decent chipping green, and a very big practice putting green that matched the pace of the greens on the course very closely yesterday. Customer service is always good here, and the breakfast burrito after the round was very good too. All in all a very nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

Played in the first Mens club event of the year at Bellevue yesterday, and found the course in pretty good shape, especially considering the amount of snow we had last weekend. Greens were a bit bumpy, but rolling at a decent enough pace, and were consistent throughout the course. Fairways and rough could be a bit mushy in the low spots, but reasonable for the most part. Tee boxes not so great, but the one greenside bunker I found was very nice. We teed off right on time at 8:24am, and finished in about 4 hours, with our 3 some occasionally waiting on the 4 in front of us. For February in the northwest, the experience was pretty good.

Walked the Home Course this morning and had a very good time, paired with a pleasant father and son pair. We teed off about an hour late from our 8:30 tee time due to a frost delay, and got around in 4:10 for a decent pace. Had to start on #15 as it is close to the clubhouse and their back 9 thaws a bit faster than the front. The foursome in carts in front of us were a bit slow (cart path only wasn't helping them at all) and they let us through on #1. The pace was excellent after that.

Conditions were a bit mixed, greens were incredibly bumpy and slow. There were plenty of unrepaired pitch marks, but the bumps really weren't due to that. Overall, they really were a bit disappointing. There are times here where they look really bad and roll ok, but today they rolled just like they looked. Tee to green, however, these were the best conditions I've experienced since early fall. Even after getting 2 inches of rain yesterday, balls got plenty of roll in the fairway, never plugging, not picking up too much mud, and giving a pretty good lie to hit from. The rough was just a little bit longer, and not very penalizing. I found a few greenside bunkers, and the sand was incredibly compact and not very good to play out of. I can't really hold that against them as it has rained a lot lately. Tee boxes had a few divots, but they're all very level and good to hit from.

Starting on 15 didn't bother me much, but finishing on 14 is very weird. Its a par 3 over water (not a full on island like the River Ridge's Vineyard) and is really not a great place to finish. In times past they've handled frost delays with a shotgun start, with groups on 15, 16, 17, 18 and 1. Due to Washington's Covid restrictions they're not allowed shotguns so everyone's time was pushed back an hour. I received an email from the shop in the morning as I was just about to start the drive down warning me about the frost, which I really appreciated, as it is a long drive for me and it was good to know that I could take my time a bit. I was also lucky that today's a vacation day for me and starting late didn't wreck any non golf related plans.

Walked Eagle's Talon with a couple of good friends this morning and enjoyed it very much. For late fall/early winter golf in the northwest the conditions were very reasonable. Greens have been punched recently, and they look terrible but roll shockingly well, at a medium pace and holding any shot. As we were putting out on number 2, we could see the crew off to our right with the roller on number 8, I love how much they roll the greens here. For some reason today it seemed that they weren't breaking as much as you'd expect, but after adjusting to that a few putts started to fall for us.

Fairways are very wet, some a little worse than others, but again this is the northwest. With ball in hand you can always get a decent lie, you just have to learn to live with no roll. The rough is very lush and healthy, not at a length where you'll lose a ball, but you'll still be a bit better off in the short grass. I found 1 bunker, and it had lots of nice soft sand. Over the past year the bunkers here have improved immensely, its just a shame they can't put out rakes. Tee boxes seemed decent today although they still remain one of the courses weak spots, numbers 7 and 16 in particular aren't in great shape. I can see why, as those 2 in particular don't see lots of sun because of the trees, but I still wish they were better.

I think we were the 3rd or 4th group out and we waited a tiny bit during the first 3 or 4 holes, after that the pace picked up nicely and we finished in just a tick under 4 hours for a great pace. I have their winter card, so I ended up paying something around $35 or $40 to walk 18 with a medium bucket to warm up with. The range has decent mats, and there's also a good chipping green that I really like using before a round here. The putting green is pretty good too, very large and the pace it has usually matches what you find out on the course. Customer service is always great as well. Definitely an awesome way to spend the morning.

Played this morning in a Men's club event a Bellevue, and had a pretty good time. Conditions are pretty good for this place right now, the greens have recovered from the punch pretty well. They were a little bit slow, and while not completely smooth they did roll ok. They're always pretty soft here, so shots hold well. Fairways were ok, a few of my lies were a little thin but most were good. Rough isn't too long, and not very penalizing. I didn't find any bunkers, but normally they are very good here. Tee boxes can get very sketchy, lots of them are surrounded by trees so they just don't get enough light. Many are quite chewed up, and many aren't very flat. Pace of play was very good, our 4 walked in a tad under four hours as the second group out. The group behind us never caught up, and the two in front of us disappeared rather quickly. I've had my issues with this place in the past, but being in their club this year has been quite nice. The place is super close to home, and always packed so being in the club gets me out here about once a month, and that feels just about right.