Got out and played Desert Canyon on 3/29 for a 10:37 tee time. This course is in amazing shape, staff is absolutely outstanding and more than friendly. We teed off promptly at 10:37, got a few words of advice from the starter and away we went. The first tee box was in great shape, and the next 17 followed suit. Plenty of grass, well trimmed, and very level on most holes. The fairways are in great shape, lush from tee to green. There are some great elevation shots and quite a few undulating fairways that provide some fun lies. The rough is lush as well, very few bare spots, and measuring about 3". It is quite easy to lose balls here in the "native terrain hazards" which are present on most holes. The bunkers have good sand, not hard packed like many are in the valley. They have shaved the fairway surrounding the elevated greens down pretty low so take an extra club and make sure you get on the dance floor or your ball will roll a very long way back to you. The greens are in amazing shape. There were 2 total untended divots that our group saw. It was a topic of discussion for the majority of the 16th hole. They are fast and break toward the valley every time. This is a great challenging risk/reward course. The guys we paired with drove within 10 feet of the green by cutting the corner on #3 I believe (it's the hard dogleg left with the big tree in the corner.) so it can be done with a booming shot carrying around 275 at least. This is definitely the best maintained course I have played in a while. The cart girl Leah, is pretty awesome, and she knows how to help manage pace by stopping at tees and greens instead of the middle of fairways. Which leads to the best part of this course, 4 hour 10 minute pace of play without any long waits or ranger visits. We were checked on by the ranger on the 8th and 16th holes and asked if we needed anything or if we saw anything that needed to be corrected. Again staff here is awesome, I will be back soon! If you're coming out to Scottsdale anytime soon make the short trek to Fountain Hills and check out any of the amazing tracks there, they will surely mirror Desert Canyon!

Living in Flagstaff Continental is the only public course in the city so it is by default my home course. The staff here is great, very friendly and accommodating, and the instruction is outstanding (I have recently started with one if the pros here and he is awesome!). The course is open a little early this year as a result of the dry warm winter we have had here. The tee boxes are in decent shape and are a little beat up but not unplayable between the stones. The fairways are in pretty good shape considering the amount of elk traffic the course gets during the off season. The rough is patchy in some areas and lush in others, it is beginning to fill in as they increase the water put down. The greens are a little long and have been recently punched. They are sandy with some bare spots from the elk moving through but are playable with not too much bouncing. This is a shorter course (under 6,000 yds from the tips) but it calls for good course management as there are many well placed hazards. The sand in the bunkers here isn't bad, but it is heavy so take an extra club to get out. The course was pretty open and the POP on the front 9 was about 1 hr 15 min, and about 2 hours 10 min on the back. Due to the course being a little under par condition wise they are having a special deal through the end of March. Fun course with tight fairways and lots of elevation shots that should appeal to golfers of all skill levels. Wonderful place to get out and enjoy the pine trees and fresh mountain air!

Westridge was the final stop on my trip through Orange County last weekend. After reading reviews I was very excited to find this course on a GN Hot Deal for $47. Unfortunately my excitement was replaced with frustration and disappointment by the end of my round. Upon arriving at the course I was informed by the starter that I would be joining another single and a twosome for my 11:23 tee time. I took advantage of the putting green next to the starter while waiting for my group to arrive. At 11:30 I was informed my group were "no shows" and I would be joining a different twosome. I was paired with my new group and sent to the tee at 1145. We finally teed off at 11:50. The couple I was paired with were a wonderful older husband and wife. During the entire time I had been waiting on the practice green there were no groups sent out so we had a wide open course in from of us. Upon our arrival at the 8th hole we were approached by the ranger who told us we were behind pace because there was space between us and the next group. He then quickly sped away. We looked at the POP listed on the scorecard and realized we were in fact on pace, and he was probably thinking we had teed off at 11:23. We played through the 8th and by the time we were approaching the 9th green the ranger was back again. We tried to ask him if he knew we had teed off at 11:50 and were quickly met with a response of "you're not keeping up with the forward group" response from him. I asked him how I could help to speed up our play to help him, he seemed to be offended by my question and curtly told me "you need to play faster." I asked him what he would recommend for me to help him and he responded "by dropping your attitude before I tell you to kick rocks." I was completely taken aback by his attitude toward our group. The couple I was with were not happy with him either and voiced their concerns to the starter who also seemed to have a chip on his shoulder toward us. After a chat with the Manager Eric (who was the only friendly face I encountered here) we decided to continue our play upon the condition that the Ranger change his attitude. Upon arrival at the 10th tee we finally saw a group in front of us. We played on their tails the rest of the round and finished our day at 1600 (exactly 4 hrs 10 minutes POP to the recommended 4 hrs 18 min according to the course guidelines). Upon arrival at the clubhouse we found the only staff available for club cleaning to be the ranger, maybe this was his first day as a ranger? Despite the hassle and rude staff we managed to have an enjoyable day as a group. Now to review the course. The tee boxes were pretty beat up and not level in many areas. I found myself teeing up 3-5 yds behind the box many times to have grass to hit off of. The fairways were pretty nice with some bare spots here and there. The rough was absolutely brutal! 5"-8" long right off the fairway. The fairways here are heavily sloped throughout the course so shots that landed in the fairway commonly rolled slightly into the rough. We lost a few balls on well placed shots because we couldn't find them in a timely manner (never more than 2-3 min searching). The greens were good on some holes and had large bare spots on others. The practice green did not reflect the green speed at all (greens were much faster on the course, and inconsistent between holes. The bunker sand was wet and full of pebbles, and none were raked (maybe the ranger should have done a little course maintenance during his tours?). Overall I think good customer service could have alleviated the less than par course conditions, but the combination of rude staff and bad maintenance made for a negative experience. If I had payed the $75 GN rack rate I would have been demanding a refund. Even with getting the Hot Deal break on the rate I still did not find this round to be worth my $47. I would not recommend this course as there seem to be better values in the area (the couple I played with had many glowing recommendations for Anaheim Hills and Dad Miller). Very disappointing end to an otherwise enjoyable trip. I would like to thank everyone who have posted reviews here as they were a big help in planning my trip!

I played River View on 3/15 teeing off at 0930 (tee time was 0907 but the shop let us know immediately and were very friendly) POP was right at 5 hours. Just a side note I believe this course backs up because there are 2 par threes immediately following the short par 4 1st hole, this combined with too many golfers not playing "ready golf" is a recipe for some lengthy waits on the first few tee boxes. Once we hit the turn things were evened out quite well and we didn't have any more delays on the tees. There is quite an interesting layout here that calls for well placed shots. The tee boxes were heavily divoted in some areas, but that is to expect with the amount of play the course was experiencing. The biggest issue I had here was how uneven the tee boxes were, it was almost impossible to find a level area with any grass on about half of the boxes. The fairways were in decent shape, lush in most areas with very few bare spots and not quite as many untended divots as I expected to see with the amount of golfers on the course. There is quite a bit of slope on most fairways and it is very important to take this into account during your pre shot routine. The rough is thin in some areas and lush in others, but most of the time if you miss your fairway you are in the next one (typical parkland style) although this can be to your advantage on a few holes. Watch out for the riverbed sand, it is thick and very wet. If you shoot into it you really can only grab a wedge and hope to dig it out. This is the same for the bunkers (which is my only other complaint here) they seem to be filled straight from the river bed and are full of pebbles. The greens were the highlight of this course. Rolling true from start to finish, and maintaining speed throughout the day even as it got warmer. They were soft but not mushy. A good wedge shot was received well and usually checked up nicely. Not too many pock marks or untended divots here, seems the course management has made this a priority as they kindly reminded me as I checked in to fill in the fairways and fix my marks on the green. The staff here was very courteous and helpful, and the facilities are clean. The clubhouse bathroom here is very nice, I was absolutely blown away with how clean and decorated it is, very nice to see good facilities at a smaller club. There are not many bathrooms on the course so take advantage at the turn. Overall a great day on a fun course. I would definitely come here again.

I'm in Anaheim for the weekend while my wife is at a conference so i got to get some rounds in here. I played Meadowlark on 3/14 and found it to be in great shape. The course was pretty busy and the POP was right at about 5 hours. The tee boxes are in decent shape for the amount of play the course receives. The fairways are lush (they were being trimmed throughout the day, and the maintenance crew worked around the golfers very well) and there were very few bare spots. The rough was also being trimmed so it was severely penalizing in some areas and quite playable in others. The greens were nice, rolled very true, but like any course that gets heavy traffic there were some divots that needed to be touched up. We saw the cart girl 4 times during our round and the ranger a few times. The entire staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. This is a short course yardage wise, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in teeth. It is a great mix of risk/reward challenges that will bury you if you make unwise shot choices. I am a 20 Handicap and I loved this course. I will make Meadowlark a stop on my next trip out here!