I made the trip to get away from the local reseeding taking place in the Phoenix valley. The first thing I noticed is they have repaired the access road to the pro shop, along with rejuvenating the practice area. It looked straight out of the TPC in Scottsdale. Beautiful. The first thing I asked Rudy, for anyone who has played this course, you know who he is, what is going on with the nice improvements? He stated they have hired a new Greens Superintendent from Casa Grande who has really turned the place around. The only drawback is the driving range and putting is closed until next week awaiting their respective re-do's. As for the course itself....Night and Day from last April 2012. Fairways are nice and green. Half of the bunkers have very nice sand in them, and work is being performed on the other half. Not only to fill them with sand but with reshaping them to their original shapes. As for the greens.....Perfect. Best greens I've putted on since I arrived in Arizona 7 years ago. There are a couple of greens with small bare spots, but these are on the edges where it is easy to take a ground under repair drop. The only major downfall was the amount of water sprayed onto the course. I was first off in the morning and had to play Lift, Clean and Place on nearly every hole. On my 2nd 18 the course dried up considerably and only had to clean the ball of a few times. There are 2 holes cart path only because of numerous bare spots in the fairways. #6 and #7. Those holes were like a big mud puddle with the amount of water on them, but compared to my last visit they are coming along nicely. If they keep up with the improvements this course will make it back to the Top Five in the rankings within a couple of years. To me it's still the best course, by far, in the southwest desert.

I just wanted everyone to know that the Cholla course is back to it's normal condition. Superb. The last reviewer must have played it right before the course was aerated.

Played the morning of June 18th. Troon managed so customer service was excellent. Complementary bag tag and the range/putting green were very nice. The first thing I noticed was the tee areas were well shaded by trees. Very nice when playing desert golf in the summer. If you lose any balls here you need lessons. Extra wide fairways and all approaches have greens that look right at you. All seem to be elevated and tilted back to front, some severely. In other words stay below the holes and you can score here, otherwise your yips may make a reappearance. Water in play on the back 9 and a couple risk/reward holes, but it just left me with the feeling of a bombers course. Just miss the fairway bunkers, which are very penal, and the holes seem to be lined up like the food at the buffet in the casino. Conditions were perfect and would I play it again? Probably, but I want to try out the North course when it reopens in September first.

Talking Stick Golf Club Review
Scottsdale Arizona Golf Course Reviews

If you are looking for pristine conditions, hit the back space now. If you want to see/play one of the best layouts I have ever seen, then make the drive. I would rate it above the Kapalua Plantation course if it weren't for the conditioning. It is the first Doak course I've played and I can't wait to play another one. This place just has a mystic feel about it. The next time I make the trip I will play it from the 6500 yard tees, where I should be, not the Blues, and see how it defenses my game. Forget Troon and the TPC, make the trip, but don't forget I told you so about the conditions.

Apache Stronghold Golf Club Review
San Carlos Arizona Golf Course Reviews

Very beautiful course and the conditions matched. Tees boxes, fairways, rough and bunkers were perfect. The only thing I noticed were a few of the greens had crowned holes. This has to be one of the best courses in the valley.

Very challenging design, however the maintenance is lagging behind. Greens were ok but some holes were crowned due to not changing hole locations for quite a while. The bunkers were either full of new sand or they had hardly any at all. Tee boxes were level but the grass was too high. Customer service is always iffy here, but today it wasn't even on par with that.

Beautiful and challenging. Very few bare spots on fairways, mainly on #2. Greens were a bit slower than the practice green but they rolled true will little grain affecting them and they held all irons coming in. They only downfall were the greenside bunkers, which I found twice. They looked fine until I climbed into them and realized they were light in the sand department. If you play here bring a wedge with little or no bounce. This course was well worth the drive and I would highly recomend.

Played 9/3. Very beautiful and challenging. Tee boxes excellent. Rough very thick, like it should be, and penal. The fairways were a little too long, as the bermuda would at times grab the hosel of the club and take the shot left. Green were smooth but were quite a bit slower than the practice green, and very grainy. Overall it met my expectations and I would highly recommend, since the staff probably let the grass grow a little higher since it has been around 110 degrees for the last week.

Quite as surprise since last played 5 years ago. Greens were great for this time of year and the bunkers were the best I've seen this summer. The only downfall was the tee boxes were cut a little long. Well worth the money.