This course is carved out of the desert near Flat Top Mesa. I found it challenging, mostly fair and scenic with the front nine being easier and more interesting in terms of layout and scenery. The co... Continue »

This course is carved out of the desert near Flat Top Mesa. I found it challenging, mostly fair and scenic with the front nine being easier and more interesting in terms of layout and scenery. The conditions were good. The fairways were well kept, but on the day I played, several fairways on the front nine, most notably #’s 1,3,4 needed some TLC. They had been punched not too long ago, and although recovering recent maintenance appeared to be lacking. The greens were rather thin and hard, but, oddly, I didn’t find them to be too fast. My putts rolled true with nary a bump. I hope, however, that they grow in some more because it didn’t seem that there was a lot was separating them from bare dirt as evidenced by the multiple bare spots on #13. The sand was good if a bit inconsistent in color and texture. When there was rough, there was not much of it to speak of—maybe an inch if that and not particularly well kept. Most of the surrounding desert is considered environmentally sensitive and played as a hazard.

As mentioned the layout is challenging and scenic. There weren’t a lot of blind shots or long carries (compared to Wolf Creek), but there was one rather glaringly unfair hole that is really worth noting. Number 4 is a 394 yard par 4 from the tips. The landing area for your drive is mostly blocked out by a hill obscuring all but a slither of fairway on the left. It is a bit of a humpbacked fairway to boot, which does a masterful job of hiding a perpendicularly running fence marking the end to the fairway about 250 yards from the tee box. This fence borders a small cliff over which my tee shot just missed rolling off by about 8 yards. I think long hitters can reach the landing area past the cliff but it will be a completely blind shot. I teed off with a hybrid not knowing what to expect and luckily came up just short of the fall off. From there it is a slight drop in elevation approach shot to a dramatically framed green. Also of note is #10, a longish par 3 guarded generously by water. Don’t fill up on that jumbo, spicy Polish sausage at the turn because you will need your ability to rotate your torso if you wish to hit this green. If you’re naturally right to left, you’re golden; anything else will make for real work.

The service wasn’t bad. Right now they are operating out of a trailer and will be until the clubhouse is built in 2011. One thing the course could really use is more signage. It’s obvious where you need to go most of the time, but with 5 tee boxes and a course that meanders sometimes blindly through canyons and washes a little reassurance of where exactly you are and need to end up would help. What also will help is more water. It didn’t get much past 50 degrees when I played, but I can imagine how hot it’ll be come summer. There was not an over abundance of watering stations; I did see two beverage carts in the cart barn but they never made it onto the course. That is understandable as there was hardly a soul out there when I played on a weekday afternoon.

There was a twilight rate of $99, which isn’t on their website. I went out as a single at 1 o’clock and didn’t catch up to anyone until the 14th hole. I don’t know how much play this course gets or if its non summer, nonresident prime rate of $90 - $140 will serve it well as it competes with other courses in the area. It was worth it for me to play it once as a visitor for 99 bucks. There are vastly reduced rates for “Sun City Mesquite” residents. I think that means you have to be a resident of the Sun City housing development going up around the course to get those rates as opposed to a resident of the town of Mesquite in general (who doesn’t live in the development.) Speaking of which, if you wish to experience (and hit wayward balls into) what’s left of the “pristine” desert, you might want to hurry and get out there. Housing has already started lining most of the holes on the back nine and housing pads are clear, present and numerous on the much less developed front nine.