Desert Canyon
Summary: Value Rating = B++
The Desert Canyon Golf Club is a fun course to play and offers great views of the surrounding area. The course is nestled into a residential community area but still offers good size fairways. You do need to hit your shots reasonable straight to stay out of trouble along the course edges. With houses along the fairways, it does feel a bit tight but there is enough room for some errant shots.
The course offers an interesting layout with elevated tees and a number of elevation changes along the way. There are some holes where you need to strategically place your tee shots – a nice mix of left and right dog legs.
We played the course in November 2007 (US Thanksgiving Day actually) and the course was in very great shape. The views as you travel around the course are great – beautiful views of the surrounding mountain and desert areas.
The cost of a round with cart was in the $75 range. I would play this course again. Check out their website at www.desertcanyongolf.com.
Play and Value Evaluation Rating Table
| Scenery | A nice views of the surrounding area |
| Mix of Holes | B better than average |
| Consistency and Condition | A course was in very good shape and well maintained |
| Character | B fun to play |
| Golf Challenge | B+ interesting elevation changes and some strategic thought needed on some holes |
| Tee Shots | B good sized fairways despite the community setting |
| Fairway Shots | B mostly flat lies on the fairways |
| Pin Placements | A- good size greens offer many options |
| Putting | B most greens have a slope to them |
| A Chance to Recover | A you can recover from most errant shots as long as you don’t end up in someone’s backyard or in the brush along the course edges |
| Intangibles | Nothing really outstanding or objectionable on this course. Advertising notes this as a popular public course and you can see why it appeals to players. |
Refer to my evaluation criteria.
Some Details:
We played a very enjoyable round here. It is a very playable and fun course to play. The mix of scenery, course conditions and golf challenge was very good. In comparison to a few other courses we have played in Arizona, we felt you could get more value for you golfing dollar at other locations. If this was priced in the $60 range, I would give the course a higher rating comparable to the other courses I have rated high in Arizona. In comparison to similar Phoenix / Scottsdale courses, Desert Canyon offers good value.
Desert Canyon is located in Fountain Hills, about 20 minutes outside of the Phoenix / Scottsdale area.
As a general observation, I have found the courses in and around the Phoenix area to be more expensive to play than those in and around the Tucson / Green Valley area. From a value perspective, you get a bit more bang for your buck outside of the Phoenix area.
The course was in great shape and in excellent condition. The fairways and greens were lush. The practice area and putting green were nice and gave you a good feel for what to expect on the course.
The starter gave us some good tips about the course – the most useful was his tip about the gentle slopes on the greens which tend to slope away from the mountains and towards the valley.
Hole 1 was a bit of a disappointment – a somewhat shorter par 4 but with a gentle tee shot, you can easily start your round. It is a sharp dog leg left so you have to be accurate off the 1st tee and you don’t have to hit it long. The course gets better from there.
You do get some nice views of the houses along the way. Some interesting house designs and layouts. I would assume this is an upscale residential area.
The greens weren’t as fast as other on the other Arizona courses we played. They were in great shape.
My score was 87 playing from the white tees. I may have enjoyed the course even more if I had played from the blue tees – about a 400 yards difference in length. I did have a bit of trouble in the sand, some deep bunkers with plenty of sand in places. I did have a couple of recovery shots from the desert as well where I was forced to play back to the fairway due to the desert vegetation along the course edges. It is always best to try and stay on or near the fairway.
You can walk this course.
The staff was very friendly and helpful.
My Evaluation Details:
Scenery – great scenic views of the surrounding area.
Mix of holes – a nice mix of left and right dog legs.
Consistency and condition – The course was well maintained and in great shape.
Character – some interesting holes but just better than average across the whole course
Golf Challenge – the course does offer some challenges…..
- tee shots – appears tight from some tees but there is plenty of room
- fairway shots – mostly flat lies everywhere, even in the rough.
- pin placements – nice size greens so many pin placement choices.
- putting – the greens were average speed the day we played.
- greens – the condition of the greens was great.
- a chance to recover – you can recover from an errant shot but you may have to hit out sideways.
Other Observations
The practice green gives you a very good feel for what the greens are like on the course.
Enjoy the photos.
Comments appreciated – reach me at Lane@lifepast50.ca