Golf Course Review - Starr Pass

Starr Pass Country Club

Summary: Value Rating = C+

Starr Pass is a memorable course and I would definitely want to play this course again. It has all the features I look for in terms of playability but from a value perspective it fails to offer great play for an affordable price.

We played the course based upon a slightly discounted green fee provided through the resort we stayed at while in Oro Valley, Arizona. The cost to play was $119 (US, excluding taxes). The regular green fee for October 2008 play was $139 (US – refer to www.jwmarriottstarrpass.com/tucson-arizona-golf-resort). Note that the maximum green fee during the peak January to April period is $205 (US). For Canadians, consider the exchange rate to assess your view of the cost and value. Twilight rates are available and that is a better value choice.

**Play and Value Evaluation Rating Table**
Scenery	A
Mix of Holes	A
Consistency and Condition	B+
Character	A+
Golf Challenge	A
Tee Shots	A
Fairway Shots	A
Pin Placements	A
Putting	A
A Chance To Recover	B
Intangibles	Cart Path only was the rule one of the nine hole courses we played while on the other 9 holes there was not restriction. Cost – discounted green fee provided some savings (higher fees reduce the value rating – at full green fee price, value rating would be C or less)

Refer to my evaluation criteria – www.lifepast50.ca/topic-list/golf/reviewcriteria

Some Details:

We played the Starr Pass course on a great sunny day – October 29, 2008. The course includes 27 holes and we played the Rattler and the Coyote nines. The Roadrunner course was closed as it was being prepared for the upcoming peak golf season.

Starr Pass is located just west of Tucson and is about a 10 minute drive from the I-10. From our Oro Valley resort location, it took us about 30 minutes to drive to the course but we were delayed slightly due to I-10 construction in Tucson.

The course offers wonderful views of Tucson, the Tucson Mountains and the Catalina mountains as well as plenty of wildlife. The area is part of the Sonoran Desert and is filled with Saguaro cactus as well as other desert cactus and plants providing a very scenic desert experience. We saw plenty of lizards, jackrabbits, quails and roadrunners. The day we played, there were a large number of grasshoppers about and this provided us with some additional entertainment as we watched the roadrunners merrily chasing and jumping after the grasshoppers. I knew the roadrunners were quick but didn’t realize they could jump so high. On many occasions the roadrunners came within a few feet of us while they were chasing the grasshoppers.

One peculiar feature we noted was that the tee boxes and some other areas were sprayed with some kind of coating which made these areas seem much greener than they actually were. You can get a look at what I mean by viewing the Rattler #6 image located near the end of this review – check out the “greener” color on the tee – sprayed on I guess. We have never encountered this before. The coating was sprayed onto many of the tee boxes giving it a blue-green colour. This didn’t affect play and we weren’t able to determine why this was done. It did make parts of the course seem much greener than it actually was.

Compared to the other courses we played in the Tucson area, Starr Pass was much drier and the grass was definitely more brown. It was by no means dry but the visual appearance left one feeling that they used minimal watering – basically it wasn’t as lush looking as the other courses we played. This had no impact on the playability of the course.

We played the silver tees – this matched up well with our scoring abilities. The course offers tee blocks for all abilities. I shot a 90 with some errant shots along the way but only 1 penalty stroke. I would certainly play a few of the holes differently the next time around but that is should be expected when you play a course for the 1st time.

On a number of holes, you do not want to fly the greens as there is lots of desert trouble around and behind the green. It is also wise to stay below the hole as the greens were in very good shape – the downhill rolls weren’t too severe though. The greens were very consistent speed wise and provided some gentle undulations which mostly affected longer putts.

The club house and facilities are very nice. We did not hang around after our round so I’m not able to comment on those aspects of what the course has to offer.

My Evaluation Details:

Scenery – There are a number of elevation changes which provide you with great views of Tucson and the surrounding Tucson and Catalina Mountains. If you like grand views you will enjoy this aspect of what the course has to offer.

Mix of holes – there is as great mix of long and short holes that include both right and left dog legs. You will use all the clubs in your bag. The Rattler nine does have you hitting your tee shots over desert scrub areas while the Coyote nine provides a more traditional fairway view.

Consistency and condition – the course was in excellent shape and offered consistent tee boxes, greens, fairways, rough and bunkers. The consistency of both the Rattler and Coyote nines was excellent. Landing in the desert usually meant an unplayable lie due to the vegetation but on occasion, when you did land in an open area, you could make a recovery shot. I played a couple of bunker shots and was able to advance the ball without difficulty.

Golf Challenge – The course offers a great blend of decision making places…..

tee shots – The Rattler nine has you hitting over desert areas of varying lengths. Hole #3 did make us think a bit as you can drive through the fairway and rough with a decent drive from the silver tees if you play the hole to the middle of the fairway. We had to pick a target well down the left side which appeared to give you only a narrow fairway landing area. Course familiarity on this hole in particular would have made a difference. On the Coyote nine, tee shots aren’t a problem. On hole #6, it is best to try and stay to the right hand side as this gives you a better look at the green through a narrowing fairway. I have a slight fade on my tee shots so I was able to cut the corners a bit on holes that bend to the left which brought some oohs and aahs from my buddies when they saw how much closer to the pin I was than they were after their drives. I have to admit I was a bit nervous because I wasn’t always certain I had landed in the fairway on some of those shots.

fairway shots – The Rattler nine does challenge your fairway shot making ability more than the Coyote nine. The Rattler nine will provide some decision points on whether to lay up or not. Holes #3, 5 and 7 will make you think a bit on what risks you want to take. You can spray the ball around a bit on both Rattler and Coyote as there is room to roam but there are locations where you have to hit accurate shots to avoid ending up in trouble. For the majority of shots you will have a flat lie. There are some undulating areas where you can end up with an uphill/downhill lie.

pin placements – the day we played pin placements were very fair. A great mix of front, back, middle and side pin placements made you hit a variety of approach shots. The Coyote course does allow you to run shots onto the green more readily than the Rattler course does. Although I didn’t get any birdies I did shot many pars and bogeys. The course was fair in this regards – challenging.

putting – the greens were very consistent, smooth with hardly any bumps resulting in your ball rolling very nicely towards your target.

greens – the greens were receptive to approach shots but there was a bit more roll after a high shot landed than other courses we played in the area. Bump and run shots as well as lower trajectory approach shots rolled evenly and consistently.

a chance to recover – the desert scrub areas were dense at times but there were some open areas where you could recover back to the fairway. Typically a ball landing in the desert areas would result in an unplayable lie due to the amount of cactus and brush. The rough was very playable and wasn’t as fluffy as on some of the other Tucson area courses we played.

Other Observations:

The cart path only rule was in effect on one of the nines and this wasn’t really a problem. Once again we weren’t too sure why it was cart path only as the affected nine appeared to be fully ready to accept cart traffic.

As you will see from the photo’s below, the area is filled with a variety of desert vegetation including many Saguaro cactus. Having never been to this particular area before (beside the Tucson Mountains), it was great to see so many Saguaro’s in the surrounding landscape.

As I noted above, Coyote #6 is an interesting hole as the fairway narrows in the landing zone – something a bit different that what you typically see. The 1st photo below presents a view from the tee on Coyote #6 and the 2nd photo give you a look at the green from near the narrowest part of the fairway.