The Reserve At Moonlight Basin Golf Club

Let me start by saying I agree wholeheartedly with the other review. This might be the most beautiful inland course we've ever played, and we do a LOT of international and US based golf trips to private, semi private and public courses.

The first hole is absolutely stunning. I couldn't get over the splendor of this area and the topography just pushed difficult and rewarding to a whole new level. It felt like beautiful eye candy from the moment we teed off until we finished. The staff was extremely courteous and skilled. Food was excellent. There was a lot of construction during our visit this week which did not impact our visit at all. I have only two, but significant, complaints.

My first is the "fees". Be prepared to spend up to 30% of your grand total in arbitrary fees. It feels like such a rip off to spend $125 per person, per day, for the entire duration of a stay, for the ability to book services on site that you may or may not use. But paying this much to use them, on top of the cost of the service, is a complete rip off. The club does not take cash, but they do charge another $125 fee for processing your card upon check out. Then there is the "booking" fee. For our simple lodge room, it was 25% of the total room cost. Seriously. We can certainly afford the grand total or we wouldn't have gone, but it was jaw dropping to see the club just pile on fees as much as they want to. We could have gone back to Pebble Beach for SEVERAL days for what we spent here, easily.

Finally - the extraordinarily limited tee times were frustrating. Be prepared to only get afternoon times, so if you're planning to go see the area, you are unable to play first, then hit the road.

Again, if you are prepared for the really deep pocket grab, go for it. You will NOT regret the views, wildlife, and superb condition of the club and course. It was truly top notch. Just ask them to prepare a complete proposal with your expected plans and really read through it first. You'll be in a much better mindset to pay for it when you leave.

The view from the first tee might be the most epic in golf. Your jaw drops when you arrive to see the hole unfurl more than 250 feet below the elevated tees with the backdrop of the mountains soaring overhead.

It's the first glimpse that you're in for something special. Moonlight Basin is, without a doubt, the most beautiful inland course I've ever seen (other candidates include Banff, Jasper and Silvertip in the Canadian Rockies and Redlands Mesa in Colorado). This is backwoods mountain golf at its finest. The completion of the front nine and the 6,600-square-foot log clubhouse in 2015 signaled the private club's revival from bankruptcy. The first nine holes of the 8,000-yard routing (the back nine) debuted in 2008.

The rugged terrain creates a demanding test of golf where flat lies are extinct. The blind tee shot and uphill climb makes the fourth hole the No. 1 handicap. The par-5 sixth and par-4 12th are probably too extreme for most players, but otherwise Jack Nicklaus did a solid job making a difficult site feasible as a golf course. He chose five par 5s and five par 3s as the best way to tame the land. You might not score well, but it's a round you'll remember for a long time. Comfort stations are stocked with free snacks and drinks.

There are plans to built a resort hotel that allows some more outside access to this private playground. Currently, non-members who stay at rental properties in the Spanish Peaks/Moonlight Basin communities have limited access to tee times.