Grand Canyon University Golf Course

The course was mostly in good shape. A few of the sand traps were packed, most were decent. The t-blocks were in good shape however a few of the greens had bad areas especially 18. I enjoy this course and expect the problems I saw this time will get resolved.

Went with my wife. That area of Glendale is not the nicest area in Phoenix. The area around the course of seemed secure and guarded. Staff was very friendly and obviously students from the University. Pace of play was slow due to multiple tee times. Had a decent looking bar and restaurant after play. On course cart personal was also very nice.

Course was in great shape, really fun layout and plenty of challenges depending on what tees you play.

Will be back

Everything from the course condition to the pace of play and the food all was GREAT!!!

5 hrs and 15 minutes is a long round of golf my 11:54 tee time started 22 minutes late. After the first 9 was wondering if we could get 18 in. I don’t mind deep sand traps but on every green left and right. No bail out for anyone. No sand in many spots as attempting to blast out and hit hard pan 1/2” below the ball. First and last time to play Grand Canyon.

Course in average condition except greens which for some reason are lumpy so don’t expect a true roll.

This course was great. I played a couple other courses while in town and paid nearly twice as much…but GCU had the best layout from a strategy standpoint, and the greens/green surrounds/bunkering were absolutely top notch. It obviously doesn’t have the scenery of the more well-known name courses, but quality of golf was superb. Will definitely play again when in town next.

I enjoyed the golf, I just wish there were more bathrooms on the course.

Challenging course - bring your bunker game! Smart ball placement is a key to scoring well in this course. Found putts particularly difficult to read.

I might have given this course a higher overall rating had I played it earlier in the fall or possibly the spring. The roughs and the fairways I would consider an average condition. This may have been do more to seasonal conditions versus course management. While there’s not a lot of trouble on the fairway, the greens are surrounded by massive bunkers that require better than average finesse and getting out of. They were well-maintained. The greens were reasonably fast and for the most part rolled true. I would probably play this course again; particularly if there was a pricing discount on greens fees.

$77 is a little high for a muni course, but this is PHX in the winter. Some very challenging deep bunkers, fast greens, fun layout. Go to The Lope House Restaurant for a burger, you won't regret it.

First off, the course looks great when you first arrive. The clubhouse is nice, there are friendly bag-checkers, and the vibe is sophisticated without being feeling snobby. The range is in great shape, with real grass to hit off of, although it may be a bit small. The clubhouse staff were friendly and helpful and it was easy to get signed in an get a cart for my round.

Moving on to the course then. The tee boxes, in general, are in very good shape and are well taken care of. The fairways, too, were lush and green and in great repair overall. The greens were preposterously fast and hard as a rock. On many of the holes, when chipping and pitching around the greens, unless you land the ball short of the green and run it up, there is almost no chance of holding the green. This is especially true when hitting out of the "rough" than surrounds many of the greens, which is really just dried-out hardpan. There is no way to play finesse shots on the hardpan, which limits your options and make chips/pitches an exercise in futility. Furthermore, I had several shots miss the green by a couple of yards and end up 40+ yards from the green bouncing and rolling on the hardpan.

On the topic of futility, the bunkers were so unbelievable hard that I simply stopped playing balls out of them. There is about 1/8 inch of sand in the green side bunkers on top of what seems like cement. This would be fine if the bunkers weren't 4-6 feet below the putting surface, but they are. So you can either try to chip the ball out of the bunkers and hope that you get it high enough to clear the lip, or try to play a traditional bunker shot and either blade the ball or gouge the sand trying to get your club under the ball. I'm a decent player and am usually within 10 feet of the hole out of the sand but by the end of the round I felt like I had a 0% chance of being near the hole out of the sand.

Overall, I was quite disappointed by the course. If the bunkers are going to be that deep, they HAVE to have playable sand so that you can loft your shots up and on to the putting surface. The rough was far too fry and penalizing, and the greens were absurdly fast on many holes.

Maybe the course is in better shape in different seasons, but I would much rather play the munis (which are also cheaper in many cases).