Talking Stick Golf Club - O'odham Course

Always in good condition and is a high quality course.

First time playing Talking Stick. Was amazed how green the fairways were for being the summer. The driving range and putting green was also in fantastic condition. Pace of play was very quick, sub 4 hours. Greens were brown, but was expected this time of the year with the heat. They rolled amazing which is all that matters. Can tell they take really good care of the course all year round. The course is very forgiving, there is no rough. Just huge fairways and desert landscape! Will be back for sure.

Course was really well maintained. No real flaws or negatives at all about our round. Booked through GolfNow and the price was pretty reasonable by Scottsdale standards. Fairways were wide and greens rolled flawlessly. Layout was fun and competitive, just wish the had sprinkled in a few signature/memorable holes. Great practice facility, nice clubhouse and drink cart made frequent rounds.

Haven’t played Talking Stick in several years. The course was in great shape and still fun.

My only complaint was the pace of play. It took nearly 5 hours to play. Otherwise it was a good experience. I would recommend it to anyone.

Most holes have wide open space

Hazards are well placed for challenges

Can stay out of trouble if stay off the edges

Play was very smooth until 6th and then a major backup behind a foursome

Playing solo, you can expect some delays from a larger group.

However, when got to 6, the pair in front of me was waiting as soon the solo behind me was also done and waiting, with 4 tee times all logjammed at 6.

We decided to group up and play as a foursome and had a great afternoon

Perfect weather! Great pace of play! Great breakfast in the new grill, perfect day at talking stick!

I am staying in Scottsdale with my young grandsons. To escape the lunacy, I booked a tee time at the last minute on an other wise wide open afternoon on the North Course at Talking Stick. After paying, I approached the starter who said that I could not play as a single - “because I absolutely forbid it.” To reinforce his point he strode off to find anyone to pair with me. After a while he returned with a guy in a Golf cart who he proceeded to tell that he could not use it “because you only paid for 1/2 a cart in your green’’s fee.” We either had to ride together or go back to the pro shop and pay extra. Well, to avoid another 30 minute delay we headed to the first tee. I normally do not like playing with people I do know (and certainly would have gone elsewhere had I know of this treatment ahead of time) but my new “partner” turned out to be a nice guy, very interesting and carried a handicap close to mine. Anyway, we had a lively and enjoyable match on the front nine which he won by 2 strokes (largely because he cheated like a MF - but then it was a random Tuesday afternoon and certainly not a USGA event). We had fun. O’odham is billed as a “Links” design. As I have played more than 50 courses in Ireland (the Republic and the North) England and Scotland I think that is laughable marketing hype. Coore and Crenshaw would never say that. The course is flat easy and repetitive. There are some holes in the middle with fields of yellow flowers that look like heather. Those holes resemble English parkland courses like Walton Heath or Woodhall Spa. But those courses like Talking Stick are hundreds of miles from the closest water and would never be considered links. Anyway our very pleasant and enjoyable match continued until roughly the 16th hole when my new friend and partner could no longer easily get out of the cart because he had began drinking heavily on the first tee. Well, we hurried in while my cart mate got a call from his other friends who wanted to know why he was late picking them up. So we raced to the parking lot (or sorta close because of course we could not go there in our cart. My partner hustled away with not so much as a handshake as I stayed to generously tipped the attendant who seemed very funny and engaged. After hiking to the top of the steps I noticed that my very expensive, custom made 7 wood cover was missing. So I hiked back down to the cart return and asked about my headcover. The kid I had tipped said “oh yeah - I liked that - i distinctly remember putting that on your club”. No I said: you put it on the other guys club”. His response was: “I was in a hurry.” No apology. No remorse. S… happens.. The pro shop was even worse: “huh, what, beats me”. So I sat in my car and tried to order a new one even though it cost more than the round of golf. Well as you might expect -‘it is no longer made. So the best part of this long, silly tale is that I get to enjoy the hunt for a new headcover that will remind me to never book a round again at Talking Stick

No phone number or QR code to order food on the advertisement in the cart as we approached the turn. Looked the number and called. Wrong restaurant? Were transferred to nowhere. Walk into the bldg that is completely unmarked, finally find a place to order and everything is 12-14 mins. Unacceptable. We were aware some of the amenities were new, but the absolute lack of thought in the rollout of whatever this was supposed to be was a giant mistake

Have been coming to the valley since the late 80’s and knowing when Talking Stick opened up in the late 90’s I’m surprised that this was my first play here.

Played the North Course. Very enjoyable, great shape and speed of play was excellent. My pet peeve is slow play so I welcome rounds like this.

I’ll be back!

Thanks,

Bob K

Alberta Canada

Greens and fairways were in excellent condition. Enjoyed the scenery and wildlife during the round.

Our cart died 100 yards after teeing off on first hole. So, by the time they got a new cart out to us we were 35 minutes behind on time. After getting new cart, 3 different Marshalls came up to us to tell us we were behind on time as we tried to catch back up. All 3 had very bad attitudes and didn't want to hear the reason why we were behind.

The first time someone in our group hit a ball into the so called rough (nothing but gravel and weeds) a Marshall came up telling us to just throw down a ball because we were holding up play and made a sarcastic statement that if he we didn't have balls, he could get us some. This pretty much ruined our day of getting out to play golf.

Also, want to state that we paid $200+ each to play a course that if the ball went off of the fairway 2ft it was in unmanaged weeds, or the ground was rutted out from water so bad that you couldn't play from where the ball laid.

Overall: horrible treatment of guest and course management. I will not play or recommend this course to anyone.

Overall good conditions. Couple of greens with a lot of hallmarks not repaired. Slower pace of play at 4:35 hrs.