Talking Stick Golf Club - O'odham Course

I played Talking Stick North the other day on a two day trip to Phoenix. We decided to splurge a little bit and spend the money to play a nice course on the holiday weekend and I'm so glad we did. The course was in fantastic condition and was really fun to play. Every hole is different and the views are nice. One of the best aspects of the North Course is that you're tucked away from your surroundings and you don't see other groups on the course. It makes it feel like you're the only one out there, which I find very enjoyable. Wide fairways on the front 9 turn into narrower, pick your shot towards the back 9.

The only downside I would mention is that if you play off the back tees, most of the holes you have the same shot into the green. 280 off the tee, 200+ into the green. It became rather boring hitting my 3 or 4-iron nearly every hole. Additionally there's a 260yrd par 3 which is a bit mean and long. The greens are fast and can be sneaky tricky. Good luck making long putts with all the subtle breaks. Nonetheless I had a great time and would play this course again. Free range balls before the round! Get out early before the heat hits and you’ll have a good time.
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Nice open fairways to give a change from the usual desert layouts

Just not well marked for yardages

Greens a bit slow but overall good..

I was from out of town not knowing where to go. A couple of days before played another course not impressed, but once I drove into the area of the course I knew right there that this was going to be a great course. When in the area again I will definitely play both courses. I played the North course. My advise to everyone from out of town don's waste your time. PLAY THIS COURSE ONLY!! And have fun like I did

It's a great lay out and with the desert always in play you need quality shots. The staff does a great job setting you up and making sure you know where to go and when. Pace of play was a little slow but I would come back.

Some of best courses available in this area. We love both courses.

First nine took over three hours due to slow play by a threesome that was a teaching lesson. The Marshal was called upon to speed up play of slow threesome. The Marshal suggested that we skip a hole around the slow players. We refused and the Marshal had the slow players skip a hole. We quickly caught up & then they quit playing at nine holes. We still had a 5:15 round due to the slow play. & the reluctance of the Marshal to effectively resolve the issue. Never play there again.

A flat course with wide fairways (played the North course). Nice driving range, friendly staff..
For the price to play, I expected carts with ball- and club-cleaners, sand for divots and a GPS system.

This course was the first of our golfing weekend and it did not disappoint. Was in excellent condition and a good challenge. A little on the pricey side for what it is but all in all excellent place to play a round. I am excited to try the South course next time I am down.

Course was in decent condition, but was nothing special. It seemed like a nice muni course. Pace started out fairly decent, but from the 7th hole forward, we were waiting 5-15 minutes on every hole. The marshall kept coming back to us sayibg that he was working on the pace, but it actually got worse rather than better. Way overpriced for the money.

The fairways were in great shape and made for a very enjoyable day. The greens were hard but playable.

i wa spaired up with a twosome and then later joined by someone else - pace of play was good. The course was in good condition and the greens quick .

Overall a very enjoyable morning

This review is for the North Course. First of all I want to say the staff was very friendly and helpful although it would have been nice to see the beverage cart more thab twice in 18 holes. The course is very wide open off the tees and greens are good sized. Several par 4's over 400 yds and a couple long par 3's so it's longer, but shot making is very straight forward. Course is not very interesting as a lot of the holes look very much the same. Stay out of the deep traps and you can shoot low here. General course condition was pretty good except the greens seemed very dried out and browning. I expected better conditions considering this is a troon course. So, if you are looking for an open and fairly easy track I would recommend this course. If you want desert target golf this course is not for you.

Played this course on a weekday in the middle of March. The course was semi busy with snowbirds and many husband-and-wife couples throughout the golf course. The pace of play was extremely slow and the course was a boring straightaway layout I'm just about every hole. Only three sets of tees black gold and green and the black yardage was very short. This is only a par 70 course with two par fives one on the front and one on the back and they were pretty easy. This looks like a public golf course that should charge $49-$59 a round but charge three times that amount because people pay it. There are many courses in the area that Stackup way better for the exact same price. I would compare this to a retirement course that has no skilled shots whatsoever. The 12th hole on the North course which is the one I played was a 261 yard par three that had no earthly business on that golf course. It was the only hold that was semi-challenging only because of the distance but of course that's the whole that everybody got backed up on because you had players taking eight and nine shots each on that part three. The back nine got a little bit better but it was still a very boring layout on the entire golf course. I played from the black tees and hit mostly three and four irons off every tee with the short iron or a wedge in on every part four. All in all I would not play this course again way overpriced in way too boring of a layout. I do not recommend this course although the staff and everyone was very friendly. FYI I'm a six handicap!

I was expecting much more out of a Troon course. Rock hard greens and fairways. Will not return or recommend

Beautiful practice facility. Not such a beautiful golf course. Wide open, hit away so pace of play is fine but not much of a challenge.

The bag / cart attendants lifted several sleaves of pro v1s and a ping logo sweater from my bag somewhere between the cart drop off and bag pick up areas. (On Saturday 8th).

(On my second round, Tuesday 11th) Playing as a single and alone I played the front 9 in an hour, but on the back nine I got caught behind a FIVESOME riding 3 carts who appeared out of nowhere. No rangers in sight, wouldn't let me play through. I had played Las Sendas earlier that day and was trying to get in 36 before going back home. Maybe the employees were annoyed that I showed up at 3 to play 18. I was the last one off the course after the drunkin 5some.

I live in Chicagoland and own a vacation home in Scottsdale. This week I played greyhawk, las Sendas, wirlwind and talking stick. All fantastic, well run Troon properties, save the latter. Perhaps it's the casino atmosphere that causes this club to treat it's guests like victims. I won't be back out of principle (not because of gambling). I highly recommend you stick to the other Troon properties and pass this one over. Too bad, nice course. If you insist on playing watch your property and don't let the attendants handle your bag.

I have played this course many times and it is a favourite. Was very disappointed with the conditions of the mens washroom it was disgusting and our tee off was at 8:30 a/m so obviously it was not cleaned the night before.
I booked a foursome through Golf Now at $129.00 but was charged $175.00 when we got to the club house. Needless to say we were very disappointed.

Talking Stick North was designed by Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw on a Native American Reservation, so they don't have the water restrictions that are typical to other desert golf courses. For golfers, that means you have a whole lot more fairway and a whole lot more rough, so it's a lot more friendly to tourists when they miss shots. You're not going to be in the desert.

It's got some of my favorite holes in Scottsdale, too. The 2nd hole is my favorite par 5 in all of Arizona. It's one of the best designed par 5s I've ever played, even though it won't look like it from the tee, you'll realize it when you get to the green.

The clubhouse is a great place to grab a drink and afterwards, Or, go to the casino and head up to the top floor and watch the sunset; you can't get a better day than that in Scottsdale.

The round of golf and the 71 degree weather combined to make this round one of the best days on the course I have ever had. Absolutely beautiful. Fantastic course. Fair and challenging. Very well kept and maintained.

The course is nice, not too hard, and in nice condition, and fun to play. Tee boxes, fairways and greens were in good shape. Bunkers were not maintained too well.

I'm always surprised at the prices in AZ though. I paid $105, which was discounted from $145. Still rather pricey I think?

All in all a nice experience, but I did have a few issues at the beginning. Staff was flusterd when I got there, due to a mix up with the customer in front of me, so they were not very attentive. My rental clubs were the wrong kind, and the staff wasn't much help guiding me where to go for the range, starter, first tee and so forth. Since I was renting clubs, they should have picked up on the fact that I didn't know the lay of the land, so to speak.

I was still on vacation and golfing, so I can't complain too much. Nice course, but the service and staff at courses like the Phoenixian are more professional. In my opinion anyway.