Northstar California Golf Course

Very good course and even better value. Fairways and tee boxes are excellent. Greens are a good speed for a public course; however, some have some broadleaf weeds. Staff are extremely friendly and helpful. My round took a little over 4.5 hours. Had to wait on every shot.

Course is in very good condition. Greens are running at a good speed and true. Only issue are weeds in some of the greens. Pace of play was great until running into a foursome of beginner players that would not let us (twosome) play through. Not sure they understood what to do. No marshal on the course to help out. Biggest distraction we non-players sitting on the edge of hole 10 and a non-player walking on the cart path talking loudly on their phone. I have not had this issue before, but staff said it is a problem on the back nine.

Greens bad, course conditions poor. I wouldn’t play again.

Northstar has had some challenges with the Covid pandemic and then the back to back extremely bad winters. These winters saw snow, followed by a lot of rain and then extremely cold temps for the rest of the winter which caused a Loy of ice to form on the greens(which we all now will kill the greens).

2022 is so much better than the previous couple of years. Most of the greens now are very good. There are still some problems on a couple of greens but it looks like those greens are growing in. The greens are still a bit on the slow side but I am told the greens will be cut down again after the July 4th holiday.

The fairways are excellent. The staff are all great.

Probably the best course for the money in Tahoe! It would be nice if the restaurant would open again but right now the snack bar will do, sandwiches, brats, hot dogs and salads are good.

Front 9 is like playing in a flat field. Greens pretty rough. Fine for beginner golfers. Back 9 is where they do the maintenance and upkeep. Holes climb the mountain then scale back down for fun, narrow nice fairways to nicely kept greens. Starter old us these back 9 holes were the original golf holes ever built in Truckee.

This course should be embarrassed by the overall condition. The front nine was like a cow pasture, mostly dandelions. Greens were dry, pitted and general unplayable, like a bad aeration from six weeks past..

$70 per round would be reasonable based on the course I played years ago, not worth $20 now.

Not only overrated & overpriced but the staff was rude & unprepared and unwilling....

The Truckee region is difficult for golf courses because of the winters harsh weather so when courses struggle, its usually all of them in the area. Heavy frost for example.

All in al the tee boxes were horrific, some greens were still not good and there was plenty of weed growth throughout the course playing areas. Since the back 9 has a lot of trees, its expected to take longer to mature as there is a lot of shade.

The front nine layout is similar to a muni course in the flat lands. Less shade but still not looking good.

The back nine is corky and short because there isn't enough room for a full length golf course. Some hoes on the back nine are tight with trees and doglegs causing your to iron to this spot then turn and iron to that spot. You'll be using irons on almost every tee on the back 9.

It's like playing two very very different 9 hole courses. I've played here for years because we live in the area and my spouse likes the short length. For the golf in this area, Northstar is the lowest rates in my opinion.

One of the employees shared that most / all the green in Tahoe had been badly damaged last Winter. I’ve subsequently seen Poderosa & Grays crossing however & their greens are both fine.

I love NStar, but they really should have warned patrons of how bad the greens were. Thanknyou

All the greens are in bad shape. Some tee boxes need to be flattened and new sod needed. Fairways are wet and soggy.

North Star has let this course go.

Although the staff is very nice & friendly, The course, fairways, greens, general maintenance & appearance is very bad. It’s shabby, not cared for, weeds on the tees - fairways & greens.

It is in dire need major reconditioning and remodeling if it is to keep up with the competition of the other courses in the lake Tahoe area. I would not recommend this course above any other in Tahoe Truckee and surrounding areas.

It is not worth 1/2 the price I’m charged to play on this tired dilapidated course. .

Play someone go by there soon and take pictures to prove this review

Given the caliber of the other amenities at Northstar, I expected this to be a “resort” course. In my mind, a resort course is a) playable for first-timers, and b) very well-maintained.

To the contrary, the greens at Northstar were extremely shaggy, soggy, and bumpy, and even had weeds in some places. Basically equivalent to a low-budget municipal course. I understand that they had a tough winter due to frost this year, but at this point it’s August, so I might have thought those issues would have been resolved by now. In any case, hopefully this will be rectified in future years. Other areas of the course were OK on the maintenance front but as any golfer knows, the greens are the most critical part of a course.

From a playability perspective, this course (particularly the back 9) is extremely difficult to play for the first time, with numerous blind shots and confusing layouts. The signage and scorecard notes do compensate for this to a degree, but are not sufficient IMHO. As a result, our group hit many shots that seemed great only to find that they were not only suboptimal, but actually lost in a ravine or long grass.

On the plus side, the natural setting and scenery are beautiful, and the people at the course were very nice.

Bottom line, this course is caught in between two extremes. It could be a great championship layout that could merit pricey greens fees if it were to be redesigned to add more risk-reward trade-offs and the course condition kicked up several notches. Or it could be a solid muni-type option for repeat players if they made it less expensive. To be a resort course would require a redesign that might not be possible given the topography, with much wider landing areas, more place to miss before getting into lost ball territory (eg, remove trees and clear out the brush on the forest floor in certain places), and fewer blind shots. As it stands now though, I’m not sure when I’ll be back.

greens are in horrible shape due to a rough winter; staff is doing the best they can. They let a fivesome out that backed up the entire course