McDowell Mountain Golf Club

I just recently played McDowell Mountain for the first time. I had heard great things about it and I was excited to play. Unfortunately upon my arrival at the golf course my excitement went south very quickly . From the bag drop to the beverage cart no one was friendly with the exception of the bartender. The staff acted like they were being inconvenienced with us coming to play. Something as simple as a "Thank You for coming" or "are you enjoying the golf course" just makes sense to me in this very competitive golf industry.

This course is situated in the McDowell mountain foothills with beautiful views to the west across the Phoenix valley. Got a $5 discount for my son who is 16 and free warm up range balls which was a nice surprise based off of prior reviews here. Teed off right on time and finished on pace in 4 hrs 15 minutes. Saw rangers 3 times and they seemed to be keeping play moving. The course was in good but not great shape - greens were very firm, fairways in decent shape but maybe a little ragged on the edges, there were a few muddy spots, and the sand in the bunkers was thin and not quite the best. The course is tight in some spots and sits side hill with several holes featuring severe doglegs that can be tough to find the lines off the tee the first time you play. Expect a few pin placements where you’ll have little to no chance of getting close due to the severity of the slopes on some greens. It isn’t particularly long with several drivable par 4’s and manageable par 3’s. Cart and bag drop staff was efficient but not overly friendly. It was an absolutely beautiful March day in Phoenix for golf, too.

It’s a nice course, good conditions and I think fairly priced. That said, why do you have to rip off your clients in the clubhouse? When the hard looking waitress handed over 4 boiled, garage sale quality hot dogs and smirked while saying $28, I just about fell over.

Our entire group went from thinking this was a good course where I would be happy to play again to feeling cheated.

I would not play there again, simply because whoever runs the snack bar had to milk us for an extra $20. Bad management.

Good news: A very fair test. Conditions very good, greens fast and tricky, but very fair and fun to play. Marshall kept an excellent pace (we saw him 3 times), lots of choices of tee boxes (played the Gold/White combo), I'd play again anytime.

Bad News: Range balls ($12 for a medium bucket!!) should be included in green fees. That is cheap.

No photos of hole layouts on scorecard. WHY NOT? As a first time player, I didn't know the layout at all. No GPS on carts. WHY NOT?? Again, that information is vital for new visitors to the course.

Course is in great shape and this is a great value in PHX.

Let me first say that we enjoy the course, the greens are good, love the after golf set up. We played here 2 years ago when in town for golf. This year we played two days at McDowell Mtn. We teed off the first day at 12:30. The group we were behind took 15 minutes from their 2nd shots just to get to the green. As we were waiting, the marshal (Norman) came by and I gave him a heads up that if the group in front of us continued at this pace, it would make for a long day. He said he really didn't want to say anything as it was just the first hole. Eventually the pace picked up some and we were enjoying our round of golf. On the 15th tee we were approached by Norman at which time he asked if we would skip a hole. He said he was concerned that a few groups, several holes behind us (who by the way were members), would not be able to complete their rounds before sundown. We politely declined. The more we thought about it, we got a little upset about that notion. It's not our fault that the people behind us didn't get earlier tee times. And the fact that they were members suggests to me that they know when the sun goes down, so don't gripe about now having adequate time for your round. But most importantly, why should we have to cut our golf short. We paid our fees. We played again 2 days later with good pace of play and got 36 holes in.

We ended up getting a tee-off deal which brought the cost down to a level that was considered good value. The course was in good shape with greens that can be tricky to read at times.

Pros:

- Great practice area with target greens at the range, 3 or 4 practice greens with a bunker

-Very quiet as it is not near any major roads

-Did not eat there but the restaurant looked very nice

Con:

-Range balls are not provided. When you are paying over $100 to play the course, you should not be forced to spend more on balls to warm up

-No GPS on the carts

-Odd layout at times

I liked the course and the course conditions and if I was able to get another deal I would return.

Fun course,not too long.Greens roll nice.Service at the turn and in dining room is always sub par!!

Range is packed sometimes tough to get a spot during prime time months.

This course is in great condition. Because the tournament was in town the pass of play was very slow. Otherwise great course.

Course layout is a bit odd - feels tricked-up because of the fairway slopes and bunkering. I expected a superior challenge, so felt let down. Won't play this track again.

I snagged a great price through golfnow to play out here during peak season. The course was in great shape and a lot of fun holes out there.

The fairways are wide and fairly easy to hit; but, the greens are challenging. Large greens with breaks that are difficult to read. Sandtraps are steep but the sand is good and not too difficult to get out of if you can get the ball high.

Part two: all aspects of course were very nice. Staff, course condition, pace of play price. The only negative part was the starter. We hit balls on range for 45-60 minutes. Never heard or saw him. Five minutes before our scheduled tee time we drove to first tee. The group ahead was leaving the tee. We waited until they got onto the green(a par 4). Saw no one and teed off one minutes after our tee off time. We were on the first green putting and the apparent starter starts yelling at us. “What are you doing? Who told you to tee off? Etc my partner asked him to calm down let me putt and we can walk right over to him, to determine his concerns. He told us to get off the green and wait as there was another player to join us. I finished my putt anyway, he drove off in a hostile manner. Not a very good customer service guy. Cannot say for sure that he was a starter. Although after nine holes which we played in one hour and forty minutes, we stopped to get a drink from the cart lady who was parked on ten tee and the same man from first tee drove by and said to stop talking to cart women and go tee off. Our third player was in restroom so we hit and then waited. The starter just seemed upset at us twice and not sure why. The hostile experience made us wonder what or why he was so aggressive. Thought you should know that he was mean spirited when everyone else was not. We will return but if it occurred again, we would not

Course was in excellent condition and was a very challenging layout. Greens were in good shape and difficult to read. Many slopes and the pin placements were in difficult spots. One of my favorites in the Phoenix area.

Disappointed with the course conditions at that price. I know there are many better options in the valley for less money than that.