Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel & Casino

First time here and the good reviews are for real.

I have played most of the best Scottsdale / Mesa courses and AK-Chin is on par with any of them.

Great design, conditions, staff is well worth the ride.

You won't be disappointed.

Some buddies from WA came down during November, a pricey time to play in AZ. However Southern Dunes provides a value during this time. Immaculate playing surface, great layout, and a great atmosphere for essentially the price of one of the other local courses (mostly dog tracks). Recommend for anyone looking to make their dollar stretch. A Troon course for the price of a muni.

First and foremost the course is all it is supposed to be...fantastic! But not the experience. Now my experience:

-7:28 tee time - pay and am told to take any cart. I do.

- Hit balls (nice range)

- Go to starter at first tee. Told that I now have to share a cart or pay another $25. I explained the cart was included...not a shared cart included. I explained this was important for me personally as I have a grandson whose most recent organ transplant was a four organ transplant and was in the Hospital and I needed to be extra vigilant due to Covid. Okay, we’ll give you a cart with a divider. No, I paid for my own cart for health concerns and I didn’t want a “divided” cart. Riding with someone else. Again, no. I paid the $25 so as not to tee off late...

- Right as we’re getting ready to tee off we are told that if we are too fast we will be pulled off the course to allow the maintenance crew to finish their jobs without us on the course...I kid you not; we were told to not play too fast, What?

- Finish playing (again, love the course). Go to Pro shop to speak to head pro/director of golf...get club manager instead ( which is fine)...manager (Brady, I think) says sorry about your situation but there you go. I said even though your website clearly says I paid for my own cart as a single (not to mention the situation with my grandson) you really don’t care. His response was, and I quote, “Correct, I really don’t care”. Had I been told in advance of the $25 extra fee, fine no problem. But after the fact and the attitude rubbed me wrong. One more time, the golf course is great. I just had a bad customer service experience. Play the course

Wonderful conditions considering the overseed process, only issue was with the tees, they were a little scruffy but more than playable

5th time playing this year

Played in February

June and twice in November - 9th and 16th

Play every time I visit Scottsdale / Phoenix

Staff is the best ( I work in golf business)

Layout fair and challenging with over 100 bunkers

Plenty of room off the tee

Fairways great - about 2 weeks after overseed

Cart Path only still

Greens rolled true and at at a good pace , still a bit slow

Played at 9:15 , joined a threesome and still played in just under 4 hours even with cart path only

Tee boxes ok

Was only in 2 bunkers and they were fine

Worth the drive

Cart path only until Thanksgiving, but not crowded today and pace still under 4 hours

Every time I am in the Phoenix area I make it a point to play here- first time was 12 years ago

Was cart path only after over-seeding but I still played in 2:35 (single 9:30 tee time)

Fairways were pristine, greens rolled true

Bunkers in great shape (only in 2)

Staff is always friendly and helpful

You truly feel they appreciate your business

( I work in the golf business , outside operations and their staff is top notch)

Tee boxes were a little shaggy

Great course and operation

I love this course and will always come back. Layout, condition, staff. Everything is always great!

This course makes you focus on your game or hit out of a lot of bunkers, I always play better there because I focus on my game. Great layout, Great People, and alway6s eat there afterward as the food is excellent. and fair prices.

Was in a foursome as one of the first few groups to go out in the morning. Conditions were what you would expect for overseed prep, a little dry and burnt out but still very playable. On hole 8 we saw the ranger and he told us to step it up because we were about a hole behind the group in front of us. I told him that we hadn’t seen the group behind us at all and in a very condescending tone stated “it doesn’t matter if anyone is behind you, you are wayyyy behind the group in front and need to hurry it up”. As we were making the turn the starter again in a very condescending tone told us that we were way behind the group in front. There is a 4:29 pace of play policy there and we got thru 9 in 2:03 (a hole better than pace) but he stated that it didn’t mater, we had to be directly behind the group in front. We rushed through 10 and caught up with the group in front on 11 just to find out that there was a threesome in front of us which of course should be playing a bit faster than a foursome. Unbelievable. I have played over 75 public courses in the Phoenix area and this was by far the worst customer service that I’ve experienced. The course itself is great but I would recommend thinking twice about booking here unless you’re okay paying $80+ to get talked to like a grade schooler for doing nothing wrong.

Tee time was 7:40 a.m. From the first hole, there were three groups per hole and it stayed that way the entire round. Not a marshal to be found. We waited on every. single. shot.

At the turn I told the starter about the situation. He ignored me - he didn't say a word and turned away.

This experience has made me re-think about returning to this course. The only reason I didn't give the overall course rating a "1" is that the condition of the course was good.

Love this course. Lots of sand and big old trees.