Tag: Gold Canyon Golf Resort

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Golf Course Review Gold Canyon Golf Resort SIDEWINDER Gold Canyon Arizona

Gold Canyon Golf Resort (Sidewinder)

Gold Canyon, AZ

ALERT: Aeration
Will be aerating the greens on the Sidewinder Course 7/8 – 7/12, reopening 7/13.
* Although Greenskeeper.org researches all alerts before posting, we ask that you please contact the golf course for confirmation.

Reviewed by: jciapa02, Mesa, AZ

Golf Playing Conditions 8.78 GREAT
Golf Playing Conditions 8.78 GREAT

My twosome played 11:03 am July 29 for $26.63 (with a $10 gift card given to us at arrival). The staff welcomed us as soon as we approached the club shop with a cart and directions. This course is tucked away in the Gold Canyon mountains, beautifully located in the mountain’s crevices. At the pro shop we checked in and were given the mentioned gift cards. The drive to the first tee of the Sidewinder is a bit convoluted but the cart guy gave us some solid directions and we arrived.

The Review

The carts are equipped with a small cooler, club/ball cleaner and a really nice touch screen GPS system. All of these prepared us to conquer the perfectly manicured resort course. The tee boxes were lush, well outlined with walk-up rocky paths that accepted a tee at any point of our pleasure. The course allows for five to six different tee off locations, with Gold being the tips and the newest (latest addition as the distances were listed on any of the hole’s mapping near the tee boxes). The fairways were soggy in FEW locations but otherwise very green and firm, lush in many areas without any bare spots to truly be seen. Though with no divot fill seed on the carts we didn’t notice many if any divots on the fairways. The greens were perfect, accepted literally any shot creating a pitch-mark (I drove a green with driver and the roll-out was MAYBE 15 feet after it’s crater of a pitch-mark). The roll was true whether it was from a putt, approach or one of many well manicured and fluffy bunkers. The rough was 1″-2.5″ inches but well manicured.

Some Advice

The course is relatively straight forward, could definitely be difficult for those who can’t consistently carry driver 175+. Can’t say there are any more than one or two memorable holes besides the 8th with a tree in front of the green in the fairway posing threat to any approach shots not placed off tee correctly; and the last par 5 18th that climbs up the slope nearby the Dinosaur’s first tee box.

The Final Words

A fun track that can twist and twine in between the suburbs and craters of the hilly mountain terrain well, I’d advise you take the trek out eastward and play this resort yourself.

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Golf Course Review Gold Canyon Golf Resort (DINOSAUR) Gold Canyon Arizona

Gold Canyon Golf Resort (Dinosaur)

Gold Canyon, AZ

ALERT: Aeration
Will be aerating the greens on the Dinosaur Course 7/23 – 7/26, reopening 7/27.
* Although Greenskeeper.org researches all alerts before posting, we ask that you please contact the golf course for confirmation.

Reviewed by: sixpez, Rancho Mirage, CA

Golf Playing Conditions 6.45 GOOD
Golf Playing Conditions 6.45 GOOD

Played here yesterday morning. Took the chance (despite UNCLEDDBOY’s best efforts to talk me out of it : ) and got lucky with a break in the active monsoon weather this week. Had a 6:40 tee time and was paired with a twosome. We were second off. Lead group played very quickly and we never pushed them thanks to the nicely spaced 10-minute tee times here. Good overall pace of about 3:15. Price was $55 (plus AZ tax, so $58 and change).

The course was in solid summer condition, looking pretty lush and green throughout (sure all that rain has helped). The tee boxes were good. Just a few of the blues on the back nine could use some leveling out. The fairways were generally good with a few thin spots here and there and a couple that had some aerated sections. The rough was good, cut low and easy to play from. Bunkers not pebbly and well-maintained, but a very coarse desert sand that doesn’t provide much cushion. The greens were just okay. Not very fast and a bit bumpy in places. The practice green was really ugly, but the ones on the course were better. They were pretty receptive as summer desert greens go and I think they will benefit from the upcoming aeration on 7/23.

Gold Canyon Golf Resort Dinosaur Course Gold Canyon Arizona. Hole 18
Gold Canyon Golf Resort Dinosaur Course Gold Canyon Arizona. Hole 18

The facilities here aren’t too impressive at first glance. The driving range is stocked with rock hard yellow balls. The parking is kind of weirdly laid out and things don’t look like a “resort” course facility like what you expect from the top courses in this area. However, once you are on the course, all is good. This is a really fun layout with lots of elevation changes and a great overall look. There’s a flatter stretch in the middle that isn’t super exciting, but everything in the hills is a blast. Depending on the tees you play, it’s not a terribly long course. The fairways are forgiving and the greens are reasonably big without a ton of protection. A lot of mounding around them that is often helpful. The starter warned us that the greens were the main defense here, but I found them fairly easy to read and our group was dropping putts left and right. Definitely seems like a place you can post a great score as long as you stay out of the desert. I can definitely see why this is one of the best-rated public courses in the valley. Recommended.