Played Raven December 20nd with a 1003 time, rack rate $135. Course is in great shape, as it usually is. Fairways were lush no bare spots. Greens looked a bit thin, but ran true and smooth. Rough w... Continue »

Played Raven December 20nd with a 1003 time, rack rate $135. Course is in great shape, as it usually is. Fairways were lush no bare spots. Greens looked a bit thin, but ran true and smooth. Rough was ok, bunkers were a mix, some had lots of sand, others not so much some with larger stones in them which shouldn't happen at this course. Bunkers here tend to be quite deep. Staff were very good as usual, from bag drop to starter to end of round. Range balls incl. Starter advised 4:20 round to be expected and it was to the minute. We had to wait on several holes but it wasn't really too bad, we tend to play quickly. Still one of my favorite courses in the area, but definitely not a "desert" type course, thousands of evergreen trees were planted when the course was built and they are still there!!! Enjoyable course for sure.

I got out to the Raven on 8/6 for a 936 tee time with two friends. Rate was $64 with range balls included.
The course was busy but on time for the most part. The range was set up almost to the very ... Continue »

I got out to the Raven on 8/6 for a 936 tee time with two friends. Rate was $64 with range balls included.
The course was busy but on time for the most part. The range was set up almost to the very edge but decent conditions to hit.
Overall, the course was in typical AZ summer conditions. Raven gets a ton of play and the course shows. Tees were decent. The fairways were dry and a little thin but playable. The greens were good but on the slow side.
The bunkers, both fairway and green side were in poor condition. Little to no sand in all save for one I was in.
Raven is pretty wide open with chances at recovery throughout. It’s been a few years since I played here and it will probably be a few more before I come back. Better courses are in the area at a similar price point.

Played in a Charity Event for AZ department of Corrections yesterday. This was my first time playing Raven Club and I was pleasantly surprised on the quality of the course. We had a 7:30 Shotgun Start... Continue »

Played in a Charity Event for AZ department of Corrections yesterday. This was my first time playing Raven Club and I was pleasantly surprised on the quality of the course. We had a 7:30 Shotgun Start and check in was a bit chaotic finding the carts and just the set up blocking the main entrance. Carts are basic with no GPS which is strange for a course that charges as much as it does during the winter. Driving range is large with a nice chipping and putting green.

Course conditions are very similar to the last reviews. Fairwyas lush and cut just the right length to provide roll and cushion for your next shot. Rough was a touch shorter that usual and offered generally favorable lies. Greens were firm rolled smooth and quick making up hill putts much more preferable. We were in 2 bunkers and the greenside bunker was ok but the fairways bunkers had standing water.

The course layout was decent with no two similar holes but it just didnt have a wow factor to the course. I would play here again dont get me wrong but there are better options for your money.

Overview: The Raven Golf Club Phoenix is located just southeast of downtown Phoenix and just north of South Mountain. There are great views of the downtown area, Four Peaks, South Mountain, Camelbac... Continue »

Overview: The Raven Golf Club Phoenix is located just southeast of downtown Phoenix and just north of South Mountain. There are great views of the downtown area, Four Peaks, South Mountain, Camelback Mountain and Piestawa Peak. Raven - Phoenix is not your normal desert course ... it has almost 6000 pine trees on property.

Clubhouse: A nice, clean clubhouse that has changed very little since the opening of the course in 1995. Check in was very simple and it was nice to see that they added range balls in with the golf rate. Arizona resident rate was $89, and the public rate was $125. There will be one more rate increase during the 2nd week of January, before rates start dropping again in either April or May of 2022.

Course: I have played this course numerous times over the years, and I feel that the course was in the best shape that I have ever seen it. The over seed turned out almost perfect. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was wall to wall rye grass because they do not normally over seed that much of the rough. They also kept the course cart path only for almost 5 weeks after they re-opened after over seed. Also, it probably helped that we had the warmest November on record in Phoenix ... so it really allowed the rye grass to take root and grow during this past month.
Tee boxes were level and had good grass coverage. A couple of the tee boxes had new sod on them, but it was not a big deal. As stated, the fairways and the rough were wall to wall rye grass and they were almost perfect ... like Rams Hill perfect. The grass was lush and very easy to hit off of. The rough was almost an inch in length, and was very consistent. The greens were in very good shape, and had almost no ball marks on them ... which is normally a problem at this course. The greens were quick, smooth and ran at about a 10. The sand was good and all of the bunkers were raked. I was only in one bunker, but the sand looked very consistent in all of them ... except a couple of them.

Final Thoughts: With the course being so close to Sky Harbor Airport, the course gets a lot of play from those people that fly in and out of Phoenix. I am very happy to say that I really enjoy playing the course because it's a nice layout and has good views, but what will make come back and play again (during the high season) will be the excellent condition of the course.

Overview: Raven Golf Club Phoenix is located just south of downtown Phoenix. South Mountain is just south of the course and views to the north are of downtown Phoenix. The course was designed in 19... Continue »

Overview: Raven Golf Club Phoenix is located just south of downtown Phoenix. South Mountain is just south of the course and views to the north are of downtown Phoenix. The course was designed in 1995 by David Graham and Gary Panks and is quite different from the desert style courses that you play when you visit the Arizona desert. There are over 6000 mature pine trees that surround the course and it gives you the feel that the course is located in North Carolina.

Clubhouse: Very simple check in process in the pro shop because you pay on-line. All you have to do is just check in at the pro shop and you are good to go. It was nice to see that practice golf balls were included in the golf rate ... normally you have to pay extra for them. The clubhouse is the same from when they opened in 1995 and is definitely do for a remodel. It was clean, but it is time for a renovation.

Course: Course was in nice shape ... tee boxes were good, fairways had good bermuda coverage and the rough was cut at about 1/2 inch. The opportunity for the course has always been the bunkers. They have very inconsistent sand quality ... some of them have a good amount of sand and some of them are almost hard pan. Finally, I have been very spoiled lately because I have been playing on bent grass greens. The Raven has bermuda greens during the summer months, but they were in nice shape, had good coverage, rolled smooth/true and ran at about a 9. One of the things that you always have to worry about on the greens is where you are in relation to South Mountain and downtown ... you have to take both landmarks in consideration with regard to the speed of your putt.

Final Thoughts: As mentioned earlier, The Raven is not a desert course, but it gets a good amount of play because the course is only 5 miles from the airport. Many people play this course when they first come into town or the last course they play before they leave and fly out of Sky Harbor. In my opinion, the course has good rates during the late spring thru September, but once they complete over seed thru the beginning of April prices are quite steep.

Played Saturday 3-7-20. At arrival, I was immediately greeted at bag drop and set up on a cart. I spent some time on the huge grass range and chipping area. When I was done warming up, I met my play... Continue »

Played Saturday 3-7-20. At arrival, I was immediately greeted at bag drop and set up on a cart. I spent some time on the huge grass range and chipping area. When I was done warming up, I met my playing partners- Alex from SD, and Todd, a local, who used to work at the club. We had an absolute blast playing together. The course was beautiful and in excellent condition.. There are huge pine trees everywhere and lots of well-tended flower beds and desertscape. The fairways were lush and emerald green. There were lots of undulations and a surprising amount of roll which really helped me with the longer holes. The rough was impressive. It was short, about 1-1/2 inches and completely uniform around the entire course. Tee boxes were lush and just a couple of them were a bit less then level. The greens were in good shape, rolled true about a fast medium speed. It was nice to see nearly zero ball marks. The bunkers – oh there are so many bunkers- Big, Big bunkers! I was in a couple of them. The sand, though not deep was soft and easy to hit from. There was water on only 3 holes. I very much enjoyed the layout. It’s pretty straight forward with unseen trouble only in a couple places. Todd’s course knowledge was very helpful in those places. Now for the bad part. I booked my round 3 weeks prior on their website for $161 at 8:51 a.m. I received an email confirming only the time so I called and confirmed the price. When I arrived they charged me $180. When I questioned that they said that it’s $134 for the golf, $10 food credit, $25 pro shop credit, and tax. First, that doesn’t add up from $161. They said it was $169 even though I had confirmed the price. Ok whatever. What I really didn’t like was why, if they are willing to charge $134 for the golf, why should I have to pay another $35 for things that I don’t want. This was enough to really spoil the experience . As much as I enjoyed playing the course, it’s a one and done for me.

Played an early morning round at Raven. Good friendly service, and quick. Was able to play quickly and pace of play was just over 3 and a half hours. Course condition was good, greens rolled good. Loo... Continue »

Played an early morning round at Raven. Good friendly service, and quick. Was able to play quickly and pace of play was just over 3 and a half hours. Course condition was good, greens rolled good. Looks like they have cut down some pines and other trees to clean up areas. Bunkers were primarily good with some that had some inconsistency in them (too much or too little sand). Lots of bunkers on this course so difficult to maintain.

Good quality round and conditions were good.

I met up with my old Vegas work buddy for some golf. He was in town from the Sacramento area to play in a club volleyball tournament. We had played a lot of golf together while working in Sin City, an... Continue »

I met up with my old Vegas work buddy for some golf. He was in town from the Sacramento area to play in a club volleyball tournament. We had played a lot of golf together while working in Sin City, and since then we’ve tried to get together once a year for a golf getaway. We previously hit Mesquite/St. George, SoCal, Bend (OR), Paso Robles, and the Central Valley.

Raven Phoenix was our Round 3 at 2:15pm on Wednesday, 2/28/18. This was our most expensive round ($75 for twilight rate) and the round with some of the most disappointing conditions. For our Phoenix trip we tried to play courses with a variety of settings – Las Sendas was a mountain/desert course, Papago was a no-frills open desert course, and Raven is more North Carolina meets southern New Mexico. Lots of grass, many large trees generally well off the playing lines, and only small areas of desert/scrub to play over.

The course is pleasing to the eye, with trees and mounding dividing and isolating the holes. Fairway conditions were very good with good cover and lies. Rough was cut fairly low and was OK to play from – farther offline could be problematic for hard-packed desert-type sand, larger bushes, and vegetated drainage features. Greens were uniformly very good – firm, released most shots, and rolled smoothly at medium+ speeds. We had problems with many of the tees. Sand was unacceptable (see below).

The course was busy when we arrived after our morning round to eat lunch – OK food and on/off service at the grill. Range was busy and there was a lot of activity with range/practice green/loading/unloading all in close proximity. We didn’t use the range – the large putting green had speeds and contours consistent with what we found on the course. Starter was keeping a tight rein on groups loading up and going to the tee (on time). Once out there it’s isolated and quiet.

The negatives – although it had rained the night before, the bunkers we encountered during our morning round at Papago were in great shape – a little damp, but a grainy sand that shed water and had adequate depth to play consistently and well. At Raven, the bunkers did not handle the aftermath of the rain as well. Almost all the bunkers had puddles of water in the lowest points. The rest of the bunker had been machine-raked, but the effect of stirring up this 1½ - 2-inch layer was to make the consistency of the top layer like wet cement, and we struggled with bunker shots the entire afternoon. Given the fee we paid for a twilight round, I found the bunker condition to be totally unacceptable.

We also noted that on many holes the white tee boxes were not level, either sloping to one side or being mounded in the center. Par-3 tee boxes were particularly bad, in addition to being very chewed up. Many of the white boxes are on small pads and/or are set up very narrowly, making divot damage a greater possibility. I don’t recall if divot mix was provided on the part-3s – in most cases, I believe that it was not.

While fairway and green conditions were very good, I noted that there was a lot of repetition in the design of holes at Raven. Holes 3 and 9 are straight par-5s that play to the west, and set up to my eye much the same. Holes 12 and 17 are straight par-5s that play to the east, and again set up to my eye much the same. Holes 11 and 14 are par-3s the play in the same direction and to similar length, and, since the course uses a front-mid-back flag rotation, these holes also have the same pin color. Hole 7 is a longer par-3 that plays in the same direction as 11/14 and sets up similar to the eye, with just a longer club. For the par-4s, holes 5 and 15 play in the same direction and are very similar. So you don’t get the variety of hole designs at Raven that you do in some other settings.

Overall, we enjoyed the layout and conditions and recommend it, with the caveat of addressing the identified condition issues.

Many thanks to several GKers in the Phoenix area who provided suggestions on where to play, given our restrictive geographic and cost criteria. We tried to get a mix of course types so we weren’t playing the same type of course over and over again. Thanks to chilipalmer99, dcoachl, bmcnicoll, sbarajasjr, and UNCLEDDBOY23 for suggesting great venues.

I played Raven late Saturday morning. We were set to tee off at 1133.
We arrived earlier than expected at 1000. Walked up to the three attendants on duty carrying our bags and waited. Two of the t... Continue »

I played Raven late Saturday morning. We were set to tee off at 1133.
We arrived earlier than expected at 1000. Walked up to the three attendants on duty carrying our bags and waited. Two of the three attendants made eye contact with us but chose to ignore us. One finally asked if we were playing. He stated they were waiting for carts but would have one for us quickly. We went in the clubhouse, paid for our greens fee and range balls, and went back outside expecting our bags to be on a cart. No such luck. Went to chip and putt thinking a cart would be available by the time we finished.
The front range was closed today and they were using the back portion of the range for warm up. At this time we were approximately 45 minutes to our tee time. I asked one of the employees if we could get a cart to go to the back of the range to warm up. He said he needed to start a group and to ask one of the other employees. I asked another employee and he said they were still waiting on carts. My friend went inside to and asked someone at the front desk if we could get a cart and he said no problem we'll run you back there. So nearly an hour of being at the course we finally received a cart and were able to go to the range and warm up. The back range required a drive down the 13th hole interfering with players on that hole. We received a "loner" cart to go to the range. We had to put our clubs on the cart. When coming back we received our actual playing cart in which we had to move our clubs to. I don't mind putting my own clubs on the cart but this is supposed to be a high end course.
After being told we could proceed to the 1st tee an employee came after us saying one of us hadn't paid and we needed to visit the pro shop.
Needless to say a lot of confusion before our round even started. I understand if I was playing a lower end course without the resources to have enough carts or to have a playable range but the Raven does not fit this description. A course claiming to be one of the top in the valley provided extremely poor customer service.
On to the course itself. Tee boxes were chewed up pretty bad and not real level. Some were better than others but not the greatest. Fairways were in good shape. A few bare spots but not in horrible shape. Greens were all consistent and were great to hit into and putt on. Overall the course was in good late Phoenix summer condition.
Pace of play was good through the front nine and then hit a wall on the back side. Two hours on the front and 2.5 hours on the back.
Needless to say the customer service today left a lot to be desired. I don't expect to be pampered all the time but when playing a course with the reputation and price of the Raven you expect a little more. Not sure I'll be back after today's experience.