Played Laughlin Ranch for the first time on a Golf buddies trip June 6th 2010. I liked the course layout, probably the best in the area, but there are problems.

As I made the tee time weeks in adv... Continue »

Played Laughlin Ranch for the first time on a Golf buddies trip June 6th 2010. I liked the course layout, probably the best in the area, but there are problems.

As I made the tee time weeks in advance, I paid the full rack rate, but upon check in they tried to charge extra for range balls; after I protested they relented.

The operations of the course seemed to be in disarray. We had a 10:10 tee time (pretty brave for June on the Colorado River), but because of some issues with an earlier shotgun start tournament, we did not tee off until 10:40 on the back nine. There was a starter, but because he spent most of his time inside, we had to keep looking around for him to get an update on when we would actually be able to tee off. The time kept changing from 10 minutes late to well over 30 minutes, quite aggravating.

While there were obviously many golfers on the course, the cart girl signed off at about noon. This was a real problem as by the time we made the turn to the front nine, the first water cooler, and all subsequent were empty - in 110 F heat -unforgivable.

Nice course layout. Solid variety of holes. I started on the back nine, which I thought was good, but was expecting a bit of a let down for the front, as the back nine is usually more interesting. I actually like the front nine over the back nine. The greens were in pretty good shape. Mysteriously even with a high approach, you could never find a ball mark, but still the greens held pretty well. Tees were OK, mostly level, not too much wear and tear. They need to stay on top of their irrigation system better, as some holes were pretty plush, but other areas were completely dead. I am not sure if it was by design, but there were rocks up to about half the size of a golf ball in all the bunkers. The sand was pretty good, but I don’t know if the “boulders” in the bunkers were by design, or some screw up.

There is no bar or restaurant, only a snack “window”. The course sits up high and there would be great views for a 19th hole beer, but even the snack “window” was closed when we were done with our round.

All in all worth playing if you are in Laughlin due to the views and layout, but be prepared with water, and rather poorly run course.