Played this in the Amateur Players Tour event on 3/17 & 3/18 the previous reviewer mentioned. The golf course is pretty challenging with desert scrub to contend with on most holes that catch wayward shots. Expect some time spent rooting around in the scrub bushes and red sand looking for a golf ball or two if your group sprays it at all. On the back nine, your ball can just ... » More

Played this in the Amateur Players Tour event on 3/17 & 3/18 the previous reviewer mentioned. The golf course is pretty challenging with desert scrub to contend with on most holes that catch wayward shots. Expect some time spent rooting around in the scrub bushes and red sand looking for a golf ball or two if your group sprays it at all. On the back nine, your ball can just go off the side of a cliff, so forget it. You're dropping. Spectacular looking views and holes in the middle of the back nine.

Course condition was overall pretty good. Some issues with the recent heavy rains caused the greens to be softer than they probably normally are. And it created a few iffy spots in the fairways. So, we were playing lift clean and place. But the lies were pretty good even without that.

Apparently this course recently raised it's green fees. Previously it was on Golf Magazine's ranking of the top 100 affordable courses in the US. But with max fees now in the $180 range, I would imagine it will be removed from that list. Nevertheless, Golf Mag and Golf Week have it in the Top 60 public US courses and it holds its own there. Given that most top 50 US courses are in the $250-$300+ range, that's still not a terrible value for the quality. Perhaps just not the bargain it once was with $125 max fees.

Combined with some of the other great courses in St. George and Mesquite, it's worth a 'do it at least once' trip.
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After playing, I saw previous reviews mentioning the new greens in 2022 and how firm/hard they were. And that's exactly what I experienced. Firm greens that you needed to play for bounce, which is fine. But then disappointingly mostly rolling on the slower side and somewhat fuzzy at times.

Not a good value for $300. But Phoenix is kind of nuts in 2023 and March wit... » More

After playing, I saw previous reviews mentioning the new greens in 2022 and how firm/hard they were. And that's exactly what I experienced. Firm greens that you needed to play for bounce, which is fine. But then disappointingly mostly rolling on the slower side and somewhat fuzzy at times.

Not a good value for $300. But Phoenix is kind of nuts in 2023 and March with Spring Training tourist time on top of it.

The course is pretty cool for the views and playing through the boulders and arroyos. Not a big fan of the layout, especially for a first-time player there. A few holes I wasn't sure where to hit it. There were holes where it takes driver your ot your hands, but then leaves a long 2nd shop over canyons and scrub. I don't mind short holes that give you options. But this is a more original desert target golf design (from 1986) that demands placement on a lot of holes, which isn't exactly the same as strategy IMO.

The fair price for the course I feel would be in the $150-$200 range. But I guess nowadays $300+ is what you can command for Scottsdale desert course these days.
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I feel bad giving Westridge a poor review for its current condition because it's a very good and engaging layout and conditions will likely be far superior in a week or two, but I can only report what's going on right now and that may explain why its rating will likely be far lower than it actually deserves.

With the heavy rains just having ended, the course has mud p... » More

I feel bad giving Westridge a poor review for its current condition because it's a very good and engaging layout and conditions will likely be far superior in a week or two, but I can only report what's going on right now and that may explain why its rating will likely be far lower than it actually deserves.

With the heavy rains just having ended, the course has mud pits all over. This would normally be fine and understandable, however they have not mowed any of the fairways in quite some time, so even when you hit middle of the fairway, your ball currently disappears into the rough. What made it even more frustrating was that it was Cart Path Only, so finding your ball was a challenge all day and then it was near impossible to gauge distances without taking a range finder and at least four clubs to where you thought your ball might be.

The rough was even longer - we're talking Torrey Pines during the US Open length and completely impossible to find balls that you had tracked the entire time. It's not exactly 'real' golf right now. We were also informed that bunkers were so swamped that they were not in play - free drop out of them. I noticed some were waterlogged, while others just appeared to have been ransacked for all their fluff. Just far from ideal, but again, sort of understandable.

Greens were actually in pretty nice shape and very receptive due to their softness, however quite a few of them had periphery areas that were either damaged or suffering some kind of fungus trauma. Avoid these areas at all costs.

As for the tee boxes, a bit on the soggy and soft side as well, but more alarming was far too many were quite crowned and difficult to get a flat spot. Again, far from ideal but this one seems like it's more on the course than the weather.

But again, this place will likely be in great shape in a few weeks, so long as the weather cooperates and we finally start with a dry spring. The layout here is very tough with lots of elevations, plenty of target shots, some very short but tricky greened par 3s, and no shortage of pucker up and hit it approaches that will require very precise distance control.

Sorry about the rating Westridge, but it's the current truth about the state of things!
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