Overview: The Phoenician Golf Club is located at the Phoenician, a Luxury Collection Resort, which is on the border of the City of Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ. The beautiful landmark of Camelback Moun... Continue »

Overview: The Phoenician Golf Club is located at the Phoenician, a Luxury Collection Resort, which is on the border of the City of Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ. The beautiful landmark of Camelback Mountain sits just north of the course and resort. The course was a 27 hole facility for a long time, but a 10 month redesign and renovation by architect Phil Smith was completed on November 1, 2018. This changed the course to an 18 hole facility.

Clubhouse/Pro Shop: Very nice clubhouse and pro shop that were both redone during the remodel. The pro shop was very well set up and spacious, but the clubhouse area, as well as the rest of the resort was still closed due to COVID-19. The player assistant was very cordial, and dealt with a difficult member in a very professional manner. I bought a shirt, and the price was right in line with other retailers.

Course: As stated earlier, the golf club was previously a 27 hole facility that was changed to an 18 hole facility. Mr Smith used previously existing fairway corridors to reroute the course and developed some new golf holes. Fairways were re-contoured and greens were rebuilt and resurfaced with TifEagle grass putting surfaces. I felt that greens were more contoured than before and this allowed for the possibility of some very difficult pin positions. The front nine went out to the east and for the most part away from Camelback Mountain. As previously mentioned before in another review, it was mentioned that the front nine felt like a "Palm Springs" golf course ... I definitely got that feel too. Fairways were pretty wide open and with a fair amount of bunkering around the greens.
On the other hand, the back nine was definitely different. The last nine played for the most part directly south of Camelback Mountain, and from holes 12 - 15 played up and parallel to the mountain. Fairways were definitely more narrow and the views were amazing with Camelback Mountain right there, a view of downtown Phoenix right behind hole #14 and the view of the Papago Buttes in the distance on the beautiful par #3 11th hole.
The course was in excellent shape for the time of year. Once again, it has been very warm in Phoenix and got up to 112 degrees on the day that I played there. So, they had watered a lot and in spots it was definitely wet, but not a big deal. The greens rolled true and were very consistent in their speed. The fairways were starting to turn a little brown in certain areas, but there was a lot of grass coverage. Rough was non-existent, and the bunkers were probably in the best shape/condition that I have played from since playing at Rams Hill.

Final Thoughts: I have wanted to play at the Phoenician since the renovation, but have not had the opportunity to play there. The price was a little steep for the time of year ... $89, but I enjoyed the course and would suggest that the GK community should come out and play there. The course is managed by Troon Golf ... that alone means that the customer service at the course will be excellent.