Played two weekends ago. Overall POP was 4hrs starting at 1pm. Never had anyone waiting in front or behind us, so kudos to the clubhouse for spacing out the groups. This is 2 different courses on the... Continue »

Played two weekends ago. Overall POP was 4hrs starting at 1pm. Never had anyone waiting in front or behind us, so kudos to the clubhouse for spacing out the groups. This is 2 different courses on the front and back 9. Front 9 is slightly boring, nothing really stands out to report. Not worth the cost and thankfully the back 9 improves. Front 9 is through the housing development, and the holes generally lack character. Back 9 starts out with a great looking hole, and continues with a few more views as you progress. More water, drop off tees, and visuals make it worth the money. Greens were fast, and probably the most frustrating part, since there seems to be a lot of local knowledge required to read them correctly. Overall, course was lush. Wouldn’t pay 140 again to play it because the front 9 is lacking, but it was a nice one to check off the list. By far, I would rather go across the street and play Coyote Moon.

Played on Monday 6/24 part of a NCGA member outing. Have wanted to play Schaffer's for awhile and was happy to get a round on this perfect Tahoe golf day. Sunny small breeze in the low 70's. Course ... Continue »

Played on Monday 6/24 part of a NCGA member outing. Have wanted to play Schaffer's for awhile and was happy to get a round on this perfect Tahoe golf day. Sunny small breeze in the low 70's. Course is in good to getting better shape. A record snow year has some winter kill on the fairways and small areas of greens usually where it is a ridge. Grounds crew working hard to address these spots. The pro said the this fairway areas could be GUR if you need to. I was in a few of these but the lie tight enough to play from or lift clean and replace ok too.

Sometimes a course can be reviewed by looking at the bottom of your spikes after. No clumps of grass and no mud on the sides. The course is playing great with fairway roll out greens firming up shaping into a good season for the facility. Within a couple weeks all grasses to grow in it will be a 10. It's fantastic right now.

Read sixpez's review of the course it's spot on. Recommend.

On a trip loaded with incredible golf, we still had just enough time to squeeze in one more gem before hitting the road on Monday night. Schaffer's Mill is private 6 days of the week and then they off... Continue »

On a trip loaded with incredible golf, we still had just enough time to squeeze in one more gem before hitting the road on Monday night. Schaffer's Mill is private 6 days of the week and then they offer some Monday public play. We were expecting to pay $175, but they ended up charging us a $145 guest twilight rate. They warned us about a member "horse race" taking place on the first 3 holes. I think there were like 15-20 dudes in the group and they were all loaded. The girl in the pro shop let us know they started 40 minutes before we arrived, but we could skip around them as needed. They were still on the 1st green by the time we were ready to go! No worries as we started on Hole 3. We played through one family foursome on the front nine and then basically had the rest of the place to ourselves for a perfectly quick final round. The course was in nice shape. It's kind of a lighter green/yellow grass they have here (at least this time of year), so it's not a deep green appearance. However, it plays beautifully with plenty of roll-out and a nice pad of turf underneath your fairway approach shots. The rough wasn't super deep, but it's pretty tangly and the ball would sit down just enough to make you work. Bunkers fantastic and greens very nice, rolling at medium speeds. Schaffer's Mill was definitely one of my favorite courses on the trip (top 3 for sure, but not sure how my final rankings all work out just yet). It's a very secluded setting with some homes on the front nine. Back nine hasn't been developed out too much, so more natural surroundings. Of course, moderatly hilly with plenty of big trees, boulder outcroppings and a few nicely done water hazards to provide challenge and scenery. Rustic kind of feel here and very pure golf. Course layout by Johnny Miller and John Harbottle III. Cool bunkering (Harbottle) and fun design that's not quite as target-style or tricked out as most Miller courses I've played. Just a nice course that offers the right amount of challenge in a beautiful natural setting. Highly recommended!

Schaffer's Mill was our first top on our Lake Tahoe family vacation. This is a private golf club that offers public play on Monday's only at a steep price ($130-$200). Being one of the premier private... Continue »

Schaffer's Mill was our first top on our Lake Tahoe family vacation. This is a private golf club that offers public play on Monday's only at a steep price ($130-$200). Being one of the premier private golf clubs in Truckee we jumped all over our chance to get on.

The service was top notch and practice facility was outstanding. Large chipping area, putting green, and all grass driving range with alignment sticks down on the range.

As far as the layout goes, this course is the tale of two different 9's. The front nine is good but not great. It winds through the housing track of nice large custom homes and some condo's as well. The homes are well off the fairways but aesthetically the front nine didn't really appeal to my eye. Well, the back 9 was incredible. Not a single home to be seen and the layout was fantastic. A great combination of holes and almost every single tee shot is picturesque. Not much more I can say about the back 9 other than it is one of my favorite 9's I've ever played.

Tee boxes were good, but a bit spongy, no divot damage at all. Fairways were pristine and greens were pure and had a lot of break. Not overly fast (10.5 on stimp), I would have preferred them to be rolling a bit quicker but not complaints at all.

Overall, I would return 100%. Beautiful course and a spectacular closing 9 holes!

Played 9/13/13 11:50 am pop 4:15 $155. First time playing this course. The layout and scenery of this course is fantastic. Tucked into the trees below North Star ski area, but plenty of room to lan... Continue »

Played 9/13/13 11:50 am pop 4:15 $155. First time playing this course. The layout and scenery of this course is fantastic. Tucked into the trees below North Star ski area, but plenty of room to land shots. Many fun, eye candy, hole views from T boxes. Numerous down hill T shots. Fairway's were near perfection, Very few dry areas and no real wet areas either. Balls ran well and sat up nicely with maybe a 1/2" cushion to hit off. Very sweet !!! Most T boxes were perfect, with only the par 3's having divots. Rough not bad in most areas unless you really missed badly off line. Then you're in the scrub brush, sage & trees. Greens. Well.. I hate to sound like a wiener complaining about fast greens. I'd much rather have these table tops then the slow shag carpet some courses have.. But these were lighting fast with unbelievable break and most had just typical undulations. And with no previous experience on them they were EXTREMELY difficult and frustrating. With our group of single digit to low teen handicappers, two putting was almost like making a birdie and triple/quadruple putting was the norm. Well struck shots would hold ok, but then if you were more then 10' away... Good luck. Two putts from less then 10' in our group trickled past the hole and continued to roll of the greens !! If your not an exceptional putter or can get more then a few rounds on these , you will have a difficult time on the greens. I asked about the speed and they said this was the normal speed. They had to have been running 13 + Over all a fantastic course. Steep in price but beautiful. For me the frustration of the greens took a little off the experience and for the average Joe golfer the greens were way too much. After the round we were BS'in with the group that was in front of us and they mentioned that they had enacted their own 3 putt rule because of the difficulty they were having. If they were running at an 11-12+ it would been a better experience for me. But it's a semi private course and I over heard a sales man talking to a prospective member that they were looking for 25-30 more members and then they were going back to private. So it seems enticing the general public is very low on their list.

If you're in Tahoe give this a try. They tried to privatize the course initially (previously called Timilick), but weren't able to fully subscribe the membership. That's a plus for daily fee golfers l... Continue »

If you're in Tahoe give this a try. They tried to privatize the course initially (previously called Timilick), but weren't able to fully subscribe the membership. That's a plus for daily fee golfers like me. The front is flat, but varied enough to be interesting. The back nine is terrific with good elevation changes. Once you play a few mountain courses they start to look the same (we played Coyote Moon the day before), though the "same" is really attractive!! This one doesn't disappoint, but has many similarities to other courses in the area that are both more and less expensive. The 17th hole is the most spectacular from tee to green. Just beautiful. It has it all - mountain vistas, elevation change, and a strong stream feeding to the greenside lake. Several pictures were taken here. The $125 green fee included green fees, cart, a Greg Norman logo polo shirt, and a logo hat. That's a pretty good value, especially when you see the prices they expect to get for full private membership starting in 2013.