My Palm Valley round went quickly, so I had a lot of time to kill before my afternoon time at Rhodes Ranch. I figured an executive course was the perfect tweener round, so I headed across the Sun City... Continue »

My Palm Valley round went quickly, so I had a lot of time to kill before my afternoon time at Rhodes Ranch. I figured an executive course was the perfect tweener round, so I headed across the Sun City community to Eagle Crest. There were a few morning women's groups finishing up when I arrived, but otherwise the course looked completely empty. I was checking in around 9:30 and the guy was nice enough to give me the after-10:00 rate of $15 with a cart, so I appreciated that. I played through one single who was practicing on the front nine and then didn't catch anyone until hole #15. Those last few holes probably took as long as the rest of my round, but I was still finished in under 2 hours total. The course was in late summer shape. Some parts were decent and others were not very good. The tee boxes were a little chewed up, but I never had a problem finding a good spot to tee it up. The fairways on the six par-4s were actually pretty decent, with some scattered thin spots throughout. The rough was somewhat inconsistent with some good areas and some bad. The bunkers were fine for a course of this caliber. The greens were the lowlight. They were a mess. Local GK'er Rob1563 told me they almost lost the greens completely this summer, so it seems like they are trying to bring them back for fall. Most greens had big dead/sandy patches, and the back nine greens were especially rough. They also aerated not too long ago, so the putting surfaces are very slow and bumpy. The 17th hole was playing to a temporary green. They will need a lot of work to get these greens back to decent. For $15 and a quick pace, I can't complain much beyond the terrible greens. It's actually a pretty decent little senior-friendly executive that offers a fair challenge for everyone because it has a good mix of hole lengths and designs. Kind of a mini version of Palm Valley with a few more hills. Hopefully they can recover their greens!