I spent a nice long weekend at Suncadia Resort with the family and played their Rope Rider course on Friday morning, teeing off right on time at 7:30 am. This was the first time I'd played this course... Continue »

I spent a nice long weekend at Suncadia Resort with the family and played their Rope Rider course on Friday morning, teeing off right on time at 7:30 am. This was the first time I'd played this course (I had played their other course once years ago) and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Greens rolled really smooth, and were very firm and not really holding any of my shots like I expected. Over the first few holes they actually felt a little slow, but the wind was blowing, and as the sun started drying them out the pace picked up quite a bit. I definitely had trouble adjusting, I found myself fairly confused for the bulk of the day. Fairways gave plenty of roll, and were very nice to hit from. Rough wasn't too long, and generally not too difficult. If you strayed far enough into the woods, you could have some trouble finding your ball. Tee boxes (we played the white tees) were great, very level with little to no divot damage. I found one fairway bunker that had nice even sand. The layout is really quite nice, there's plenty of room off the tee but most greens have some protection. With how firm they are, you really do need to hit a good shot to hold them. With a 1 to 2 club wind it was definitely a solid, fair challenge.

The 2 courses here each have their own clubhouse, about a mile apart. So while there is no range at this course, they have a nice range at their other course and you can warm up there for free if you like. I had gone to do that, but unfortunately they didn't have any balls out yet and I didn't want to have to rush to get to the other course on time so I skipped hitting balls before the round. At Rope Rider they do have a very nice, large putting green, and a short 3 hole course you can use as a warm up. The holes there are pretty short, you won't hit more than a full wedge. Saw the beverage cart a couple of times, and also had an excellent breakfast burrito at the turn.

Suncadia Resort is a really nice place, it was awesome to get in a good round of golf yet still be able to do some other fun stuff with the family. If you only want to golf, it'd be a great place to do 36 in a day. It is a little bit pricey, but definitely worth it.