After dropping one of my friends off at the airport another friend and I headed over to Eagle Mountain Golf Club. My friend golfed here years ago and recommended the course so it worked well for a round here. This was my first visit.

We took advantage of another hot afternoon with few golfers out – one of the reasons why I enjoy golf in Phoenix this time of year! Also, I love the summer prices and for $40 Eagle Mountain turned out to be a great value.

Eagle Mountain is a Scott Miller design (oddly it was our second Miller design of the day) that is located east of Scottsdale, out in Fountain Hills. If you are heading out to We-Ko-Pa Golf Club or Fort McDowell Casino then you’ll likely drive right past Eagle Mountain. It isn’t the most convenient course to get to but it will be worth going out of your way to play here.

As the name indicates Eagle Mountain occupies a nice piece of property and the up-and-down nature of the terrain is the course’s best quality. Because the course is located in the foothills you end up with many dramatic tee shots from elevated tee boxes. I played the gold tees and even if you don’t play from those tees I’d suggest some pictures from there because you get good views of Red Mountain and the valley.

The 1st hole at Eagle Mountain is a 568 yard par-5 that plays severely downhill and the 18th is a 420 yard par-4 that also plays massively downhill. In-between the first and the last are plenty of memorable and interesting golf holes. Truth be told, I could probably pick every hole at Eagle Mountain to highlight in my review.

The par-3 3rd and the par-3 13th were my favorite holes at Eagle Mountain. The 3rd (210 yards) is the longest of the course’s five par-3’s. Like many shots it plays downhill and I learned the difficult way that you want to miss the green short. Anything long drops off into the desert. You can miss into a hill to the right and the ball should kick towards the green.

On the back nine the 13th is 185 yards but it played about three clubs less because of the drop to the green. The green is deep and the more you try to play into it the narrower it gets. This is one of the holes you’ll want to hike to the back tee box with the camera.

From the gold tees the course plays 71.4/134/6800 (par-71) and considering the terrain, I found Eagle Mountain quite playable. On many holes you can miss it into the hill and shots will feed back to the fairways or greens. There is some target golf but not nearly as much as I expected. The only negatives about the layout I can think of are the surrounding homes and that a cart is needed.

As you’ll see in the pictures the course was starting to dry out. It wasn’t lush, but it played tons better than it looks in the pictures. There were some thin lies and the tops of the mounds were starting to burn out, but the conditions never influenced my shots. The greens rolled well and at a medium pace. The sand was crispy, but playable.

I had a lot of fun playing Eagle Mountain! While the course isn’t on the same level with the top-tier courses in Scottsdale I think it is a borderline must play in that mid-tier category. I could see myself golfing here regularly if I lived in the area.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):