The last area I visited on my six-week trip was the Phoenix metro. I had the week off and met up with friends for a few days of golf on my way back to Texas. Last week the weather looked promising (in the 90’s), but unfortunately it warmed up to the usual 105+ degree days when we were there. Oh well.

Our first stop was at Gold Canyon Golf Resort to play the Dinosaur Mountain Course – a Ken Kavanaugh design. I played here years ago before I started my page and remembered liking the course, so I was happy to return. The resort also has another 18-hole course called the Sidewinder, which isn’t supposed to be on the same level as Dinosaur Mountain. But, I haven’t played Sidewinder yet to make a comparison myself.

We had an early morning tee time on Dinosaur Mountain and one of the things you’ll notice about Gold Canyon is that it takes a while to get out there. From where we were staying (Scottsdale) it look about an hour to get to Dinosaur Mountain. However, the long drive is worth it in my opinion.

I’m no expert on Phoenix golf so take my opinion for what it is worth, but the layout here is one of my personal favorites in Arizona. Dinosaur Mountain usually gets ranked among the top public courses in the state and it isn’t difficult to see why, thanks to the awesome setting and the course’s clever routing through the foothills.

The course is located next to the Superstition Mountains and it is a bit of a roller coaster ride the entire round. Throughout the round you are treated to spectacular scenery and many elevated tees show off the beautiful setting. As you’ll see in my pictures, Dinosaur Mountain presents very well. If you are an out-of-towner then I think you’ll want to put this one on your list.

Along with the great scenery, the course is pretty fun to play too. It has a mountain, desert feel to it and can be quite penal the first couple times around. I don’t think the fairways are narrow, but sections of them are hidden from view and with the big elevation changes it was tough to judge how far my shots would go. That had me picking incorrect lines and feeling more uncomfortable than normal when standing over a shot.

I played the gold tees which are 71.5/144/6652 and Gold Canyon is probably the only course that doesn’t list the total yardage on their scorecards. I have no idea why, but it is crazy. The course is a par-70 with the traditional number of par-5’s (four), however it has six par-3’s. There are plenty of long holes but with all the elevated tees I didn’t find the distance overwhelming. I think the toughest part of the design is navigating the greens, which were a handful to putt.

You could probably consider half the holes at Dinosaur Mountain signature holes, but my favorites are the 1st and the 14th. The 1st is the shortest par-4 on the course (316 yards) and rises sharply from tee to the green. The desert hides some of the fairway and with the mountains in the background the hole sets up the scenery for the rest of the round. The 14th is one of the course’s memorable par-3’s and plays a couple clubs downhill. The green is tucked in a small canyon and it feels like you are golfing in the middle of nowhere.

We paid $90 which seemed like a lot this time of year. I don’t expect a perfectly conditioned course for off season play, but Dinosaur Mountain certainly lacked on the value. From tee to green the course was in adequate shape, just with a surprising number of crabgrass patches in the rough. However, the greens bounced and were slow. I’m not sure what was going on as bermuda greens are normally solid in the summer heat.

I walked away from this round at Dinosaur Mountain with more mixed feelings than I hoped. The opening hole is one of my favorites anywhere and the layout is impressive. However, if I am paying close to $100 for a round my expectations regarding the conditioning become quite high. I’d play the course again, but probably not this late in the summer.

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