Puttshack - Scottsdale — Attraction in Scottsdale

If I could give 0 stars I would. My boyfriend, his 8-year-old daughter and I visited the Scottsdale Quarters Puttshack location on Sunday, April 21, 2024 . After a long day of moving that started at 6:30 a.m., we felt the need for a little rest and relaxation as I had visited this location before for a business meeting event on the top floor.

We were promptly greeted by the two hostesses at the front desk who gave instructions to my boyfriend on how to purchase a time slot. There was a wait of about 20-30 minutes before he and his daughter's game time was expected to begin play, therefore, we decided to sit in the bar area in a booth/table nearest to the bar, to be specific, we were right on the left corner right by the bar, you could not miss us. I'm African American, wore a red dress.

With that being said, we sat there for approximately 5 minutes as waiters and waitresses looked us dead in our faces and looked the other way, not asking even if we wanted so much as a glass of water/beverages or if we had been assisted. My boyfriend decided to go to the bar to see if he could get someone's attention to send a server. There was an African American bartender with dreaded hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a young Caucasian girl behind the bar. The African American male looked at my boyfriend in his face and went in the opposite direction, he was laughing and joking with the Caucasian lady (I suspect his co-worker) and it didn't appear to be crowded at the bar.

After about 3 minutes, my boyfriend decided to come back and sit down at the table with his daughter and myself. After about another 5 minutes, there was a short Caucasian lady that worked there, she had black hair, shaved on both sides and in a ponytail. My boyfriend flagged her down and asked her if we could get a server or if she could assist us as we had been waiting about 10 minutes for service. She stated that she would SEE if she could send someone over there. We watched her go over to the bar and speak to the young black male behind the bar and the Caucasian younger lady, she left the bar and walked nearest to the kitchen (furthest from our table) and didn't even look our way as she proceeded through the door by the kitchen and proceeded to laugh with the other employees in the kitchen. No one ever came over to serve us.

Shortly after that (approximately 2-3 minutes later), there was a Caucasian male waiter that walked directly past our table, my boyfriend stood up and flagged him down to ask if we could get service as we had been sitting there for 10-15 minutes or more. He (Justin) was polite and said to give him a moment, he would be right back with waters. I asked him prior to his departure if they were short staffed and he stated "not at all". When he brought us waters, I asked him to bring back the manager as I would like to discuss with him about our ridiculously long wait and to get an explanation as to why. The manager on duty (Alex Lehman) took his sweet time coming to our table, looking over at me and turning his head away, he headed to the bar before coming to our table. When he finally decided to come over, he asked what the issue was and when I discussed with him what we experienced, he offered no reason as to why we were OVERLOOKED. He quickly offered to take care of our food and drinks but had no explanation which is unacceptable.

As a disabled, African Amercian Air Force veteran, and after serving this country 6 years, I should not (nor anyone) be treated second class in this country of which I served. I am the LAST person to pull the race card, however, I know it when I see it and feel it.

Giving out free food is not the answer, we came to eat and play- Mr. Lehman was unapologetic and part of the problem in my opinion. Respect for people starts from the top down. He did not say he would have a conversation with staff but offered no explanation at all. People of color, please pay attention to subtle hints of racism and report each and every incident, there is no excuse for this blatant...

I have so much to say about this whole experience I don’t even know where to start. It went from excitement of going here to horribly dreading it after talking to the rude and inappropriate check in person. The manager wasn’t helpful either unfortunately. I felt he wasn’t listening or understanding the concerns. The concerns were left with loose ends and no explanation of why our 5pm reservation that I got texts and emails about said 5:20 pm when I went to the led board. I was looking for my name (well the name I chose for my party), and it wasn’t there for any of the 5pm slots (again that’s the time I was confirmed for). The check in person was like “well the time is the time you need to go by the time it says on the board”. I said so does my reservation time of 5pm mean nothing? She said if people are playing slow we push the times back. The time is the time.I said is this listed anywhere ? I said I don’t recall seeing this anywhere on the reservation screens. She said “no it’s not written anywhere”. I said well we chose 5pm because we have external reservations with friends so seeing our time was changed to 5:20 and you’re saying the time is the time, isn’t helpful. Can we get a credit for next time? She said “would you like a manager?” That was her response. Then the experience with the manager didn’t help. He said the reservation time isn’t like a regular tee time. We give you 30 min before or after your reservation time to start playing. That is just the beginning. We spend more time waiting to play than actually playing. The space is incredibly congested. You’re constantly hearing “excuse me” or saying excuse me to people because there’s literally nowhere to wait or move to play. The texts also have the most confusing check in process and don’t explain “collect ball” is actually the ball dispenser that’s mentioned via text. This whole thing was horrible. It wasn’t fun. Waiting for the AI course and screens to load, change, etc was annoying and it took the fun out of regular mini golf. Finally, but not least, I chose a nickname for my team. It wasn’t ANYWHERE on the board. I was shocked and appalled that my full name and other people’s full first and last names were broadcast everywhere for all to see. Where was the name I chose? What happened? What about preserving the security and safety of your customers?

Whoever came up with the scheduling and logistics, should not be in their role. If you enjoy a feel of a horribly disorganized, congested disarray of lines and spacial issues, while spending more of your time waiting for the parties of 4-6 in front of you to get done and then squeezing like sardines in small areas to wait some more for your next turn, this is the place for you.

If you enjoy a check in employee who lacks customer service and interpersonal skills this is also the place for you.

If you’d rather have a truly fun, organized, and comfortable experience, I recommend going to a regular (non AI) mini golf...

We were in from out of town and friends suggested Puttshack. My husband, my two children, and I went. We had a great time and very sadly it ended on a sour note. First, the positives! The mini golf was a BLAST. The creative courses were fun for all of us and we loved that it kept score for us! After golf we had reservations for lunch. We all four found great VEGAN options! That was a huge plus! The food was really good. We had great interactions with all of the staff as well. They were nice and helpful. Our whole family was really happy with our trip there.

Now the negative: a couple of hours after we got back to our hotel I noticed unauthorized charges on my card. We paid for our golf in advanced online when we made the reservation. That charge was there. When we sat at our table I was told they keep a card "on file." I gave the server the card to do that. When it came time to check out I wasn't really sure how we were supposed to do that since they took my card already. When she came back I asked about that and the waitress said I would have to sign. Then she said it looked like we needed to run the card again. Ok... I gave an 18% tip, signed, and left. There should be two charges on my card but there are 4! I called and spoke with the manager. He was nice and remembered my family. He investigated and called me back to tell me that our server said we wanted to pay with a different card. That was untrue. He said he had to look into it some more. He called back again to explain that they do keep a card on file and they will preauthorize for an amount to make sure there is enough money available. The manager said it will drop off my bank charges tonight. I'm still confused... why pre-auth for $51 and then again for $17? They told me if the charges are still there in the morning to call both them and the bank.

The moral of this story is that they are NOT up front about the fact that they are processing and holding funds on your card. It didn't cause us any financial hardship but it could for some people. I am hopeful that the held funds/charges will come back into my account overnight. I feel like this is a policy that should VERY clearly communicated. It was not and the manager took responsibility for that. Here's what it actually cost me: stress and time I didn't really have to give. I had to stop to make sure my account was secure.

This should have been a 5 star rating but finding random charges on my account and the time and stress that caused really...