Camelback Golf Club — Local services in Paradise Valley

Disappointing. Here are the details: We are staying at the Marriott Camelback Resort. I definitely want to play golf but don't have my clubs. In the room, there's a card that says we have "complimentary range balls. Also, club rental is waived." So, I'm thinking it doesn't say explicitly what those clubs are for...playing the course or hitting range balls. It's left up in the air; could read it either way. The best I can say is it's unintentionally vague; the worst that it's purposely misleading. Sure enough, when I book my tee time (2:40) and arrive early to hit balls, I'm told the complimentary use of clubs is for the range only. No worries. I figured as much. So I pay the $40 rental. Oh, can I play the Padre course? Less expensive, probably less challenging? Oh, Padre is closed. Have to play the more expensive one. No problem. Can I walk? "Oh, no. Not really." No worries. I'll just take grab the cart and go hit some balls on the range. "Range closes at 2 p.m. Sorry." Well, I've got the cart and my clubs, so I'll hit a few putts. (At this point, I'm amazed that hitting a dozen practice putts doesn't get derailed.) Onto the first few holes. Hmmm. The GPS seems to be giving me pin positions that are contrary to what my eye sees. GPS says pin is back; my eye can plainly see pin is up. So, I'm pretty much over clubbing or under clubbing at holes 1 through 4 before I totally abandon the thing. Oh, one other thing: cart path only (CPO) makes playing infuriatingly long and slow: hit the ball down the fairway, drive, park, walk 40 yards to ball; hit it, walk 40 yards to cart. Fairway didn't feel wet. Oh, well. What really has me thinking this place just isn't up to snuff was the lack of sand in the bunkers. Wow. Like an underloved, under-funded muni. Four or five times I bounced the sand wedge on the thin layer of loose sand in the bunkers. Had I been playing my own clubs, I know how to turn the wedge to rectify this and take very little sand. Alas, I was using their clubs, the ones I was paying for, despite seeing the nice little card in my room that said, vaguely enough, "complimentary club use." Maybe they were right...should have just stuck to the range...if it hadn't closed...

Before giving a bad or angry review, I like to give myself a few days to calm down and reflect. In this case, 0/5 is necessary. The front 9 was lovely. We stopped to eat lunch and let groups pass. When we started playing again, the marshall came by and aggressively told us to increase pace. Obviously we were behind as we let groups pass. There was not people waiting behind us. The marshall comes back again less than 10 minutes later. He's driving down the fairway full speed while we are trying to play. He tells us if we don't pick up the balls and skip two holes that he will kick us off the course. We tried explaining numerous times that we are behind pace because we let groups pass and that there wasn't people behind waiting anyways. He couldn't figure it out and made us skip holes. Needless to say, the group was pretty choked about this situation. After we finished playing, we went to management and explained what happened. He said that what happened isn't part of their policy and that the marshall made a mistake. But all he offered was a poor excuse of an apology. We paid $400 US each for a round of golf and we were harassed and forced to skip holes. I've never experienced anything like this before. And management admitted that it was a mistake but did nothing about it. I've been a manager of a pharmacy for several years, and when a staff member does something wrong you need to make it right to the customer. It did not...

Played Ambiente on Jan 26, 2024 with high expectations. We paid the $200+ greens fees and were never told that the course was in terrible condition, almost unplayable. I recommended this course to some friends coming in from out of town and I was actually embarrassed by the condition of the course. Greens had weird grass or weeds growing sporadically on 16 of 18 greens. I'm disappointed I didn't take pictures of that mess. The fairways required us to drop the ball to a patch of grass that we could hit from. Green fringes and aprons were all beat up and some were just cut outs of dirt. I went into the pro shop after the round to voice my disappointment and got a real snotty response asking me "really?" C'mon, don't play dumb with me. I thought maybe I would get some consideration for the poor condition of the course. NOTHING. Sent an email to the director of instruction (could not find the GM's contact info) with zero response. Will never step foot on that property again, will not give them the satisfaction. Lesson learned, look at the reviews before giving them any money. Terrible experience for a Camelback property, very disappointed and surprised. If the course is in that bad condition, tell the players, give them the option, don't just take the cash and "run."...