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3.1
581 Reviews (581)
5 Stars
154
4 Stars
249
3 Stars
95
2 Stars
55
1 Stars
28
Conditions
3.0
Value
2.8
Layout
3.5
Friendliness
4.1
Pace
3.1
Amenities
3.9
47.2%
Recommend this course
443 out of 581 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
3.7
12 Reviews (12)
5 Stars
5
4 Stars
2
3 Stars
1
2 Stars
4
1 Stars
0
Conditions
3.8
Value
3.3
Layout
4.1
Pace
2.8
Amenities
4.5
StaffFriendliness
4.5
58.3%
Recommend this course
7 out of 12 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
3.2
22 Reviews (22)
5 Stars
6
4 Stars
4
3 Stars
1
2 Stars
10
1 Stars
1
Conditions
3.3
Value
2.9
Layout
3.7
Pace
2.9
Amenities
3.9
StaffFriendliness
4.0
45.5%
Recommend this course
10 out of 22 reviews
Read Reviews

About

Holes 18
Type Public/Municipal
Style Traditional
Par 72
Length 7333 yards
Slope 130
Rating 75.0

Papago Golf Course is conveniently situated just a few minutes from downtown Phoenix though you would never be able to tell with the peace and seclusion provided by the course's location in Papago Park. The golf course sits at the base of Papago Buttes, past the rugged red rocks you can see Phoenix skyline. The course was designed by William Francis Bell, whom you may know for Torrey Pines in San Diego. The challenging layout features undulating greens framed with strategically placed bunkers and subtle but tricky mounding. Water hazards appear on a few holes as well. It's a tough but straightforward layout that is still playable for a range of skill levels. Since opening in 1963, Papago has hosted numerous events including the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and Phoenix Open Qualifying.

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Papago Golf Course
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Course Details

Year Built 1963
Fairways Bermuda Grass
Greens Bermuda Grass
Golf Season Year round

Rentals/Services

Carts Yes
Clubs Yes
GPS No
Pull-carts Yes

Practice/Instruction

Driving Range Yes
Bunker Yes
Caddies No
Golf School Academy Yes
Teaching Pro Yes
Pitching/Chipping Area Yes
Putting Green Yes

Policies

Metal Spikes Allowed No
Walking Allowed Yes

Food & Beverage

Bar

Available Facilities

Clubhouse

Accolades

  • Golf Advisor: Top 25 College Courses in the U.S. (2020 #23)

Reviews

3.1
581 Reviews (581)

What Golfers Are Saying

The 19th Hole is Great For:
Drinks 19
19th Hole Scenic Views 8
Course Challenges Include:
Bunkers 73
Undulating Greens 51
Plays Long 50
This course/club is great for:
Locals 67
Advanced Golfers 57
Walkers 56
This Course's Location is:
Convenient to the City 85
Near the Airport 76
Near Local Attractions 37

Numbers based on reviews tagged with attribute.

Reviewer Photos

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Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Beginner
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Beautiful course. Had a 25 minute delay because of a mechanical problem., they had to water the course so grass and bunkers were soggy. I know… you’re not to hit in the bunkers but hey it happens to the best. But otherwise enjoyable place.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 73
Handicap 5-9
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Really?

I heard so much about this course. It was a nice course-but for the money, there are better values. Nice practice facility and club house-but a lot of brown patches on fairways and work around the greens. I hope ASU has a great golf season.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
1.0
Previously Played

Disapointing

I played this course same time last year, it was in absolute pristine conditions. Today was horrific. Greens aren't really playable, with how much ground under repair they currently have this course shouldn't even be open for public tee times. This was a course I have spoken highly in the passed bu there are no excuse for the conditions of this place. Very disappointing expierience.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 7
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played

Not as great as usual but still good

Probably the worst Papago conditions I've played in but they still weren't bad, I'm just used to this place being perfect conditions even during the summer. A little expensive if you don't have the city card, but would still recommend.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 4
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
1.0
Previously Played
Used cart

Worse shape I've ever seen

We have been playing Papago in the summer for decades. There were 6 of us that played on June 25 and we all were very disappointed. Every green was blighted with large areas of some sort of malady that created pock like areas. We had to lift and place balls so we could actually put, but some greens were so bad you couldn't find a clear spot to put. A number of greens had large areas where the turf adjacent to the greens had been scalped down a couple of inches. Other areas had been sodded, but done poorly and not watered. On top of that, they had aerated the course. When we called to make the tee time no one mentioned there was an issue. The head pro or director of golf is always visible and greeting golfers, but not this day. I'm sure he did not want to face the music.
Over the past 10 years or so the course was always in pristine condition this time of year and we asked what the change was. The gentleman in the golf shop told us the A.S.U. golf coach wanted his own guy in as course superintendent, so they let the other guy go.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Average
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 26
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great layout

Always a fantastic day playing here. Greens had been punched recently and they were doing significant work around multiple greens on the back nine, but the work has to get done at some point. Great track, especially for the money.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 29
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Aeration made putting tough although I knew they had going in. Otherwise course in good shape thought they could have charged less due to aeration

Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 1
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Excellent

Great staff great price beautiful golf course I will play again soon.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Papago gotta go

Enjoyed playing for the first time. Friendly layout that was friendly to my wife. Definitely will come back

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 11
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great golf experience.

Good test of your golf game. Fun to play. ASU golf team's home course.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 8
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 6
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
2.0
Previously Played

Great NEW clubhouse, same course, lousy service

From the start I should have known our experience was going to make for a challenging day. We were met at the bag drop and were very abruptly told that the range was closed due to a wedding. I did not receive an e-mail telling me this was going to be the case that day, there was nothing on the Tee Off.com reservation system noting this limitation, nor was any other warning provided about this closure. Then after telling the starter and his staff our tee time he advised us to check-in and he would put our bags on a cart so it was ready when we came back out. Needless to say, that did not happen and I was forced to find a cart myself and load our bags. In fact, while we saw the starter riding around the clubhouse area on his cart he never assisted us again. We went to the first tee and started ourselves. Upon starting play, it did not take long for us to realize play was going to be slow and frustrating all day. There was no effort made to speed up play. Then when on course, we soon discovered the overly restrictive and maddening set-up of their GPS system on their carts. If you wandered 6-inches offline the system shut your cart down. At one point we needed to call the clubhouse to get assistance to restart our cart and when the attendant arrived he was rude and blamed us for not knowing how to fix our cart. When we finished our five-hour plus round, we drove by the driving range and saw no evidence that a wedding was going to occur or had occurred. The new clubhouse shows that this course is an $80 - $100 per round course, but your course conditions and the service of your staff barely makes this a $30 per round course. Much improvement still needed to bring this course to the elite level your rates suggest. ASU should be embarrassed that this is now their home course.

Conditions Fair
Value Poor
Layout Good
Friendliness Poor
Pace Poor
Amenities Fair
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Playing golf

The sand traps are hard to figure out. I know I shouldn’t hit into them. The course is fair while challenging. I played it like 40 years ago. Way better than some of the private courses I’ve played. Good pro shop.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Good course

Pace of play was awful. But challenging yet fun course to play.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Fair
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 2
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 11
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
2.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Hot weather
Used cart

Overpriced With Poor Conditions

Wednesday tee time was 12:06 PM. From the first hole, the GPS system continued to remind us that we were behind the pace of play. But we had to wait on most shots. Total time to complete the round was 4 hours and 45 minutes. The greens were very firm as evidenced by the lack of ball marks. But the sand in all bunkers needs to be replaced. It was almost impossible to properly play from the greenside bunkers. It appeared that only the fairways were being maintained, since most areas to the sides of the fairways (not the desert areas) were all dried out with many bare spots. The practice green had many bare spots and left a terrible first impression. We expected a much better experience since so much effort and money had been spent to remodel the course.

Conditions Fair
Value Fair
Layout Fair
Friendliness Average
Pace Poor
Amenities Average
Difficulty Moderate
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Golf Packages

The Phoenician Golf Around Package

FROM $237 (USD)
PHOENIX/SCOTTSDALE | Enjoy 3 nights' accommodations at the Scottsdale Marriott Old Town and 3 rounds of golf at The Phoenician Golf Club, Westin Kierland Golf Club & Papago Golf Course.

Grass Clippings Golf Getaway Package

FROM $247 (USD)
PHOENIX/SCOTTSDALE | Enjoy 3 nights’ accommodations at the Scottsdale Marriott Old Town and 3 rounds of golf at Papago Golf Club, Phoenician Golf Club, and Grass Clippings Rolling Hills.

Camelback Golf Getaway Package

FROM $237 (USD)
PHOENIX/SCOTTSDALE | Enjoy 3 nights’ accommodations at The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa and 2 rounds of golf at Camelback Golf Club – Ambiente & Padre courses.

Arizona Golf Grind Package

FROM $257 (USD)
PHOENIX/SCOTTSDALE | Enjoy 3 nights' accommodations at the Courtyard by Marriott Scottsdale Old Town and 4 rounds of golf at the Phoenician Golf Club, Longbow Golf Club, Papago Golf Club, and Eagle Mountain Golf Club.

True Spec Fitting Experience Package

FROM $277 (USD)
PHOENIX/SCOTTSDALE | Enjoy 4 nights’ accommodations at Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, 2 rounds of golf at Westin Kierland Golf Club & Troon North - Monument Course, and a custom fitting session at the True Spec world headquarters.
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