Furnace Creek Golf Course: More of a novelty to play at the lowest course, but still a nice track.
Played on March 28, 2016; reviewed on May 9. 2016 See this review on TripAdvisor.
Death Valley National Park, California
Playing the Furnace Creek Golf Course was not on the “must do” list during our first visit to Death Valley, but I figured if the opportunity presented itself that I would take advantage. I even did a little scouting early in our visit when I walked over to the pro shop to get info on cost and tee times. Good thing as I got several good pieces of information. First of all, play is very light, so no tee-times needed (I’m not sure if they even take tee-times). Cost for green fees and rental clubs was in the $80 dollar range, but the green fees drop by half in the afternoon. I also found out that the greens were in awful shape, which is a bummer but at least they told be ahead of time. BTW, I already figured that play was light on the course as we had a room at the Ranch that overlooked the course and while sitting out on our balcony one afternoon I only spotted two groups play through over the course of over an hour.
So my opportunity came around on the last day of our visit, a Monday morning in late March. Lynn decided that she wanted to take a morning horseback ride so I opted to hit the links. As we were staying at the Ranch at Furnace creek, it was just a short walk from our room to the pro shop. I got there just a little after 6:30 AM and I was the only golfer at the clubhouse. The gentleman at the clubhouse was friendly and helpful and I soon had all the equipment that I would need for the morning (I had brought nothing golf related on the trip other than a polo short; shoot, I wear my hiking shoes for the round). Total cost was $90 to walk 18 with a handcart, rental clubs, two sleeves of cheap Pinnacles (I like to have a lot of ammo) and tees. This was an odd set of rental clubs with only 10 weapons in the bag. Driver, 3, 4, 5 woods then SW, PW, 9, 8 and 7 irons plus a putter. A long iron would have been nice to have. The 4W and 5W were a bit clunky. But I’m just out for some exercise and a little fun. By 6:45 I was taking a practice swing on the first tee. I did not see another golfer until I was nearly done with the round, so I had the course basically to myself for the morning, well except for the ground crew guys who were out keeping the course in as good a shape as possible. So I was able to motor around the course in about 2.5 hours, including taking time to enjoy the views, checkout the wildlife and replay a couple shots.
The course is flat and easy to walk (I tracked the route that I walked and came up with 4.9 miles). While there is no significant elevation change, there is a little roll to the land here and there. Most of the holes are tree lined but the fairways are generally wide. There were only a couple of narrow driving holes. The layout is not boring but it is not a real standout either. But there some interesting holes; a dogleg here and there, a few shorter par 4s to challenge the long hitters to go for the green and the par 3s were all fun to play. As far as condition, the tees and fairways were in very good shape; the course was very green and lush which is quite the contrast with the surroundings here in Death Valley. However, as I had been warned, the greens were a mess and varied wildly in condition and speed. There were a couple that were smooth and rolled very nice, but most were just pitiful with lots of bare areas and very bumpy (the greens are the reason for the overall “average” rating; if the greens were in better shape I would rate the complete experience as “very good.”. So other than the poor state of the greens, the course is actually very nice and has an interesting layout. Not a lot of trouble on the course, although there are a couple of water hazards and one or two tight tee shots but otherwise the course is fairly open.
There are a few nice bonuses to playing golf here as well. First is the scenery as there nice views of the Panamint Mountains off to the west. There were also some interesting wildlife sightings on the course. I was warned that I might see coyote, but no such luck, but I did see some waterfowl on the water hazards. Plus there is the guarantee of shooting of shooting a low round; 214 feet below sea level is pretty darn low!
Played on March 28, 2016; reviewed on May 9. 2016 See this review on TripAdvisor.
Death Valley National Park, California
Playing the Furnace Creek Golf Course was not on the “must do” list during our first visit to Death Valley, but I figured if the opportunity presented itself that I would take advantage. I even did a little scouting early in our visit when I walked over to the pro shop to get info on cost and tee times. Good thing as I got several good pieces of information. First of all, play is very light, so no tee-times needed (I’m not sure if they even take tee-times). Cost for green fees and rental clubs was in the $80 dollar range, but the green fees drop by half in the afternoon. I also found out that the greens were in awful shape, which is a bummer but at least they told be ahead of time. BTW, I already figured that play was light on the course as we had a room at the Ranch that overlooked the course and while sitting out on our balcony one afternoon I only spotted two groups play through over the course of over an hour.
So my opportunity came around on the last day of our visit, a Monday morning in late March. Lynn decided that she wanted to take a morning horseback ride so I opted to hit the links. As we were staying at the Ranch at Furnace creek, it was just a short walk from our room to the pro shop. I got there just a little after 6:30 AM and I was the only golfer at the clubhouse. The gentleman at the clubhouse was friendly and helpful and I soon had all the equipment that I would need for the morning (I had brought nothing golf related on the trip other than a polo short; shoot, I wear my hiking shoes for the round). Total cost was $90 to walk 18 with a handcart, rental clubs, two sleeves of cheap Pinnacles (I like to have a lot of ammo) and tees. This was an odd set of rental clubs with only 10 weapons in the bag. Driver, 3, 4, 5 woods then SW, PW, 9, 8 and 7 irons plus a putter. A long iron would have been nice to have. The 4W and 5W were a bit clunky. But I’m just out for some exercise and a little fun. By 6:45 I was taking a practice swing on the first tee. I did not see another golfer until I was nearly done with the round, so I had the course basically to myself for the morning, well except for the ground crew guys who were out keeping the course in as good a shape as possible. So I was able to motor around the course in about 2.5 hours, including taking time to enjoy the views, checkout the wildlife and replay a couple shots.
The course is flat and easy to walk (I tracked the route that I walked and came up with 4.9 miles). While there is no significant elevation change, there is a little roll to the land here and there. Most of the holes are tree lined but the fairways are generally wide. There were only a couple of narrow driving holes. The layout is not boring but it is not a real standout either. But there some interesting holes; a dogleg here and there, a few shorter par 4s to challenge the long hitters to go for the green and the par 3s were all fun to play. As far as condition, the tees and fairways were in very good shape; the course was very green and lush which is quite the contrast with the surroundings here in Death Valley. However, as I had been warned, the greens were a mess and varied wildly in condition and speed. There were a couple that were smooth and rolled very nice, but most were just pitiful with lots of bare areas and very bumpy (the greens are the reason for the overall “average” rating; if the greens were in better shape I would rate the complete experience as “very good.”. So other than the poor state of the greens, the course is actually very nice and has an interesting layout. Not a lot of trouble on the course, although there are a couple of water hazards and one or two tight tee shots but otherwise the course is fairly open.
There are a few nice bonuses to playing golf here as well. First is the scenery as there nice views of the Panamint Mountains off to the west. There were also some interesting wildlife sightings on the course. I was warned that I might see coyote, but no such luck, but I did see some waterfowl on the water hazards. Plus there is the guarantee of shooting of shooting a low round; 214 feet below sea level is pretty darn low!