Redlands Mesa Golf Course

AMAZING!!! This course is the most fun I've had playing. It challenging (but not frustrating)and exciting and views are breathtaking. Cart path feels like an amusement park ride. It was a fantastic course. Staff was super friendly. All around one of the best golfing days.

3.5 stars. There are golf courses that quietly introduce themselves, and then there is Redlands Mesa, where architect Jim Engh seems to have looked at a pile of cliffs, canyons, and impossible terrain and declared, “Perfect. Build it right there.” This is the third of Engh’s courses I’ve played, and the man has a habit of turning ordinary rounds into theatrical productions. Every hole feels like it was sketched during a caffeine-fueled argument with gravity itself. The routing is outstanding, the greens rolled fast and true all day, and most of the tee boxes were in very good condition. Even with homes bordering nearly every hole, the sweeping views across the mesas and the Colorado landscape still manage to steal the show. But somewhere along the journey, the maintenance crew appears to have wandered into the desert chasing a mirage. The fairways looked rough around the edges, although they generally played far better than they appeared. The cart paths have reached that distinguished age where every crack and bump becomes a chiropractic event, and the golf carts faithfully transmit every jolt directly into your lower back. Then there are a couple of bunker revisions that look as though someone yelled, “We’ll finish these next week,” several seasons ago before disappearing into the sunset. That’s what makes the experience so wonderfully frustrating. Redlands Mesa has the bones of a spectacular golf course because Jim Engh’s design is fearless, creative, and endlessly entertaining. It just doesn’t currently have the conditioning to support a green fee hovering around $100 more than it ought to be. You’re paying championship prices for a course that occasionally looks like it’s fighting through a long winter hangover. I’d absolutely come back because the architecture alone is worth the trip. The layout is too much fun to ignore, and those dramatic vistas linger in your memory long after the scorecard has been crumpled into the cup holder. But if Redlands Mesa ever matches its conditioning to the brilliance of Engh’s design, the place won’t just be memorable—it’ll be one of the best golf experiences in the Rockies. Until then, it’s a glorious, beautiful, slightly unhinged masterpiece that desperately needs someone to finish the last chapter.

The golf course itself is an awesome course, and was in great shape. The operations side leaves a lot to be desired for a course that is so highly praised, and has a high price tag. Restaurant doesn’t open until 10am-11am on the weekend, so plan on grabbing something prior to heading to the course if you want breakfast. $190 greens fee doesn’t include range balls. Pace of play is incredibly slow. They somehow let out a group of 5 people in front of us on a Saturday morning, only to tell them on hole 2 or 3, that they had to split into 2 separate groups, which turned into us waiting on an additional unscheduled group in front of us. There was no Marshall to be found the entire round, on a Saturday, to help keep things moving. We notified the clubhouse, and they said they would address it, but we never saw anyone come out and speak to them. On the back 9, the group of 5 somehow turned into a group of 6, more waiting and no one managing the course. Incredibly frustrating as we planned a golf trip to GJ around this course. The saving grace was the actual course itself, which is a ton of fun. Could have been a fluke day, but the whole day screamed complacency of the front office, and general lack of oversight of the day to day operations.

Pros: Views Pro style greens They found my wallet Cons: Dandelions in the rough Sand traps need renovation No free range balls (it’s a $180 round) and no dispenser at the range $60 club rental for Strata set we paid $10 at Adobe Creek the previous day Fun destination round, 4 other courses within an hour that I’d come play again though for half the price

For $200 you get decent views and many elevated tee shots and that’s about it. Memorial Day weekend and there wasn’t a bev cart out. 5 hour round and didn’t see a marshall the entire day. Didn’t help that they had multiple diabolical pin placements. Course conditions weren’t poor but not on the top end either with multiple bunkers marked as ground under repair and at least 5 tee boxes that you couldn’t find a flat part to hit off of. It’s a cool course so long as you go in with the right mindset but for the price you should be getting a much better experience. I would suggest driving an hour further down the road and play Lakota where you get all the same tee shots, better views and a course that actually prides itself in giving the golfer a good experience.