Rugged, beautiful, and unique, Buffalo Ridge was the final course I played on my mini-vacation to Phoenix in December. The course is near an unassuming local park and plays close to and around some small mountains--or would it be more appropriate to call them large hills? They're either small mountains or large hills, so for the purposes of this review I guess I'll refer to them as mountains.

Buffalo Ridge hits its stride once you reach the mountains starting near hole 6. Despite not having many obstacles forcing you to hit specific lines, you still have to contend with elevation, wind, and rough landscape, with the landscape often requiring you to land your shot in a specific way to avoid rollaways.

The fun factor was through the roof from holes 6-16, which all play around mountains. Great elevation play and some really unique and spectacular views of the desert landscape; it's not often us disc golfers play near cacti!

Great teepads. From what I recall, every single one was textured concrete and in good shape.

This is probably the least consistent and most paradoxical course I've ever played. I was so discouraged after playing the first 5 holes that I almost wanted to leave; they are repetitive, boring, mostly blind holes that really serve no purpose other than to get you from the parking lot to the fun part of the course.

Navigation was substandard and unintuitive, especially for the first set of holes. Even with the benefit of Udisc, I had a good amount of trouble determining what basket I was throwing to. I can't imagine playing this course without Udisc or a guide. Signage wasn't too helpful either.

I can't recall a single shot shape I had to throw because of trees/bushes/flora. I had to throw a handful of turnover flex lines or hyzer flips, but that was entirely because the baskets were at the far end of my distance potential.

I opted to play the main 18 hole course and disregarded the alternate 27 hole layout, as I felt it would have been too confusing to try to navigate the expanded layout. I would recommend other out-of-towners do the same, but I'm just that: an ignorant out-of-towner, so take this suggestion with a grain of salt. You do you.

This could be an AMAZING course with a few tweaks to the layout and better amenities, so here are my suggestions for course changes: Completely redesign the first 5 holes to get the player to the fun part of the course as quickly as possible by removing some of them or combining a few into par 4s. Of course, infrastructure upgrades would also help, such as better signage, benches, navigational aides, trash cans, etc.

I was also disappointed to learn that another mountain wasn't part of the course. After 16, the last couple holes circle back to the opposite side of the park to the parking lot rather than playing around the final mountain. Expanding the course to include play near this other mountain would be absolutely fantastic.

This is a difficult course for me to rate because I had such a miserable time initially but ultimately had a blast. This is true desert golf and a unique experience that I recommend to most disc golfers minus those that are out of shape or just starting out. The good outweighs the bad by a significant margin, so a 3.5 for a VERY GOOD course seems to be the best fit.

- Fantastic, disc golf only course with minimal public interference other than a couple of holes and random hikers. Apparently the hikers can be a little busier at peak times, but there aren't defined trails like there are at a course like Fountain Hills, for example.

- Good (not great) signage.

- Clean course with no garbage we came across (which is a bit of a thing in Phoenix area with the flood plain disc golf courses we played).

- Good (not great) tee pads.

- Great use of the hills for elevation, some really fun shots.

- Parking and restrooms at the start.

- Some long bombs for people who really like to unload and huck it. Also, the elevated long bombs makes you feel good about your distance

- Saw some cool lizards!

- Good cart course, no issues using a cart.

- The 27 hole thing is a bit confusing. Feels like it was originally 18 and then it got converted to 27. We played it twice and only ended up playing the same 18 twice. I'm sure if you're local you can figure it out quickly, but we used UDisc and got a little confused.

- Not a lot of short/ace-runs if you like that sort of thing. Definitely not an easy course for novice/rec players.

- Not much in the way of obstacles with height. It's hard to get trees growing in these conditions, obviously, so it makes sense, but there's not much shot-shaping challenge. As a person who throws thumbers, tomahawks, flicks and backhands, I found I really didn't need much more than a backhand on this course.

- Signage is generally pretty good, but some of the pin positions/distances were confusing/questionable.

- Hard to lose discs, but holy crap does this course chew up plastic. I've never had discs cut up like I have playing this.

- Bring some water, Hole 9 doesn't loop back past the parking lot like a lot of courses.

- I was struggling whether to give this a 3.5 or 4. I feel like it's a 3.75 course so I gave it a 3.5 to bring it closer to what I feel it should be. With a few more ace runs, championship level signage/pads and a longer set of tees, this would easily be a 4. That said, we really enjoyed the course and met some really friendly/helpful locals that we really appreciated. Loved the Phoenix area generally and this was one of our favorite courses!

This course is located in a large park on the north east side of Phoenix. It butts up against and partially uses the ridge that gives the park it's name. There is good parking, a nice play area for the kids, some good sized grass areas, basketball courts, and bathrooms. a well appointed park.
The course itself plays out through the natural expanse with a variety of desert bushes and scrub trees providing quite a bit of cover. This adds an interesting degree of difficulty, as they average 4 to 8 feet tall so it is not unusual to have to elevate a drive more than you might like. Add the wind and an easy medium length hole becomes challenging.
Tees are a good consistent size allowing good run-ups and signs are on most tees. Maps of main course and extra 9 holes are well placed and help with navigation.
There are a number of places by the greens where rocks have been gathered and look like bunkers. I didn't see any signs about them, wonder if the locals use them in play somehow.
Many of the tees have different different patterns and artwork in them, often incorporating the hole number. I like this artistic touch.
The designers made pretty good use what elevation there is to make some challenging holes, including 15 which has the pin on a very narrow 8' tall ridge making the choice to lay up or go for it tough as a missed putt turns into a 30'+ uphill challenge.

While it was a pretty good use of the area, by the time I made it to F(10 holes in) and some elevation change it was feeling a little rote. I think part of that is I am used to the Pacific Northwest, most courses have trees and elevation to spare.
Holes 8-13 fall into a similar pattern, up the hill then down, could have used one or two on the flat to break the pattern.
The course is verrrry rocky, almost nothing but. I hadn't realized blizzard plastic was that soft until this course. Still usable, but probably put 6 months to a years worth of my normal wear on it in one round.
The tees are a good size but some of them are over textured, almost to the point of being a trip hazard on a couple.
My biggest complaint is the the tee signs, map, and site are all inaccurate for distance and pin positions. Because of terrain I was having a hard time judging distances and on some holes both tee signs and map are wildly off. On 12 I was throwing to pin 15 or 16 because sign showed it on that line. later found it tucked behind a bush.
This is a long course to be away from water, especially with the letter holes taking you away from the bathrooms. Carry extra!

I liked this course over all, despite some of the annoyances. It was cool to see the design constraints caused by the different environment and how the designers dealt with them.
Be aware this is an area where there could be rattlesnakes. I didn't see any and doubt they will be common in an area this well traveled but be aware.

•(only played 18 layout) Desert Mtn course that plays up and down the side of a rocky ridge, lots of short cacti and pokey trees making you need good placement.

•Pin positions were cool some raised ground baskets and some tough to putt at with the low lying trees

•Water and restrooms before hole 1 is nice

•Decent signs and fairly easy to navigate with good tee pads

•Lizards are there

• Rough terrain may mess up your plastic

• Some janky baskets

• Some repetitive shots

Could use some work but being from MN it was really fun playing a true desert course w/good elevation changes

This was my first time playing a proper desert course, and I liked it. The locals I joined warned me about the rough terrain, and how it would eat up my discs, but I didn't realize how bad it would be. After a few throws with soft plastic I switched to the harder stuff. One one long throw I was expecting a skip, but as it disappeared behind a bush I just heard a loud "thunk" as it hit a rock and stopped dead.

I was shown a "secret" alternate tee pad near the end of the lettered holes, where we had a nice view and a fun throw down to the basket.

There is ample parking. There are bathrooms and water near the beginning/ending of the course, but be sure to bring plenty of water to drink during your round. As you would expect, it gets hot.

Be sure to play the 9 lettered holes. They add elevation changes and some terrain challenges not available in the 18 numbered holes.

I played fairly early on Saturday, and the course was not crowded.

The lack of trees made most holes friendly to whatever shape you wanted to throw. I prefer a couple of clear lines, with varying risk and reward for each, but that's not really possible here. It's no fault of the course designer, who did a nice job with what was available.

I played in May, and by the middle of my 27-hole round it was pretty hot for this California kid. Play early unless you like the heat.

Use of the hill side is good. You warm up with some flat ground shots before hitting a number of holes where you throw up and down the hill.

The difficulty for this course comes about in misplaced shots and where your lie might be. Some of the bush and plant life is thick and prickly. So if you end up underneath or behind one your next shot will be tough.

You won't throw rollers here but you will need a good straight shot, hyzer, FH, and OH.

The baskets that are on elevated mounds make for some enjoyable holes. And there are a few decent ace runs.

Is it fair to say the lack of shade? Probably not as that is just the nature of the environment and not the fault of the course.
Again, not really any particularly tight fairways to hit. Some of the holes back up the hill are pretty much just open throws with the only difficulty being whether or not you have the distance.

The Course Map that you can download from this site is useful and helpful for navigation around the course.
It is quite rocky so you will want to use premium plastic. My star/GL discs held up quite well but I did put a couple of slices in a champ disc.

: I had the opportunity to play this course during a recent business trip to Phoenix. On Hole 1, I ran into a great group of guys who asked me to join them. The fact that I had so much fun playing with them really colors this review.

Amenities-- bathrooms on site, very active park with joggers, bikers etc, easy to find the park

Scenery-- being from the East, it was really cool to be in the Desert. I have been to Phoenix a few times and this is the first time that my feet have touched a non man made surface. The weather was perfect (72 degrees), so the walking was really easy both up and down the hill. I didn't bring any water.

Overall Course-- great location within the park. You are close to everything but minimal interference with hikers, bikers, etc. We had to wait a minute one time for a jogger to pass through. The course is wide open so it is next to impossible to lose a disc. You will get the opportunity to watch your disc fly here.

Holes 1-5-- Course starts off flat with some nice, straight forward holes. The designers tried to break up the holes with a few tricks (placing a basket behind an electric generator or a scrub bush). They did have the ability to move the basket to multiple locations on a few of the holes.

Holes 6-14-- The real challenge on these holes is playing up and down the mountain. You can really lose control of a downhill shot here and end up 200" off course especially if the wind is blowing (can still recover, see below). Again, the course designers tried to add some uniqueness with elevated baskets, etc.

Holes 15-18-- Similar to holes 1-5. They are flat straight ahead holes. Good way to finish a round after navigating the mountain.

Tee pads-- great cement tee pads on each hole

Aces: Plenty of opportunity to hit an ace on this course. This is definitely a "go for it" course.

Navigation: No idea--followed the guy in front of me. If you are solo, make sure you print out a map.

There isn't really any risk/ reward, especially if you have a big arm. Two hundred feet off the course? No problem, park one at the basket. The guys I played with consistently scored par on holes where their driver would have been lost back East. At the very least, it would have taken 2 shots to get back on the course. In addition, the holes can feel repetitive with only the elevation changing.

I chalk this up to the novelty of the course. Wind and elevation are your foe, not foliage.

The group I played with said they were putting in another 9 holes. I am anxious to see them. I rated the course a 3.5. I would have given it a 3.0 if I hadn't run into the group. They added at least a .5.

If you are in Phoenix and from the East Coast, definitely give this course a shot. It is a lot of fun.

-Cement tee pads (each hole a a different design)
-Baskets, Mach II's
-Good signage
-Great workout
-Multiple pin placements on most holes
-A variety of long and short holes
-Quick play (if your by yourself)

-Could be real hot during the summer
-Need good shoes this course is rough
-Some baskets had funky inner chains
-Lots of broken glass on the lower holes
-Hole three needs some signs to the tee pad

Hole 14 is the gem of this course. I would play this course if you are in the area.

Good tee signs, nice mid length course, fun to play with the elevation and the wind around the hill. Elevated baskets are nice challenge, esp w wind. "fairways" are delineated to the extent that you do not have to trample the terrain to move through the landscape. Very little trash here. park is clean. While a few amenities here might be nice, trash cans, benches, posts for disc bag hooks I can easily see the reason NOT to do any of those things to alter the landscape and natural setting. maybe it is just best left as is. Yellow streamers on baskets make finding baskets easiet. Play a few times and you know where to look anyway.

No good signage to indicate location of 1st tee. hard to see baskets on many holes... they blend in to this environ... Some baskets have ribbons on them, flags would be nice... but I can see where some would feel this is a eyesore to the landscape. The mountainside can get a bit windy. Not a con as much as a natural element to be factored in.

This is my first time playing here in PHX. I enjoyed it very much. Terrain eats discs pretty bad. Baskets are hard to see in this environment. I am used to the forested courses in the mid west. nice use of elevation... we have little elevation in IL ... Fun to toss downhill... makes my arm feel bigger . Hard to lose a disc which is nice. A bit of experience and disc golf instinct and you will find your way through the course pretty easily... by mid round it was much easier to spot baskets and next tee pads. back to play again. Old review still holds up. Evidence since last visit of a lot of hard work to improve this course. Lots of rocks moved, piled stacked, etc to clean up and more formalize the course. I felt oddly obligated to participate. On each hole I moved a rock or two to contribute to the "building" of the course. Hole comments... 14 is a sig hole with elevated tee and basket. Fun to shoot over the gully like that. 8 is a serious downhill bomb that was a ton of fun. Wind was light so accuracy was quite high today and quite forgiving. 4 is a nice short hidden basket. Shaded tee pad and tree gateway on 2 was fun. Obstruction on 3 is kind of silly. 12 was another down-hiller that is just a bomb!

Easy to find. Water fountains at entarnce. Easy to navigate. No where to lose your disc if you pay attention. Good baskets, great locals, not too busy good elevation, and distance.

The rocks will tear up your discs a bit if you have the wrong plastic. Anyone reading this knows its hot in AZ. There is NO shade on this course. But a hat and water solves that problem.

The course is off the charts on fun factor. Good scenery. I will come back to Buffalo any chance i get and I'm from out of state.

This is a real desert course. Lots of scrub and Mesquite trees that obscure the baskets and your driving line. Great elevation changes. Scenary from the holes on top of the ridge are fantastic. Locals are very helpful and eager for you to join their group. Restrooms and water at the parking lot.

HOT HOT HOT! This is a true desert course. You'd better be ready to hike and bring plenty of water. Cactus, prickly trees, sometimes snakes. This course is rock and dirt if you're throwing DX plastic it will probably be the last time you use that disc again. A little tough to follow the first time through as the low trees can obscure the next tee pad.

I used to live 5 miles from this course and played it often. One of my favorite courses. The club has done a great job on some improvements with the tee pads.

Great use of a desert landscape
Good use of elevation
Well laid out, considering the lanscape available
Unique challenges due to vegetation and topography
Though the terrain is limited, not a lot of redundancy in layout

Of course, certain times of the year can have brutal heat (not the courses fault)
Discs take a beating on rocks
Occassionally hard to spot a disc in the brush..**"I know it landed somewhere near here"

This course is a blast to play.
The thing I like most about it is the desert terrain--it's so different than 97% of the courses I've played.
It's amazing how varied this course feels with the limited terrain options...whoever designed it did a great job...I love the hole (maybe 14) where you tee off on the side of the one hill and the basket is across a small "valley" and on top on a little hill--a great challenge...I have only birdied that hole once

Unique desert terrain makes this a good Arizona destination course. Lots of short scrub and cactus, dry wash gullies, rocks and elevation. Challenging, especially the back nine with some frustrating basket positions and cross breezes.

Terrain can really beat up your discs badly in no time at all. Bring plenty of water, and try to avoid the hottest part of the day. Good sturdy shoes and socks recommended. Bring a map if possible, because navigation is a little tricky at times.