I’ve had the privilege to play DFGC a number of times over the years, and just once after their recent renovations. DFGC is one of my all-time favorite places to play golf. It’s a great golf course perfectly tied to its environment with a welcoming membership and low-key, unstuffy ambiance. It’s my sense that it’s a golfer’s club for people who appreciate the game.
Like I said, I only played the course once since the renovation work, and that was in February slightly after the course fully opened for play. The recent work, in my opinion, introduced some positive changes (i.e. the new short par 4 #14, clearing out/pushing back some of the desert from the playing corridors, removing trees that reintroduced playing angles, etc.). At the same time, some of the low-key charm like the oval/round shaped bunkers, were replaced by more of a minimalist frilly-edged styling. It works in a lot of places where it ties in nicely with the desert, but seems out-of-character in a few. In addition, there are a few notable changes (i.e. the bunker front right on #6, the new 8th green complex, and most notably the not-so-subtle internal mounds and swales put in many of the greens) that seem really out place with what was on the ground prior to the reno.
Like others have said, DFGC is different from many of the other high-profile golf courses, in that the course flows with the desert, instead of fighting it. To me, it feels as if it drapes over the land, and its ripples and mounds and folds and bumps, like Prairie Dunes or Crystal Downs does. It’s certainly been my favorite course in Arizona.
If you can play or see it, it’s worth it... especially if you’re able to compare it to a place like Whisper Rock, or Desert Mountain, or Troon North. Enjoy.