Out for my Friday day of walking and playing golf. Great cool morning. The weather patterns here in the area are strange. 62 F at 6:30 tee time and it stayed cool all round.

Course still in good shape.

Good tee boxes, fairways, rough, traps and greens.

The greens here are smaller than most courses I play up here and it helps in the ball striking to ... » More

Out for my Friday day of walking and playing golf. Great cool morning. The weather patterns here in the area are strange. 62 F at 6:30 tee time and it stayed cool all round.

Course still in good shape.

Good tee boxes, fairways, rough, traps and greens.

The greens here are smaller than most courses I play up here and it helps in the ball striking to play to such greens IMO.

As I have said the course is short but many trees, OB and water comes into play to ruin a round. And fairways are very narrow.

But for $18 I will keep coming back as long as I can.
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I went out a little after noon with a buddy 8/13. It's been a long time since I've been here or this place has had review so I figured it was overdue. A little while back I tweaked my shoulder on the range at Scholl Canyon with what I believe is a rotator cuff injury. Playing was aggravating it so I laid off golf to rest/rehab on my own. Other than a little chipping, Arroyo Sec... » More

I went out a little after noon with a buddy 8/13. It's been a long time since I've been here or this place has had review so I figured it was overdue. A little while back I tweaked my shoulder on the range at Scholl Canyon with what I believe is a rotator cuff injury. Playing was aggravating it so I laid off golf to rest/rehab on my own. Other than a little chipping, Arroyo Seco was my first step easing back into playing and testing a full swing, albeit with short irons. The arroyo is a nice setting for a par-3 outing and this place has been here for a good while. Mats for tees, small greens, no bunkers, well grown in as to grass quality, plenty of trees and a stream running through it. Holes average mostly @90 yards with a few in the 120 range and the single longest @145. Most of the greens were in decent shape for the use they get with at least one exception that had some hard/bare patches. They were soft and took deep pitch marks but ran at a deceptively quicker pace. Fairways and surrounds were mostly good for short game with some scruffy exceptions.

There is a miniature golf section, putting/chipping area and regular driving range. The range mats tend to be off from level but the best/flat matts are at the far right end of the range. The restaurant/bar has been closed for a while and water/beer, balls, etc. can be purchased at the starter window.

It worked out perfectly for me as an appropriate and low stress change of pace. I was happy with my ball striking, I didn't have any serious discomfort and, the day after, healing continues. I don't seem to have worsened anything. All positive and I'll be trying a real 18 middle next week.
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Played Wednesday, August 12, around 7:30 am, walking from the white tees with grandson #4 and a nice twosome who were riding. Pace of play was nice at 3:50. No drink cart on the course or other amenities but the grandson sprinted to the coffeeshop while we were on the 10th tee, so no problem.

The course was in pretty good shape. There were some burned out spots in both... » More

Played Wednesday, August 12, around 7:30 am, walking from the white tees with grandson #4 and a nice twosome who were riding. Pace of play was nice at 3:50. No drink cart on the course or other amenities but the grandson sprinted to the coffeeshop while we were on the 10th tee, so no problem.

The course was in pretty good shape. There were some burned out spots in both the fairway and rough but overall it was lush enough that it was a good walk out there. The sand was nice. The greens are usually the highlight for this course but they were just okay. There were fungus spots on most of them and they were running slower than usual and slower then they looked. They rolled fine, they just were not fast.

I always enjoy Big Rec and yesterday was no exception. It is not perfect but it is a fun golf course.
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Played today on a cool and windy morning. 22 MPH with gusts to 25 and sometimes felt like 30.

The course sits E of the AFB in farming, cattle raising and walnut orchards. And very close the Sacramento River San Joaguin River Delta where the winds come from. Great at night after a warm day but not so great when playing golf.

The course is in good shape but has... » More

Played today on a cool and windy morning. 22 MPH with gusts to 25 and sometimes felt like 30.

The course sits E of the AFB in farming, cattle raising and walnut orchards. And very close the Sacramento River San Joaguin River Delta where the winds come from. Great at night after a warm day but not so great when playing golf.

The course is in good shape but has dried out over the summer months and some fairways have dried out areas.

Tee boxes were all fine.

Fairways had good to decent coverage but great rollout down wind and even into the wind. Good lies as well.

Traps were just OK but playable. I was only in one and thankful for that.

Rough is short and easy to play out of.

Greens were in good shape. They chipped/putted just fine but with the wind you had to consider which direction it was coming from when you putted to get the right speed.

POP was right on 3.5 H and the cost for veterans is $21 to walk and $35 to ride. Acceptable. Course is easy to walk but not on days like this.

Great customer service in the shop and great food and prices in the cafe.

Recommended.
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Played this course a few times thirty-five years ago when it was called Willow Park. Never thought much of it and it never made our local rotation. Fast forward: it is now called Redwood Canyon and all I remembered of it was the driving range where you hit balls into a giant pond/lake.

Since it played like a new course and I had low expectations I was very impressed. I r... » More

Played this course a few times thirty-five years ago when it was called Willow Park. Never thought much of it and it never made our local rotation. Fast forward: it is now called Redwood Canyon and all I remembered of it was the driving range where you hit balls into a giant pond/lake.

Since it played like a new course and I had low expectations I was very impressed. I remember it being short, mickey mouse and always mushy. It seems it's a little shorter now as it tops out at just under 6,000 from the tips. Many of the holes seem like their own entity in a nice, secluded canyon setting. Very scenic.

$30 to walk after 3PM, (think it drops to $20 after 4) not sure how much for a cart. Very reasonable and a pretty easy walk, tee boxes mostly close to the greens. Biggest transfer was crossing the big parking lot between 9 and 10. Fairways had some spots and different kinds of grasses, but I didn't encounter any bad lies. The greens were smooth and of medium speed. Bunkers looked crunchy but reasonable full of brown sand. Saw lots of unraked footprints as I walked by them and had to fix a million ball marks but that was pretty much it for bad stuff. We waited on every shot but finished in well under four hours. Not a hard course but not a pushover. Lots of tree trouble, and a creek meanders thru the course and slightly wayward shots will bounce into it.

I only played it because I was getting my car worked on a half hour away and I seemed to have lost my old scorecard if I ever had one. So, either they fixed it up, I have a terrible memory, or trees and canyons really fill out over 35 years (or all of the above) I left pleasantly surprised and would recommend checking it out if you had the same previous views that I had.

The shop guys were all helpful and as a big bonus I think it may run 15 or 20 degrees cooler in the summer than some of its more inland neighborhoods.
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