Played Blacklake this morning. I had a Groupgolfer voucher to use up before the end of this month, so I made a little mini trip of it, as you can tell. The deal was awesome...$39 for unlimited play (a... Continue »

Played Blacklake this morning. I had a Groupgolfer voucher to use up before the end of this month, so I made a little mini trip of it, as you can tell. The deal was awesome...$39 for unlimited play (any day/time) and also included free food (one menu item and a drink). Good excuse to finally check this course out, especially since I at least wanted to sample all 27 holes here.

I got there around 6:00am and there were a few golfers milling around. The pro shop didn't open up until closer to 6:30 and then they started letting people out immediately. I went out first by myself on the Canyon nine and then played Oaks right after that. Didn't run into a soul on either nine, so I zipped right through. I enjoyed both of these nines. Much more secluded and "natural" than expected, though there are plenty of houses surrounding most of the holes. The conditions were pretty good. The greens were nice and consistent. They were soggy in the morning, so that helped on approaches. The fairways were decent. The rough was hit and miss with a lot of bare patches and little dirt piles. A lot of oak trees and eucalyptus trees create a nice Central Coast vibe.

Then I got to the Lakes nine. This side was packed, so I joined up with a twosome. The pace was still OK (probably about 2 hours). This nine was mostly in awful shape. The greens were OK (though much firmer after drying out), but the fairways looked and played like garbage. Very thin and mostly dead with a lot of bare hardpan areas. The rough wasn't anything too spectacular either. The 9th hole fairway was actually in pretty good shape, though (more like the other nines), so it at least finished on a decent note. The Lakes nine was also the least interesting layout of the three, if you ask me.

I ended up playing the Canyon nine again, to make it a nice even 36 holes. I was finished with all 36 by 12:45, so that was pretty awesome and I could have played a lot more if I wanted to.

The guys I was playing with said that the owner is purposely putting more time and money into Avila Beach right now than Blacklake (same ownership) and the addition of Monarch Dunes/Cypress Ridge has definitely hurt Blacklake, so it's been falling into a state of disarray the past few years. I'd love to see it restored to excellent shape someday because I thought the layout was enjoyable (especially on the Canyon and Oaks nines). It seems they do have a lot of great unlimited play deals going on here, so it can definitely be a great value compared to the nearby tracks if you are just looking to get out and play while in the area.

Blacklake Golf Resort Review
Central California Golf Course Reviews