Played Panther Lake on Tuesday PM 5/17. I'll spare you my gushing, perhaps minor hyperbolic review of the facilities and value of the course, see my Crooked Cat review for that! I will say the custome... Continue »

Played Panther Lake on Tuesday PM 5/17. I'll spare you my gushing, perhaps minor hyperbolic review of the facilities and value of the course, see my Crooked Cat review for that! I will say the customer service at OC National is always top notch. We played as a 3some in the afternoon and were scheduled for a 2:30 replay. After our morning round we had lunch and during lunch Nick from the pro shop found me and said there's a chance of bad weather and if we are able to tee off at 1:45, we can get in front of 2 foursomes and have a better chance of finishing the round, rain free. That was awesome recognition by Nick and it turned out perfect. The rain started coming down as we were putting on 18, and escaped nearly unscathed.

Panther Lake is not extraordinarily different than Crooked Cat. The scorecard shows it to be a tad shorter, but it'll play longer. Most of the par 4's are longish and require you to move the ball in different directions, but nearly all the par 5's have a risk/reward element and all can be reached in 2 shots (if you're brave enough). Great collection of par 3's here that will require you to hit 4 different shots with 4 different irons. For example, #4 demands a right-left ball flight with a mid iron, #8 should be played with a left-right, #11 is a 200+ beast over a hazard, and #17 is a wedge to a large green with 3 distinct tiers. Just really good variety.

Definitely recommend both Orange County courses, I don't think I have a favorite although I played better at Crooked Cat, so.... :). Both courses are challenging but fair. A decent ball striker won't lose many balls here, but at the same time there's plenty of trouble. Can't wait to get back here next year.