Picked up a REALLY inexpensive round with my lady at Sunol (Palms) this AM. Tee off was EARLIER than our scheduled time and pace was very good. Had a couple very good players behind us, so we let th... Continue »

Picked up a REALLY inexpensive round with my lady at Sunol (Palms) this AM. Tee off was EARLIER than our scheduled time and pace was very good. Had a couple very good players behind us, so we let them through. Eventually we also caught up to a threesome ahead of us at the 9th. Back nine was also quick but did slow down as the we also caught up to the pack after a stop for refueling. Still played in under 4 hours.

Course is pretty worn for the winter. Traps get the best rating as the sand was a great texture, good depth, just the right firmness, perfect...

Greens were the next best. Pretty true rolls with just a hint of bumps. Given that most night are at or below freezing, they were very good for the time of the year.

Tee boxes also were well maintained. They are doing a lot of cosmetic work on the boxes (re-seeding, etc.), so they will be even better in the spring.

Fairways were cut TIGHT. Along with some firm ground the hits from the middle of the fairway had to be hit on the screws as there was no forgiveness there.

Hitting from the rough was much easier as most of the rough was only about one or 1.5 inches deep.

No soggy spots, so that was really good. The pants stayed CLEAN!

The Palms course is pretty much wide open. Only a few narrow holes and even when you hit wide, most of the time you are on another fairway. There are a few spots where you have forced carries, and several holes have blind shots either to the hole or off the tee. Tough to track a ball in those cases.

What I DID NOT LIKE is that there are no, zip, nada yardage markers other than thin painted lines on the cart paths. You simply get no info to make good club selection. I know I left at least a half dozen shots out there due to this alone. Yes they have sprinkler heads, but I didn't see any of them as being marked.

Finally, this place gets windy. There was a slight breeze just five miles away, but at the course it was a full three-club headwind in places (hit a 3 full wood into the wind on a 175y par 3). Also, the pins were moved rather 'interestingly'. The whites were beyond the blue markers on a few holes and nearly at the red markers on others. I do think this was done in response to the wind.