I was disappointed that the greens were already top dressed.

Played Coronado this week during twilight times. Still the best deal in town.
It is amazing how good the conditions are at Coronado. Especially, given the amount of play. I played with a Superintendent from a high end East Coast country club, and he said the the greens are as good as his greens get at their best. They are fast and true. And the fairways are very lush for this time of year.

They are in the process working on many of the bunkers and are filling many of them with new sand. I do wish that they would prepare the bunkers better by building up the base. Right now, it's just heavy deep sand filled to the brim. The superintendent who I played with said that bunker maintenance is one of his most expensive costs, second only to greens. I expect that the rains should help pack them down a little.

Coronado continues to impress me as the kind of course you never get tired of and can play on a regular basis.

Played Torrey North today, a few days after the Farmers. We did avoid the rain but it was really cold and windy.

The course was fantastic! The tees, fairways and greens were still in tournament shape and only the bunkers suffered a little from the rain. We had a few "fried egg" lies. The rough is still pretty long and thick, so missed fairways were costly and the green-side chips were very tough. I need to learn that shot.

As a result, our scores were a little higher than we would have liked. I highly recommend playing Torrey while it's still in PGA shape.

This course continues to confound me. I remember playing it when I really enjoyed it. But not this week.

It's in a beautiful area with a few very nice holes. But many are just impossible due to conditions and narrow fairway designs. Especially from the blue tees.

The fairways were thin and brown, the greens were fast but bumpy. We all missed many short putts that contributed to three putts. The bunkers were mostly dirt.

The course was definitely suffering from winter conditions and financial issues.

And since players were constantly looking for lost balls, the pace of play was slow. We were hit into from the group behind us several times. I'm sure that they were as frustrated as I was.

The net, net was that several of our scores were astronomical! Even when adjusted!

This course should be in better shape by now. The greens are still too firm yet slow. The bunkers are just sand dumped by the greens and not supported by a base.

Very disappointed.

Admiral Baker Golf Course North Review
San Diego California Golf Course Reviews

I haven't played Pasatiempo for awhile and see that it hasn't been rated very much lately.

To start, the greens, as always, were fantastic. Maybe even on the too fast side at times. As noted by the previous rating, #16 was just about unplayable, it was so fast that it was easy to putt off the green, if you could hold it.

I was most surprised by the bunkers. Traditionally, Pasatiempo bunkers have been poorly maintained and difficult to play. But now they are beautiful and prepared like the top rate course that it is. The balls just jumped out.

And the fairways were soft and lush. At times almost muddy.

My biggest disappointment was that they have had to brown out surrounding areas to save on water. It had the look of a links course, like Bandon Dunes, but I found the "waste" areas unplayable due to the random tufts of weeds and hard dirt/sand inconsistencies. I think that they would have done better by using more waste bunkers, like Barona Creek, to save on water, yet keep it playable.

As a result I found it very challenging, as always, but unplayable and unfair in places.

Next time, I will try to play it more conservatively, like Torrey South, knowing that the threat of a big number lurks on a few holes.

Pasatiempo continues to be one of the best courses in California. It's Alister Mackensie heritage still rings through. But like many courses these days it suffers a little from issues with water and poor economic conditions. Just stay on the fairways and greens, or even in the bunkers, and you will love it! The best greens anywhere!

Pasatiempo Golf Club Review
Santa Cruz California Golf Course Reviews

Finally, the South is back!

The rough is still tough, but the fairways, greens and bunkers are really good right now. I was previously critical of the greens conditioning, but they're really good again. And the bunkers are tournament class.

Torrey Pines Golf Course Review
San Diego California Golf Course Reviews

Again I was looking forward to playing Torrey South, only to be disappointed. The fairways are still great, but the greens are not up to par for a Torrey Pines course. Apparently they are treating the greens and they are soft, slow, bumpy and inconsistent. Not fun.

Many of the bunkers were wet and tough to get out of. And the rough was long, thick and sticky. Very tough to get any distance out of.

Maybe due to the greens, the pace of play was very slow, taking five hours to play.

Torrey North is your best bet right now.

Torrey Pines Golf Course Review
San Diego California Golf Course Reviews

Great greens and fairways! The rough is up, though, keeping the scores up as well.

Torrey Pines Golf Course Review
San Diego California Golf Course Reviews

I have to do a 180 on this course. I liked it when it first opened. It's mostly due to the greens. They remain too firm. It's really hard to hold them from a distance, and since the course is pretty long, you're mostly hitting long approach shots. And once you're on the greens, they're too slow. Maybe it's to protect them from the heat.

Also, I just don't like kikuyu grass. And there's plenty of it.

Admiral Baker Golf Course North Review
San Diego California Golf Course Reviews

I was really looking forward to playing the South Course today, after finding the North Course in such great shape a couple of weeks ago. Since The South is one of my favorite courses, I had very high expectations.

But I was very disappointed.

The course was not in good shape. Especially the greens. They were soft and bumpy, and even had a "washboard" texture on some greens. The usually "great" bunkers were very inconsistent, ranging from no sand, to wet sand, to heavy sand. And they were tracked up by both golfers and workers. And the rough, which was cut to a playable length, was burned out in some areas and had many bare spots and inconsistent grass textures.

This was definitely not the same course, condition wise, that I had just played a couple of months ago. And meanwhile, the North Course, and many of the other local public courses are in great shape.

Torry Pines Golf Course Review
San Diego California Golf Course Reviews

We played Barona Creek on Thursday at twilight rate. The course is in great shape, nearly perfect except for some improvements going on.
The greens were very fast and true, but held shots pretty well. As a result I had several three putts, but made some long ones as well. The greens are definitely the toughest part of the course, since they're large, undulating and very fast.

When the course is in this good a shape, I rate it as one of the best courses in the County. Definitely the best public course for the money.

Also, great staff, practice area, and Alister Mackenzie inspired design.

Barona Creek Golf Course Review
San Diego California Golf Course Reviews