Played Chino course last week - more quality turf on this course than I have seen in many years of playing this course. Rough was particularly deep and lush - fairways were perhaps as good as I have ever seen in some 30 years of playing this course. As most players in the IE know, this course was for many years in the midst of a large number of dairies which left the course "olfactory challenged" and "insect adundant" - however, most of those dairies have departed, the area around the course has become developed for warehouses and storage facilities and thus the the above challenges have been removed or at worst severely subdued. With the removal of the challenges mentioned, what you have in the Chino Creek course is a very nice traditional routing with a number of moderate elevation changes, water hazards and afternoon winds - on top of those facts, the cost to play this course is significantly below that of the upscale courses in the IE/OC area and frankly is a great bargain in the afternoon with early twilight rates in effect. Ordinarily one might not even want to have other golfers know about a bargain course like this, but given the current situation with a number of courses of the past couple of years in the IE closing, one wants to see this course survive and provide enjoyment to those of us who just appreciate a good decent place to play golf for the cash in our pocket on a weekend afternoon without having to drag out the credit card for a $75 green fee.

Played Pacific Grove on recent trip to Northern California. While of course the back nine is more famous for its holes in the dunes hard by the Pacific Ocean, the front nine has a couple of interesting and challenging holes mixed in with some fairly short par fours. The back to back par 5 fifth and sixth holes have a huge grove of cypress trees running between the two holes for almost their entire length and when the afternoon wind is usually blowing in from the ocean the 6th plays very tough. There are a number of deer that inhabit the course and they just seem to ignore the golfers for the most part and meander about as you play the course. But of course the real draw of this course is the back nine where holes 11-16 are true links on the exposed Point Pinos complete with historic lighthouse and natural dunes. The 12th is a shortish par 5 in the dunes just across the small two-lane coastal road hard by the shoreline, holes 13 and 14 provide fairly tight passageways between tees and greens through the dunes and holes 15 and 16 are fairly wide open but with wide but blind landing areas. Often called the Poor Man's Pebble Beach, I would label the dunes holes more accurately the Poor Man's Spanish Bay as the dunes holes more closely rival some of the dunes holes found on that course compared to the cliffside holes at Pebble. Also worth noting is that the restaurant at the Pacific Grove course, the Point Pinos Grill, offers a much better bill of fare than you might expect in such modest surroundings with such items as fruit-filled pancakes and pepper bacon that would be the envy of many restaurants that might label themselves as gourmet breakfast establishments. Given that the green fees for the Pacific Grove course are in the $60 range, it truly is a great alternative to the very expensive Pebble Beach resort courses as either a warmup or a place to play a couple of inexpensive rounds mixed in with a round or two at its more famous neighbors just a couple miles up the road off 17 Mile Drive.

Played the course on 9/23/13 - course had just been opened after punching tees and greens during prior week - greens were very bumpy and tees sparse in terms of grass which was to be expected - what was not expected was very poor condition of fairways with many bare spots and muddy lies. Course gave a very generous discount on the green fees ($30 at prime time) but this fact was not announced until one actually paid their fees - only reason for mentioning this was the fact the other course (the Lakes) did not have punched greens but did have overseeding which relegated carts to "paths only" - as a consumer, would have appreciated a bit more candor about course conditions being so different between the two courses before making the choice about which one to play.
Have played both courses many times before and service is usually outstanding so would simply say at this time to wait for 3-4 weeks before playing the Desert Course and make sure to check about course conditions before playing either course right now. Note: course rating submitted is for current conditions - normally these courses are in great shape