The warmish weather and lack of rain during January has created ideal conditions on the North.
The overseeded dark green fairway grass has gotten longer so you don't always have super tight lies and the greens remain firm but receptive to well struck shots. Occasionally you will find areas that have firm muddy lies but they are generally on the edges of fairways. Biggest issue are sand filled divots in fairways. Not sure why no seed is added in the sand bottles but it takes a long time for any grass to regrow. Because of the speed and undulations in the green complexes you don't want to overspin your approach shots but rather let the slopes move the ball towards the hole. Greens are in the best condition I've ever seen running at Augusta like speeds. Unrepaired ball marks remain a problem especially at the front of greens as most players enter from the middle or rear and never go where their ball landed to fix marks. The dormant Bermuda rough is inconsistent but very playable. Tees are level. A little more sand has been added to bunkers making it easier to get out however the raking patterns create deep furrows where the ball tends to sit down so hitting out of deep bunkers is a problem. A new fleet of carts has come in to replace the broken down fleet. GPS, bluetooth speakers, and drink buckets are standard. Highly recommend if you get a chance to be invited here or play in a Monday charity tournament.

Played here on a cold, windy, and foggy day. Solid two club wind. Fairways and surrounds are tightly mowed kikuyu that is quite nice to hit from. Surprisingly a lot of mud balls and it hasn't rained here in months. Tee boxes were just fair as the overseed is not quite complete. Rough was very inconsistent and it's very easy to hit the ball heavy. Greens were extremely firm with balls bouncing four feet in the air even hitting full wedges in. Chipping was the same as the ball would skip forward and it was difficult to get any spin on shots. Some greenside traps had very little sand while others were perfect. Greens were very quick, even the uphill putts and all putts broke towards the ocean. A lot of the holes look the same so easy to get bored. A good walking course but should you choose the carts are souped up and deliver you to your ball very quickly.

Play the North this morning from the tips. Aside from the low areas on #1 and #5 having accumulated water on them, the fairways were in perfect condition as the overseed is complete and there are no bad lies. Carts are now allowed back on fairways. Greens were very healthy and are picking up speed, around 11 on stimp. All the tee boxes look great save for the #18 tee box back by the road that hardly anyone plays from. Rough is tough and bunkers continue to be raked properly. Members for the most part are filling all their divots with sand and doing a MUCH better job with ball marks thanks to cart GPS system reminding on each hole. This course will be a beast again this winter and breaking 80 from the back tees will be a rewarding day even if you are a scratch player.

Played the North on Friday 10/1. Fairways are nice and have been good for three weeks. Ground is starting to get a little firm which means time to overseed is almost here (3 weeks). Greens were rolled and picked up about two feet of speed (about 10.5 stimp) and you can tell they have been dried out but they still hold very well. Greens will also be aerated in three weeks as speeds will most certainly be blazing by post Thanksgiving as the undulations will get stimp up to 13 and handicaps will start increasing. Most tees and rough in great shape. POP has been 4 hours teeing off mid-morning.

Played the South course on 8/3. The fairways are in disappointing condition nine weeks after a major aerification. Last winter was the first time they over-seeded in about 10 years and conditions were great but when they tried to go back to Bermuda for this summer they vastly underestimated the amount of Bermuda that would pop thru. So we are left with large patches of sandy soil that have nothing growing. We still have to play winter rules to find a lie. Some areas are fine but mostly in the nonplaying area like the first 10 and last 10 yards of the fairway. The tee boxes have all been leveled and re-sodded and they play great. Greens are perfect, about 10 speed, bunker coverage is uneven as some spots you hit the gravel underneath. Rough has good coverage as well. In fact it's easier to play from rough than from fairways. Tons of trees were removed or trimmed as well as shrubbery to create some new sightlines. But they took down a 100' high tree about 70 yards in front of the 17th tee that blocked a lot of players from going for the green. Just stupid imo. Over-seeding starts again in two months which will close the course down for a month. Scoring is quite easy right now if you can keep the ball in play.

Played North on Sunday. This the first week open after major aeration of fairways. Recovery is weeks ahead of where the South course was at the same point in time probably because the fairways were re-turfed a couple of years ago and the Bermuda grass is popping quicker in the hot temperatures.

Greens are soft and surrounds are nice, bunkers are great.

Our biggest problem is Monday charity tournaments where very few golfers repair divots or ball marks. They drive where ever they want and cause a lot of damage. The membership also needs to do better job themselves, especially ball marks.

Marshals keep POP at around 4 - 4:15 hours. Cart guys and pro shop are very good.

Course has been made a lot easier over the years due to removal of lots of bunkers and cutting back of trees. Perhaps removing some trees has helped the growing out of tee boxes . Green speeds are what makes the North course. Currently 9.5 for the summer, well off the 12-13 speeds we see in Dec - Mar.

Fairways should be back to normal in two weeks if temperatures remain hot.

The South is open but it's like playing an Executive course now with tees all being moved up due to releveling tee boxes. Heavily sanded fairways after punching have not come back yet but they are also working on drainage. Seems like we have bad soil, bad , water, bad drainage and cooler weather to blame. Did I leave anything out? But this is the result of the membership desiring to overseed this past winter and the new grass is not growing as fast due to above conditions. I feel that we will get there in about three weeks but we need consistent conditions, not great three weeks, bad six weeks, good three weeks, ok six weeks, etc... The club is pumping millions of dollars into this maintenance cycle....no pain, no gain! Greens run about 9 and due to upcoming summer heat I don't expect them to get much faster because they are always afraid of losing 'em. If you are planning to play this course it the next month, I'd wait until everything is back to normal.

Fortunate to be invited to Ballyneal for three days of golf. Due to it's isolated location in the the Chop Hills of CO, it's best if you are lucky enough to know someone who has a private jet to fly into Holyoke Airport, just fifteen minutes away rather than the 3 1/2 hour drive from Denver with the last 30 minutes being dirt roads and a tiny wood entrance sign that you could easily drive past. This place can get very windy and it comes from all directions. There are no tee markers so you just play holes according to the wind directions, front of tees when it's in your face or towards the back when it's downwind. Most of time it's a two club wind. Also have to account for altitude, at 3700 feet, almost a full club. Bent grass greens are firm and could be quick if putting downhill, downwind. Ginormous greens and runoff areas. And tons of sand and sand dune blowout areas. Did I mention it's in a sand belt area? You'll encounter some critters if you get off the fairway and stay away from the yucca bushes as they will slice you like a ninja. Your legs will be burning after three days of walking as there are no carts here, only walking with a caddie. POP will be around 4.5 hours due to wind and hilliness of course, especially if caddy is doublebagging. Great golf course with superb lodging onsite. I think 66 beds. My room overlooked the putting green which about 2 acres in size. The driving range has to be seen to be believed. Food is fabulous and members are the best. Very low key atmosphere, none of this stuffy, turn up your nose nonsense you might find at other ultraprivate clubs. Sit out at the firepit in the evening and enjoy the evening thunderstorms in the distance. 12 hole par 3 course is also a gem although it doesn't start directly at the clubhouse. Compares to Pacific Dunes without the ocean. 75 is a great score here if you are low single digit handicap. Otherwise bring a couple sleeves of golf balls (your caddie should be able to get you thru the round). This club totally deserves to be inside the Top 50 courses in the USA.