Played Sat 7/20 morning. Surprisingly the course was not busy and they let us out as threesome, which is rare occasion. POP was less than 4.5 hrs which is very fast for TC. Greens were good. However, the fairways had lots of thin areas with some bare spots. There were many tee boxes that were closed and blue tees were either moved up (mostly) or back. Sands were not hard or wet, but they felt like very heavy sands which were hard to come out of even when splashing lots of sand.

With creek card, it's still good value with nice layout and fun course. But I'm afraid the trend of course condition is tilting downward in my opinion. Would hate to see that.

Played 6/28 morning. Man, if you want the desert golf at its peak, play Paiute. It was my first time playing Paiute and I was blown away by the mere fact that out of nowhere in the desert they can keep this beautiful golf course with meticulous condition.
Hitting on the fairway felt like heating off a nice fluffy carpet. From teebox to green, everything was well kept and maintained. Those greens are fast, real fast. Now I know what the PGA tour pros have to deal with the tour greens!
Customer service from bag drop to bag return was all top notch. My hats off to Paiute for making my first Paiute experience an excellent one to remember. It's definitely worth 30 minute drive from the strip.

Played Monday Memorial day morning. Overall, the condition is very good. Especially fairways and greens. Also I was very glad to see all sprinkler heads were marked with yardage. The starter guy (who was very friendly) told me that they installed sprinkler head markers and yardage stakes earlier this year. Only bad part was the sands in Holes #1 and 2, which were very thin. Pace of play was little less than five hours. Course was not busy but we were stuck behind a slow foursome. Overall, good experience.

Played Sat 4/27 morning (around 10am start-time). It was my second time playing Tijeras. I'll list the bad first. I felt that the greens were pretty slow. I don't know if it was because they aerated greens last month and left the green long. But we felt that greens were slow in general. Also, greens had a lot of unrepaired ball marks, which impacted putt lines many times during the day. I wish everyone had courtesy to repair ball marks. It's a shame to not take care of a fine track like this course. Some of the sands that I was in were bit wet and thin/hard, especially 18th considering that it was afternoon time. In my opinion, greens and sands were not as good as my last time. Pace of play was 5 hours. I'm getting the feeling that 5-hour pace is normal/consistent here, which I wish was better.
Now the goods: fairways and roughs are well taken care of and except for couple of small GUR spots, they are well maintained. Roughs are cut little shorter than the last time I played. So, less penalizing, but you still want to be on the short short grass if you want to post good scores here. Customer service is always good. And I love the layout and how front 9 and back 9 are distinctively different.
This course will be my regular stop and I hope greens and POP are better next time.

Played Sat around noon time. It was my first time playing Tijeras Creek and what a beautiful course! Like many people said in the reviews, the front nine and the back nine feel like completely two separate golf courses. Front nine reminded me of Tustin Ranch GC with houses lined up on both sides, narrow fairways, and elevated greens but Tijeras felt wider than TR and houses come into play lesser than TR (both courses are designed by same guy, Ted Robinson). Then, the back nine is set in the wild (so to speak), weaving through the creek, and there are some elevation changes. They are wider than front nine but have OB. All in all, this is a beautifully set up course and gives you variety that you will not get bored. I personally liked the course better than TR, where some holes feel very similar and redundant. If you have not played it, I highly recommend it (and it's a lot cheaper than TR).
As far as the conditions, it was in great condition (they are aerating 3/18). Fairway is kept in very good condition. Greens were medium to fast and rolled true. Front nine greens do not break as much as you think - I don't know if it's ocean break or mountain break, but play less break than you would normally do on front nine. Back nine greens break more than the front nine. Sands were generally good with fluffy sands, except 15th hole green side bunker I was in - it was thin. The roughs were very long and can be very penalizing and it will test your game. Try to avoid it as much as possible and keep your tee shots in the short grass. If you're in rough and if there is water in play, make sure to lay up. I try to muscle it over the water and lost few balls. There are some holes where water comes in play like 4th, 5th, and 10th.
Overall, this is a quality course with beautiful set up and layout with good customer service and great value. Especially if you have Creek Card, which is IMO best value in OC. I think this is going to be my regular course.

Played on Christmas morning. Beautiful course with lots of bunkering around greens. Sir Faldo has done nice job on the design and layout of the course. There are really long par 4's. Unless you can hit 300 yard drives, i would suggest playing shorter tees. As far as conditions, fairways, roughs, and tee boxes were excellent. However, I was little disappointed about the greens. Maybe they were trying to make the greens fast, but the greens seemed very thin (in terms of density). It looked like strands of grass were just planted on bare soil.

I was also disappointed with customer service. Our threesome was originally booked with a single. They made one of us ride with the single. I would understand my cheap local muni course forcing the fourth guy riding together. But on a resort course with high fee? Come on! Then, one of my playing partner forgot to keep the credit card receipt to show to the starter, and the starter gave him a crap about it. I thought the starter looked as if he would cuss at and kick my friend out. We were on a resort course on Christmas day. My friend found the receipt in his bag later (luckly), but please, I expected top notch customer service from a resort course and it didn't even come close.

It's a nice layout course. If you're staying at the resort (which we did), it's nice to play golf right outside the balcony of where you are staying. But I think I'll venture out to different courses next time I'm in Palm Springs/Desert area.

Played 12/15 Sat morning. When i played HVGC earlier this year, I was very impressed. So I was excited to return to HVGC and enjoy a round. However, this time I was equally disappointed. First, they got rid of GPS on the carts. And then, on the course, there is no yardage marker at all. No yardage stakes, no sprinkler head markers. Not what so ever. I only saw two sprinkler heads with yardage mark all day. Most of sprinkler head covers were ripped open! So if you don't have GPS device or laser finder, good luck with your club selection. And, we didn't see any marshal, nor a cart girl. I heard HVGC recently let people go after management change. Maybe that's showing in the negative ways.
As for the course condition, greens were good. Medium to fast. Fairways has some bare and wet spots but overall ok. The bad was the tee boxes, which were unlevel and had many severe divot makrs. Also the sands were damp and hard, which was same as earlier this year.
HVGC is a course with nice layout and lots of potential. I was just so disappointed with negative things I saw this time. I hope this is not permanent.

Hidden Valley Golf Club Review
Norco California Golf Course Reviews

Played Sat 11/17 morning. First one out, so POP was no issue. Tough par 70 course with lots of elevation changes. I love Hole 9 where you hit tee shot from elevated tee overlooking the pond. You need good tee shots to be able to post good score. I would suggest using your go-to club if you tend to spray tee shots with driver.
As for conditions, overall good conditions. Greens were slow in the morning due to moisture but became mid to good speed after greens dried up little bit. There were patches of wet parts in fairways but overall ok. Sand was ok.
Overall it's nice course with interesting layout. But i think it's little bit overpriced with $125 rack rate for weekend. But definitely worth it if you can find discounted green fee, which i did - $35 off before 6:40 am on Sat.

Coyote Hills Golf Course Review
Fullerton California Golf Course Reviews

Played 11/03/12 morning. Took father-in-law for his birthday round. Can't beat this birthday deal. Free round for B-day person and member rate for others in group. Had lots of fun. I had split impression on the course condition. First the good: the sand. Boy, they had white, fluffy sand in most of holes. Yes, white sand like you see on TV tournament courses. They were fluffy, light - best i've seen and played. The bad: there were many GUR areas. The heat wave last summer must have done some damage. There were some bare/brown spots in roughs and some fairways, and there were some muddy areas. I think they are having hard time balancing between watering to keep the grass green and keeping the ground from getting soggy and muddy. The greens are always top notch here. I just feel for their pain, because this was first time I saw this much damage on their grass. But, in my opinion, TR and Goose Creek are the ones in Southern Cal that I've played that really try hard to keep their condition up to expectation.
I would still definitely take advantage of their deal. As to paying rack rate, I would probably pass for now - maybe wait until their grass heals.

Tustin Ranch Golf Club Review
Southern California Golf Course Reviews

Played on 9/29 sat. They had not started aerification on greens yet. Heard they might start week of Oct 1, but don't know for sure. Overall the course is in good condition for the weather. Greens are better than i expected. Boy, they are fast. Fairways are overall good, except we started seeing some bare areas or under repair area towards the back end of course. The course is short but the fairways are very narrow. If you like short course with target golf, you will like this course. But if you are about grip-n-rip-it golf, you will struggle.

Shorecliffs Golf Club Review
San Clemente California Golf Course Reviews

Played Wed 3:30 afternoon. Started as single and joined another single to play as double. Took little over ~ 3.5 hrs. The course condition needs help. Lots of dead and burnt grass areas in roughs. Tees not level and greens are very bumpy with lots of ball marks. Yes we are having heat wave but it was excessive. This course is close to my place and easy to walk on. I would play this course more if the conditions were better. Wish this was at least Mile Square quality.

Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course Review
Irvine California Golf Course Reviews

Played 8/25 Sat 7am. One of my favorite in Southern Cal inland. Course is in good shape. However, the greens are showing signs of getting beat up during summer. Saw a lot more dead spots from ball marks than last time I played which was couple of months ago. I wish more people fixed their ball marks. But still, Goose's greens are better than greens at a lot of other inland courses. Greens are tough though - better bring your A putting game. Fairways, teeboxes, and roughs are excellent. Sand was little damp and heavy. 4 hours sharp for Sat morning, so can't complain about pace. Always friendly staff and saw cart girl three times. I always enjoy playing here.

Goose Creek Golf Club Review
Riverside California Golf Course Reviews