Teed off at 8:30am Thursday 2/18. It was a beautiful sunny day in the low to mid 60's with little to no wind. Overall, Soule Park is in very nice shape. The fairways are in good winter condition. They are greener than most courses I've been playing lately and there is a nice cushion under your ball when in the fairway. The rough is a little inconsistent, but is not too penal unless you're in some of the areas where you shouldn't be! I was in 2 greenside bunkers. They had plenty of firm sand. Easy to hit from. The greens were running medium-fast. They held well hit shots, but were quite firm and would allow your approach shot to roll a long way if it was struck with a low trajectory. I would say that Soule Park is one of the best winter conditioned public courses in So. Cal.

Teed off as a foursome on Monday 2/15/21 at 8:03am. Nice cool morning turned into a perfect day in the mid sixties. Overall Sterling Hills is in average winter condition. The fairways are thin with many bare spots. Some fairway lies had decent cushion under the ball and some were a little more hard pan. They are playable. The rough is a mixed bag. Some areas are thin and bare, and some have other grasses that are thick. The tee boxes were fairly beat up. But with a tee in the ground, not a problem. I was in two greenside bunkers. They had plenty of firm sand, and were easy to hit from. The greens were medium fast, but quite fast downhill. The greens were on the firm side, but held well struck shots just fine. Mostly they were smooth, with a bumps now and again. The greens at Sterling Hills have lots of undulation. You better be on the proper side of the hole, or you're in for a tough putting day.

Our foursome teed off at 8:20am on Monday, 2/8/2021. For the first two holes it was very foggy, and difficult to see your ball in flight. The sun came out just after the second hole and it turned out to be a very nice sunny day - ideal playing conditions.

The course is in winter mode for sure. The fairways are dormant with a mix of grasses and many blotchy areas where there is thin grass and large clumps. But, even in the areas with thin grass there was ample cushion under your ball to make a good strike. So, even though the fairways look awful, they are quite playable. No complaints here. The rough is hit and miss, nothing very penal. I was in two greenside bunkers. They had adequate firm sand that was easy to hit from. The greens were mostly smooth and running medium speed. They held approach shots well. The teeboxes were in terrible shape, with many bare areas and some very hard ground that you could barely get a tee into. But, with a tee in the ground it was not a big problem. Overall, the course is very playable. I do enjoy the layout here. I believe it's the best of the L.A. City courses in the SFV.

My friend and I found an early morning tee time today at Encino. We teed off at 6:45am. It was VERY cold to start - 39 degrees! As the second group out, following a very quick threesome, we finished the front 9 in 1 hour and 10 minutes. We caught some back 9 starting groups, but still ended up with a brisk 3 hour and 5 minute round.

Encino is in deep winter condition. The greens were soft, holding shots pretty well, and rolling medium speed. I was in one greenside bunker, and it was in good shape. The rest of the course is thin, with spotty grass and many bare areas. Although, I will say that when in the fairway there was enough cushion under your ball to get a good strike on it. The thin and ragged fairways were not hard pan. So, you were able to get a good strike on the ball. Tee boxes were pretty chewed up. But never really posed a problem. For a quick, early round at $20 for the senior walking rate, it was decent.

Teed off at TR as a threesome on Monday, 2/1/20, at 10:40am. Pace of play was a bit sluggish at 4.5 hours. We waited on every shot. The weather was perfect - mid to upper 60's and no wind. The greens were the best part of the golf course. They were a little firm, holding some shots and rejecting others. No too many ball marks. They rolled medium fast, and were mostly smooth with an occasional bump or two. Bunkers around the greens were in very nice shape.

The rest of the course is in fair condition. The teeboxes were pretty chewed up with many hard pan areas. The fairways are VERY thin and quite hard. They painted the fairways green. But underneath that paint it is brown and rock hard. You got lots of roll on running shots. The areas around the greens were also extremely thin and tight, with little-to-no grass under your ball. It was very difficult making good chip shots around the green. With all the slopes on this course and with the hard pan fairways, your ball could roll out of bounds or back 50 yards from where it landed.

Personally, I don't care for playing in such hard pan conditions. I won't play here again until the spring, when the turf grows back.

Played TR on Monday 12/29/20 with a 11:30 tee time. Pace of play was 4:40. We were able to finish with plenty of light. Tierra Rejada is in good shape. When you first drive in to the course parking area you notice that the fairways are pretty green. They were VERY playable with good lies all around. Just some minimal areas that were thin or bare. I never had a bad lie in the fairways. Tee boxes were a problem. Many of them were beat up and a few were quite long and uncut. We played the maroon tees (equivalent to the white tees) and on numerous holes they were grouped together with the tees in front of them. So some holes played shorter than normal.

They replaced all of the sand in the fairway and greenside bunkers earlier in the year. So they were in good shape, with plenty of soft sand. Although they had a lot of rain the day before, the greens were actually fairly fast, especially downhill. They rolled nicely. You could see some tiny holes on many of the greens, but this did not affect the roll at all. The soft greens held shots nicely. On the very short par 3 seventeenth hole there were many unhealed ball marks which could be a problem if they were in your putting line.

These greens can be difficult to read if you simply look at the slope of the greens themselves. The most important consideration is what is the slope of the mountain or hill that is influencing a particular green. Many times a downhill put (the green is sloping down) putted like an uphill putt due to the surrounding mountain slope, and vice versa on uphill putts. Until I became aware of this, I sent several "uphill" putts well past the pin. TR is a challenging course. I always enjoy playing here. I do recommend it.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the River Ridge Lakes course to be in fine shape on Monday, 12/21/20. As a single, I was paired up with a delightful family of 3. We had a great time. Overall, the course is in very good shape. Although not exceptionally green, the fairways have nice coverage with good lies abundant. The rough is a mixed bag. It ranges from thin to about 2 inches or so. Definitely not as good to hit from as the fairway, but nothing too difficult. The tee boxes (we played the whites) were a little chewed up, but didn't really impact play very much.

I was in one fairway bunker that had plenty of firm sand. I was also in 2 greenside bunkers that had a good amount of sand, and were easy to hit from. The greens were running from medium to medium/fast. Uphill putts were in the medium range. Downhill putts were either medium/fast or just plain fast. They rolled very well and were fairly soft, holding good approach shots nicely.

Given the interesting and diverse layout, this course is a no-brainer to play right now. I highly recommend it.

I really enjoy playing MPCC. It is challenging but fair. And requires lot of different type shots to get around the course. Today (12/14/20), the course is in very good shape. The fairways have good coverage, great lies, and good rollout. For the most part. the rough around the fairways was short and not difficult to hit from, with a few exceptions. I was in one fairway bunker and one greenside bunker. Both had very nice firm sand that a pleasure to hit from. The apron around most greens was cut quite short and good to chip from. The greens were medium fast, but being above the hole made it difficult to find the right speed. You were either in the hole or somewhat past it. The greens held shots very well, were soft and rolled smoothly. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I highly recommend playing here.

Played Soule Park mid morning on Tuesday 12/8. Anticipated a very windy day. But, it turned out to be only somewhat windy. A very good day to play. No need to reiterate everything said in the previous review by Ron. What I would add is that I found the fairways to be quite firm in numerous areas. Also, the green surrounds were very firm and thin. In the non-winter months the grass around the greens is lush and a pleasure to hit from. But in winter they are very tight, which led me to putt from off the green more than I normally would. Overall, the course is a gem. I do recommend it.

Teed off as a foursome at Woodley Thursday 11/5 at 6:30am. Breezed through the course. Never waited on a shot. Took 3 hours to finish the round. Overall, the course is in average muni condition.

Tee boxes are fair; decent coverage, with bare spots and some hardpan. The fairways are a mixed bag of bare, thin and hard, and somewhat decent lies. Overall, I rate the fairways 4.5/10. The rough is mostly just a little longer than the fairway grass, and is clumpy and spotty coverage. The areas around the greens are spotty, thin and a challenge to chip from. You have to clip the ball just right or you will chunk it. Some areas around the green have thicker rough and it grows against the direction of your swing. So, it's easy to have your club get stuck and leave your chip short (I did that several times today). I wasn't in any bunkers but they looked like they had decent sand in them. The greens were nice today. They rolled smoothly, held their line nicely, were medium to medium/fast speed, and soft. This is the best part of the course. For the $18 senior walking rate, it was decent.

Played Encino for a mid morning round on Monday, 10/19. Overall the course is quite playable. Fairways are typical muni; some areas had lush good lies and some were bare or thin and dry. It was a mixture of all this. But many times I had a nice lie in the fairway. So not complaints here. The rough is mostly just a little longer than the fairway grass, except for some random area here and there that are either a bit longer or thin and hard. Tee boxes are below average. They are beat up. But you could a decent spot to tee up your ball. There are about 6 or 7 tee boxes that were closed due to repair/reseeding. The alternate teeing grounds were often very poor, hard dirt or dead grass. The two bunkers I was in had plenty of firm sand. Nice to hit from. The greens were soft, medium speed, but many were bumpy and slow. For the $20 senior walking rate, it was a good morning of golf.

Like Gary and Sal, I played Tierra Rejada as part of the guru outing on 10/12. Overall, the course is quite playable, and a challenge. I'd just like to comment on the three things that stood out to me; greens, tee boxes, and sand. The greens were very bumpy, especially on the back nine holes. Many putts became slightly air borne, lost speed, and were taken off line by the remnants of the punching that took place recently.

Many of the tee boxes, especially the par 3's, were quite chewed up and unlevel. You could find a good teeing spot for the most part, but it was visually unattractive. Finally, the sand in the newly renovated bunkers was excellent. I was in 3 bunkers. All of them had nice, soft (but not too soft) sand that was a pleasure to hit from. As was stated in one of the earlier reviews, I would wait a week or two before playing here again in the hope that the greens would roll more smoothly.