Nice course. Zippy smoother greens. The rough was a little thin here and there, but the fairways were pretty decent.

Enjoyed it.

Black Oak is in great shape for the kind of play it gets. The greens are really exceptional right now. Yeah, they're pretty soft, but they're very smooth. Fairways are pretty decent, rough is fine, sand is good, if a little heavy. The weak spot is the tees... unlevel, thin, beat up... but come on, this course gets a lot of play.

This really is a great 9 hole course. You can't beat the price, and the layout is great. Tight, tough, old school kind of golf. And the "local" vibe is great... comfortable, and definately not snobby in the least.

Holy smokes! This is a COOL golf course. My friend has been telling me how fun it was, but we'd not had the chance to go play it.

Great conditions... the greens were great after only a few weeks from aeration. Tees, fairways, rough... everything was nice. The views and trees, hole layouts, the location in the hills... what a great round of golf. Now, if only I could play better.

The marshall was right on top of things... we probably saw him 4 or 5 times... when's the last time you heard that!? We moved along fine, but because of the courses narrowness (is that a word?) we were looking in the bushes plenty, and the greens are difficult and speedy, so that slowed us down.

Highly recommended. I really enjoyed it. Oh, and the hot dog was mighty tasty!

Ok, finally Darkhorse is on the way back. The fairways are getting close, the tees aren't bad, the rough is fine, sand is ok. However, here we are almost a month after aeration and STILL the greens show clear signs of the holes and are lumpy lumpy to putt on. Shouldn't they be back up to par by now?

Anyway, besides that, a fun round. Still the coolest layout around.

I played on Sept 29, the week right before The Ridge hosted the LPGA tournament. Needless to say the course was in great shape leading up to the tournament. It was fun to play with a lot of the TV towers and grandstands set up.

The greens were blazing fast and nice and smooth, and the rough was longer than usual. They had the tee boxes (basically the usual white tees) that the ladies were going to use off limits, so they'd be perfect when the tournament started.

On a brag note... I had the best stretch of holes in my life. Birdied #2, #6, eagled (hit a wedge from the fairway that went in the hole!) #7, birdied #8. Ended the front nine at even par. Not bad for the way the course was set up. Pretty fun.

So, I've lived in this area for a year and nobody's said anything about this course... they should've! This is a COOL course. Designed by Johnny Miller in the mid '90s. The guy I played with worked at the course when it opened, and he said that Johnny designed it as a US Open style course. He said they've since mellowed it out a lot so it's not as hard as it used to be. Still, this course is all I can handle... especially if my game isn't working all that well. Very tight driving, but often you don't need the big stick, you just have to get it in the right spot to set up the hole.

It's managed by Troon Golf now, and the customer service is excellent. It has a great upscale vibe, without the price. We played on an internet special at noon on a Monday for $35 a person including cart, range balls, yardage book, and bag tag. A steal. The clubhouse is great.

Conditioning... some of the tees had recently been punched and sanded heavily, but, that doesn't make a whole lot of difference except on the par 3s. The fairways were good, a few brown spots, but overall nice shape. Rough had a few more brown spots, but hey, you shouldn't be in the rough anyway. Sand was excellent. Well raked, and perfect consistancy. The greens were pretty good. Not blazing fast, but still you don't want to be on the wrong side of the hole.

The course layout is great. You have to be pretty precise to score. And you can't just bomb it and find it... cause you won't... it'll be in the junk. The setting is great... the front is sort of down in the canyon, and the back is up in the hills... lot's of elevation change. Some nice views, and cool hole designs. There are a lot of houses around, but they don't really detract too much.

If you like a challenge, this is a fun course. I really enjoyed it, even though it kicked my butt. I'll definitely be back to try and do better.

Well... unfortunately, things haven't improved. Plus the aeration on the greens hasn't healed up at all yet. Tees are beat up, the fairways aren't that great, 12 is still a mess, sand is heavy and packed. As usual everyone is very nice, but conditions just aren't up to snuff for this great of a layout.

I think DH should think about lowering rates while they get things in order. It's right on the borderline of not worth the green fee... for twilight golf. I'd never pay the full rate... just not worth it.

Ok, so I still love this course... however, conditions are a little sketchy right now.

It actually looks like they had some irrigation issues or something. A bunch of the fairways were very burned out, 12 being the worst. A few of the tee boxes were the same... 16, was probalby the worst. The greens were still good and fast, but there sure are a lot of ball marks. They're all fixed, just a lot of marks left over. Maybe we need a "how to fix a ball mark" class. Sand was generally pretty wet and hard, but I guess that could be due to the focus on trying to get the fairways and tees back.

I've only been playing this course for 9 months, so I'm not sure what the yearly cycle is for Darkhorse, maybe this is something they go through in August every year... I hope not, as this is way too great of a course to be in this kind of shape ever.

It's still worth playing, but I'm not sure I'd want to pay full price for it... maybe they've lowered rates due to the conditions, I'm not sure because I get tee times online.

Well, after a year away, I once again have to say how cool this course is. The changes after the washout this winter are great. I especially like the new berm on #4... makes a basic hole much more interesting looking.

They'd punched most of the greens already when we played first off on the 9th, and it looked like they weren't going to punch the new greens. The course seemed in nice shape to me otherwise. The only real trouble we had with it was the couple greens that had been punched but not rolled... there were tire tracks that left grooves in the green... cost me at least 1 stroke.

There aren't many things about LA I miss... but this course is definately one of them.

Beautiful course. Fun layout.

Killer bunkers, look worse than they play.

Everything in pretty decent shape, and the price is right in the summer. The greens were very slow, I assume because they let them grow to keep them from drying to death in the heat. The tee boxes could use a little flattening, but not too bad. Fairways, bunkers, rough all great.

Oh, did I mention it was hot? Heh, heh.

So, for a muni, this is a pretty nice course. Obviously it's pretty short, since it's a Par 68. But, for the most part the holes are "full length". There are 9 par 3's. There are a couple of monster par 5s.

Conditions: Tees: ok... lots of divots, but this course gets plenty of play. Fairways: pretty good, consistant good lies, some dried out spots, but not bad at all. Greens: quite good for a muni. Not super fast, but tricky enough to read, and pretty decent condition... especially with all the par 3s. I didn't get in the sand, so I can't comment there, but from what I could see, it looked ok. Rough: thick and green. Not too long, but long enough to be penal.

They were pretty nice in the shop, and lunch at the turn was good, but a little overpriced.

The biggest drag, as we were walking, was that between 2 and 3, 7 and 8, 12 and 13, and 14 and 15 you have to trek across a bridge over a little stream and wetlands area. It might be 500 yards each way... you get your full length golf course walking in.

But, I'd still recommend it. It wasn't super cheap, and it wasn't stand out golf, but it's a well kept muni.

Usually,

Excellent condition. The greens a smooth and true. Perhaps too many ball marks... I'm always surprised when a course of this calibur has many ball marks... it would seem the clientele at such a course would know better. We've been playing first off in the morning, so the fairways are often pretty soft and wet from watering, but at least they're green! Bunkers are good, if not a little hard, but then again, early morning wet. They were just punching the tee boxes today, I think only 2 were done for us, but I assume they'd be doing them all today. But, holes in the tee boxes is no big deal, and doesn't affect play at all.

The only bummer is all the construction going on around the course. Many houses are being built, and there is plenty of noise to go with it. Still though, not a reason not to play this outstanding golf course.