Played LSF Exec 6/5, and found it to be in fair condition. The greens were very slow and quite bumpy, and the tee boxes sometimes took a little hunting to find a good spot to hit from. But overall I wasn't expecting much, and for a little short track that can be navigated quickly it was a fun diversion and good to get in some wedge and short iron practice. Just don't look to it to help hone your putting or long game.

Played Saturday 6/8 with time before 8am. Teed off right on time, and we had no one behind us for most of the round; our overall pace was 4:15. Conditions overall were very good to excellent. The greens were medium speed but rolled very true. Tee boxes were in excellent shape. Bunkers were good, except for too many unraked areas from prior inconsiderate $#@% players. Fairways were in good shape, and the rough was just right - just tall enough to be troublesome, but short enough to be able to find the ball fairly easily.

Played Oak Creek on 6/11 with a mid-morning tee time.

My Summary:
Overall, the course is an OK layout with a few interesting holes, and they do a good job of making you feel like you're not in the middle of an industrial park area. And although there are many parallel holes, you don't feel it at all due to the mounding and trees between holes. But the layout just isn't that compelling, the conditioning is pretty spotty, and the service was mediocre. If it were a $49 course I'd say it was a decent bargain, but at the prices they charge - no way. For a course that pretends it is a higher end facility, the service and course conditions were way, way below their sister property Pelican Hill.

More details:
The practice range was large but surprisingly crowded, with teeing area pretty chewed up. Range balls are overpriced at $12 for a small bag.

Course conditions overall were so-so. The teeing grounds were fine, and the fairways were generally pretty good. The rough was quite long in many places, and if you didn't see exactly where it went in it was pretty hard to find.

The greens were mostly OK, but looked to be recently punched and about half of them were still covered with a lot of top dressing and were a bit bumpy from the aeration. There were an amazing amount of unfixed pitch marks on the greens though - it didn't take any effort to find at least a dozen marks to fix in just part of the green.

Bunkers were simply lousy. Quite a few of the greenside bunkers had been so overwatered that they were a soggy, muddy mess. Several had GUR signs in the bunker in the middle of a runoff area, but finding a spot that was acceptable and still in the bunker was tough. Fairway bunkers weren't soggy but ones our group ended up in were often too firm, with just a skiff of sand over the underlying mud.

Other gripes were the maintenance staff on course. We had one guy mowing around a green and he wouldn't bother stopping and moving to the side while we were hitting approaches. Another guy mowing rough drove right alongside one of our players while he was hitting. And another guy driving a big mower decided he had to cut in front of us on the cart path where two paths converged, forcing us to hit the brakes to avoid hitting him and then we had to slowly follow him across the bridge and down the path for a while breathing in the belching exhaust the hole way. Apparently the management has neglected to let the maintenance staff know that they are overhead, the golfers are profit.

Also regarding the service, the starter wasn't surly but he certainly wasn't very friendly either. He seemed annoyed being asked where the nearest restroom was before we teed off, and basically just took our receipt and pointed to the first hole. Restaurant service after the round was sloooooooow. The food was OK, but simply getting menus and an order in took way too long, and drink refills never happened.

Played Saturday 3/16 with a mid-morning tee time. Overall, I rate the course excellent and it is one of the best in San Diego.

Fairways were firm and ran quite a bit, but were fairly green without any bare areas, and were easy to hit off. The greens appeared to be a bit pockmarked from ball marks but it was mostly only in appearance and they rolled smoothly at medium fast speed. The bunkers were excellent; a previous reviewer panned the sand, but our group found it to be excellent. Soft without being fluffy, well raked, and very easy to hit out of - the club made a very satisfying "thwump" when slapped behind the ball, and they were very predictable.

Pace of play was pretty good. It seemed pretty empty right in front of us for most of the front nine, but we caught up to a somewhat slow 3some that didn't move too quick. Since they didn't catch a bite at the turn we stopped and picked up food, and then caught up with them again after a few more holes. Although we didn't have to wait long for them, it was disappointing to wait at all given how open it seemed on the front nine. We never saw any marshal or any help on the course to keep people moving.

Customer service at Barona is kind of spotty. I've played there several times and it is been consistent each time. They pick you up promptly at your car and deliver you to the pro shop in a friendly manner. The pro shop people I've dealt with aren't surly, but they aren't real warm either - it is kind of pay your money, get pointed out the door. We saw the beverage cart attendant a lot on the front nine (she probably came by us 4-5 times), but never saw her on the back nine.

Overall, it is a great course that presents a good challenge but isn't severely punitive. Spring is a great time to visit, with the valley hillsides green and wildflowers all in bloom, and the temperature is very comfortable.

Played 1/15, starting in the early afternoon. Pace of play was somewhat slow, but sporadically so - parts of the course played fast, and then several holes would just come to a complete stop with a couple groups waiting on the tee.

Conditions are OK for the winter here. Fairways are bare in spots and there are a lot of areas roped off. Greens rolled fairly well and are reasonably quick, but there are a lot of unfixed pitch marks.

Biggest issue was the carts - they are near death. We had to switch out in the middle of #10, and the cart guy said they had replaced 21 so far at that day. Then our replacement died on 16. The other cart in our group made it to 15 before dying. We had to push them up the final hills to be able to get back to the clubhouse. Talking to the group ahead of us, they also had to replace both of theirs at the halfway point, and one of their replacements also died late in the round. Charging a cart fee and then having to push your own cart up hills seems very, very wrong!!!

Played Maderas on 10/27, and the conditioning was superb - the maintenance alert should be changed to "Green". Greens were excellent with no sign of the aeration, and rolled true and fast. Fairways were very green nice consistency, and the tee boxes have nicely grown in from the overseeding. Condition-wise, Maderas is better than I've seen in years.

Pace of play, however, was terrible this time which is unusual for Maderas. We had an early tee time (around 8am) and there were apparently some groups ahead who were atrociously slow, and the course management wasn't able to do much to help it. The front 9 took a full 3 hours, and while the back 9 was faster at about 2:15 it still made for a round well over 5 hours.

Maderas Golf Club Course Review
Poway California Golf Course Reviews

Played 10/22 with a mid-morning tee time. Tee boxes were in the middle of maintenance and took some hunting to find a good place to tee from. Fairways were generally OK with a lot of areas that were marked GIR, and a lot of places that should have been but weren't. Traps seemed OK, with fairly soft sand and no obvious problems. The greens were full of unrepaired pitchmarks - it almost felt that no groups in front of us that morning had bothered to repair their marks. Areas that had been previously repaired didn't appear to be healing well. Pace of play was quite slow and we finished in few minutes under 5 hours.

The course is kind of schizophrenic between the front and back nines. The front is pretty mundane with a couple challenging holes but not really visually attractive, while the back 9 has a few really nice holes.

Service was OK with polite staff. We saw the beverage cart once early in the round but never saw it again, and they don't really have any food available at the course aside from some snacks and drinks they sell in the pro shop (i.e. no hot dogs, etc.).

Woods Valley Golf Club Review
Valley Center California Golf Course Reviews

Played 8/13/12 under beautiful sunny skies and perfect 72 degree temperature. Overall the course was in very good condition, although the fairway on 18 is undergoing significant repair near the green. Greens were true but ran pretty slow - I'd guess 10 or less Stimp.

Service in the pro shop and starter was excellent. The range was disappointing as one had to hunt a little to find grass in the stations that were set up; it looked like they need to move the tee line more often. There wasn't anyone helping at the range, wiping clubs, etc. like many high end courses. At the end of the round the service was prompt with someone wiping the clubs and arranging to have our car brought around right away.

The course layout is generally nice, although some of the holes on the front nine feel repetitive as they run back and forth across the hillside. Some holes are a little over the top with the waterfalls, but most holes are fairly straightforward and a decent test of golf.

Trump National Golf Club Review
Los Angeles California Golf Course Reviews

Played in the afternoon 5/16, and overall found the course's reputation overrated. Starting with initial customer service, the cart attendant was scarce making it take awhile to get a cart. The cooler was only stocked with 1 water swimming in water, with no ice. The range was in good shape, but the whole tee line has a downhill slope so every shot is below your feet (if you're a righty).

On the course, the fairways were thin in a lot of places and fairly brown. Many had just been both punched and verticut, so one had to hit from the debris at times. Greens were quite slow, and several had a lot of repair going on around the fringe. For a course that has most guests use a forecaddy the greens had a surpising amount of pitch marks. We could easily fix a dozen or more significant dents on every green - don't know why forecaddies weren't seeing them.

Our cart pretty much died after 8 holes, so we limped in after 9 and again there was no one to be found. We took a chance taking a lone cart sitting in front of the starter stand, but odd there was no one around to help. Once again after we finished, there wasn't anyone around the cart return, but after about 5 minutes someone showed up to move the clubs up to the valet park.

Pace of play was fair at about 4 1/2 hours, and it was surprising how crowded the course was for a weekday afternoon. We didn't have to wait for a group in front of us until about 10-11 holes, but then it slowed down a bit.

Overall, the layout is nice and the course is in a nice setting meandering through the hills and up and down, but the condition and service was disappointing, especially so since it is a very nice resort at a high end price.

The Grand Golf Club Review
San Diego California Golf Course Reviews

Played 4/14. Weather was blustery and windy the whole round. Conditions overall were OK, but not great. Fairways were thin and dry in some areas and wet and soggy in others following the rains the previous day. Greens were fairly slow, and had a surprising number of ball marks all over considering it was an early morning tee time. Bunkers were inconsistent - some were quite fluffy, while others had only skiff of sand covering dirt below. Pace of play was fast for the first 9 holes, and then came to a crawl starting on #10 (it almost seemed they put some groups out on the back 9 right ahead of us, but the marshal said they don't do that).

The Crossing at Carlsbad Review
Carlsbad California Golf Course Reviews

Played Friday 3/9 on Twilight rate, and had an excellent experience.

The course was in very good condition, without any areas having problems. The started warned us the greens were very fast, but we found them to be just a touch faster than medium. But they rolled very consistent and smoothly.

Carts have a new GPS system which worked well, and also had menu ordering for the snack bar.

Pace of play was pretty good in general. It seemed just slightly slow a few times, but we still pretty much played at our pace and didn't have to wait much except for #10.

Customer service at Aviara is great - the staff are all friendly and helpful, and sincerely act like they're there to help you.

I'd rate Aviara highly in the premium course segment, especially if you play at Twilight rates. Rack rates (which are almost never discounted) are a bit steep but in line with other area high-end courses (but they often have discounts available).

Aviara Golf Club Course Review
Carlsbad California Golf Course Reviews

Played 3/10 on their 2-for-1 special on the Champions Course (through March). Overall, not impressed and thought it very overpriced, even at 1/2 off.

Conditions: Fairways still like sod just laid in and not well smoothed out. Greens were generally pretty good, although they ran fairly slow and were very firm. Tee boxes were generally good, but on several Par 3 holes the blue tee markers are set so far at the back edge that there is literally less than a foot between the marker and the rough on the back edge. This means you had no choice but to play in a line of divots with your back foot in the rough - very strange to give so little room.

Pace, Amenities, and Staff: Check in at the pro shop was efficient, but the pro shop staff weren't real friendly. The carts are not equipped with GPS; they did include a couple tiny bottles of water (I've never seen water bottles that tiny!). Pace of play was quite slow, a little over 5 hours with an 8:30am start time. At the 4th hole we had 4 groups on the hole at one time (2 on the tee box waiting). A marshal was driving around a lot but didn't seem to be addressing the pace issue, and never stopped to ask how we were doing or any of the friendly interaction one would expect from. We picked up snacks at the turn, and I had good hopes when I saw them grilling hot dogs outside on the grill, but it was served on a very stale bun and was very very expensive ($16 for a hot dog, bag of chips, and a diet coke).

New Layout: Overall, we weren't very impressed with the remodel and changes. Most holes were left untouched as far as layout, and the put in a lot of fairway bunkers but many of these seemed added more for aesthetic reasons than strategic. On a couple holes that were significantly changed it didn't really seem that the new arrangement played well strategically, i.e. they moved things around but you couldn't really get a sense for why.

Summary: If one is going to compete in the premium golf segment, you'd better offer the goods. The course at La Costa had the feel of a reasonably nice muni, and if they were charging $75 I'd feel it was a decent price for an average course. But in their price segment they're competing with Aviara down the road, Maderas, and other high end SoCal courses, and they simply aren't even close in service, conditioning, interesting layout, and amenities.

La Costa Resort Golf Club Course Review
Carlsbad California Golf Course Reviews