Teed off at Simi Hills at 11:40am Monday, 10/5. Pace of play was 4 hours 20 minutes. We waited on every hole. The course was "Covid" packed. I call it this, because since Covid it's very difficult to get a good tee time and a lot more people are playing golf during the week. Overall the course is in good, not great, shape. I haven't played here in several months, and the course has digressed some from that time. The tee boxes are OK. Some are unlevel and quite thin. But stick a tee in the ground and you're fine.

The fairways are a mixed bag. The front nine fairways are thin, with some bare, dry areas, and some nicely padded grass. Some of the holes on the back nine were much more lush. Overall, the fairways are quite playable but range from lush to bare, but mostly are adequate. I was in 2 greenside bunkers. One had crusty sand and the other was a little less crusty. Both had enough decent sand to get out just fine. By the way, the bunkers DID HAVE rakes in them. This is the first I've seen this.

The greens were punched a couple of weeks ago. For the most part they ran smooth and at medium to medium/fast speeds. Some greens were a little bumpy and did affect your putt. But not too bad. The greens were soft and receptive. Other than the slower pace of play, I enjoyed the round. I do recommend.

Teed off at MPCC at 10:40am Monday, 9/28. Finished at 3pm. Decent pace of play. We played the Canyon Crest and Creekside nines. The Ridgeline nine was being punched. Overall, the course is in good condition. There are still some faint holes in some of the greens from an earlier punching. On some greens it was a bit bumpy, but mostly the greens rolled nicely at medium to medium/fast speed, and held approach shots nicely. The fairways are mostly lush, with some thin areas, but good lies abound. The grass is a mixture of green and yellow areas. But very nice to hit from. Some of the tee boxes were in excellent shape, some were shaggy and some were chewed up a bit. The rough ranged from 1 - 3 inches. Some of it was lush and deep and other parts were thinner. My playing partner was in 1 greenside bunker. He said it was dirt, not sand. But he had no trouble getting out of it. I think the bunkers on this course need re-doing. I enjoyed the round, and do recommend it.

Teed off on Monday 9/15 at 10am as a foursome. Typical Covid procedures except that all of the practice areas were open, including the putting green and chipping area. Water stations on the course were full of water and had paper cups available. The cart girl came around twice during our round.

Overall, Los Robles is in good shape. Tee boxes were a bit chopped up and uneven, but nothing you couldn't work with. The fairways were fairly lush, with some thin and browned out spots, but nearly always a good lie. The rough was about 1-3 inches and not too difficult to hit out of. They have numerous areas that contain wood chips/pine straw. So you had to deal with that if you were in the trees off the fairway. With the exception of one green, the greens had been aerated with small holes. Mostly, it didn't affect the roll of the ball too much. But on some holes, it made for a bouncy roll and even took your ball off line a bit. This didn't happen too much. But was an issue on a couple of greens. The greens were running medium/fast. Sand traps were fine, with plenty of good sand. I really enjoy playing this course. I do recommend it.

Played Debell on Tuesday morning with a 8:50 tee time. Nice relief from the extreme temperatures we experienced over the weekend, with temps in the low 70's and overcast. I haven't played this course for a couple of years. I remember why now. I don't care for the layout. The front 9 nine is pretty narrow and chopped up. Couldn't use my driver until the 8th hole. The back nine is a little more open, but still has some very quirky holes.

The overall condition of the course is just fair. Tee boxes are terrible. We played the blue tees. Many bare areas and hard pan. One tee box only had an area about 2' x 3' where there was grass. The fairways are a mix. There are quite a few areas that are thin and bare, even in the middle of the fairway. There are some good lies to be had as well. I would rate the fairways at 5/10. The rough along the fairways is impossible to hit out of in many areas and not too bad in others. There are a lot of spots where the rough is from 4 to 8 inches deep. With narrow fairways, this makes it difficult to have a shot into the green from a good lie. I had numerous lies just a foot off the fairway where I could only hack it out of 5 inches of heavy rough.

The bunkers are a mess. Many of them are hard pack and full of lines and troughs. I was able to get out of the two bunkers I was in, but you had to be careful. The greens were medium speed. They were soft and held shots fairly well. The were mostly smooth with some bumpiness.

I did not enjoy my round here today. The course is in only fair shape, but playable. For the $15 senior walking rate, it was fine. But I wouldn't pay anything more.

After playing the Vineyard course last week, we thought we'd try Victoria Lakes this week. Last week I was pleasantly surprised at the good conditions on the Vineyard course. This week I was disappointed at the mediocre conditions on the Lakes course. On the positive side, we teed off at 7am today (8/31), and never waited on a single shot. It took our foursome, a little less than 3:45 minutes to complete the round. We could only see a few other groups on the course this morning.

Unfortunately, this was the only truly good part of the round. The fairways, unlike the Vineyard course, were very thin and dry. They were definitely playable, but about as good as a average muni course. Just OK. The rough was typically not much different from the fairways. So no real penalty there. I was in one greenside bunker. It was wet and firm. I was able to get out without much of a problem. The greens were quite soft. They held approach shots well. They were medium-slow and a bit bumpy. Even some downhill putts were slower than anticipated.

To me, the Vineyard course is in much better shape all around. I haven't played the Lakes course for about a year. The last time I did, it was in great shape. So it's decline is sad. I still enjoy the layout, but the conditions are mediocre at best.

Played the Vineyard course on Tuesday 8/25 as a foursome, with a tee time of 7:20am. POP was excellent at 3:45. Never waited on a shot. It was pretty foggy for the first several holes. But ended up mostly cloudy and cool for the rest of the round. Overall, the course is in good condition. Tee boxes are a bit of a mixed bag, but never a problem. The fairways are in good to very good condition. There are certainly some dry areas that are browned out. But they are in the minority.

Mostly, the fairways are green and somewhat lush. On the back nine, many of the fairways were excellent, with lush, green conditions. The rough was mixed. Some areas were about 1-2 inches and not too penal. Other areas had very deep grass that was quite difficult to extricate yourself from. I was in one greenside bunker. It had very nice firmly packed sand. Easy to hit from. The greens were running at medium speed, but were medium-fast on downhill putts. Unfortunately, they are somewhat bumpy. But if you hit a good putt with the right speed it would track fine. I enjoyed the round today. I do recommend the course.

Played the Canyon Crest/Creekside nines today with a 10:20am tee time. POP was perfect, right at 4 hours. MPCC is in very nice condition overall. The fairways are not as green and lush as they were when I last played here in late April. But they are quite nice. Good lies abound in the fairways, with very little to complain about. The rough immediately adjacent to the fairways is 1-2 inches. It could be penal if your ball was sitting down. But it wasn't too bad. Wasn't in any bunkers today. But they looked good. Except there are some fairway bunkers scattered throughout the course that are churned up and full of dirt piles. I think they are in process of being renovated. I found one of them and just removed my ball and took a drop. The greens are in real good shape. They are soft and fairly receptive, and they run smooth at a medium-fast pace. I really like this course. It is challenging and fun to play. I highly recommend it.

Teed off as a foursome at 7:10am on Monday, 8/3. Pace of play was just at 4 hours. As a well used municipal course you don't expect stellar conditions at this course. But I was pleasantly surprised at the overall condition of the golf course. Although the fairways had numerous areas that were thin or even bare, most of the fairways were in very good shape. I never had anything but a great lie in any of the fairways I was in. So unless you hit the occasional bad spot, you would find the fairways were mostly pretty lush.

Tee boxes were not in great shape. They were hard pan and thin. The rough was also in pretty good shape. It was about 1-2 inches and in many areas had good coverage. There were some bad spots, but I was pleasantly surprised by the good conditions of the rough. The rough around the greens was in very nice shape, easy to chip from. I was in 1 greenside bunker. It had plenty of firmly packed sand. Very easy to hit from. The greens were running medium-slow in the morning, but became medium speed as the day wore on. Unfortunately, there were far too many unfixed ball marks from Sunday play. They affected several of our putts during the round. Overall the greens were OK.

Soule Park is the best inexpensive, public course you can find in So. Cal. When you walk on the course it feels like a private country club. The conditions are absolutely superb. Fairways and rough are lush, green and picture perfect. I was in one fairway bunker and one greenside bunker. Both were excellent. Beautiful, soft fluffy sand. Easy to hit from. The greens are in great shape as well. They were running medium speed during the early part of the morning, but sped up a little in the late morning. They were relatively soft, very receptive, and rolled true. With the incredible scenery, outstanding conditions, great layout, there is no reason not to get out here and play!

Teed off at 8am as a single playing with 3 retired sheriff's deputies. Very nice guys. And a lot of fun to play with. The weather was cloudy, cool and in the 60's for most of the round. The sun came out and warmed to about 70 degrees while playing the 16th hole. Perfect golf weather.

Unfortunately, this is not any where near a perfect golf course. It is mediocre at best right now. The tee boxes are very rough and chewed up (white tees), but playable with a tee stuck in the ground. The fairways are a mix of grasses. The coverage is decent but the turf is thin, with occasional lush areas here and there. There is not a lot of distinction between the fairway grass and the rough. Except the rough is less consistent and with more bare areas.

I was in two fairway bunkers. Both had heavy damp sand that was very firm. I was in one greenside bunker. It had adequate sand but was very chewed up and hard. The turf surrounding the greens was very tight. I ended up putting more than usual from off the green because it was too difficult to get under the ball for a good chip.

The greens were the best part of the course. They were medium speed, smooth and held shots fairly well. They were soft and rolled nicely. Right now this course is just OK. Being 45 minutes from my house and costing $43 to walk for a senior, I won't be back.

Teed off at Hansen Dam as a foursome on 7/15/20 at 6am. Pace of play was perfect at 3.5 hours. We never waited on a shot on this cool, cloudy morning. Overall, the course is in good shape. The roughest part of the course is the tee boxes. Some are unlevel, thin, and hard to stick a tee in the ground. But this didn't really bother anyone.

Fairways are mostly lush, with nice padding under your ball. There were some areas that were burnt and yellowish, but they didn't come into play very often. The rough is 1-3 inches and fairly consistent and playable. I was in one sand trap. There was plenty of nicely raked, medium sand. Easy to hit from. The greens were running medium speed for the most part. They were generally smooth, soft, and receptive to well struck approach shots. The course is very enjoyable to play right now. Recommended.

Played Balboa on Monday morning at 8:30 as a foursome. Overall, the conditions are good. Although the fairways have multiple grasses, and are multi-colored, they are actually in good shape. For the most part, the fairways have nice coverage, with a good cushion under your ball. There are some bad areas, but they are in the minority. Tee boxes were fine. The rough is a mixed bag, with some lush and some spotty areas, not very penal. I wasn't in any greenside bunkers, but my playing partners said they were in good shape. The greens were medium speed with occasional bumpiness. Overall, a fun day with a course that is in good condition.