A few people (who shall remain nameless) at Eagle Glen GC thought that my last review was a little harsh. I still stand by what I said, as all of my reviews since joining GK have been "tough but fair". That review was a really long time ago, and I have kept by my word about not playing Eagle Glen ever again from that day forward. That is until last Saturday, 1/30/10. A friend of mine booked the time and I was really anxious to get out and hit 'em (I've been bus since before Christmas and had not held a club in over eight weeks...) - so - I agreed, grudgingly, to give it another try...

We arrived early for our 7:15 A.M. starting time and the pro-shop was not open yet. It opened shortly thereafter and the staff could not have been more pleasant to deal with. We each hit a small warm-up bucket and headed for the first tee. We tee'd off right on time. The first fairway was cart-path-only - as were several other holes - - but you can tell that they have done major maintenance and the course weathered the recent rains fairly well. I guess the most disappointing thing was the lack of consistency in the faitways...there were some pretty rough lies out there and some bare and wet patches. Hard-pan becomes "mud-pan" out there. Tee boxes...a little hammered....but - you could usually find a nice level area.

They've abviously been working on the sand in the bunkers, as it was the best I've ever seen at Eagle Glen. They seem to be draining better than in the old days.

The greens were magnificent. Truly. Fast as lightning downhill, and smooth. Not a lot of unrepaired ball-marks and real pleasure to putt on.

The course was as well-marshalled as I've ever seen. My biggest complaint before was "slow play" at Eagle Glen - - not a problem on Saturday. The marshall even had to warn OUR group to catch up...and he was right. The GPS said that we were 6-minutes behind and we got it to 6-minutes "ahead" within a few holes. Finished our round right at 11:45, exactly 4.5 hours.

An enjoyable day of golf. Eagle Glen may just have earned a place back in Cheeseburger's rotation.

As alway, Hank and his staff make golfing at Oak Quarry a pleasure...from the guy who comes and takes your clubs to the carts, to the check-in crew behind the counter...to the starter who got us out right on time...and the marshalls who keep the course moving...this is still a "must play" course for anybody in SoCal. The heat is keeping Oak Quarry from being a 9.0 - 9.5 all-around golf course...but all courses along the Highway 15 corridor have been doing battle with the weather all summer long. Greens were O.K. - a little slow and seemingly inconsistent...but maybe that's just because my putting sucked that day! A little over four-hours total...and on a Saturday, too! The club sandwich in the clubhouse is a winner...and pitchers of cold beer make for a great way to spend the day. If you like to golf...you'll love Oak Quarry!

Played on Saturday the 19th. Tee to green it's in really good shape...although a couple of the greens need a little work (bumpy, thin, fungus (?). It's been extremely hot for them for a number of weeks now, so - I'll cut 'em some slack this time. Ball sits up nicely on fairways that are pretty lush with very few thin/hardpan spots...but - they are out there so beware. Bunker sand is not consistent...some wet, some not...but again....they must be pouring a ton of water on the course to keep it green. Finished in 4.5 hours...hard not to like Trilogy - errr - I mean "The Golf Club at Glen Ivy" - it's always a course in my regular roatation!!

As always, The Goose delivers! Despite all the heat, the course is miraculously green and lush for this time of year...the greens rolled true and were pretty fast (we heard that there was a big tournament coming up...) Finished on a Saturday in 4.5 hours...and you can't beat that! Best recent feature: The bar at Goose Creek now has Stone Brewery IPA on TAP! My favorite golf course and my favorite beer...nice combo!

I had a late cancellation in my schedule yesterday....but not so late that I couldn't get out to play a little golf. Found a $65.00 single time on Click4TeeTimes and booked it. When I arrived, they were filming an episode of "Entourage" at the course....which was pretty cool. My time was 11:50 - but the course was wide-open and another twosome showed up when I did....so - we got out at 11:30 and never caught the group in front of us until the back-nine! Even then, they stayed out in front of us pretty well...and we really only had to wait on #16 thru #18. We still finished in 3.5 hours. A great day of golf.

Green still showed the slightest bit of recovery from the small-hole punching done last month. I understand that the "Ike" is being punched now.

THAT is the only negative I can think of!!

What a great golf course! What *super* conditions! It was truly "as good as it gets" - fairways were lush and the ball sat up well....it's a pretty tough golf course from the blue tees (I remember it being tougher - but I have not played The Babe in 20+ years!! I know that they've change a lot and poured a ton of $$$ into the place....it shows!!)

The opening tee-shot on hole #1 from the blues is a real knee-knocker....there's probably 175 yards of canyon-carry before the fairway....it's actually a lot wider of a landing-area than it looks. This course rewards long, straight tee shots (big shocker there!) "Faders", be ready to be punished!

An excellent golf experience all around. I will be back....soon!

Put the "Babe' in your rotation....you won't be sorry!

Played on Saturday, 2/7/09. The threat of rain scared everybody away....and they missed a great day of golf! Sure, it "drizzled and spit" a bit - perhaps on four holes total. But that just made it so the greens held all shots.

Some bunkers were still filled with rain-water...but I have to say...Trilogy drains really well!

No complaints. Great conditions for this time of year.

New golf carts coming soon...they promised!!

Mixed review. I have mixed emotions/mixed feelings about this golf course. I think that I can sum up my feelings by repeating the words I said to our foursome as we walked off the 18th green last Saturday (1/31/09): "I think I'd like to play here again. I just don't know *WHY*!!"

The designer actually did a pretty good job of duplicating the experience of a true links course. And I've played many, both in Scotland and Ireland. If you keep your field-of-vision low enough, and don't look at the mountains or the local desert flora - you might just think you are walking a classic links course.

If I do play the Links at Summerly again, (and I'm sure I will) - I will invest in a yardage book. Course-knowledge could have saved me 5-strokes or more. The GPS on the cart gives you minimal information about "where" the burns are (N.B. there are some really well-made burns - quite authentic!) - info like "185 to the front of the burn" does not really halp you if you don't know that the last 75 yards *before* the bloody burn are DOWNHILL!! Very frustrating.

Undulating fairways (another typical links-course feature) - and a truly "flat" lie is a rarity. Intimidatingly narrow fairways, too. I only lost two balls - but - that was a miracle! The fairways were not really to my liking (I like 'em LUSH) - they were mighty "tight" in the lie department. Again - that's classic links golf, so - if that's what you're after, you'll find it here! Mind you, the fairways were not "bad" - just a little thin.

The greens....not too fast, not to slow - they do not break NEARLY AS MUCH as you think they are gonna. I must have missed 10 putts on the high-side! Not the smoothest greens you will ever putt on - but there's certainly worse ones out there. There's one green - the double-green par-three on the back side (double-greens - another cool link-sy feature!!) - I don't remember the hole number - that had a huge area of "GUR" that was pretty ugly. Probaly 1/4 of the todal green had a nasty fungus!

Yeah - I'll be back. I prefer The Goose, Oak Quarry, Trilogy if I'm out that way. Lake Elsinore is only another 10-12 minutes further for me. But make sure you give The Links at Summerly a try.

It's gotta be better than work! :-)

Had a great time at The Goose on Saturday, 1-24-09. It pays to look at the accurate weather forecasts on WeatherUnderground.com. It was raining in Yorba Linda, it was drizzling in Pasadena...but - the website said no rain....so down we went. Our starting time? 8:16 A.M. We tee'd off....at 8:16 A.M. The Goose has it's stuff together!!

It never rained a drop until the 14th hole...and then only a light drizzle.

We walked the course in 4 hours and ten minutes. After the second hole, we never waited on another shot all morning. The spacing was great.

The fairways were good. Just "OK" in some spots....not what I would call "lush" - nor were they up to Goose Creek's normal high standards...but certainly nice. No "bare" spots, but - some places were a little thin. The greens held all shots well...but - they putted quite a bit slower than they looked. There was some residual "top dressing" sand on many of the greens...but I don't feel that it was the reason for the slowness. I think the greenskeepers at GC just know what they are doing and this was a time when they needed to let 'em grow out a bit.

Despite the drizzle...a fine day of golf was had at one of the best courses for walking in all of Southern California. GC receives the GK "Best Value for the Greens Fee" award every year for a reason!

An update on Trilogy....it's still in pretty good shape. Cart-path only on #10 and #13 when we played yesterday (1/3/09) Overall the fairways, although not very "pretty and green" play fairly consistently. No real thin areas, few spots of GUR. I can now officially say that I am an expert in the area of "Trilogy bunkers". Man...they sure have a bunch of 'em...and I was in way too many. Really good quality sand in the bunkers. Well-maintained. The greens rolled true...and - although not too fast...a downhill putt could still get away from you if you are not paying attention. They were not perfect...but far better than most. Staff is great. Ours was a Saturday round...so a pace of 5.0 hours can be expected.

Forget all about my last review. All is well at Oak Quarry!

Played in a foursome yesterday (12/27)...got out right on schedule. There were a ton of golfers standing about...must have been the holiday weekend. But the pro-shop staff and the starter were really on top of *their* games....and we got off right on schedule with no delay. The starter gave us an 8-minute call - and 8-minutes later, we were on the tee. The pace of play was far from "blistering" - but - we could see no major gaps between groups of golfers, so - there is no reason to complain. Sometimes a five-hour round on Saturday has to be expected. We cant' be accused of exactly 'lighting it up', either....had a couple lost balls and were playing a team match...so - "stuff happens".

The couse itself is in stellar shape, tee to green. A few of the tee-boxes were a little chewed-up from golf-shoe spike wear....and that seems to be due to the recent rains, mostly. The crack Oak Quarry staff will get right on those. The fairways are lush...and - even where they are not perfectly green, there appear to be no thin areas....at least none that I was actually in! The course is getting a lot of play....and customers are not filling their divots! That's not the fault of the course or management, that's just poor golf etiquette on the part of a few golfers.

The bunkers were showing signs of being pounded by recent rains. The "sand" needs a little work. Perhaps it just needs to be turned-over and "fluffed up"....but it seems as if the sand itself had washed away...and the remaining hard-packed gravel-y substance that is left behind made for some interesting sand-outs.

The greens were truly spectacular. FAST! Mowed tight. Very smooth....hardly a bumpy line on any of them. It's hard for me to remember a time when the greens here were any better. Had to fix a number of other folks' ball marks, though - but that's not the fault of The Quarry....again, that's just rude golfers for ya.

G.M. Hank greeted us at lunch to see how we enjoyed things. The food in the clubhouse is much better than average, and the beer is cold.

From the fellow who greets you at your car and grabs your clubs out of the trunk for you...to the pro-shop staff, the starter, the marshalls, the cart girl (we saw her 4-times....I don't think she had a very busy day...it was quite cold until 11:00 A.M.!), to hank himself, Page, our waitress in the bar, to the guys who washed the mud off our clubs and carted us out to the parking lot...everybody at Oak Quarry is first-rate all the way!!

If Oak Quarry is not on your list of regular courses...it should be.

Had a Saturday morning tee-time at Empire Lakes....arrived at 7:00 A.M. - and were told that there was a frost delay (no kidding - it was wicked-cold and you could see that the greens were frosty/frozen from a distance!) We were informed that nobody was going out until 10:00. The players' cell-phones in the pro-shop and coffee shop were buzzing away as foursomes scrambled to make other tee-times up and down the 15 Freeway corridor.

Called Goose Creek (of course) - and they had a similar frosty problem on their hands...Oak Quarry reported that they could get us out around 10:00, no problem. Black Gold said "maybe 9:00 or 9:30 - come on down".

We took a vote...and the 9:00 time at Trilogy, Glen Ivy, won the day.

We arrived at 8:00....and they told us to get our gear together....they were putting all the morning times out in a shotgun at 8:20 A.M. We got assigned hole #10 and were the second group off the back-side.

Steady pace of play....4 hours and 20 minutes....waited on very few shots. The fairways were not "mid-Spring" green...but they were nicely trimmed and held the ball up well. A few spots of GUR - but overall, the course is in very playable condition.

The bunker-sand was quite nice and consistent. The greens might have been a little bumpy, but rolled true....fast as hell downhill, slow uphill...no complaints.

Trilogy is holding her own so far this winter. If given the choice, I'd pick Trilogy over some my other local haunts.

Two thumbs-up from Fr. Cheese!

All I can say is: It is almost unbelievable how conditions can change for the worse in just a couple of short weeks this time of year. Except for the greens (whice are O.K. - but nothing "great" anymore), I have absolutely nothing *GOOD* to say about Hidden Valley right now. Played on 12/6 - a Saturday morning. Not very crowded. I can see why. Maybe everybody else has seen what piss-poor shape H.V. is right now. It's embarassing! There are so many bare spots that it looks like cancer has eaten away the turf grasses. On #10, I hit the perfect drive, right down the right side of the fairway with a little draw on the ball....my shot took two hops to the left and up the hill....and then rolled 60 yards backwards until it hit some weeds and finally stopped on the left side of the fairway. It's ugly. It's been uglier (see some of my past reviews over the last six years...I've been a regular out at H.V. since they opened) - - but not by much.

I won't be back until I see some GK reviews indicating that things have changed for the better.

4.0 hours. Good pace.