Coronado remains one of my favorite golf courses in San Diego County. I played there yesterday on a breezy, but beautiful day. The course is just recovering from maintenance and is in really nice shape overall.

But I am concerned about the uncharacteristically hard greens. Especially, so soon after punching and the recent rain. The greens were not holding at all. Even flop shots were bouncing over, or to the back of the greens. As you might expect, they were pretty fast and still a little bumpy from being punched. But I've never played the course with such firm greens. The rest of the course was pretty lush and green, so I don't think that it's a water thing. I hope that it's only temporary and meant to punish the Mens Club members playing this weekend.

I love fast, true greens! So, I hope that Coronado GC can again achieve a good balance between green speeds and firmness.

Played in the Men's Club Turkey Shoot. I checked both the Torrey Pines Mens Club and the Torrey Pines Golf Course websites and there were no reference to Cart Path only restrictions. Three months until the Farmers. Lame. As it turns out, they didn't even offer handicapped access off of the paths! Many of the players either dropped out or picked up. And since the rough was up, play was slow, and the marshals were pushing to speed it up. While they sympathized that the cause for slow play was a combination of rough conditions and cart path restrictions, they were instructed to push for faster play. Torrey Pines Golf Course management is just pathetic and not customer friendly.

While the course was suffering from drought conditions, especially in the rough and around the greens, it played better than many of the local courses. The fairways were lush, the bunkers were generally in good condition and the greens were fast. But tough to find balls or hit greens from the rough.

Definitely my last round on the North until Phil's redesign.

Played La Costa Legends for the first time. Disappointed after seeing the high rating. Great bunkers and lush fairways. But average greens and muni quality areas around the greens. Apparently the over-seeding is not coming in well with the lack of water. I expected much better conditions for the price.

I played in the Mens Club Turkey Shoot today.

I was extremely disappointed in the shape of the course. First it was still recovering from being punched last month. So the greens were soft and bumpy.
The one bunker that I was in had zero sand in it and another was GUR. And they set up the tees in the most worn and slanted areas. Some were sloped toward the green and some were sloped severely to the right. No grass.

They're setting it up for The Farmers, more than two months away. So it played cart paths only. Since the fairways were pretty thin, I guess they think that might help. The rough was tough in spots, but generally ok.

Torry North, for me, is a so-so course with nice views. For the course management to abuse the public with carts paths-only rules for a tournament months away is pretty ridiculous. I won't play there again until after the tournament.

What happened to Pechanga? It looked like they're cutting back on costs! Doesn't make sense for a casino course. No tees or markers at the driving range. Small water bottles. Unprepared bunkers. Reduced staff.

Seemed like most of the players were playing on 2fer discounts or comps. Although the course seemed to be full, the snack bar and the bar/restaurant were empty.

Anyway, the course was still in great shape with the possible exception of the bunkers. They were wet and heavy. It still played tough due to the wind, fast greens, rough, bunkers and constant out-of-play areas. The greens are very hard for me to read due in part to the hill-side influence.

I had pars on all three of the toughest holes for me, 5, 9 and 13. So that was good. But it was feast or famine for me with a few pars on each side, compounded by doubles and pick-ups.

But #13, the previously hardest hole for me, was cut back due to problems with a neighbor.

And I agree with a previous poster that #6 and #18 are pretty "tricked-up".

What confounded us the most was how to play the constant forests, "lateral" waste areas and long tee carries. The starter said to play them all as lateral water hazards, but in looking on the card for local rules, it was completely void of any instructions. Some areas were marked with hazard stakes, but most weren't. And with some of the carries at 200 yds. or more, we looked for drop areas to no avail.

Given the 100 degree heat and having previously encountered a monster rattlesnake there, I was very reluctant to go searching for balls anywhere but the fairways.

I talked to one of the assistants after the round and he professed aggravation over the situation. By the rules, unmarked areas must be played from or re-tee'd. Customers are confused and forced to hunt for balls and go back to re-tee, etc. And some carries are just too long for many golfers. What do you do then without drop areas? And not knowing if you've hit into a lateral hazard or not, what do you do then? Hit a provisional?

As a result, we had quite a few pick-ups and X's ruining our scores and enjoyment. And we are all single of low teens indexes!

For us, we agreed to define our own local rules the next time.

Since it's such a great course, it's just an aggravation that we'll have to live with.

Played in the Men's Club event today. I was surprised and glad to see that the course has come back from maintenance last month, and was in great shape!

The greens have healed from punching and were soft but pretty quick. I liked the speeds but they were still a little bumpy, and as a result, no birdies in our group. Mostly pars and bogies.

The rest of the course was first class. Lush fairways, tees and rough, and the rough was cut down and playable.

As usual on the South, we all spent a lot of time in the sand. But, thank goodness, the bunkers were prepared as good as it gets in San Diego. What a pleasure to play bunkers like the pros find them!

Give the greens a couple more weeks, and Torrey South should be back to one of the top five in San Diego.

RBI is one of my favorites. They have been working hard to improve the course and it shows.

The greens have come back nicely from maintenance and are very fast. But they are still a little bumpy. When they smooth out, they should be great!

But the bunkers need work. They have always been tough. Some are big and deep. And they are pretty much packed dirt with very little (if any) sand. I think that this should be their next major project. Adding a layer of quality white sand to the bunkers would make a big difference.

The staff is very friendly and attentive.

Kudos to Coronado GC for reducing prices during maintenance!

Torrey South is one of my favorite tracks in San Diego. So I'm probably more critical of the conditions than most courses.

I'm confounded over how the conditions quickly detiorate between tournaments. Just after The Farmers, it was great! Now, only six weeks later, it's pathetic. At least compared to other area courses right now.

Especially the greens and bunkers. The greens were slow, soft and bumpy, with many ball marks. Meanwhile other area courses are fast and true. And the bunkers no longer have that tournament base and firmness. As a result they were tracked up and lumpy.

I can't believe that non-city residents will be happy paying the inflated rates for Torrey South in these conditions. It's even a stretch for City rates.

I do hope that other Greenskeeper members post their experiences regularly so that we can take advantage of their reports and play Torrey when it is in good condition. When it's good, it's really good!

We played Mission/Friars with the Torrey Pines Mens Club on 3/8/13.

I have been a critic of Riverwalk because of the poor conditions recently, but the course was in pretty good condition. The greens were soft, pure and fast, and it was noticeable that they are working hard to improve the course. While there were workers on the course, they were very courteous and didn't impact play.

The rough is still pretty "rough", but the bunkers, greens and fairways were nice. Especially the greens. They were super smooth. The only problem was that the speeds were too fast for some of the greens. Shots above the holes were a often a sure three putt, if missed. And I even heard of a five putt on Friars. I had a three putt from four feet above one hole. But I made a lot of putts to make up for it.

The service was great! They even had an outside bar-b-q set up for us with burgers, dogs and deli sandwiches. Torrey Pines would never do that.

Given the poor conditions at many of the local courses these days, Riverwalk should be commended for the efforts that they're showing to improve the course and experience.

They are punching later this month, but say that they are punching 1/2 the green, at a time.

Loved it! It deserves its high Greenskeeper rating.

I've been wanting to play Aviara, again, for awhile, and finally got my chance.
It's even better than I remember it from about 20 years ago.

Aviara is a beautiful course with fantastic greens, rough and bunkers, and colorful flowering, everywhere. Unfortunately, the fairways were hurting, apparently from the recent frost. But they were still better than most.

It's getting ready for the LPGA tournament coming up, but it didn't appear that anything was different than any other time. Since I am especially sensitive to the greens when I play, I plan to make playing there a regular treat. Even the discounted rates are a bit stiff for San Diego. It's about the most expensive public course around, but is still a better deal than comparable courses like Torrey South or Pasatiempo. And it's still way cheaper than belonging to a country club. And better than most.

I don't remember playing another Arnold Palmer designed course, but I loved the layout. Every hole was different, unique and memorable. And a couple were very tough. The front nine was easier for me and the marshal warned us that the back would be tougher, playing more into the wind. It was. Eighteen looked impossible off of the tee with water right, OB and bunkering left, and a little spit of fairway in between. But I finished with a Par!

Last, but not least, the staff was very friendly and helpful and treated us like we were appreciated. But not overdone. And they even have chocolate chip cookies at the starters table.

We played Canyon/Ranch at Steele Canyon yesterday. It was cold and rained a little.

While I rated Steele Canyon pretty high, it was due primarily to the greens and fairways. The greens were the typical hard and fast. And the fairways were over-seeded, green and lush.

The rough was tough. It is brown kikuyu, which is a bad enough grass, when it's green, like at Torrey. Missed fairways were costly.

My main gripe is the condition of the fringes around the greens. They vary from hard pan to random clumps of grass. And worse, a combination of both. They should maintain them as either hard pan or rough.

Steele Canyon is a challenging course for me, primarily due to the hard greens that don't hold. And with the poor maintenance surrounding the greens, it is even tougher.