Played Sat 5/7 morning with Golfmoose deal. Course condition was just okay - decent greens (except some greens as I wrote below), fairways some bare spots and some areas okay, sands that I was in were all very hard (hitting balls directly from sand traps actually worked better than hitting sands behind balls).

However, I saw something that I never saw in other courses regarding maintenance of greens. There was no maintenance alert on GK page. So I assumed that they were not doing maintenance on greens. Front nine, it was fine. Then, after the turn, the greens on Holes 10, 11, 12, and 15 (I think) were punched and top dressed with sand. Only 4 holes. I never saw any course doing that on only 4 holes. I wonder they were only doing those 4 as emergency measure. Pro shop guy didn't mention anything about that. It didn't ruin my experience of the round but we were scratching our head on this... weird maintenance strategy.

The course is short but do not underestimate this course. It is tough with all the tree lines and elevation changes and heavily guarded greens.

Played Bday (not me) round on Fri 4/22. I hadn't played TR for a while. The condition of the course was a mixed bag. I think the drought and water restriction is having an impact on TR. I saw more bare spots on the fairway than I have seen in the past. For TR standard and considering the rack rate of the course, that was disappointing. The rough and sands were okay. The good part is the greens. TR has one of the best green conditions among the courses in the area in my opinion. Greens are fast and kept well. They have lots of undulation - and hence very difficult. POP was around 4.5 hrs.
BDay deal for the BDay person gives free golf, range balls, and lunch. This deal is really good. And the food in the restaurant is awesome. My BDay friend got prime rib for free.
Would I play TR at rack rate? Probably not, cause I can't afford it. But, I would definitely take advantage of their BDay deal.

Played Monarch Saturday 4/16 in the morning. Was disappointed that the greens were punched and top dressed on 4/15, which is not announced on the maintenance alert on GK. Fairway, rough, and tee boxes were okay. Not in superior conditions like when I played last time few months ago. On #1 hole, most of entire fairway is marked as GUR. Some green side bunkers were not fluffy.
They gave discounted price and a sleeve of balls for the maintenance. POP was 4 hrs sharp.
If I knew before booking teetime that they were doing maintenance on green, I would have waited.

Played Sat 4/25 8:40 teetime. This was my third time playing here and no disappointment. We got out right on time. Course was very well maintained. Greens were rolling true, fairways and roughs were rush and sand traps filled with soft sands. POP was 4:20 on sat morning. Beverage cart came by three times. What more can you ask?
I live in Irvine area and this course is by far better value than Irvine courses. I wish it was located closer to my area, but it's worth the drive.

Played Sat morning 2/7 as single. Proshop let me go out 30 minutes earlier than booked time, so that was cool. The condition of fairway, rough, sand were excellent. Especially fairway is lush and good to hit from. Rough was not exceptionally long but was long enough to give you hard time if you miss fairway. Sands were soft and well raked.
However, the greens were in the worst form I have seen in few years I played here in my opinion. The greens had so many unfixed ball marks which were left out and made the surface so bumpy that no putts were rolling true. Those ball marks looked like permanent and like they have damaged the surface. Typical 5-ft putt could have had at least 3 or 4 big hops. Especially in the front nine, the first through three holes, the greens were really bad. I don't know if they are just leaving the greens alone until maintenance season, but it was really bad.
Then, something that I never experienced before happened on the third hole. The pin position was on the front. So I shot my approach shot to the just front of the green. After my shot, two of the guys in my group were lining up to hit their approach shots from around 75 yards out. Then all of a sudden, two maintenance crew guys jumped onto the green - while players were lining up! - and moved the pin to the back. One guy was just about to make a backswing! And they were not far out from the green. There was no way the crew could not have seen them. We shouted to the crwe guys that we were still playing the hole, but the guys just looked at us once and then still moved the pin. I guess they could not wait until our group finish the hole! What the??!!!!
Although the other parts of the course conditions were good and POP was 4:20, the bad condition of greens and the ridiculous maintenance crew left bad taste in the mouth.

Played sat 10/18. It was weekend before maintenance. So, the condition was not good. Greens were decent, held shots pretty well. But people do not fix their ball marks here. What a shame. I saw bunch of ball marks repaired incorrectly which actually made them worse. They are overseeding back tees, black and blue tees. But the proshop never mentioned it to us. We found out when we went out to the first tee and noticed there were only white tee and front tee. Some sands were okay but thin. 18th hole fairway bunker had tons of rocks - and I mean real good size rocks, half-inch rocks!
POP is horrendous at 5.5 hrs or more on Saturdays, basically had to wait on every shot. This was my second time in recent months and both times were 5.5 hrs. So I guess that's the norm here at Glen Ivy. Did not see any beverage cart during the whole round. Probably won't be back unless I hear POP and service have gotten better.

Played 8/19 Sat mid morning. Their customer service is always top notch and consistent. It's always nice to be treated like a celebrity (well, almost) :)
However, I think the cource condition and POP are on downward trend. The greens and rough are ok. Fairways have some thin to bare spots (kinda understandable in this bad drought, but given the very high green fee, it is disappointing). Especially, the greenside sands are very thin with hard, wet base. I was very disappointed. I was in 4 or five greenside bunkers and they were all similar - especially the one in #12.
Our POP was 5 hrs. The group in front of us was very slow and we had to wait every shot until marshall caught up to them on Hole #15. It was frustrating to keep having to see the lady in that group fluff and top every shot!
Yes, this course has one of the best view in So Cal and top notch customer service, but the condition and POP doesn't justify the high green fee of $239 rack rate. It will be awhile until I go back.

Played Oak Creek on Sat 6/7 at noon. Perfect weather in Irvine. What i like the most about this course is that you feel like you are playing a secluded course far from a city. You don't see a house or building from the course. The service is good and POP was ~ 4:20, not bad for Sat afternoon.
The course conditions were ok. Fairway and rough were good, tee boxes were ok with some unfilled divot marks. Greens were ok but on the mid to slow side. I didn't like the sand - the greenside bunkers i went in were generally hard and felt thin and hard when hitting shots.
Overall, it was good experience. I used the Costco Live Discount deal that I bought ($140 for round at Oak Creek AND a round at Strawberry) - so it cost me $75 to play this course. This is good course but with rack rate of $175 I think is overpriced (well, like most courses in Irvine area).

Played 5/3 Sat morning. This was my third time playing here and their customer service is top notch. Well, considering the green fee and that this is a resort golf course, that is kind of expected. Greens were very good. It was more on medium speed in the morning and by afternoon, it was on medium-fast side. Fairway and rough were good, except lots of divot marks that were not filled in by golfers. Only down side on this course was the sands. I was in two greenside bunkers and they were both hard and shallow. It had a very think layer of fluffy sand on top, and then hard, wet sand underneath. It made my sand wedge bounce right off, skulling the ball.
Other than the sands, it was an excellent experience with great customer service. The view from the third hole is priceless.

Played 12/10 morning at 8:30 as a single. Used Tustin Ranch Birthday Club email member special (it was not my birthday) for $80 a round + free range balls + free lunch. Not the cheapest but actually not a bad deal.

Greens are very nice; firm, rolls true. However, they are fast and with crazy undulations. Fairways are somewhat thin but expected for December. There were many bare spots in roughs, especially around greens.

They are currently renovating several greenside bunkers. Ones I remember are 3rd & 17th holes (i think there were few more but don't remember which holes). They are re-packing sand in the bunkers and the 3rd hole bunker looked like a construction site with shovels and spades in the bunker :). They are marked GUR, but avoid them if you can.

Service is always excellent here. Also one thing I would like to compliment is the food at the restaurant. I learned today that they have a new head chef who used to be the corporate chef for Ruth's Chris. The food was excellent; I have had burgers and sliders there and they were very good.

Can't wait until I go back there for my birthday free golf!

Played Sat 11/30 ~8:30 am. Greens are coming off the maintenance okay. Some bumpy but overall good. I guess they are letting the rough grow. It is long and very penal. Sands are somewhat inconsistent. Fairways were okay. Teeboxes are however very long and there were barespots. Looked like they were still working on getting the teeboxes back to shape.

Pace of play was 4.5 hrs, which is excellent for Sat morning for TC. Course was not crowded. Maybe people are waiting out until course condition gets better. Service was nice as always.

Played Sat 11/09 8:30 teetime. You could say Black gold is an expensive muni course but it's worth the money. The course is well maintained. In my opinion, I couldn't notice the issue of grass transition on the back nine that other people mentioned. Fairways roll well. There were couple of wet muddy areas on fairways, but no big problem. Greens are very hard and very fast. Beware: Putts continued to roll, which contributed to my many 3-putts :) You better bring your A putting game. I was in only one sand; it was fluffy. On couple of long par 3's, they closed blue tee boxes; they put blue tee on the black tee box. So we played from white tee. Other than that, tee boxes were level.
Their customer service was excellent. Free range ball and the proshop gives you one of those pagers that buzzes when you're up on the 1st tee. I thought that was an excellent tool. Overall, it's a very nice course with good maintenance. Also, it has one of my favorite finishing holes.