First impressions always count and the Journey does not let you down, from the valet parking, the loading of your clubs onto the cart through to the mens locker room and the pro shop.

The range is one of the best I've ever seen. You drive past two putting greens, two greens for practicing pitches, bunker and approach shots, up to a grass only range stretching out to 300 yards with 7 or 8 green targets, protected by bunkers.

The starter was excellent, and as a single, he came out looking for me on the range to send me out earlier than I'd anticipated. He described in detail the workings of the cart GPS which was the largest I've ever seen. The only negative was that the distances were to the middle of the green and there were no pin sheets. Apparently they used to provide distances to the pin but no longer.

The conditioning of the course was excellent, with the tee boxes perfect, the fairways fast and the greens true, even if they rolled slower than I anticipated. They were running at 10, with some putts very slow against the grain. The greens are bent with absolutely no poa in them. Some people have commented about the undulations but I wouldn't consider them unfair. You need to be precise with your approaches!

The course CAN NOT be walked. Apparently it is 8 miles with some of the drives between holes very long. It must have taken a good 5 mins to get from the 5th green to the 6th tee, with a climb of probably 250 feet!

My only critique of the course is the routing. Yes, the views are amazing, although today you look out over a massive housing community. It was probably not the same when the course was first opened. Without knowing the course, it is very difficult to guage the distance when you are faced with a vertical drop of 175 feet down to teh 6th fairway. For members, this may be fine, but I don't feel this should be the case for the occasional visitor, and the hi tech GPS does not offer any advice in this instance. The 18th was another example where the drive probably goes 20-25% further than a drive on the flat.

Pace of play was excellent, probably due to the fact that it was Mother's day therefore there may have been less traffic than normal. I paid $69 for twilight and as a two ball, we played in less than 4 hours, teeing off just at 1.30. (The excellent starter sent us out early, normal twilight starts at 2.00)

Would I go back? Possibly, but I would not pay the full rate. With the wind and the elevation change, the course is a little too tricked up for my liking.

Journey at Pechanga Course Review
Temecula California Golf Course Reviews