Played Arrowood on 6/17/25. This course is almost always in great condition, and I must say I have never seen it better than today. Just outstanding all around. Greens were also being rolled as I played, so the speed was tough to figure. I am sure tomorrow greens will be at full speed.

The only curiosity was the return of the greenside bunker on #14. It used to be there, then it was removed and turned into a deep grass bunker. And now it has been rebuilt to a sand trap again. It was still roped off as ground under repair, but it looks like it will be ready for action any day now.

As always, the staff is top notch.

A great bargain with the Palm Card, but well worth it at rack rates (can't say that about many courses these days).

Higest recommendation! I'm even going with four exclamation points and a smiley !!!! :)

Played Trump Natl early on 5/19.

What a tremendous, and tremendously difficult, golf course. Fortunately, my driver was on today. And the only missed driver was one of the few places you can get away with it. Only two lost balls, both on layup shots that I thought were good, just had a hazard I could not see.

Course is in great condition. Greens and tees excellent. Fairways perfect. The sand did seem to vary in consistency, but still really good.

Course was fantastic, but surprisingly, the customer service was a big ZERO! No valet service on arrival. No beverage cart. No marshall. No water in the cooler. Stopped at the turn to the snack bar / grill, and they were too busy to bother coming to the window. It really was shocking how we were completely ignored once we were on the course.

I'm assuming the staff was all in the parking lot watching BMW films commercials for their new cars - because they sure weren't interested in the golfers.

After finding another GN Hot Deal, I headed back to Pala Mesa 3 weeks after my prior review.

Last time, I commented on the near excellent conditions all around - with some minor reservations on the greens. 3 weeks later, I have no more reservations on the greens. They were really nice this time, and any prior observations of "competing grass types" were very minimal this time. They do have one green with some challenges (#8 I think), but outside of that, they were great.

Highly recommended.

Played Muni on 5/5. 3 weeks post-aeration, and the greens are not there yet. Still somewhat bouncy and not rolling true.

Outside of the greens, everything else is in great shape.

Out early on 4/24. Had a 7:10 time, but pulled up at 6:45 and checked in. Nobody was on #1 tee, and the started said go. So off I went. Played through 1 single ahead, and finished in just over 2 hrs. Been a while since I've had a solo round.

I have not been to Pala Mesa in 5 years. I must say I am impressed. Course conditions were really good. Fairways, rough, sand were all fantastic. Tee boxes were very good.

The greens were in good shape and rolled really well. A couple of the greens had some challenges, and you can see a mixture of grasses on the greens might be an issue later, but right now they are rolling great.

Big thumbs up to Pala Mesa for a job well done, I look forward to coming out again.

Had a couple of hours to kill, so I hopped over to Lake Forest for the 1st time to work on some wedges and putting.

Course was actually better than I expected. Greens were quite decent, grass coverage was good, rolled good, and surprisingly ball marks were not excessive. Not much to complain about, course was quite acceptable in all areas.

HOWEVER, pace of play was awful. Several times, had 4 groups on a tee waiting. I quit after 8.

Played Strawberry on 1/17/25. Love the layout, staff is nice, but man the grass to dollar ratio is way off here.

Tee boxes are the worst offenders. On most tee boxes you won't get grass under your feet and the ball at the same time. Mostly, it is just sand coverage. Fairways are a little better, but there are still large areas of many fairways that are just sand.

Greens are pretty good, couple of rough spots here or there, but nothing really troublesome. Sand traps were real nice.

Course was busy, and pace was 4:45. Started out quick through 8, then slowed for the back 9.

Can't recommend Strawberry at the price they are asking. Hopefully this is just a winter condition, and the grass will fill in for spring. I think the fairways will be good, but those tee boxes have a long way to go.

Played SC Muni on 1/8. Standard Muni conditions - greens and fairways excellent. Rough and tees good with the usual trouble spots.

Of note, vandals partied on #3 green the night before, so #3 has a temp green while repairs are made. My guess (based on nothing - just a guess) is they will have the green back in play in a few days, but it will be a while until it fully recovers.

Played MSQ on 12/12/14. Fairways / Rough / Traps all in very good shape for a muni. Greens were quite good, smooth and quick, but not too quick. Surprisingly, not an ocean of ball marks on greens. Need to add this one back onto my bargain rotation, it was a fun day.

Highly recommended.

Still sad to see the Players course remnants out there, with nobody at all using the new park facilities.

Played Muni on 11/15/24. Sorry for not posting more Muni reviews as I do usually play here every other week, but there is rarely any changes for a really solid Muni course.

Greens are at full nasty. Down grain to the ocean, the putt always rolls much more than you'd expect. Chipping is a nightmare here with the Kikuyu. I'm not sure if they aerated as I haven't been here in a month, but I guess not because the greens are great right now. Not as firm as recent years, so they do accept iron shots better than they have in recent summers.

Fairways and rough are amazing for a bargain public course.

Only negative is that the tees have been recently verticut. Still very playable, just not visually appealing.

As always, highest recommendation.

Played Coyote Hills on 11/5. Fun layout and good customer service. First time getting to use the all-in Senior deal which is nice.

Conditions leave me shaking my head though. Greens are pretty good, a little shaggy but still roll pretty well. But with the shaggy, footprints are a problem.

I hate the fairways. Yes, it has grass on it, but they are hard as rocks. It is like hitting off the worst possible range mats. And I still hit 16 GIRs, but maybe only because I practice on awful range mats a lot.

Tee boxes are pretty bad. Just not enough grass at all. Looks like they have done some recent maintenance, so maybe it will improve.

Sand traps look very nice, but I was in 2, and both times there was about 1/2" of nice sand and then it bottomed out

I'll give it a slight recommendation. Fun course to play, but enough issues to make me hesitate.

Played Talega on 10/29/24, first time back here in 4 years even though I live 1 mile away.

Conditions have improved. Greens are nice, a bit healthier and not quite as fast as before. That may be since they are post-maintenance though. Fairways are pretty good, more grass and less hard spots.

The rough is getting some work done. Many areas are roped off for new growth. Sand was pretty good, and I got my share of looks at the bunkers.


Glad to see things looking up here, and I'll add Talega back to my rotation.