Drove 65 miles out to Hemet to play yesterday and saw only 10 or so cars in the lot when we arrived at 9:30 AM so we knew immediately that the course would not be in great shape. The greens were pretty good, fast and not much damage. The fairways were the worst I've seen in many years of playing the course and the bunkers were rock hard and wet, but no need to rake them as you did not even make a footprint when you went in. Pretty easy to get out of them also, if you just played the shot as a pitch off of hardpan. The good news was that we finished in 3 hours, including being behind a slower foursome with one dude who thought he was Camilo Villegas and had to lay down on the green before every putt!! They let us play thru on the 6th hole and it was no waiting after that. So long as you took a drop to a place with at least a little grass on the fairways, it was not a bad deal for $39 on a weekend!

The course was in the best shape I've ever seen it, but still more FLOG than GOLF. Steep sidehill lies, vicious slopes, huge outcroppings of rocks and long forced carries make it a trial to play, which is why this was only my 4th time ever on it and I play in the I.E. several times a week. It is my conclusion that this is a piece of land that God did not design for golf to be played upon, but someone thought that they should put a course on it nonetheless. Way too much hill climbing and cart path-only holes for someone in their 60's esp. in 97 degree temperatures. I have to say that the food and the service in the restaurant was some of the best I've seen at any course though!

Greens are wonderful, fairways are the best I've seen in many years, but the rough is just too brutal. I think the super has a plan to make sure virtually no women play his course. The front nine appeared to have been mowed recently, but the rough on the back was ridiculously long for a muni. We did not lose any balls this time, but it's way too hard to hit it over the creek from those US Open type lies. Too bad as the price is great and it's only 19 miles from home. The pro shop staff are also much friendlier than they used to be!

If you play here, take your cell phone to call for a replacement cart! Our first cart died on the hill toward #3 green and a replacement arrived in about 5 minutes. The second cart died on the way to the #12 green. We called and waited, no one came, so we loaded as much as possible onto the other cart and began walking. We had the lady in the snack bar call again and it was a total of 20 minutes before the replacement cart arrived, with the man in it complaining that "all the kids who work there don't do anything but sit around and talk" as his reason for the delay. I'm 60 years old and I got to walk up and down those hills carrying my bag for twenty minutes--sure am glad I had that cell phone with me and I don't have any heart trouble! The course was in good shape and we enjoyed our round--except for the cart switching hassles.

Course condition was excellent, but we chose to play on a very cold day (Sun. 3/12) and about half the golf carts had battery failures. Ours started failing on the 11th hole, so we called the pro shop on the 12th tee and were told we were "second on the list for a replacement cart". We called back 2 more times and were snarled at by the man answering the phone. I realize it was a crisis of sorts. but at least tell us the truth so we know whether to just unload and carry it all in or what. We were pushing the cart towards the 16th green when a kid came driving by. We asked him for the cart and he also snarled, saying there were at least 5-6 others ahead of us "on the list". I said we had been pushing the d%mn cart for 3 holes and had called 5 holes earlier. We got into a yelling match and I won, so we had a decent cart for the last 2.3 holes. It was fortunate, because the other cart in our foursome failed on the way to the 17th tee, and we had to use our new cart to push them into the clubhouse. I know cold weather is hard on cart batteries, but we also looked at the batteries in the two carts that failed and we saw 2 new batteries and 4 old ones (including burn marks on the cable connectors) so it was probably not all due to the bad weather. If I play the course again, I would take my push cart and not raise my blood pressure!!

Got a tee time of 10:00 am on the phone, but when we arrived were told a "mistake" had been made and we could go off at 10:36--wonder if that was because we were a threesome of women and the pro shop was filled with men waiting to play? We were also treated by the starter as if we were retarded--told us that we needed to "be sure to keep up the with group ahead of you" like we could get behind on a course that is jammed up and plays to 5+ hours every time you go there. As usual, the GPS on the cart we were assigned did not work in spite of 15 tries to reboot it. We were given a $2.50 per player refund, but that doesn't help much while you're out on the course and yardage markers are not easily found. The man who was our fourth is an Anah/Hills regular and he said that the quirky fast greens make the course like miniature golf since chips rolled back off the greens and putts from above the hole rolled 40 feet or more off the greens. On a positive note, it really made me appreciate everything about Green River (my home course) a lot more.

On Wed. 4/27, I got email from GolfExtra offering special rate of $25 on Mother's Day-no mention of when you could make the tee times, so I called and was told to call back on Sun. 5/1 as they only take reservations 7 days in advance. It's now 5/1, so I called at 6:50 AM and got an answering machine. Called back at 7:01 AM and got the answering machine again--left my phone no. and asked for a call back as this was the 3rd long distance call I'd made trying to get a tee time. No call back so far...

If courses are as hard up economically as I'm constantly hearing, why is the customer service this bad? Gas is $2.65 a gallon and we're willing to drive 100 miles or more to play their course, but they can't answer the phone or call a customer back to book a tee time on a day when business is traditionally very bad!

Played on a day of pretty constant rain, so a little hard to judge some aspects. Walked with a pull cart (which cost $5) and found many areas which were quite flooded and difficult to navigate. A pretty course, recently redone with a spectacular clubhouse, esp. for a muni. Two ladies in the pro shop did not even ask if I would like to be paired with other players (and there were several going out at or near the time I teed off). Since there were quite a few golfers on the course, I ran into a back-up at the 14th hole, and neither player in the twosome ahead of me made any offers to join them, so I stood around in the rain like a drowned rat while they hacked their way thru the last few holes. If you have to choose only one course in the San Mateo area, go with Crystal Springs--it's by far the better option!

Best experience I've ever had as a walk-on (female, no less) with a staffer who took the trouble to take me out and introduced me to my playing companions-who were true gentlemen! Also, your site quotes incorrect green fees. I played at 9:00 AM on a Thursday and paid $50, incl. the cart. It had rained 5 inches in the previous 2 days and the course was pretty wet but still quite lovely and very playable.

Some friends had said the course was "boring," "not worth the price," etc. but I was impressed. It has a nice variety of tees to accommodate players of all levels, the ball actually RUNS on the fairways due to lack of gopher-caused humps and bumps, no clumps of kikuyu, etc. Greens are still a bit hard and don't hold the ball well, but that's to be expected on such a new course. A very nice clubhouse and restaurant facility, plus polite and helpful staff, made this a very pleasant day of golf!

A wonderful course design and in very good condition. For some reason though, it seems to attract a lot of doofusses who have never played golf before. We've been paired with guys who admit it's the "first time they've played a full-sized course." Give me a break, fellas! It's a tough track, with lots of water, rough and trees. Go to Birch Hills if you just learned how to grip the club! The lack of customers out there seems to be a draw to bring out one's brother-in-law for his first time on the links, at least on weekends, which is when we usually play there. It's a long way to drive to play with someone who whiffs a lot.

The "10 rounds for $250 card" is a real bargain, esp. since it's good on weekends after 10 AM. For $25, we get green fee and cart and it's only a 15-20 mile drive from home. Course is in much better condition than it was several years ago--well worth the price in spite of occasional slow play.