Played here today with an 11:33 TeeOff.com “Deal” time for a great price of around $77 after 20% promo code. Hard to beat for a course that’s hosting the PGA Tour in two and a half weeks. (More on tha... Continue »

Played here today with an 11:33 TeeOff.com “Deal” time for a great price of around $77 after 20% promo code. Hard to beat for a course that’s hosting the PGA Tour in two and a half weeks. (More on that in a minute.) Started right on time, got paired with an old guy who has been a PGA West member for 23 years, and then a guy from L.A. playing with his young son (and had an even younger son riding along with them). So we teed off and as we were waiting to hit our approaches to No. 1, the starter drove out and yelled to us that holes one and nine were cart path only. No problem, although we weren’t notified beforehand. Here’s the weird part: I never saw the guy who was a member again. One of the young kids said they saw him driving back toward the tee, but he didn’t say goodbye or anything, just bailed on us halfway through the first hole. I’m not sure if he was mad at the starter for sort of “yelling” at him, or didn’t want to play with young kids in the group, or didn’t feel well all of a sudden, or what? Anyway, the other guy and I didn’t let it faze us, and we soldiered on. Overall pace was good, finishing in just a little over four hours. Sometimes we were a little slow (understandable with a young kid playing one of the hardest courses in the world) and other times we were waiting on the group ahead of us. Group behind us seemed to always be just far enough back that they didn’t have to wait. Weather was absolutely perfect, beautiful and comfortable all day, blue skies and little/no wind. Anyway, onto conditions. First of all, the course looks absolutely gorgeous right now, and I’d seen lots of 5-star reviews on GolfAdvisor leading up to this round. And here’s where things get tricky, ratings-wise. When you get on top of the fairways and greens, there are quite a few thin spots. Don’t get me wrong… there are also super-lush areas that you’d expect with the Tour arriving shortly. And for the most part, the course is in great condition. Just not consistently “Tour quality.” Especially on the front nine, many greens seemed very thin and even had some bare spots around the edges. I also found the greens really difficult to read today. They were mostly smooth, medium/medium-fast speed, and medium firmness. I’m frankly surprised they’re letting the public play on them when the world’s eyes will be on them in a couple weeks. Fairways were deep green lush rye, but did have some thin spots and muddy spots here and there. The rough is mostly dormant bermuda but there is some rye rough around some greens. Blue tee boxes were good; a couple were moved up in to keep the “pro tees” pristine in advance of the tourney, but not to a ridiculous degree. A few tee boxes also had large coverings in spots to keep things pure as well. All the bunkers I was in were good; no rakes. First time I’ve stayed dry on 17! But… I still missed the green. I was in a little patch of rough on the far left edge of the island. Also first time I was ever down in the greenside bunker on San Andreas… hit a fantastic bunker shot to about 8 feet on my first try, but missed the par putt. Overall I had a great time and I’m sure it will add enjoyment to watching the American Express tourney when it arrives. Highly recommended at the rate I got.