Right back at it this morning. Earlier in the week, I had reserved a "hot deal" GN time for $47, which is still too steep for this course, but one of the better weekend morning rates I've seen on it. ... Continue »

Right back at it this morning. Earlier in the week, I had reserved a "hot deal" GN time for $47, which is still too steep for this course, but one of the better weekend morning rates I've seen on it. The rack rates here seem like way too much for what you get. Tee time was 6:48 and they already had a steady flow of groups going off in front of us, but we teed off right on time and finished in just a tad over 4 hours. We waited a little here and there, but the pace was great overall. The pro shop and the starter did a great job announcing who was on the tee next and getting everybody lined up efficiently.

The course was in decent shape. As the last reviewer noted, the tee boxes are great. The fairways, though mostly green and lush, definitely had multiple types of grass growing in and were patchy throughout. Same for the rough. The greens were nice. A bit bumpy here and there, but mostly good surfaces and very soft/receptive on approaches. I was in two bunkers. One was absolutely perfect sand and the other one had a big puddle in it, so it was super wet and hard to get a read on the sand density.

This was my first time at the course and my expectations weren't too high from previous reviews. The front nine is exactly what I expected and a real confidence boost with a lot of scoring opportunities and a bunch of short holes. The back nine I'm convinced was designed by Lewis Carroll. At some point during the round, you fall into the rabbit hole and encounter a strange, twisted labyrinth of oak trees, hills and golf holes that all kind of mash together with seemingly no rhyme or reason. I usually enjoy courses that other people deem too "funky," but this one got a little crazy even for me at times on the back nine (which is much longer, tighter and trickier than the front). Local knowledge does help I'm sure. The carts do have a nice GPS system, which I wasn't expecting, but you really have to had played the course a few times to know the best angles for avoiding all the big oak and eucalyptus trees that come into play a lot.