Sunday round at El Dorado with a buddy and we all walked after being paired with another single. We played from the back (blue) tees with a 9am tee time that I found two days before. It seems the best... Continue »

Sunday round at El Dorado with a buddy and we all walked after being paired with another single. We played from the back (blue) tees with a 9am tee time that I found two days before. It seems the best way to find tee times is now this way instead of a week or nine days in advance. Turned out to be a gorgeous early winter day as the sun shined brightly throughout with temperatures getting well into the 70s by midday. Could not ask for better weather. The course did its best to keep up with all the good cheer, but struggled in a few areas, mostly in terms of muddied fairways in lots of areas and a few too many burned out spots that didn't keep in line with the rest of the course conditions. The rough was a bit unruly but nothing that proved too difficult to find or hit a ball. Bunkers were in good shape for the most part with rakes provided but still plenty of footprints everywhere as golfers slowly come around again to their jobs. Tee boxes were also on the 'just okay' side but always level and nothing awful to write home about. The saving grace were the very nice greens which were running quite speedily and holding shots very well. There are some subtle breaks and slopes at El Do which can make a few of the greens a bit tricky, but nothing so gimmicky that you need to map it out with a compass before making your stroke. In summary, the greens are quite nice. For a busy Sunday it was disappointing to not see any cart service all afternoon, nor was the snack shop open near the 3rd and 15th tee boxes, and even the snack stand at the turn that usually is open selling brats and hot dogs was closed. What gives? I assume it's a personnel issue with labor currently in short supply, but it's getting to the point now where you really have to BYOB everything you may need on the course since there's no guarantee any other facilities will be open. POP was very good and we did barely any waiting all day, nor were we ever pushed by the group behind us. That always makes for a pleasant afternoon. All in all, it's always a good time at El Dorado but I hope they figure out how to keep more of the amenities open on busy weekends and get the fairways back in order.