I played out here this afternoon. A guy I recently played with told me that this course was now open for public play on certain days and times, so I called this afternoon to get some information. They... Continue »

I played out here this afternoon. A guy I recently played with told me that this course was now open for public play on certain days and times, so I called this afternoon to get some information. They told me that on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday after 11:00 you can come out and play. Rates are reasonable $54 after 11:00, $44 after 2:00 (twilight) and $29 after 4:00 (super twilight). They said this deal will be going for the foreseeable future, so that's cool.

With nothing better to do today, I jumped in the car and headed out for a super twilight round. The place was pretty empty on a 100+ degree day with heavy afternoon winds. I teed off around 4:30, played through a couple groups on the front and otherwise zipped around all 18 without delay.

The course was in very good shape overall. A couple of the back tee boxes were a bit chewed up, but most were great. The fairways were mostly excellent. Left a bit longer to combat the heat, so not much roll-out on drives, but nice fluffy lies to hit from. The rough was not much of a factor as it was cut down in most places, but fairly good coverage throughout. I was in a couple bunkers and they had good sand. Not super soft, but enough to work with, which is how I like it. The greens were receptive and getting a little bumpy as poa will do late in the day, but still very nice surfaces rolling at medium speeds.

Always nice to have a new Inland Empire course to consider and it can take the place of Summerly as an option as it's just a few miles east of there. However, it is the complete opposite of Summerly in terms of layout. Canyon Lake is short, topping out at 6000 yards and playing as a par-71. However, it is super tight, hilly and is target golf to the max. There are big doglegs, well-placed trees, elevated greens, very narrow fairways and several blind shots to contend with. I know some people who will not care for this course and will call it too "funky." As a first-time player, I struggled trying to figure out how to play many of the holes. It's definitely a course you have to play several times to understand the strategies needed, and I wouldn't mind having a rematch with it while it's accessible. It's not a course for everyone, but it is something different to check out (the 17th hole alone is worth the trip as it's a really fun par-3) and the conditioning was well above average. The staff was very nice, as well. I'm not sure the members will love outsiders coming in to play the course in the afternoons, but oh well.