Played Saturday, 7/21 at 3:00pm, Crossings Club late rate of $40. Friendly reception in the pro shop and by the starter. Paired with a quick twosome, POP was very good for the weekend, 4hrs, in spite ... Continue »

Played Saturday, 7/21 at 3:00pm, Crossings Club late rate of $40. Friendly reception in the pro shop and by the starter. Paired with a quick twosome, POP was very good for the weekend, 4hrs, in spite of short waits throughout the round. A lovely, 70's sunny day, with a 1-club wind most of the day.

Course is slightly improved over last month - no wet spots around the green apron areas to deal with, so shots didn't die in front. Tees, fairways and rough were all pretty nice, with some choppiness in the rough to deal with. Fairways rolled out very nicely, and provided mostly good lies.

Was in 2 well-raked greenside bunkers, and the sand was fluffy medium-weight and nice to hit from.

Greens were fully recovered from their small punching last month, held shots well, and rolled at medium speed. A few bumps and spike prints to deal with due to late play.

Cheery cart girl came by 3 times, and there was a guy grilling burgers at the 1/2-way shack, so plenty of bevvies and food available during the round. Looked like they had a wedding reception after the round, and had closed the bar and patio to golfers. :( Course is in great shape right now, highly recommended.

Was invited out by leef2020 to play The Crossings on 6/28. He got a great price for a guest and I had a great time as I always do. Thanks Lee! I am beginning to like this course more and more. Fo... Continue »

Was invited out by leef2020 to play The Crossings on 6/28. He got a great price for a guest and I had a great time as I always do. Thanks Lee! I am beginning to like this course more and more. For one, the weather is always nice. Never warm or hot and sometimes windy but always comfortable. The views are great from just about everywhere. The guys in the clubhouse are great as are the servers in the restaurant/bar. Always enjoy playing here. We got out around 1:40 paired with male/female twosome who were a bit slow. We fell a little behind but still finished in just under 4.5 hours. I love these Bermuda fairways. They are in great shape and with a good drive, you will get lots of roll out which is nice to see. Bunkers were in great condition. The one I was in had white, fluffy sand. On some of the fairways, the rough was thick and you don’t want to be in there. Tough to get a club on it in the rough. The greens were in really nice condition. Medium fast and rolled true. Some are tricky to read. This course is so challenging yet it is fun to play. Hilly course that winds through the hills with some generous fairways but you need to keep it in play. Missing fairways is no fun here.

Played The Crossings on Thursday, 6/28, teeing off about 1:40pm with larryq2001 on a lovely, mostly sunny and 70s day, mostly calm, with up to a 1-club wind at times. Friendly greeting in the pro shop... Continue »

Played The Crossings on Thursday, 6/28, teeing off about 1:40pm with larryq2001 on a lovely, mostly sunny and 70s day, mostly calm, with up to a 1-club wind at times. Friendly greeting in the pro shop and by the starter. $40 Crossings Club member rate. Teeing off as a 2some, we were then paired up with the 2some behind us, as the starter sent them up to join us as we teed off. A nice couple, he had a real good scoring day, but they were both a bit pokey. Hubby had an excessive pre-shot routine that got pretty tiring to watch. A single played through at the turn, and our POP ended up at just about 4.5hrs. Although no one was pressing us, should've been less, as we lost sight of everyone in front by the 12th hole. :( Course was in very good overall shape. White tees - all good and level. Fairways rolled out very nicely, and provided good lies. Only issue for me, with a few approach shots landing short of greens, the aprons were over-watered up to 30 feet in front, meaning no extra bounces, leaving plug-n-play, muddy balls, squishy turf and tricky chip shots to front pins. Rough in a few spots was very dense and grabby, at least a club penal, and in other areas was a more typical choppy coverage, where the ball would sit down, but the grass/shot was a bit more manageable. Was in 3 greenside bunkers, which was good, as I was trying out a newly-modified SW. Sand was pretty decent, mostly a new, fine sand, but with not too much - about 2 inches, to get to the base. Had one 'fried egg' lie on the par3 14th. Seemed that about 1/2 the greens have been re-punched a few days earlier, with slightly smaller holes than a full punch, but not the tiny ones. No sanding was evident, I can't say that putting was affected too much, but greens were slow putting uphill, and medium-speed overall. Great service after the round by Katie in the bar, with good food, too. A fun round, and it was fun to watch Larry play a very good scoring, and consistent round. I estimate the greens will be fully healed in 7-10 days.

I play crossings a few times per month with my usual group and always first off in order to get done quickly. Pace of Play was 3:30 (but keep in mind this was first off) but from what I could see at ... Continue »

I play crossings a few times per month with my usual group and always first off in order to get done quickly. Pace of Play was 3:30 (but keep in mind this was first off) but from what I could see at the turn and when finishing up, it would be significantly longer at any time other than early morning. If you havent played here before, there is a lot of cart driving time between certain holes. Walking is not allowed due to the amount of travel distance.

Greens:
The green at Crossings are always very nice and some of the faster greens in San Diego when comparing similarly priced courses. The one fault with the greens is that early in the morning they tend to be on the softer side...not spongy but you can see footprints on most. The are very receptive to approach shots and roll very true.
*one thing to note is that a few of the greens looked like they had been "micro-punched" recently as there was a very faint grid pattern showing through but it seemingly did not impact the ball's roll.

Fairways:
Some of my favorite fairways are at Crossings since they tend to always be soft enough to get through very nicely with an iron, or even driver off the deck when needed for the long into the wind par 5 sixteen. Lush fairways with no bare spots that I came across.

Bunkers:
The bunkers were redone within the past year and are very nice with soft white sand. There are still a few fairway bunkers that have the older brown sand but they tend to be fair to play out of.

Rough:
They appear to be letting the rough grow out a bit which is really nice since it makes the course a little more penal for misplaced tee shots. The rough here typically is about 1/2" to 1" but there were places now that were up to about 2" in depth which was awesome.

Definitely recommend this course as it is really fun but a bit gimmicky with some of the greens having multiple tiers. It is a fair course but will punish you badly if you are out of position or have a misplaced approach shot.

Played Friday, teeing off as a 4some 15 minutes behind our 1:57pm tee time. POP was just under 5 hours, with a bit of waiting on about 4 holes throughout, but we moved at a decent pace with no backup ... Continue »

Played Friday, teeing off as a 4some 15 minutes behind our 1:57pm tee time. POP was just under 5 hours, with a bit of waiting on about 4 holes throughout, but we moved at a decent pace with no backup on most holes.

As I was just here a week earlier, really the main point to say is that the greens have improved/smoothed up on the front side. Much slower than the practice green, they did roll true. Back side greens were a bit quicker and very smooth. Overall, medium-speed on average.

Ball rolled out in the fairways and sat up nicely. Rough was choppy and diabolical at times. On the par3 14, put the tee ball left of the green along with another in our group - that's the one place you don't want to be (similarly - don't be left in the gully of #12 green). We caught a break in that they had recently cut the grass there, so our lies weren't sitting down in horrendously tough grass. Neither of us got it close, but we did get on the green for two-putt bogies.

Was in a bunker behind #15 green. Sand was nice enough, but there were three sets of un-raked footprints (sigh).

Overall, the course is looking and playing nicely right now.

Played The Crossings on Tuesday at 1:39pm, joining another guy and a lady single visiting from Arizona for a fun 3some. Old men played the white tees, she played the green tees for her first time play... Continue »

Played The Crossings on Tuesday at 1:39pm, joining another guy and a lady single visiting from Arizona for a fun 3some. Old men played the white tees, she played the green tees for her first time playing the course, and out-drove us nearly every hole! POP was good for the front nine, never waiting, but things slowed up as we played the backside, starting on #11. POP ended up right at 4hrs 30mins overall, so good enough for this course.

Similar to my last time here in April, the tees were green, well-cut and level. Had to move my tee ball once on #10 tee, as I ended up standing in a serious divot, but no other issues getting a good stance, except the par3s 14 & 17.

Fairways were really nice, still greening up and provided a lot of roll typically. Rough is filling in and the ball sat up for me today in the few times finding it. Still a little splotchy in some areas.

Wasn't in any bunkers, but my cart partner found a fairway bunker on the par5 15th, and it looked like concrete. He did manage to chunk it out, but was not happy about its' condition.

Greens on the front nine were mostly soft and bumpy, reminding me of the greens at Rancho San Joaquin a few days ago - grass in the aeration holes growing at a faster pace than the rest - too much of a good thing. Perhaps they need to roll them? The greens on the backside were much better, looked great and rolled very smooth for the most part. Medium-speed throughout. Tough pin placements on about 1/2 the holes, with ridges/elevation changes nearby the hole locations. A bit of mercy on #14, with the pin in front, we had three great tee shots, that ended with 2 birdies and 1 par (a near miss for bird)!

Friendly greetings at the bag drop to start/finish the round, pro shop, and the starter was super nice. They really do have a great staff here.

Played Thursday, 4/26, as a 4some, teeing off about 10 minutes behind schedule from our 1:12pm tee time. The group in front picked up speed, and 2 of them dropped out at the turn. We were then the lon... Continue »

Played Thursday, 4/26, as a 4some, teeing off about 10 minutes behind schedule from our 1:12pm tee time. The group in front picked up speed, and 2 of them dropped out at the turn. We were then the long-pole in the tent on a day of light play on the course. POP ended up at 4hrs 20mins, so not too bad for this course. Lovely day, but clouds came in later and cooled things down - bring a jacket, etc., even when its nice early - just in case.

Course is still greening up from 2 weeks ago. Fairways were cut a few days ago and provided somewhat better roll. Greens were verti-cut in the last day or two, but did not seem to affect the roll. Ball rolled nicely and at medium-fast speed.

Tees were great and the two bunkers I visited had very soft sand. Rough is still choppy, resulting in bad lies.

Marshal was buy numerous times, checking POP, and cart-girl came around several times. Course is a few weeks away, perhaps a month - tops - to being in great condition overall, imho.

Played The Crossings at Carlsbad Monday on a free birthday round. There is a $25 cart fee required. Birthday rounds can now be played the day before, the day of or the day after the persons birthday. ... Continue »

Played The Crossings at Carlsbad Monday on a free birthday round. There is a $25 cart fee required. Birthday rounds can now be played the day before, the day of or the day after the persons birthday. Conditions were prefect for a great round. Temperatures would be in the low 70’s for much of the round with a healthy marine layer until the back nine. We had still air until the sixteenth hole when the breeze began to freshen.
I played with a pair of friends one visiting from New York, the other down from Culver City. Terry visiting form New York played to a four under par round using rental clubs, from the whites, first time on the course. It was amazing to watch.
The carts at the Crossing are only a couple of years old, and are in very good condition, equipped with an ice chest which did not come filled, and very useful GPS.
The Crossings has a trio of very well prepared and maintained practice areas. The practice green is very large, features holes cut on different tiers, with various slopes, and ridges that are indicative of what the player will find on course. The chipping, pitching and bunker practice area are among the best I have seen, again featuring excellent simulations of the on-course conditions. The driving range is very well maintained though short at a little over 200 yards. On Monday only, mats were available to hit off, however the mats used will accept a standard tee.
I arrived an hour and half early for my scheduled 8:30 am round (traffic was really light and I wanted to warm up). After dropping my clubs off with the attendant to be taken down to the cart barn, I checked in at the pro shop. As with everyone I met the pro shop was helpful, and friendly. A medium range bucket was $7 and a course yardage book was $1.86.
I have to confess going in I have a love hate relationship with this course. Simply speaking it’s a beautiful course, that is in all honest more course than I can handle. I have now played five rounds and have only played the course well once. That round I played with a father son duo that were members and played the course every Sunday. The son was a high school golf coach, and between him and his father it was like having a local caddy. Playing on my own I have tried differing plans to no avail. Based on my warm up I went into this round confident. I was going to play from the golds which the course recommends for someone of my driving distance and handicap.
Bunkers – I don’t usually start my review with bunkers, like most armatures I try as much as possible to avoid them. At the Crossings even, the fairway bunkers are deep. The bunker I found for the second time in two consecutive rounds could have protected a squad of marines from nearby Pendleton. Because of the high face it was all I could do to lob out into deep rough (more about rough a little later). For the benefit of all GK readers I sampled several bunkers, fairway, and greenside. The sand was the best I have ever played, good coverage, well raked even where it was evident I was not the first of the morning to visit. There are numerous bunkers and they are positioned in choke points and at spots where the fairway runs towards them. As I mentioned I played Golds, that is what is recommended for those of us that drive the ball 200 to 230. From the golds the Fairway bunkers on one are 207 yards out on the right. How many of us fade or slice the ball? On three the fairway bunker lies dead center in the fairway up hill, hidden from view at 202 from the golds. 210 from the whites.

Out of bounds – I don’t usually cover out of bounds, you’re not supposed to go there and usually there is a host of other trouble your more likely to encounter, however The Crossings at Carlsbad is built in a series of canyons that are protected sensitive environments which are very close to the fairways. Much of this area is protected by a wood rail fence, perfect for letting your ball roll under and disappear into deep grouse which you are not permitted to enter. The wilderness areas are spectacular, the wildlife abundant and the butterflies populous. Fortunately, I only lost one ball to the critters. The issue with the OB is that many of the fairways steeply towards OB and are not protected by rough that might stop the ball from rolling out on the perfectly cut fairways toward the hazard. On holes one, five, eight, ten, sixteen, the player has to carry extensive expanses of this out of play area. On five the golds don’t have to carry the OB area as it exceeds 200 yards.

Tee’s are perfect. The grass coverage even on par 3’s was exceptional, little divot damage, boxes were level, and clean. A good stance was easy to obtain. Sight lines are tricky, four holes from either the whites or the golds are hitting into blind areas where what I would perceive as the conservative shot will in fact place you in a hazard. Ten is a classic example that wants a player the can draw the ball, but at the very least can fade the ball starting OB and coming back to the fairway. A straight shot can easily go to far, and off the course left into the valley. A fade or slice will go OB on the hill. Target golf at it’s best.
Fairways are perfect on all 18, evenly cut, clean, and green. I found very few divots during my round, and those that I did were frequently filled. I did my part to follow suit, as my cart was provided with two full sand bottles.
Rough was mostly deep and penal around the greens, and deep but spotty along the fairways. The only complaint I have was the rough along the fairway near the lay up zone on eight which was a swamp. I probably should have taken relief as I has water flowing under my feet as I took my stance but tried to play the chip shot over the water into the green 80 yards away. After rinsing a ball, I replayed moved a couple of feet to dry grass and played the ball close.
Greens were perfect, green, rolling fast with the exception of the 9th which was the only slow and inconsistent green on the course. Rolls were true and fast. Most ball marks were repaired, mindful that we had gone out at 8:20 am and there had only been a dozen groups before us. Holes were cut to make use of the tiers, ridges and slopes on the green, there were no boring pin placements.
Comfort stations are strategically placed around the course, clean and well kept, ball washers work, but are located at the back tee’s so plan accordingly as the various tees are seldom near each other. We saw the refreshment cart on three different occasions. The snack bar was open at 7:30am and served a very good cup of coffee.
Clearly, I am over matched by this course, despite that the visuals, the challenge, the staff bring me back, and I will come back again, I love the challenge. I also like the air show, in addition to the normal array of private jets going out, we had a B-17, and a B-24 fly over us and come back around to fly by us. Definitely worth the rack rate.

Played Thursday, 4/12 at 1:12pm, on a very windy but sunny day. POP was good w/no waiting until the 14th and 15th tees, adding at least 20 minutes to the 4hr 45mins round.

Course is pretty similar... Continue »

Played Thursday, 4/12 at 1:12pm, on a very windy but sunny day. POP was good w/no waiting until the 14th and 15th tees, adding at least 20 minutes to the 4hr 45mins round.

Course is pretty similar to my last visit about 2 weeks ago, pretty good condition overall, but should get better moving towards summer. Fairway grass is starting to grow/green up, and had not been cut recently. Definitely cost me roll-out off the tee ball. Greens were very receptive, lush and smooth, putting at medium speed mostly. Did spot a nasty-looking fungus on #12 green and at least one other one.

Tees and bunkers were all good/no issues, and similar to last time out. Rough was pretty choppy, presenting some very bad lies.

Now managed by JC Golf instead of KemperSports, the reservation system has been changed over, making clear you will be charged $25 for each no-show. Employees are now paid by JC Golf, as of March 1. Speaking with a member of staff in the pro shop, he indicated that the 'Crossings Club' will give way to the JC Card/membership at some point later this year. The Crossings Club membership is good through December 2018.

The JC Golf Card memberships are 12-month annual, based on purchase/anniversary date. The JC Golf Club Cards are significantly more expensive, but do potentially offer a few more 'free' rounds, depending on option. As I understand that the course is still owned by the city, it will be interesting to see what happens to local(s) resident pricing, etc., next year. The Crossings does not yet show up as a course option to play for JC Golf Club members, via their website today.