Played Sunday, May 17, tee time 8:45. Easy check in. Starter and proshop guys are all great. Walked the white tees, $53 is the sponsored civilian rate to walk. POP was a little less than 4hrs. Excellent marshall out there keeping everything moving. Great POP, waited on the par 3 tees on the back and that was it.

Course is in good to great shape overall. A true... » More

Played Sunday, May 17, tee time 8:45. Easy check in. Starter and proshop guys are all great. Walked the white tees, $53 is the sponsored civilian rate to walk. POP was a little less than 4hrs. Excellent marshall out there keeping everything moving. Great POP, waited on the par 3 tees on the back and that was it.

Course is in good to great shape overall. A true pleasure to play. We had 20mph winds all day from the start. Seemed like just about2 every hole was into the prevailing NW wind. Freak of nature, lol. Tees were all level with adequate coverage. Easy to find a nice place to place the tee.

Fairways were good to excellent! Perfect cushion and rollout. Had great lies in the fairways all day. Rough is not much existent. It is a lot of bermuda that seems fairly dormant, still and then it gets dirt in the trees for the most part. I missed two fairways and didn't have any problem with my lies, mainly tree trouble to worry about2 .

I found one bunker and it was just fine, nice fluffy sand, no complaints, they all looked fine.

Greens were still healing a little bit from aeration, but rolled just fine and they were very quick!!! You could just see the appearance of the recent aeration, so they aren't quite visually stunning. Two more weeks and I bet they will be perfect. They were receptive to well struck shots, no problems, super fun putting day. I forgot how big some of these greens are.

The layout is excellent. 5 water hazards come into play on several holes. Views are exceptional on the back nine. Not much plane activity at all on Sunday, probably due to the strong winds and maybe a lot of the Navy bunch might have Sundays off.

Easy recommend. Never pass up an opportunity to play here.
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Enjoyed playing Rio Hondo again. I remember the first time I played there in the early 70's, the course was very short, until they did the remodel, which made this into a very nice job. Course offers a good challenge, but not so much as to being penal, except for hole #14, the par 3 which seems to "own me". After reading Roberts very comprehensive review, how can I say more, ex... » More

Enjoyed playing Rio Hondo again. I remember the first time I played there in the early 70's, the course was very short, until they did the remodel, which made this into a very nice job. Course offers a good challenge, but not so much as to being penal, except for hole #14, the par 3 which seems to "own me". After reading Roberts very comprehensive review, how can I say more, except that the greens did roll better than expected, so maybe the week between our rounds really helped? Recommend this course as it is still reasonably priced and the staff is always friendly.
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Walked the Oak tees today 5/18/26 at 10:40am with a nice twosome from SB and a nice single out from NY area. Weather was in the mid to high 70s with no wind for the first 4 holes or so and then a pretty steady 2 club wind from hole 5 on. Our Pop was around 5 hrs as the course was packed and thriving today.

Conditions are great here.

Medium speed soft huge gree... » More

Walked the Oak tees today 5/18/26 at 10:40am with a nice twosome from SB and a nice single out from NY area. Weather was in the mid to high 70s with no wind for the first 4 holes or so and then a pretty steady 2 club wind from hole 5 on. Our Pop was around 5 hrs as the course was packed and thriving today.

Conditions are great here.

Medium speed soft huge greens rolling pure. Rated 8/10

Lush fairways with perfect lies with little to no trouble spots. Rated 8.5/10

Beautifully thicker lush rough lining the fairways that was still playable and easy enough to advance full shots. Rated 8.5/10

Oak tees were in great shape mostly all level and lush. Rated 9/10

Was in one greenside bunker short left on 16 that looked thin but had nice base underneath. Rated 8/10

Soule Park is a masterpiece Gil Hanse designed Parkland layout with several tough par 4s from the tips and a couple challenging par 3s. They have some scoreable par 5s and a couple short par 4s to keep the routing challenging and fun at the same time. The architect put in some nice strategic bunkers to avoid and you must putt well on these huge undulating greens. A bad pin position day can challenge the best of players.

Always enjoy the Ojai vibe and my rounds here.

Highly recommended.
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Played Talega on 5/18. Had heard good stuff lately, so I was looking forward to getting back out here for the 1st time in 6 months.

We followed a 5-some off of #1 tee. We asked the starter if 5s were allowed, and he said it was not a 5-some, it was 2 threesomes. Looked like 5 people to me. And we stayed behind the 5-some (with a ghost for #6 I guess). Waited on every s... » More

Played Talega on 5/18. Had heard good stuff lately, so I was looking forward to getting back out here for the 1st time in 6 months.

We followed a 5-some off of #1 tee. We asked the starter if 5s were allowed, and he said it was not a 5-some, it was 2 threesomes. Looked like 5 people to me. And we stayed behind the 5-some (with a ghost for #6 I guess). Waited on every shot. But they were always 1-1 1/2 hole behind but keeping pace, so it was acceptable.

I need to get my ears checked. Course was not in good shape. Greens were soft and bumpy everywhere. I don't remember a putt over 5 feet that didn't have a bounce or two. Most fairways were turning yellow and had some rough spots. Bunkers were all over the place, but the majority were packed and crusty.

Very disappointed for what they are charging now. The cart return guy asked "how are the conditions today?" and seemed shocked when I said not good at all.

Still, POP was good at 4.5 hrs, and I was paired with a couple of good guys and a nice Korean woman who made putts all day. Made for a fun day, but not because of the course.
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Played out at Rustic Canyon again this past weekend and of course it's always a treat to walk this fantastic course on a slightly overcast day to keep temperatures in check with little to no wind until a few holes on the back nine. There's a reason this place is always in the top 100 US public courses ranking ...

Our foursome played from the blue tees with three walke... » More

Played out at Rustic Canyon again this past weekend and of course it's always a treat to walk this fantastic course on a slightly overcast day to keep temperatures in check with little to no wind until a few holes on the back nine. There's a reason this place is always in the top 100 US public courses ranking ...

Our foursome played from the blue tees with three walkers and one rider. POP was not a major issue for the entire round, but everyone seems to take their time at Rustic (and it takes a while to get from the ninth green to the tenth tee box) so it's always surprising to see how long you've been there after you step off the final hole. Cart service came around a few times which was great.

Current conditions are pretty standard I would say ... absolutely great greens (and green complexes) that absolutely require your A putting game (I was really annoyed to have my first three-putt on 18!). The tiers and breaks are just so wonderfully subtle at Rustic that your brain is forced into some beautiful geometry to get to the pin. They're really fun to play, and in great condition right now with some speed to them.

Fairways are mostly good with a few thin areas out in the great wide open. You can definitely get some lush spots, but you're also just as likely to need to pick some good shots clean, but nothing too crazy. The rough is really nice in the few areas it exists - you're mostly getting fairway or native areas here, except just off the collection areas around the greens. Bunkers were a little on the grainy side to be fair, but playable. Tee boxes were good with a little bit of wear and tear.

While prices here have gone up over the years, it's still a ridiculously good value and one of the best golf experiences you're going to find in the SoCal area. Can't wait to go back again!
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