A quick review of El Dorado a few days after taking on a couple inches of rain and the results are in: no good! It was cart path only but didn't matter to me since I walk, but I would wager the people in the carts got more steps in than I did. CPO was brutal on POP; teed off at 12:30 and finished right around 5:40 with a sliver of light still. Lots of waiting on tee boxes and w... » More

A quick review of El Dorado a few days after taking on a couple inches of rain and the results are in: no good! It was cart path only but didn't matter to me since I walk, but I would wager the people in the carts got more steps in than I did. CPO was brutal on POP; teed off at 12:30 and finished right around 5:40 with a sliver of light still. Lots of waiting on tee boxes and watching people park and walk 100 yards from path to their shot and then walk back to their cart. It was a beautiful day at least.

As for course conditions: woof. Almost every fairway had numerous small ponds, and if there wasn't standing water the turf was extremely soggy. Feels like it's gonna take some time for things to dry out. But even looking past that, there were still lots of areas in fairways that look like they need to work on. I will say the greens and tee boxes were in pretty good shape. Was in one trap and it had good sand. Rough was pretty short and playable.

Don't get to play this one very often so I was disappointed in the conditions but hopefully I get a chance to play once conditions improve
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First out on another cold morning. Still cart path only, which was a bit surprising, but better to err on the side of caution. The course is in really nice shape right now, and since they have brought the green speeds down a touch, much more manageable. For a while it was borderline unfair at times, if you were above the cup or short sided yourself. With the rains, not a lot of... » More

First out on another cold morning. Still cart path only, which was a bit surprising, but better to err on the side of caution. The course is in really nice shape right now, and since they have brought the green speeds down a touch, much more manageable. For a while it was borderline unfair at times, if you were above the cup or short sided yourself. With the rains, not a lot of roll out in the fairways, which I rely on. Better weather expected, so I'm confident things will change.
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Have not played here since the mid 90's soon after it opened. I have always enjoyed playing Robert Muir Graves designs and this was IMO one of his better public courses.

Found the course to be in great shape and better than I remember it but that goes w/o saying as it is now over 40 years old. And many will say things get better with age. This one did.

The r... » More

Have not played here since the mid 90's soon after it opened. I have always enjoyed playing Robert Muir Graves designs and this was IMO one of his better public courses.

Found the course to be in great shape and better than I remember it but that goes w/o saying as it is now over 40 years old. And many will say things get better with age. This one did.

The recent rains have the course nice and lush and the bent grass greens and winter rye fairways are really in great shape.

I took a cart today but I can see that the course is very walkable. I will give that a try here soon.

Found the tee boxes to be very good. Fairways had some firmness and some roll even after the rain and provided good lies as well.

Lots of sand traps. My playing partners said there about 50 on the course. The few I found were playable.

A few water hazards are on the course and again I had local players in our group who were kind enough to point them out before teeing off. So no lost balls.

Greens are large but played excellent and found no issues with chipping, putting. And they were well maintained.

Great customer service from pro shop and nice driving range and short game practice area. Also custom fitting and repair services onsite. Its obvious management takes great pride in keeping the place up.

Did not eat in the restaurant as the course was crowded but looked great as well as the bar area.

Very nice course in addition to Rancho Solano and Cypress Lakes my golfing itch will be well taken care of.
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VERY late review. An unusual round (for me) away from Laguna Woods GC at my first GM/Vivid outing at El Camino CC in Oceanside on 2/9/26. Paired with Ryan, Scott, and Mike and a better group could not be had – I think we all enjoyed the round in spite of a well-distributed array of poor shots and missed putts.

El Camino has a fairly similar group of holes that play mai... » More

VERY late review. An unusual round (for me) away from Laguna Woods GC at my first GM/Vivid outing at El Camino CC in Oceanside on 2/9/26. Paired with Ryan, Scott, and Mike and a better group could not be had – I think we all enjoyed the round in spite of a well-distributed array of poor shots and missed putts.

El Camino has a fairly similar group of holes that play mainly up and down the hillsides and canyons surrounding the course. Many holes are straight and flanked on one or both side with OB stakes to discourage hitting into the surrounding homes. Most greens are perched up above the surrounds without a lot of tiering; only a few holes have distinct tiers. Occasional fairway traps, with most greens being well-trapped, and some traps set well below green level. Fairways had good coverage and the ball sat nicely. Rough was short and pretty benign. Tees were level and provided good hitting surfaces.

None of the holes stood out for me as memorable, or tricked up for that matter. Everything is right there in front of you. My main concern is the firmness of the greens and the speeds which the club maintains. I’m an advocate of players being offered a chance to make most putts – the speeds on these greens, especially downhill, were pretty silly. A tapped putt above the hole rolled out 15 or 20 feet. For me, that’s not fun. It’s beyond challenging, just discouraging.
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A couple of very late reviews. Played 9 holes (Course 1) with GKers Itslikeimsayin and TomHooter on 1/30/26, then tried to play 18 holes (Course 1/Course 3) with GKer lkmckin on 2/5/26. Tee times are hard to come here by if you don’t jump on them immediately (available 7 days in advance), so in both rounds we got later start times and limited light. The round on 2/5 was schedul... » More

A couple of very late reviews. Played 9 holes (Course 1) with GKers Itslikeimsayin and TomHooter on 1/30/26, then tried to play 18 holes (Course 1/Course 3) with GKer lkmckin on 2/5/26. Tee times are hard to come here by if you don’t jump on them immediately (available 7 days in advance), so in both rounds we got later start times and limited light. The round on 2/5 was scheduled for 1:30 pm, but the tee sheet was running late and we were behind a deliberate foursome; we finally jumped ahead of them by skipping holes 2&3 on Course 3, then raced to finish 15 holes before the cart return deadline. Thanks to Mark, Tom, and Lindsay for joining me for these rounds.

Conditions continue to be pretty solid as we go through a mild, damp winter. Greens coverage is good with a few scattered bare spots. Green speeds are usually pretty constant through the round; uphill putts need to be struck solidly and downhill putts, especially to the SW, can surprise with rollout. Greenside bunkers usually have adequate sand, a firm base and adequate playing layer. Fairway coverages are good; rough can be cut low and playable or deeper/bushy/juicy and be difficult to effectively move the ball forward. Tees are generally flat, set wide, and provide a good hitting surface. Some show a lot of divot damage. As with most courses, many players fail to fill divots and repair ballmarks on greens.
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