By the time I would have finally teed off at Riverside, I had already driven to Madera and completed 6 holes at Madera Muni. Arriving a little before noon as a walk on twosome, we teed off right at 12... Continue »

By the time I would have finally teed off at Riverside, I had already driven to Madera and completed 6 holes at Madera Muni. Arriving a little before noon as a walk on twosome, we teed off right at 12:30, which provided for a solid warm-up. Apparently yesterday was the busiest day of the year, but you wouldn't have know it by the pace of play, which was moderate over the entire 18 holes. No massive backups to speak of, courtesy of the attentive Marshalls, contributed to our round lasting a hair over 4 hours. The tee boxes, particularly the par 3's, showed signs of hackers, hookers and slicers (no offense, as this includes my canal digging tee shots, too) which are typical of a muni, but were level, lush and well taken care of by the grounds crew. The fairways were medium / fast and in good shape, as was the rough. The greens were everything that I remembered when they were when I lived here - a true test of my putting skills. The greens were a little slower than I remember (last time I played there it was 104 degrees at 11am), but the undulations were just as challenging, and the condition of these greens is what you would expect at $75 a round greens fees, not $22! For the dollar, you'd be hard pressed to find better conditions, pace of play, etc., particularly the Friday after Turkey Day. It beats the hell out of the 5 hours at Riverside and the dirt and jets at Airways.