This is not a destination course in the region such as the likes of Hunter Ranch or Monarch Dunes. It has a municipal look and feel, and probably serves the locals just fine (especially those with a h... Continue »

This is not a destination course in the region such as the likes of Hunter Ranch or Monarch Dunes. It has a municipal look and feel, and probably serves the locals just fine (especially those with a house bordering the course whose yard you will probably end up spraying at least once.) In terms of conditions and layout it is okay to decent. The fairways have a lot of brown spots with no rough to speak of. The greens were great, however. I could not tell what the speed was because of early morning dew. The layout is sometimes confusing with 2 pairs of parallel holes right next to each other (no. 8 & 13 and no. 9 & 18) with nothing separating them going in the same direction. Locals and persons with reasonable intelligence will know and figure out to where to hit. I had trouble, however, hitting to the wrong par 3 at #8 and driving into the wrong fairway at #9. There is no map on the card and no warning from the clubhouse and, most baffling and annoying, no signs or tee markers on the tee box. I guess they’re rugged individualists up here and if you can’t figure out what hole you’re on, it’s your own dang fault. See the ‘tips’ section of this page on where to aim.

Also let’s talk about blind hazards. This course is pretty flat and unless your have local knowledge or are exceptionally tall, you might miss the water hazard left of the green on the long par 3, #6, say, or the water hazard left of the green on the par 5, 1st. See ‘tips’ section for location of hazards. You are greeted at the turn with a monster par 4, 10th that is a blind tee shot with houses, of course, bordering left and right downhill to a small shallow green nicely tucked into surrounding hazard, houses and road. My approach shot went right (trying to avoid nasty looking hazard on the left) and ended up 5’ from the front porch of someone’s house. No exaggeration. No bordering fence, landscaping—nothing. Just my golf ball in the dirt, 5’ from the railing.

A note about the length of the course. Don’t be fooled by the 6165 yardage from the tips. There are 3 par 3’s on the front nine and only 1 par 5 on the back nine. If you like golf holes with big, honking trees in the middle of the fairway you won’t be disappointed with #3. I didn’t think until now to hit this tree with my laser finder for a distance. (Which I would’ve happily put in the ‘tips’ section!) I think I teed off with a 4-iron less than 200 yards and I was behind it and then hit a driver from the fairway to stay under it for my second shot. Luckily, it’s a par 5 so there are 2 shots to get past the tree and then the approach is up to you.

I think that unless you are an ACCURATE driver of the ball, you should approach this course with caution. All but three of the holes are bordered with houses. See the pictures for the par 4, 5th to get a sense of what you might be going up against. Seldom on this course did I feel I could relax and just let it fly. It was more like pucker up and make the most restrictive swing I could and still be able to hit the ball. I read one review online that referred to this course as a hidden gem. I wouldn’t go that far. It certainly was not a bad golfing experience ($36 on a weekday morning with a cart,) just one that I would not drive out of my way for. It looks like it serves the locals just fine, however—especially with the very good greens. If I lived nearby, knew many of the neighbors through whose windows I was going to be sending golf balls and didn’t have a lot of money, but a lot of time, I’d probably play this course a lot.

Paso Robles Golf Club Review
Central California Golf Course Reviews