Walked the blue tees this morning at Legion Memorial with a friend, paired up with a couple of other very pleasant singl... » More

Walked the blue tees this morning at Legion Memorial with a friend, paired up with a couple of other very pleasant singles. Got out about 10 minutes ahead of our 9AM tee time, and got around in about 4:15. Not a lot of waiting on the front, but things slowed down a touch from #12 to the end. No extreme waiting, so all in all very pleasant pace. Overall the course is incredibly dry right now, and playing very firm. Greens are a bit faster than the last time here, and not holding shots really at all. After a few holes I adjusted and started taking a little less club in, and was having success playing for a little extra release. Greens were so firm I never really made a significant pitch mark, and didn't see too many that needed repair. Fairways and rough are very dry as well, giving tons of roll. Even with a few very burnt out spots there was enough grass to give a decent lie to hit from. Tee boxes were generally good, par 3s a bit chewed up as expected. The only bunker I found was just in front of the 18th green, and it had a reasonable amount of soft sand to play from. Marshall was out checking on pace, and customer service in the shop great as always. Hopefully they'll water a bit, as I think we'd like to keep this place in the rotation.
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Played Thursday, May 8, at about 8:45 am on a beautiful spring day with temperature in the 70s. Great service by the pro... » More

Played Thursday, May 8, at about 8:45 am on a beautiful spring day with temperature in the 70s. Great service by the pro shop in getting me out, starting on the back nine. We ate lunch the day before on the patio outside the restaurant, nice people and good service. The food was good also. Played in about 3.5 hours, starting out as a solo rider, playing the black tees, played through a single and joining another single on #13 (our fourth hole) through 18, finally playing the front nine alone behind a twosome following a couple of foursomes. Everyone was moving along though.

The course is in excellent shape. There were some thin areas in some fairways and on the tees but overall the course was lush. Generally good surface in the fairways. The rough was about 3/4 a ball height. The tees did have some mounding but I could find flat areas. The bunkers were a mixed bag with little sand in two of the three I was in.

The greens were great. Fairly fast, looking really nice, and rolling true. I was hurt a couple of times by more break than I read. They were the highlight of the course.

The course is playing well if you are in the area. Highly recommended.
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Conditions are pretty identical to my review from last year. I played on 5/7 with a 7:50 AM tee time and this time arou... » More

Conditions are pretty identical to my review from last year. I played on 5/7 with a 7:50 AM tee time and this time around it was a little busier. Still finished in about 3.5 hrs but had to wait on most shots. The only thing I’d add from my last review. Bring bug spray!! There was a 3-4 hole stretch that was horrible. Other than that. All good. Fun, unique layout that really takes advantage of the mountain slope. A very doable Muni course and the appropriate price point for conditions and layout.
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Played Tijeras May 7th at 8:30 am as a two-sum -paired up with two singles for $107. Pre-paid online didn't even go into... » More

Played Tijeras May 7th at 8:30 am as a two-sum -paired up with two singles for $107. Pre-paid online didn't even go into the pro shop just checked in with the starter and teed off right away.

The course was in beautiful condition and played great. I started off hot on the day with birdie, birdie on the front nine, which flowed very well. We only waited on the first hole for the group in front of us to clear, and the rest of the nine was basically open, only seeing the group in front of us on the next tee. We finished at 12:50 with a POP of 4:20, we did not see a single person behind us the whole day.

The course itself looked beautiful with lush fairways and manicured greens. The greens were rolling around a 9.5-11 and rolled true. I thought the rough was grown out pretty well which made it tough if you did not hit the fairway. I didn;t find any bunkers during my round but they looked good as well. The back nine at tijeras always kicks my butt - as it did today - however I really enjoyed pin placements/tee boxes for the day. Overall I think Tijeras currently has the best price for what you get in OC!
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I played Soule Park for the first time today and it was spectacular. It is now probably in my top 5 courses, public or p... » More

I played Soule Park for the first time today and it was spectacular. It is now probably in my top 5 courses, public or private, that I've played in SoCal. The condition of the course is immaculate. Fairways are lush as is the rough. The greens are awesome and are at an appropriate speed for the contours, so the do not come off as gimmicky or unfair. Great layout, great staff, great conditions.
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Walked the golds on Cinco De Mayo this afternoon teeing off around 1:40pm with my buddy Mark. Pop 4 hrs walking under pa... » More

Walked the golds on Cinco De Mayo this afternoon teeing off around 1:40pm with my buddy Mark. Pop 4 hrs walking under partly cloudy cooler conditions in the low 60s with maybe a club wind. Very pleasant conditions. Met by Vern in the proshop who is always so friendly. They have an all grass range and a huge very sloped putting green to get players warmed up for their round.

The conditions at Sandpiper are very lush and awesome.

Fairways were close to pga standards in 95% of the fairways. Perfect carpet lies ball sitting up beautiful. They have a couple spots of ground under repair on a couple holes they are working on but I have never seen the fairways better. 9/10

Tees were very lush, mostly all level. 8.5/10

Was in 2 greenside bunkers that had a brown clay like material that had just the right amount of sand. 7.5/10

Rough was very lush just lining the fairways and mowed beautiful. Great shape 9/10. They have grown the rough up between 8/15, 15/16, right of 17, left of 13 and left of 14...it is lost ball city if you spray in those areas at this time which I experienced luckily only once on my tee ball left on 13. For sure makes this course so beautiful on the eyes and adds toughness and POP.

Ending with the greens which were in beautiful shape. Evidence of a small circular punch that really did not effect putting at all. Stimp rating an 11. Greens rating 8.5/10

If you want to challenge yourself under lush conditions and fast sloped greens get out to Sandpiper now.

Highly recommended.
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played sun 5/4, 8:30 tee time. 4:45 round. sunny and windy.. 2-3 club wind all round. First time out here, not much a... » More

played sun 5/4, 8:30 tee time. 4:45 round. sunny and windy.. 2-3 club wind all round. First time out here, not much around. course in good muni shape. Greens are decent, slow... probably at 9. Layout is ok... Long par 3s. A few holes I wasn't a fan of. A few holes I needed course knowledge. bunkers have a coarse pebbly sand... but consistent. No beverage cart and not much of a clubhouse. They do have a bar and kitchen, and I was a fan of the bloody mary and the chicken tacos. Decent course, good time.
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Played Muni on 5/5. 3 weeks post-aeration, and the greens are not there yet. Still somewhat bouncy and not rolling true.... » More

Played Muni on 5/5. 3 weeks post-aeration, and the greens are not there yet. Still somewhat bouncy and not rolling true.

Outside of the greens, everything else is in great shape.
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Do not play here until greens heal!

Played Dos Lagos 8:30 AM on Monday, May 5th for $52, on a cold, rainy day to start. Check-in was very easy and fast - le... » More

Played Dos Lagos 8:30 AM on Monday, May 5th for $52, on a cold, rainy day to start. Check-in was very easy and fast - let us go straight to the box after paying. The starter was very nice and let us go out as just a two-sum. I assumed this meant the course would be pretty open on a rainy Monday morning but boy was I wrong. Ended up waiting on basically every shot for the front 9. Took 2:30 to complete and was not super enjoyable. It seemed as if there was one group that was slowlying the front up but no marshal in sight. The back nine went by a lot quicker and picked up but I still think a marshal was needed.

As for the course itself, the greens had been punched a few weeks ago and were just starting to heal up nicely. They were still pretty bumpy but rolled well and were pretty quick in some areas. Fairways were probably the best part as they were well maintained with not that many dead spots. Bunkers were wet all day but sand felt fine. Tee boxes were okay for the most part with some weird line up. The 5th hole green was either under repair or had just been recently damaged, as there were massive dead lines throughout the green. Overall I think $52 is a little steep for this course considering the condition and POP.
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Played in a high school fundraiser tournament Friday morning in a slow 5.5 hour round. The staff and volunteers did a v... » More

Played in a high school fundraiser tournament Friday morning in a slow 5.5 hour round. The staff and volunteers did a very good job running the outing. The carts continue to stay in good condition and the staff is always busy. The tee boxes were all in nice condition with good coverage. The rough was the right length to assist wayward shots and a good stroke could be put on your ball if you found yourself in it. The fairways had nice total coverage with a mix of turf but good lies were found on most holes. The traps all have a good amount of sand green side but fairway traps hard and compact. Most traps are filled with nice fluffy white sand and easy enough to hit from. The greens were in fabulous shape with very few ball marks and all had total coverage. The speed of the greens are almost back to their usual quickness and rolling very true. Well struck shots held the greens nicely with little roll out. There are many places to find trouble during a round here and great views from a few holes. Definitely recommended with the reasonable rate and great conditions.
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RPGC tournament this weekend at El Dorado - my favorite Long Beach course. I feel it has the best layout, biggest challe... » More

RPGC tournament this weekend at El Dorado - my favorite Long Beach course. I feel it has the best layout, biggest challenge and most rewarding round in the area. It's flat but has plenty of challenge to it. And right now, the biggest challenge is those speedy greens.

They're really in top shape right now, running very fast but holding shots and their lines very well. Impressive for sure. The rest of the course is also in pretty darn good shape to be fair. Fairways have nice coverage throughout, although there were some areas with standing water from the recent rains. Rough is very playable while the bunkers were obviously impacted by the weather, but nowhere near as bad as anticipated.

My flight played from the white tees and the tee boxes were all flat and well kept - no issues there. Overall just very nice conditions right now at El Dorado.

POP was a little on the slow side but it was a tournament so it makes it somewhat understandable, and in truth we didn't hit any real slowdowns until the back nine. Before that things were running very smoothly (with the exception of my swing). We were required to ride for this event as well and the carts are nothing special but serviceable (and no GPS).
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