Matt and I played a warm up round at Poppy Hills yesterday and the course is in excellent shape even if my game wasn’t. ... » More

Matt and I played a warm up round at Poppy Hills yesterday and the course is in excellent shape even if my game wasn’t. I walked while the rest of our crew took carts. Poppy Hills goes back and forth between CPO and allowing them on fairways. They are currently allowing carts on the fairways, but they only allow two carts per group and it’s single rider per cart. So, at least two in your group have to walk. We tee’d off right around 3pm which was in the heart of the wind. The nice thing about Poppy is it is completely lined with tall pine tree’s so they help shelter you a bit from the elements. The bad thing, is Poppy is lined with trees….!!

Tee boxes are 10 or a 9.5 if you count the pine needles on the tee boxes. Same with the fairways. Easily a 10. Just perfect emerald green lush grass with no divots or thin spots. I made a comment after one of the many iron shots that went into a bunker, jokingly blamed it on not being used to perfect conditions. Speaking of the bunkers, they were the one “weak” link of the course. Still rated at an 8, with a nice layer of soft sand but they could have been a litter deeper in coverage. Yes, I’m nitpicking here.

Greens were fantastic. Slower speed than normal. I believe the starter said they were rolling at a 9. Greens were smooth, divot free and are large. Make that very large, but don’t get excited because they all have tremendous amounts of humps and lumps so the actual landing area is quite small.

As mentioned in previous posts, all Monterey County courses require payment via phone or on line prior to the tee time and Poppy had the foam pool noodle in the bottom of the cup to prevent the ball from going all the way to the bottom. I will say that I preferred the height of the foam at Poppy Hills as it was a true measure of the ball being in. They were low enough to let the ball actually drop in without interfering, yet high enough that you could retrieve your ball without touching anything.

Poppy Hills is always an enjoyable walk through the forest with numerous ocean views throughout. Even if those views were of whitecaps.
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Played Fri may 29th at 7:10. 4 some senior walking $26, good rate. No score cards, really, I got mad and was mouthing ... » More

Played Fri may 29th at 7:10. 4 some senior walking $26, good rate. No score cards, really, I got mad and was mouthing off outside how rediculous this is and when I checked in he gave me my receipt and a score card. Course was in the best shape i have seen it. Did not like the traps as the sand was very wet and i am bad with wet sand. They have this weird lever to pull up with your putter to get the ball out of the cup. Great if you have a blade but for a mallet it doesn't work, it will scratch the top. I like the pool noodles at jurupa the best so far. Course was very busy, POP was good at 3:45
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Walked the Golds (6454/73.2/137) in 4H, 45M mid afternoon. The weather was mid 60's, overcast and WINDY. Matched up with... » More

Walked the Golds (6454/73.2/137) in 4H, 45M mid afternoon. The weather was mid 60's, overcast and WINDY. Matched up with 3 other walkers, Dave, Matt and Blake. All from Nor Cal and all excellent guys to play with.

Six years ago, my wife handed me a Christmas card that said "Good for one round at Pebble Beach". After finding out that the normal $585 charge to play could only be obtained IF you stayed 2 nights at the lodge AND that when all the extras were added up it would be over $2k, I never used it. With COVID-19, the lodge is closed and many of the usual required extras were not available. They were offering a discount for the month of May, slightly less than $500 to walk. I figured it would not likely be cheaper, so I finally made the tee time my wife offered to pay for years ago.

Having seen over 40 years of televised PGA events from PB, I was pretty prepared for the actual holes. However, seeing them on TV you do not realize how they are configured. Some were more hilly than I thought, but a few were flatter than anticipated. The course was much lusher than I expected, so it actually exceeded lofty expectations.

The homes surrounding many holes are actually larger and more grand than they appear on TV. I knew the holes beside the water were going to have the majestic views they did. However, I did not realize how many holes you just barely have to turn your head to have a breath taking view. So those two areas were even more of a plus than anticipated.

Tees lush, almost immaculate.

Fairways were immaculate.

Primary rough surprisingly even, about 2.5" and lush. Usually very good to play out of. Every hole has some native areas that are a likely lost ball.

Traps considering the wind were amazing. Lots of nice, fluffy sand.

Small poa greens reminded me very much of the Donald Ross course I grew up playing back in N.C. Loved the greens and had a good putting day in spite of several 3 putts.

Customer Service outstanding. All grass range across the street was available 1 hour before your tee time. Was not allowed to enter the course until 20 minutes before your tee time, both COVID-19 measures. Pro Shop and clubhouse closed. Masks required at check-in and when dealing with on course personnel. Drink cart around numerous times, and they had an open snack stand on the course. Tiger Woods was on site working on the par 3 course he is designing between the pro shop and the driving range.

If you are truly a golf fan, you need to play here at least once. And I say that even though I drew the short straw on the wind today. I punched a 5 iron a little too long into the teeth of a 25-30 mph side wind on #7, the downhill 100 yard par 3. After seeing what happened the first 2 short irons I got up in the air in the 25+ mph cross wind, there was no way I was hitting a normal shot.

How strong was the wind? I gave up on a hat after the 5th hole, having already chased it down about 10 times. My push cart blew over numerous times and I had to chase a head cover over 100 yards before catching it. The only hole that played straight downwind AD was #8, which played 400 yards from the tees I played. I hit a 7I to lay up short of the ravine off the tee and then an 8I to the back fringe to set up a routine par. Had a 31' putt on 17 that I thought would be within 3-5' at the most when I hit it. When the wind got finished with it, I had 60' coming back.

The holes by the water absolutely ate my lunch, they were by far the windest. I reteed at least 6 times on those holes after the ball was blown off the tee. Marking your ball and placing it w/o it rolling was a challenge if on even a gentle slope and the wind was blowing in that direction. The more inland holes were more like a 10 mph wind and played much easier.

Experience overall exceeded expectations.
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Played 5-28-20 with T8fish, joined by another twosome teeing off around 2:15 and finishing in a little under 4 1/2 hours... » More

Played 5-28-20 with T8fish, joined by another twosome teeing off around 2:15 and finishing in a little under 4 1/2 hours for $31 walking. Tee boxes were in good shape, mostly level with good coverage. Fairways were green and lush with decent roll out and nice lies. Rough was in good shape, not to long and easy to hit from. Was in three greenside bunkers all of which had very nice brown sand. Greens were in really good shape, rolling smooth and holding shots, but a little slow for my tastes. Overall course was in really nice condition .
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Played first up 5/29/20. 3 hour round. Thank God cuz it was hot at 6:20am. First of all a shout out to pro Matt in the p... » More

Played first up 5/29/20. 3 hour round. Thank God cuz it was hot at 6:20am. First of all a shout out to pro Matt in the pro shop. Guy is a superstar. Awesome dude and remembered us from times past. Also to Jake for his assistance in getting us going. Guy at the end (didn’t get his name, looks a little like Dale Earnhardt) super nice guy. When everyone that works at a course is this genuine and awesome to be around, it makes you want to golf there even if conditions aren’t perfect. However… This is Dove Mountain and it is rare that you would find anything other than an exceptional course to play on. Today was no different. Teeboxes perfect, level, no divots. Fairways as expected, again wonderful. Rough not penalizing… Which was nice this time! Sand was wet a little because it was still early but I’m sure fine during the day. Greens were smooth… Not as fast as previous vacations, not complaining! This is a tough course folks. Signature Nicklaus at his best. Tee shots are pretty manageable but as you get to the green you have pretty giant bunkers, deep, guarding the greens like a sand monster. Luckily I have no issue with sand. Greens are very undulated. You need to really place your shots and know what you’re doing. Luckily the GPS on the cart, for us resort golfers, helps you gauge your shot a bit. The Course layout booklet is definitely helpful if you haven’t played here before. TeaGal and I had a few blowup holes but overall played fairly well. This is one of, if not my favorite, place to golf. Today did nothing to sway that opinion. Very highly recommended. It’s not as tough as say, Pete dye Stadium, but bring your big boy pants. You’ll need to wear them!
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Played today. There is nothing I can add that Weber and Larry1 have not stated. I find this a challenging and enjoyable ... » More

Played today. There is nothing I can add that Weber and Larry1 have not stated. I find this a challenging and enjoyable course to play. The staff is wonderful. The price for the quality of golf is fantastic. Each time I play it, I find or discover another nuance on how to play certain holes to my benefit. The only negative I have is the distance needed to travel when traffic patterns are at their peak. But with traffic being light recently, I will continue to play it as much as I can, before the roads become clogged again (and I hope they do).
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Played a 7am tee time. Check in was easy. No scorecards which is so weird to me. Foam in the holes and no touching th... » More

Played a 7am tee time. Check in was easy. No scorecards which is so weird to me. Foam in the holes and no touching the flags. PoP was 4hours 10minutes. The best thing about the course were the greens. They were fantastic. The fairways and rough were concrete! They attempted to paint them green, but it was mostly yellow. Bunkers were not great either. Course is enjoyable and challenging.
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Under new management – they have increased their Green Fees by 46%. Late summer afternoons last year you could play for... » More

Under new management – they have increased their Green Fees by 46%. Late summer afternoons last year you could play for $20-$23 and mid week it cost $49. Especially under the circumstance of people being challenged monetarily – this is taking advantage of people as many other courses are still closed. As well increased fees, but on course care has decreased. They need to rectify this - immediately as the course was practically empty.
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Played 5/28 with a 7:12 tee time and got out about 10 minutes early. Was paired with a twosome of nice guys.
Most tee... » More

Played 5/28 with a 7:12 tee time and got out about 10 minutes early. Was paired with a twosome of nice guys.
Most tee boxes had good coverage and mostly level. One par three was very thin where they had the white tees but they could have been moved a little to better area.
Most of the fairways are really nice. A couple had some brown/dry ares but still played well. Good roll out and great to hit from.
The rough was a mixed bag. Thick in some areas and very thin in others.
the bunkers are what you would expect now without rakes. Some were nice and some had lots of footprints.
The greens were very nice and held shots well. They rolled at medium speed and had very few unrepaired ball marks.
They have been rebuilding all of the lakes around the course and hole nine is the last one. They were laying a new liner and we were told that water will be going in by this Friday. The grill is now open but I didn’t go in.
I have always enjoyed this track and the condition keeps getting better all the time.
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We played both Saguaro and Wild Burro today. We were THE FIRST ones out at 6:20AM, good thing too because it gets super ... » More

We played both Saguaro and Wild Burro today. We were THE FIRST ones out at 6:20AM, good thing too because it gets super hot really fast. Played from the green tees. Tee boxes were perfect, nice and flat with zero divots. Fairways were nice and green, no divots as well. I was in the sand quite a bit and the sand was nice to hit out of. Greens were great as well. Some of the pins were in tricky locations. Shout out to Matt in the Pro Shop and Jake for taking care of us. We played in just under 3:10. One of my favorite places to play, even though it is challenging and very fun. Beautiful saguaros so you can't have a bad day :)
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Played yesterday. It was a hot grueling 5 hour round. Started at the tee box with with no starter moving groups along. ... » More

Played yesterday. It was a hot grueling 5 hour round. Started at the tee box with with no starter moving groups along. Started to stack up at the 4th hole by three groups. Waited at almost every tee.

No face mask needed and no single carts afforded for our group.

The course is starting to see some dry areas due to the heat. Some of the greens are showing browning especially on the edges. The rest of the course is decent.
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Course is better every time I come here. Played 3 weeks in a row and they are doing a great job. Customer service is exc... » More

Course is better every time I come here. Played 3 weeks in a row and they are doing a great job. Customer service is excellent as they are one of the few courses in the area honoring senior rates. Keep up the good work.
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