Played 7/4/20 white tees 69.1/129 Read my other reviews for more details. Just the facts here.
Course is in good... » More

Played 7/4/20 white tees 69.1/129 Read my other reviews for more details. Just the facts here.
Course is in good shape. Since last visit (6/20) the greens have been small tine punched, almost completely healed. Running a little slow but downhill putts still running out. A couple had some brown spots.
Another week and all conditions should be terrific.
Bunkers are machine worked and have been watered to settle the sand. When they dry out should be ideal.
Rough 3" average you can advance ok in most cases. Through the green the course is well watered and well kept.
Back to "normal" golf carts with divot mix, rakes in bunkers, Holes and pins like they should be pre-CV19.
One of my favorite venues in this area. Most always great conditions and excellent service.
They are celebrating 20 year anniversary this year and I have been playing it for 18.
Happy 4th!
» Close

Played here on 7/3. Weather was great 5 to 10 wind. Was looking forward to this outing as had never played here before... » More

Played here on 7/3. Weather was great 5 to 10 wind. Was looking forward to this outing as had never played here before. Found out that there is a major project underway in renovating the first 4 holes’ tee boxes. So they played very short, 6&7 irons of the tees. One thing I noticed right away was how weedy and rock hard the fairways are. I was only in one bunker and it had very little sand and the grass and weeds had encroached a good 12-14 inches into the bunker. The speed on the greens was inconsistent from slow to very slow. The people I played with assured me that the north course is the premier course it’s in much better condition. Based on what I saw I will most likely not return here.
» Close

THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
Played Fri july 3rd at 6:40, got out on time, played the whi... » More

THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
Played Fri july 3rd at 6:40, got out on time, played the white tees
Tees - it was difficult to find a level spot on many holes
Fairways - some green tight lies but many browned out dead grass, many bare spots
Rough - just weeds that grow and bare spots
Traps - hard pan dirt with a dusting of sand
Greens - receptive , had ball marks to repair, little on the slow side, but no bare spots
POP 3:53
NO OPINION, JUST FACT
» Close

Played here today (7/3) with GK legend Matt "LOTR" Schliebe on a 9:20AM tee time under very pleasant weather. First time... » More

Played here today (7/3) with GK legend Matt "LOTR" Schliebe on a 9:20AM tee time under very pleasant weather. First time out here and I must say this course is the definition of quirky. Lots of blind shot, fairways that bend and snake everywhere, and short par 4's with tricks at every turn. Conditions today were about what I expected after no rain and some warming weather, but I was still pleasantly surprised with the greens. A great time had even if the score didn't reflect it.

Tee boxes: Nothing noteworthy either way; a few boxes had unlevel ground under them (playing the green frog tees today) but nothing so egregious it caused a bad shot.

Fairways: Decent to good shape. Visually they were browning and the turf condition was nothing special, but no bad lies and roll was fair (in most cases).

Rough: Not much to speak of that I remember, though just about every other type of penal areas exist; ESA, OB, canyons, lateral, water, etc. and all of those were of far greater worry than the medium length rough.

Bunkers: Another average to below average feature, the bunkers here are brown dirt-like sand that is lacking in consistency and quantity. I hit out of one and landed it 6 feet from the hole from 75 yards out, so how bad it can it really be?

Greens: The highlight of the round; visually pop with good solid and true roll. They had some tricky contours and a few of the breaks were a bit surprising, however I thought they played very fair and any missed putts were simply bad reads of speed.

ETC: Course is target golf all the way. Packed out there, exacerbated more so by the fact that Sandpiper and RSM have STILL not opened! No clubhouse, rather a booth to check-in/pay. Cart attendant (wonderfully friendly) was out and saw here twice; drinks only. Carts available as this course is hilly and probably quite a workout to walk. Saw people outside the course restaurant, so assuming that is open. All staff were very nice and COVID-19 precautions were present everywhere here.
» Close

Last time I was here they were shutting down for new ownership to take over. Now up and running again and you can tell a... » More

Last time I was here they were shutting down for new ownership to take over. Now up and running again and you can tell a difference in a mostly good way. First, the clubhouse is gone. There literally is no building anymore. You walk up to an exterior alcove with a computer kiosk and pay, very bare bones but it works. Don’t come here expecting food and drink either- your choice is a bag of chips, bottle of water, or a soda. Go play golf instead, this isn’t a place to snack. Also, bare bones carts, no gps anymore.

On to the course review: the first thing you’ll notice if you’ve been before is that all the bunkers are now actually bunkers, with sand! Apparently expensive sand at that, from the same place that supplies sand for Pebble Beach. I was only in the sand once, but it was excellent. Fluffy, light, crisp is how I’d describe it. The bright white sand also makes the course and fairways look so much better. Fairways were wet, but not overly soggy, just enough to limit that nice summer roll. Lush, nicely manicured, all good. Greens looked great, felt a little spongy, and rolled slow. If they could firm them up they will be fantastic. Because they were way too slow for a course of this caliber I have to deduct some points. Maybe they were trying to protect them from the heat, but the greens were the slowest I’ve played in the entire Central Valley this year so far. No ball marks, just nice looking slow greens.

Overall, the course is much improved with new ownership. Hopefully he (the single guy running the whole thing?) can keep up the business and continue to improve on the work done so far, the course layout and condition are both excellent. Just remember to bring everything you need to survive the heat without any food or beverage service and you’ll love this place.
» Close

7/2 pleasant day with enough breeze to keep it pleasant. Used underpar voucher $66 2some easy friendly check in with a ... » More

7/2 pleasant day with enough breeze to keep it pleasant. Used underpar voucher $66 2some easy friendly check in with a "you are good to go" got the cart loaded and on the way to the range saw that 1st tee was open with no starter and no one apparently waiting so off we went with another single that had the same idea. About 20 minutes out did see another single behind us who had no interest in joining up and further back there was a womens outing of maybe 10 4somes.
Fairways and rough kick-you as the word of the day--good lies for the most part but not much roll and anywhere in the rough was dead stop with some challenge going forward. Even areas in front of the green prevented bounce ups and short stayed short.
Tees had ok cover some a little thin and many had some slope/slant or uneven footing.
Bunkers were freshly groomed and had fine but compacted sand--no rakes but not a lot of foot prints.
Greens have a really healthy look medium to medium fast speed with subtleties that overall made for a long putting day. With many green constructed into the hillsides topography is always an issue as well as the general slope. Most do not have a lot of contour with the exception of #12 that beast of a par 5 that bends left at 90 degrees and climbs steadily upward to plateau with a sloped green and a dime sized area top left that is further elevated another 3 feet--where the flag was today--miss a little short and you have a 40 foot putt and the possible opportunity to try the putt again if you only hit the 1st one 36 feet.
Course layout has some quirks many doglegs and uneven lies along with lots of elevation changes. Players who can hit long and straight hit with amplitude and can flight their shots to specific yardage miss out on struggles we encountered. Still fun every once in a while and course conditions made for a worthwhile outing. POP front about 2 with brief waits and 220 for the back with waiting on every shot as the field caught up to the early starters.
» Close

Played Thurs. 07/02 The course is in very good shape. The fairways are lush with very little divot damage. Sand traps e... » More

Played Thurs. 07/02 The course is in very good shape. The fairways are lush with very little divot damage. Sand traps excellent. The greens had been sanded a couple of days earlier. Some showed no signs of sand and some had visible signs of sand on them. They are in excellent shape. The only drawback were the tee boxes. I believe they are in the process of redoing them all. Some had brand new sod, some had been punched, some were dried out. There are some that had the sod completely removed. They were closed. Course was crowded but still finished in 4 and half hours. Customer service was excellent
» Close

Played Wed.07/01 Had initially planned on playing The Golf Club at Dove Mountain, but received a message from Nicksquir... » More

Played Wed.07/01 Had initially planned on playing The Golf Club at Dove Mountain, but received a message from Nicksquire that Ventana Canyon would be a better choice. The course is in great shape. Tee boxes are very good . Fairways are semi generous in size and in excellent shape. The rough is still dormant and not penal at all. The sand traps had plenty of sand. The highlight are the greens. They are in the top 5 of all the golf courses i have ever played.
» Close

Played yesterday,
7/2.
Incredibly good time.
Weather was great.
Greens in excellent shape.
Fairways ... » More

Played yesterday,
7/2.
Incredibly good time.
Weather was great.
Greens in excellent shape.
Fairways in good shape.
Cost was 64$ with casino club card.
For $64 dollars it was an incredible value. It included cart and range balls. I had not played there in a very long time because of their normal rates which are out my range. The customer service was very good. They offer shuttle to and from your car. These are covid rates which are going away. I thought the greens were great because the balls rolled great. No bumps. For my putting level, they were true. The fairways are a bit dry but helped in extra distance. The roughs are thick but easy to strike through. All in all I had a great round. I would play there more often at $64 but alas all good things must end.
» Close

Played thursday afternoon and the course was very busy but played in about 4:30, so not terrible. Course itself is in g... » More

Played thursday afternoon and the course was very busy but played in about 4:30, so not terrible. Course itself is in great shape. Greens were great but a little on the slow side but rolled very true. Fairways perfect, tee boxes have a few areas that are not flat but always had some spots you could find that were flat, sand was in good shape and great for having no rakes.
Cart girl was great and around often and check in and everything went smooth with good customer service all around.
Fun day and worth it today.
» Close

Finally able to get back out on the North Course! After being closed for almost three months and spending one million d... » More

Finally able to get back out on the North Course! After being closed for almost three months and spending one million dollars for improvements, was it worth it ? Let's just say that I hope they don't do this on the South Course.

As expected, conditions are pretty good. Greens were much slower than normal, but since I did not have any cut greens, not fair to be too critical. The "surrounds" around the greens which were the focus of the renovation have really not fully grown in, so I was not thrilled with their playability. Maybe time will fix that? Otherwise the fairways was full & lush, tee boxes still need some attention of a couple holes, but mostly very good. Bunkers could be great, but since I get out before maintenance and none are raked, it all depends where your ball ends up.

Nice to have two courses again, for however long that lasts.
» Close

Played today, late afternoon round. Made tee time online, pay at course. Driving range open, mats today. Finished 17 ... » More

Played today, late afternoon round. Made tee time online, pay at course. Driving range open, mats today. Finished 17 in the dark - too late/dark to squeeze in 18. Course is busy but pace was really good.
Been a long time since I played here. Conditions are pretty good. Tee boxes are good, level, not too much divot damage other than par 3s which is expected. Fairways are very nice. Some wet spots, and some areas of the rough are brown, but not very high. Bunkers a mixed bag, some with lots of footprints and others with no issues. Greens were ok, lots of footprints and some unrepaired ball marks. Hard to complain playing so late in the day after all the traffic. They held shots well and rolled medium speed. Gotta be on the right tier with the flag or else good luck.
Only my 2nd round since Covid. My golf will be mostly limited to these types of late evening rounds, and hope to get back out here in the next week or two.
» Close