Played this course a few times thirty-five years ago when it was called Willow Park. Never thought much of it and it never made our local rotation. Fast forward: it is now called Redwood Canyon and all I remembered of it was the driving range where you hit balls into a giant pond/lake.

Since it played like a new course and I had low expectations I was very impressed. I remember it being short, mickey mouse and always mushy. It seems it's a little shorter now as it tops out at just under 6,000 from the tips. Many of the holes seem like their own entity in a nice, secluded canyon setting. Very scenic.

$30 to walk after 3PM, (think it drops to $20 after 4) not sure how much for a cart. Very reasonable and a pretty easy walk, tee boxes mostly close to the greens. Biggest transfer was crossing the big parking lot between 9 and 10. Fairways had some spots and different kinds of grasses, but I didn't encounter any bad lies. The greens were smooth and of medium speed. Bunkers looked crunchy but reasonable full of brown sand. Saw lots of unraked footprints as I walked by them and had to fix a million ball marks but that was pretty much it for bad stuff. We waited on every shot but finished in well under four hours. Not a hard course but not a pushover. Lots of tree trouble, and a creek meanders thru the course and slightly wayward shots will bounce into it.

I only played it because I was getting my car worked on a half hour away and I seemed to have lost my old scorecard if I ever had one. So, either they fixed it up, I have a terrible memory, or trees and canyons really fill out over 35 years (or all of the above) I left pleasantly surprised and would recommend checking it out if you had the same previous views that I had.

The shop guys were all helpful and as a big bonus I think it may run 15 or 20 degrees cooler in the summer than some of its more inland neighborhoods.