I finally got around to playing the newly renovated San Juan Oaks. In short not much has changed. But that’s a good thing because I really liked this course before it shut down for 2 years. Condit... Continue »

I finally got around to playing the newly renovated San Juan Oaks. In short not much has changed. But that’s a good thing because I really liked this course before it shut down for 2 years. Condition wise the course was in great shape tee to green. Greens were firm and fast. I’ve said it before, the greens at SJO have the perfect blend of enough undulations to challenge you but nothing ridiculous.

Fairways were lush with good coverage throughout. Some of the areas leading up the greens were tight lies but still had good coverage. Tee boxes and sand traps were all good to go.

As far as the layout is concerned nothing really changed. they swapped the 9’s so you now tee off on what used to be #10 and then head up into the hillside. They used to do that on occasion before so no real change. What has changed is the split fairway on #4 (old #13). It is now a single fairway with just the one on the left. The fairway on the right is completely gone with 3’ weeds now in its place.

Other than that I did not see any changes to the course. There might be a new fairway bunker on #10 (old #1) but it’s been so long since I’ve played here, I can’t fully remember if it was there before or not. In fact the new housing development doesn’t really come into play. There are houses along the right side of the long 1 mile entrance road as you come in but nothing alongside the course. At least not as of yet. In fact you can’t see any of the houses from any part of the course. . I have no idea why they closed this place down for 2 years. The clubhouse / restaurant has been completely remodeled and now features full on dinners (or at least that’s the plan).

The price has gone up to $125 mid week and $175 weekend. That includes a cart and warmup range balls. SJO is a fun and challenging layout with great conditions. POP was a little under 4 hours.