Great time at Valencia Country Club “BIG V” on Monday. We found out why Valencia CC was a recent sectional finals US OPEN qualifier. The bunkers, green complexes and pin placements played so tough. Missing the green, anywhere was going to seriously test your short game. My ball striking was solid off the tee, which you got to have out there, and I was hitting my irons mostly clean, but my iron game accuracy was off just enough to find a nasty greenside bunker on most holes (10 to 12 holes – lost count after 10). Some holes multiple bunkers and most of the time multiple shots to escape a bunker. But my sand game right now is so dialed in for my next round – LOL.

Super day playing with GDR23, rgm2525 and mark_6m. Valencia CC was in fantastic playing condition. Lush tee to green. Bunkers are well maintained, groomed with high quality sand. The sand was consistently soft, a little thick and a little heavy. It made for a great playing surface. Never was my ball plugged or fried egg. Greens were smooth, held shots (except hole 14) and medium/fast. Stay below the hole if possible and don’t short side yourself with tough pitch shots. Tee Boxes were lush, level and groomed. What stood out the most to me was the improvement of the fairways. Two years ago, Valencia CC reopened after a full new improved heat/drought tolerant turf replacement. There were complaints at first as you can see by reading some of the past reviews here on Greenskeeper.org. But now, the fairways look fully established, providing excellent lies and driver rollout. It’s a blast hitting tee shots on this track and being rewarded well for finding the fairway.

We had a fun Skill Challenge Putting Contest where we tried to replicate JJ’s Spaun’s winning US OPEN putt. L-R, 64 feet, 5 inches. Over 100 tries, no one drained it. Super job mark_6m running the contest. With over 120 players GDR23 and rgm2525 had their hands full at check in. We got a great friendly GKers staff running these :) Great job.

Thank you, Valencia CC, for once again hosting our group and providing an exceptional experience. Thank you, the MOST, to EVERYONE that comes to play the Private Course Monday outings and our coming GK PLAYS! GK is all about community. Love seeing us tee it up together.

6/25/25- Last round in Orlando, a slight delay in the review as it was a wild trip home including lost clubs and bags, thank you Southwest.

I was able to get out and take a drive to Orange County National and play the Panther Lake course. Tee time 7:10AM, hot, humid, and gators on the course. Orange County National is one of the largest golf facilities I have ever been to. The clubhouse is the size of a grocery store, the range can hold at least 100+ people when fully operational, and multiple large putting greens around the property. This place hosts a multitude of events including LIV tournaments and national level junior tournaments. The Crooked Cat course was under a full makeover, so I played the Panther Lake course, which is across the street.

What a course! We started off playing the back 9 first today, as there was some maintenance being done on the 9th fairway in the morning. Played the Green tees which registers at 71.2/132. The challenge was real but also fair. The course has some bunkers in tough spots, very deceiving greens, some water holes, and of course the fear of seeing a gator or two... I saw 1. Everything was great, GPS carts, water and ice on the carts, clean restrooms, a free lunch card for the turn, and a cart lady who found us at least 3 times. As the course goes, the tee boxes, fairways, and bunkers were about as good as you can ask for during this time of the year in central Florida. The greens were slightly sanded and that made it hard to read the breaks at times. Never caught the group ahead of us, and never even saw the group behind us. They run a tight ship here, the marshall's and starter's do not mess around. I spoke with the starter for a long time, this guy was like a drill sergeant. The Marshall watched a few holes we played, and he was nice as I was joking with him

If you ever make it out to this area, I would highly recommend coming to Orange County National. Even if just to practice, this is place.

Played on Saturday in the heat. Fairways were punched last week and in some spots were heavily soaked so we had to pay winter rules with the mud balls and standing water. Greens had also been worked on with small tines, sanding, and verticutting. Surprising speed was still pretty good and of course, balls were holding greens. Sand trap raking preparation is very consistent, however depth of sand is a mixed bag, and there is a certain group of players who just refuse to rake bunkers or repair ball marks. July thru October has historically been the worst conditioned months for this course as the cool season grass dies and the bermuda tries to regrow. Will be interesting to see if new superintendent can do better this summer. Still no sign of new owners after 18 months so of course no capital improvements to golf course. POP was 4 hours so very good.

Played Friday just before 7:00 am, walking for $13 with LA City Senior Card. Can't beat the price for nine holes. Seeing fivesomes go out was a little jarring but we played in less than two hours so no complaints with POP.

The course is in pretty good shape. Decent coverage in the fairways and nice coverage in general in the rough. The rough was not very long but it was still a factor. The tees were generally good although the ball was above my feet on a couple of them. The greens were nice. Medium speed and rolling true.

My friends play the course a couple of days a week. I would not make a regular habit of it but the price is right, it's close, and we were done by 9:00. I will likely be out there again this summer.

Played 6-19-25 as a foursome in carts, finishing in around 4 hours and forty five minutes on a crowded day. Each time I have played here recently the course seems to be in just a little better shape then the previous round. Tees, level, cut tight with good coverage. Fairways , real nice, great lies and decent roll out. Rough, 1-3 inches and semi-thick, great shape. Greenside bunkers, an ample amount of nice heavy white sand. Fairway bunkers, they seem to be letting some of them go, was told they might turn some of them into waste areas so you could grown your club, I think that's a good idea . Greens, rolling smooth at medium/fast pace and playing semi soft, in great shape. Love this course, highly recommend playing.

I played Castle Creek on 6/22, and saw a forum post after asking about it in general so here is a June 2025 review of it.

When you pull up to the parking lot on a Sunday and are one of 3 cars in the parking lot you know something is up. There's a note on the Clubhouse door that says "Back in 5 Minutes." It was really 10-15 minutes before someone came back. From what I could tell they only have one employee that goes between the "Pro Shop" and cart barn.

Positives: The tee time was only $22.50 per player which is unheard in San Diego county for a full-size course weekend rate. The pace of play for my twosome was around 3-3 1/2 hours on account of almost nobody being on the course. Also, the greens were shockingly nice compared to the rest of the course, although the green speed was still very slow.

Negatives: Besides the greens/greenside areas of each hole, the entire course has no grass whatsoever. The carts were the worst I have ever used and seem like they are at minimum from the 1980s. There are no playable bunkers on the course, you have to hit a chip or pitch shot instead if you land in one. There is a lot of overgrowth of trees that block out what probably used to be more open tee shots. Tee Boxes were mostly dirt and rocks, but were surprisingly still pretty level.

Layout: The course layout itself is pretty cool besides holes 10-12. There are around 8 forced carries off of tee shots, and if the trees and bushes were not overgrown, golfers would actually know where to aim to take on some of these risk/reward tee shots. Holes 10-12 are some of the narrowest I have ever played, excluding hole 18 at Balboa Park. Its a shame that the owner has let the course get this bad especially because of all the people who bought homes around the course. I hope that at some point they decide to sell and JC Golf or someone else could revive it like they did with Eagle Crest/Dos Osos Golf Club in Escondido.

If you're really desperate to play 18 holes and there is no availability ANYWHERE else on a weekend, then this is the course for you. For me though, this was definitely the worst course I've ever played, but I expected that going into it, so my expectations weren't too high.

Played on 6/26 at 8 am. The course is in excellent condition and the renovations have just made the course even nicer. The new greens are very firm and even well struck irons roll out quite a ways and leave no ball mark. The fairways, tee boxes and sand traps were all in great condition. Enjoy!

From 6/23

Enjoyed an excellent Outing at Big V! A top level experience!

I can best describe Big V as a legit and fun Players Course. This course really kept you in check, but was never unreasonable. The layout was excellent! Reminded me of Riviera CC at times. I can see why the PGA Tour played here once upon a time.

Big V is a very well-designed course that places premium on accuracy off the tee and into greens. The course features clear definition between its mid-sized fairways and rough areas, well placed bunkering on fairways and proximate to greens, along with some strategic water hazards, with medium sized and reasonably fast greens.

The course is mostly flat, at times undulating, and sometimes with mild elevation changes from fairway to green, and offers some attractive views of localized mountains.

You will need to work the ball in both directions at times. Wind speeds were 10 -15 mph. The course seemed to play it's yardage for the most part. The course was very well manicured and in excellent condition. The course layout is rated a 4.5 out of 5, conditions are rated a 4.5 out of 5. I note the following:

Tee Boxes: Level and lush, no damage. Above average condition.

Fairways: Green at times tight. Excellent condition.

Greens: Green, medium-fast in speed, with medium softness. No damage observed. Speed about a 11. Excellent condition.

Sand: Well maintained, heavy, and firm. Above average condition.

Rough: well defined from the fairway with green collars but not too overgrown, about 2 – 5 inches. Above average condition.

Waste Areas: Waste areas on various holes did not offer much opportunity of recovery due to their overgrown nature. Above average.

Driving Range: The range is excellent, hitting from artificial turf. You see markers at 100, 150, 200, 225, and 250 yards. Range ran out at about 300ish. Range balls were your typical rangers, but in very good condition.

Chipping Area: Compact in size and included a practice bunker. Condition and features were excellent.

Practice Putting Green: Ample in size and very well maintained. Practice greens seemed consistent with the speed of the course greens. Excellent condition.

POP: 5 hours

Big V included a snack bar / restaurant, and a very nicely stocked pro shop. Service received was excellent. If looking to join a quality golf club with the emphasis on golf this is a really good one. Really enjoyed this course and certainly wish I could play it more often. If I lived closer, this would be one I would consider joining.

I endorse playing this track if given the opportunity. Looking forward to my next visit here.

Thank you Johnny, GK, GM, Vivid, and the staff at Big V! What a treat this was!

This is late but will be short. Went out to Scholl about a week ago as a single joining a threesome, starting around 1:45. I only recently had been back to the driving range for the first time in a good while (now they have free Trackman on limited stalls, which I didn't use) and my return round was the first in years. My last time out, I recall burnt out rough and drier, firmer conditions. The course is significantly greener now so I thought it worth mentioning. Rough could get thick and wasn't consistently groomed, but it was good. Fairways were in good shape as were the greens. Really something of a novelty executive course, the back nine has some of the most striking views in LA and is worth checking out once for that alone. Nice service at the counter. Not a place I would play regularly, but worth a look for casual change of pace. Bring a camera/phone.

Played early last week as a twosome for twilight teeing off around 3:40 and finishing in about 4 hours and 45 minutes with just enough light to see last shot. Greens were in pretty good shape rolling medium/fast with an occasional bump, but that looked to be mostly foot traffic from teeing of so late. Rough was generally in good condition, varying in different heights from 3 inches to just barely longer than fairways. Was in one fairway bunker on 15 that had a good thin layer of sand. Fairways for the most part were in good shape with a few minor thin spots and some areas that had been a little bit over watered. Tee boxes were cut tight and level. Overall good conditions. Only complaint would be they need a Marshall, with an eightsome in front of us slowing us down, luckily the sixsome behind us never caught up to us.

I got the chance to play Lomas on 6/23 through an SCGA Member Outing. It was worth all $140 of the event fee. The greens were rolling great, the fairways were freshly mowed, and the greenside bunkers had soft sand. The front 9 is pretty straightforward, and on most holes, what you see from the tee box is what you get. There are a couple of quirky holes on the back 9, holes 11 and 12, that are actually a lot harder than what the yardage says. The staff was very friendly, and I will definitely return if the opportunity presents itself.

Getting a bit repetitious here but with a high temperature forecast to be a mere 95 degrees, I headed out to Rams Hill yesterday, just six days removed from my last visit…and 112 degree heat. I simply could not pass up the opportunity to play on such a benign mid-June day so it was a very easy call.

Course is still in good shape but there are some isolated areas showing signs of slight heat stress. Nothing widespread but I did notice a couple of spots here and there…predominantly on the perimeter of the fairways…that may need some attention.

With that being said, the maintenance crew was out in force when I teed off @ 11:30 and a couple of fairways were being watered as I approached. I expect things to dry out a bit as we get deeper into the summer but it appears the staff is committed to maintaining conditions at a high level.

Tee boxes and fairways were great; laser-sharp level platforms to tee off from and the Par-3s are not torn up with a bunch of old divots. You’ve basically got a ‘blank canvas’ to work with and the turf is cut tight.

The greens…which I consider the true highlight of the course, both in design, scope, and condition…were once again flawless. 11.0 was the posted Stimp and they were pretty quick. I’m definitely getting spoiled out here; I’m not used to seeing the ball track exactly along its line…and the consistent green speed that carries over from one hole to the next is something that cannot be overlooked either.

As I’ve alluded to in my previous two reviews, the putting surfaces are quite firm but will be aerated as part of an extended maintenance period that will run from July 7-17, with the golf course remaining closed during that time frame.

There is a secondary maintenance period scheduled for August 11-13 that will be less aggressive but it’s just another indication that management is ‘all in’ on making Rams Hill a ‘must play’ destination course.

Unless another sub-100 degree day pops up over the next couple,of months, it may be a while before I get to play here again. December is already on the calendar, however, and I’m looking forward to seeing how different the course plays…and looks…at that time.