Played River Ridge Victoria Lakes today with a High School golfer. Had a fun round. I really like the Lakes layout with lots of vareity. Lots of water, uphills, downhills, doglegs...you name it's there. Fairways are pretty wide open, which helps my game quite a but there is plenty of challenge with the water. Fairways and tee boxes were in nice condition, but the greens were a little shakey. On some of the holes the greens were just plain bad and getting a true roll on a 6 footer was virtually impossible. If you are a green snob this might not be your course for the next couple of months. Nice cart lady and pace of play was excellent with our round being 3 1/2 hours.

My master plan was to go up to Ojai and play Soule Park for the first time and be the first on the course so I could find myself around, take some pictures and enjoy the scenery. When I got there I saw some fo the thickest fog I've ever seen. I was forced to wait to tee off so I could figure out where I was going. I eventually teed off and had a great experience on a great course. I didn't expect the course to be as challenging as it was. From the Oak tees (the tips) there are several 450+ yards par 4's. I felt like I was on tour. on the 245 yard par 3...I considered hitting driver even though I settled on a three wood. However, the layout was great as there were some shorter Par 5's and a short par 4 that added some vareity to the course. The greens were a little on the slow side and were somewhat deceiving from the fairway. Large aprons of short fringe surrounded many of the greens (kind of like Rustic) and made it tough to decipher if the pin was in front, back, left or right as the fringe and green looked the same from 170 yards. Fairways were very nice. The scenery was great as I felt like I was golfing in the wilderness. I'm kind of kicking myself for not getting this course in my rotation sooner. I will definitely be back and recommend the course to the traveling golfer.

Played on 8/8/08 at the GK outing. Beautiful course in a beautiful setting. I saw the yardage from the whites and I was thinking to myself this is going to be easy. I don't remember any holes that were straight and flat. Every hole has little nuances that add to the difficulty such as forced carries, water, rolling fairways, blind shots and doglegs...you name it and it's there. Not to mention the fast greens. I also found the course to be very appealing to the eyes. I wish I had a camera with me on many holes. The back nine was one probably my favorite I've played so far. Challenging, well maintained and picturesque. If you prefer to golf near vineyards rather than houses and if you prefer to golf where the course is not packed to the gills than this is this is the course for you. I didn't play my best but I can't wait to get back and get my redemption. I also enjoyed the event as I got to talk to several other GKers for the first time. Great post dinner meal at Big Bubba's Bad BBQ.

Played Rustic today. Only the third time I've played it and it's definitely a course where local knowledge would be beneficial. A couple of times I was aiming not where I should've been. That being said I shot very well. The positive things about the course. Challenging design. 5 par 4's 430+ from the blues, some forced carries and lots of trouble areas. It's also very unique. I've never played another course like it. The one BIG negative is the greens are about the worst greens I've ever played. Bumpy and slow. Considering that lag putting is so important here with the big aprons green maintenance seeme like it should be a priority. I play some lower end courses and even courses like Mountain View in Santa Paula have nicer and smoother greens. One player in our group stated after the round that if the next time he played the course the greens were in that condition that he wouldn't come back.

I consider this my home course and love playing it every time. But, I never thought I would say the fairways are in better shape than the greens. There I said it. Fairways are great. Greens were shaggy and slow. They just went through aeration about 2 months ago and about 2 weeks ago they went through some vertical cutting. They are probably letting the greens grow to recover from the vertical cut. I'm hoping that the greens get back to the way they were two weeks ago as I plan on playing a lot of golf this summer.

River Ridge Victoria Lakes 14. Yes that's right played 14 hole course today. River Ridge (vineyard as it is known now) got it's greens punched today and I heard Victoria Lakes opened the new holes today through Friday, so I thought I would check them out. I'll explain the new holes a little so you know what to expect. We played from the blues and the scorecard provided only had white and red yardage numbers so we played it longer than the yardage states. Number 1 is the same par five that the course has been starting with. Then you go up the hill and play a short par 3 (140 from whites) into the wind. Right of the green is a bunch of trees, to the left is a large bunker and a cliff. Too far left equates to good bye ball. Hole 3 was a dogleg right and downhill (385 from whites). Drive it on the left side of the fairway and let it roll down. Green is protected by a large bunker short and right of the green. 2 of us landed in it. Hole 4 is dogleg left (360 from whites). From the Blues you have to tee off over a ravine area so you have to judge the angle to shoot at or you could easily end up in the ravine which lines the left side of the fairway with the wind also pushing you that direction. The green is very large with several steep drops. I hit an iron to the right side of the green and my ball rolled to about 12 feet and drained the putt for a birdie. Hole 5 is an extension to the old hole 2. You now tee off above and it's now a cool par 5. From the tee box you see two large lakes and have several options of attack. You hit your ball like I did about 240 to the designated landing area. Or, if you're a big hitter you can try and clear the lake and give your self about 150-170 to the hole. But you're clearing the large lake on the left and it's probably 290 from the blues. Cool hole with plenty of danger but also potential for birdies and pars. Holes 6-12 are the old 3-9. Hole 13 is another new par 5 (525 from whites). It's the hole that runs along victoria ave. Luckily we played from the blues because if I teed off from the whites my ball would've landed in the lake, but because the blue tee was a good 30+ yards back and left I missed the water by ten yards. Definitely want to play this hole along the left side. You actually don't even see the water, to the right, from the tee box so be careful. Now the approach shot is very delicate to an elevated green. Anything right is wet. Over is wasteland and the only safe area to miss is left and there is a bunker there. It's actually pretty intimidating to look at. Another cool hole. Pretty challenging. The 14th hole is a par 4 (425 from the whites). Now this is a very different hole. Lake on the left...lake on the right, plus it's long...plus you're shooting over a ravine. Was playing with a college golfer and he said "it's a crazy hole". Par is a great score on this hole. Let's say I hit one in the drink on my approach and took a 7...Ughh. I'll be back for revenge and some better stragegy hopefully on Wednesday. It was a par 56 and I shot a 68 with the triple on the last hole. One more thing of note is the new holes greens are much quicker than the old holes, so you'll need to adjust your speed.

Played River Ridge on Monday. Course was packed. Very nice day and finished 18 just before dark. Greens, Tee Boxes and Rough are in quality condition. Several of the fairways are pretty barren. Got the white paint surrounding areas specifically on holes 8 and 10. I like the layout at River Ridge. I'm not a fan of the new 4 and 5 holes as I feel those two holes are too close together, someone may get hit one of these days. Overall its a great valued course. I shot a 88 with 39 putts. I also played Victoria Lakes Tuesday. I find the course to be a lot of fun. Flat with 4 of the 9 holes with water in play. The greens had some kind of lines on them from mowing. So a lot of the putts weren't breaking like you would think. The fairways were more lush than River Ridge. I made two laps around and shot 89 with 36 putts. It will be interesting this summer when they get a full 36 done.