Played 7/27. Must agree with other reviewers, while this is a quality track, I wouldn't play here for rack rate right now. Considerable amount of tees sanded, lots of thin areas in the fairway.
Greens pretty consistent. Play early to get favorable wind. Course much tougher than its rating with the wind up.

Unless you made a lot of dough at the tables, and you're playing with their money, I wouldn't drop $160 to play here.

Took my car to the dealer in Temecula this afternoon (Thursday) and I was teetering between playing Cross Creek for $25 at 330pm (golfnow) or SCGA for $35 at 230pm (member rate). I chose SCGA since I hadn't played it. Made it through 9 holes, and quit. I was underwhelmed, and it was playing pretty slow for a Thursday afternoon.

I was really surprised that I was underwhelmed by this course. While I don't want to be accused of criticizing an RTJ Sr. course, the course isn't terribly exciting. I mean, the course is ok, plenty of bunkers (which are VERY inconsistent) some RTJ hazards, but nothing will knock your socks off.
Also, there really isn't anything to look at around the course other than distant mountains and SoCal track houses with no yards to speak of. It's a typical housing development golf course -- fairly well conditioned.
There were obvious signs of lack of attention to detail that happens when you don't have the labor that it appears they've had. Finishing, edging, deep raking were inconsistent. Speaking of raking...does anyone know if some of the traps are supposed to be dirt? I mean on one side of the 5th(?) green, I hit out of D.I.R.T., literally, and was mumbling about having to rake really cheap dirt with a really cheap rake. The other trap had sand, at least.
Lots of unfilled divots from several days. My pet peeve is clearly seeing where the previous few days' tee positions were by the ugly, unfilled scars. Someone just moves the tees, and IGNORES the scars on the box. (cmon rangers, the LEAST you can do if you can't speed up play is fill the divots on the tee boxes. It takes, what, 3 minutes to fix up a tee box with a bottle of sand?)
Anyway, I suppose for $35, it's worth a visit if you're in the area. I certainly wouldn't pay more for this than Cross Creek, which in most cases won't happen.

Played on July 4th, and the fog made it surreal.
The course is playing much more like normal, with the speed of the greens a lot slower than just before the open. The rough is inconsistent, as there are just a lot of areas to try to get back to a reasonable length.

I suppose all the SD golf staff has been so focused on Torrey, that poor Balboa looks as bad as the typical American Golf cheap-o muni-style property. I waslked on at 830am as a single on Sunday...and teed off like immediately. I guess that's like getting excited walking into an empty restaurant at lunchtime.

Played in mid-June in 113 heat in a tournament the teed off at noon. Not smart. This course can bake you. However, as of mid June, the course was still perfect. Greens were great, fairways perfect, tee areas flat. I imagine this course in the peak is unbelievably nice.

I play here once in a while because I pay American Golf lots of money every month, so I can play their courses cheap. It's 5 minutes from my office, so I can play hooky quick. This is the typical American Golf municipal property. They don't make enough money to really invest in the course, so you'll notice what happens when you have half the workers you need and half the seed/water you need. Dried fairways, sketchy traps, pockmarked greens, and muni-style 5-hr golf.
Never pay rack rate here...never. Find a coupon.

The first 5 holes are the money holes, inasmuch as you get ocean views (and literal beachfront on 4 & 5). But to be honest, if you're paying rack rate, you're dropping $250 for a couple of oceanfront holes, a few more ocean views, and then a pretty standard high-end housing development track.
Service was good, fairways and greens really nice. I, too, had a similar issue with a guy and his no-distance-control teenage kid playing behind me.
Troon has occasional specials, so put yourself on their spam list, and find a way to do a 2for1 for your once every five years or so visit to this typically-Troon overpriced "resort experience".

Click4teetimes deal saturday afternoon. I suppose the big disadvantage to being the best value in OC golf is that this course gets a lot of play from value seekers, who aren't the type of people that play Pelican. Very slow at twilight, with a lot of beginners on a Saturday. I suppose that it's to be expected, since you shouldn't expect to pay $40 on a Saturday and finish 18 holes.

IMHO, if you can't make a SoCal golf course LUSH after our February, you're TRYING to make the course look bad, since we've had an amazing series of rains perfectly spaced to green everything up. The problem, however, is someone has to keep up with the grass, and you could tell this is a problem at SJH. The greens were very fuzzy in the afternoon. The rough was as high as Torrey South is right now (in places), so it was neat to see. Greens are pretty decent, tees have some bumpy/uneven lies.

But hey, this course is a tremendous value, and if you play early enough in the day...are accustomed to 5+ hour rounds....you should really put this on your regular list.

Ditto, the course can be a beast. I tried to get there early enough on a Saturday to beat the 730 tee time, but beware, 620am wasn't early enough for a single that wanted to play South. Probably before 6a to get out before 9. I got out at 930. North was less than a 30 minute wait all day, but a couple of holes are hosed.

I par'd 1-3, but then found the rough. 2 Pars the rest of the day...the darn grass just gets in your head! You start thinking about it on the tee, and then...it's all over.

Those that play here once or twice a year will notice a couple of big differences. First...they're keeping the rough 3"+ here on out until that first weekend in July. Also, the greens aren't as jumpy as they typically get 2 weeks after the buick! I drained a cuppla 10+ footers that normally wouldn't have had a chance in PoaAnnua. (get it?!)

Oh, for those of you who wait around to get called, they removed the benches from the area in front of the pro shop. Makes it darn inconvenient to chill for 3 hours.

Go play it...now's our opportunity!

Just a quick note to let you know that caddies are gone. Clubcorp killed the program Nov 1st. I attempted to play the course on a windy day last week, gave up after 8, but it was nice to not have to deal with a caddy. (Just my preference.)

Signature Gold price is up to $35. Compared to Canyon Gate at $20, Canyon Gate is the deal of the year. I hate to quibble about paying $35 for a $250 course, but to pay that for a cart without GPS? Cmon guys, why is it $35?

They tell me GPS at Bears Best in a few months. (No caddies anymore means the upscale resort golfer paying $250 for a round must have GPS.)

I suppose it's not fair to judge a course in the middle of nowhere so harshly in the middle of the winter. But, they still charged me over $100, so I'll give them a true review.

They are in the midst of a considerable amount of maintenance, at least on the desert course, and it will impact your play. nearly every tee area has stakes (I'm not entirely sure what they're up to), and several of the bunkers are torn up. The greens were shaggy and slow. I played Canyon Gate the next day, and can tell you that the difference in greens speed was HUGE!

Cart meets you at your car in the parking lot, which is nice, and the people in the clubhouse seem nice. The starter I had today was just ok. The ranger refused to tell a 4-some to catch up with the group in front, because "technically they're on time". This made play for my 3-some unbearable, since the 4-some were obviously playing for serious dough. (They had to be, do you REALLY plumb EVERY stinking putt?) So, the back nine wasn't as fun once we started waiting 5 minutes on every shot.

The fairways are tight, but green. Overall, probably still worth the $110 stay-n-play package, but probably not a "4.5 star" visit, at least this time of year.

Played on Saturday before Christmas at noon. Found the deal on golfnow, went to Castle first, they said, not the right place.
Once I actually arrived at the course, the disinterested college kid at the counter took my money, no personality at all. However, the starter/ranger lady was pretty nice. I teed off alone, and caught up with a twosome in 3 holes.
The course conditions were pretty decent. I hadn't played the track in a while, and it'll likely stay on the "when you can find a ridiculous special" list. There are so many silly holes, so many blind tee-shots, and general weirdness about the course. And it's not the cool weirdness of a Mt Woodson, just quirky weirdness. I did want to mention that the traps are really fluffy, like the guy who raked it out in the morning had nothing better to do than put a foot of loose sand in each of the bunkers. It's like trying to hit out of fresh snow. (Not that I've ever tried)
Since it's value golf, remember not to expect the same players you find at La Costa. These are value golfers, so just set your expectations appropriately.