Played this executive course for the first time, going off around 3:30pm on a Wednesday. I liked that they have both a grass side and a mat side to their range, with no price difference, the only caveat being that the grass side was irons only. I noticed that the putting green was in a tree-lined, very shady area, and I wondered if they had a hard time keeping that practice green from being too soft. Joined up with a friendly threesome for a nice walk. As other reviewers have noted, the greens were punched a couple of weeks ago. It was very noticeable on the front nine, where they were rolling very slowly, and at times were a bit bumpy. The back nine greens were quicker, rolling at a medium speed (perhaps the back nine was punched first?). It's a flat, very walk-able track. The threesome told me that they play here year-round, because they can always get in 18 holes with a twilight start since the course is lit at night. Only during the summer do they venture to Torrey Pines or Balboa to play at twilight.

Many of the tees had a slight side-hill slant to them, so it would take me a few moments to find a flat spot. There were very few bunkers on the course. I only recall a couple fairway bunkers on the 7th hole, the par-4 265 yard hole that runs next to Mission Bay Blvd. It was very pleasant weather with a slight breeze, and I enjoyed myself out there. Total time for walking the 18 holes was 2 hrs and 50 minutes. The staff was pleasant, and the friendly bartender looked like she had regulars that were visiting her after their rounds. I'd like to go back after a week or two and play this course when the greens are back to the condition that reviewers rave about.

Played in a Saturday 10am tournament, on a hot and humid day. I've only played the Classic course once before, probably six or seven years ago, but I remember enjoying it more than the Players course when I did. The course's website highlights the greens as the best in Orange County, and they should be rightfully proud of them. They roll beautifully, and are very receptive to wedge shots in. Even my five- and six-irons were just taking one short hop forward and stopping. The greens are fairly large, but there's not much in terms of shelves on the greens. Just lovely gentle slopes where the ball moves wonderfully.

I was not as much in love with the tee boxes. They seemed to be the thick-bladed kikuya grass, just mowed down. I had a hard time finding comfortable footing, and the thick blades of grass made me tee my ball higher than I normally would, especially with irons into the par-3s. The fairways had a few brown patches near the rough, understandable in the heat of the dog days of summer. I managed to avoid the bunkers in my round, but many had some intimidatingly tilted up faces. Watching my playing partners, the bunkers appeared to have a good amount of sand. The trees are mature, but aren't really thick trees that will stop everything. They do have a good amount of height, which you can see contrasting the shorter, younger trees on the adjacent Players course.

We saw the beverage cart a couple of times on the course, and a pit stop was necessary at the snack shop on such a hot day. I was amazed at the number of people who were jogging around the course during the hottest part of the day. There was even saw a couple jogging together pushing a stroller. I for one was glad we had a cart, although our cart did die a couple of times on the front nine, and would restart only after waiting a couple of minutes (battery too hot?). We went and changed it out at the turn. On a cooler day, the course looks flat enough to be very walk-able. As it was, we got around in 4 hours 50 minutes, with some manageable waiting, especially on the par-3s. Folks in the pro shop and the snack shop / bar were friendly, and I enjoyed my time there. Definitely would go back.

Played a Friday round starting around 1pm. I got there a couple of hours early, and spent some time at a nicely secluded chipping / bunker practice area (where I later saw a wedding rehearsal group when I was coming off the 8th green). The range was adequate, 4 dollars for a warm-up bucket, but the practice green was in pretty rough shape. The pro shop was nice enough to let us get going half an hour early, and even gave us a senior rate discount. I think it might have been because there was a big tournament on the course (I heard 14 groups?), and many of them appeared to be beginners. I was taken aback by the very sandy shape of the first tee box, but it ended up being the worst tee box of the day by far. Pace was pretty much "wait on every shot" for the first six holes or so. Then I think a couple of the tournament groups quit early to get a jump on happy hour, and things moved a little quicker.

This was my first time playing San Clemente since 2005, and my first time ever walking the course. Maybe riding a cart had contributed to my inability to remember some holes (has the par 3-13th always been like that? A long, narrow, almost blind uphill shot, it seemed out of character with the rest of the golf course). The fairways were a little dry, but not terribly so. Greens rolled pretty wonderfully, at a medium-slow speed. It was fun charging medium-length putts without having to worry about a long comebacker. The rough seemed lower and more sparse than I remembered, but it's still that unpredictable thick-bladed Kikuyu stuff. It really hurts being in the rough around the greens, because you don't know if the grass will grab the club, or you'll chunk underneath it, or you'll clip it perfectly. The bunkers had a nice amount of sand, maybe a couple of inches deep. Some of those bunker faces were REALLY high. The afternoon ocean breeze started to kick up on the narrower, hilly-er back nine. My playing partner dared me to take a shortcut to the fairway on the left side of the 387-yd par 4 #16, but I didn't think I could hit it far enough, or straight enough, with that ocean wind blowing. Had bad timing with the beverage cart. She rolled around us really early on the 2nd hole, then I didn't glimpse her until the 12th green, where she sped off while we were putting...I think she was already trucking home.

I had an enjoyable time, and would come back. We got around in almost exactly five hours. Kudos to the city of San Clemente for keeping some affordable golf around in the South Orange County area. Isn't it just this course and San Juan Hills?

Played a noon start time on Sunday of Labor Day weekend. I was happy to get a relatively early start, since I had only played twilight at this course before and have never gotten past the 11th hole. It was a gorgeous day, with a coastal haze that burned off into beautiful blue skies with a slight breeze. The course is in pretty good shape, with a few dry patches in the fairways, and a couple of rough tee boxes (the par-3 9th hole tilted you on a side-hill draw lie for a right-hander, and the par-4 10th hole tee box was really sandy). For me, the greens were the highlight, rolling beautifully at a medium speed. Balls were also landing very softly on the greens. I was never in a greenside bunker, but the fairway bunkers had a surprisingly deep amount of sand.

I was glad to finally complete the back nine, with all of its views of the marina. It felt a little tighter, and I'm not a fan of the in-course OB stakes. With it being Labor Day weekend, there were a lot of boats out, and a couple of distractingly noisy party boats out there. On the tee box of the par 5 13th hole, one boat was bumping techno music and randomly firing off an air horn. I felt like someone was going to grab me from behind, tilt my head back, and force a tequila shot into me, Tijuana-style. It was all very understandable for a long weekend, and my playing group actually commented on how much less of a party atmosphere this weekend seemed than for other holidays. The beverage cart caught us twice and seemed fairly friendly. The pace of play was okay, with occasional waiting for shots, and much better than my last weekend round at Coronado several years ago. We finished in 5 hours and 9 minutes, all members of our foursome walking. I love the relaxed atmosphere at Coronado. Tip around the tee boxes though, the fences that they put up to protect the tee boxes aren't that high, so be mindful of the possibility of golf balls flying in.

Went out on a fairly warm afternoon, the day before the Fourth of July. I first played Reidy Creek maybe six or seven years ago, and had a beginner friend that wanted a little coaching on a course. The course was wide open, and we had a leisurely round. Customer service was great the entire time. Everyone on the staff really seemed to be happy that we had come to enjoy their golf course.

What I love about Reidy Creek is that it *feels* like a regulation-size course. There's no mats on the tee box, it's not a march of 110-yard parallel par-3s to a small green. There's bunkering, the greens are large and have tiers, the holes constantly change directions to keep you thinking about the wind. There's really nice fairway areas before the green complex. The roll on the greens felt a little "sticky" to me...they rolled smooth, but five or six feet away from the cup, the ball would seem to slow down and come to a stop prematurely. Maybe that was a factor of the greens being pretty lush, as my middle irons were landing softly and my short irons were spinning back. I wish there was more sand in the bunkers. They felt like they had only about a half-inch or an inch of sand underneath the ball. I was always caught in no-mans-land between 1) trying a chip and risk leaving my ball in the bunker, or 2) trying an explosion shot that risked my clubhead bouncing off the hard gravel and skulling the ball over the green.

I really enjoyed my time at Reidy Creek. It's got to be in my top two for executive courses in the San Diego area along with Tecolote (if just because Tecolote is so darn hard with all the hazards, and it's a Robert Trent Jones Sr. / Sam Snead-design).

Played for the first time in a Sunday afternoon tournament. Great customer service from the time I parked my car until I left. The layout of the golf course appears to award the patient golfer that stays away from risks. Cutting the corners on doglegs doesn't appear to gain you much advantage, but can really get you in trouble. If you don't mind keeping your driver in your bag on some holes and hitting fairway woods instead, and hitting your approach shot from 130 yards instead of 100 yards, the course appears to award that style of play. Loved the par-4 3rd hole, where I saw big waves crashing in from the Pacific. Lots of non-golfers walking on the paths of the golf course, either guests of the St. Regis walking down to the beach, or locals taking their dogs out on walks.

The greens were a medium speed. A man in the pro shop told me it was running 10.5 on the stimp meter, but it felt more like an 8 or a 9 in the afternoon. And the greens were definitely getting bumpy by the late afternoon on the back nine. The one thing I could never figure out on the course was the sand in the bunkers, especially the greenside bunkers. It was some dense, clay-like sand, and my sand wedge just did not want to cut into that stuff on greenside explosion shots. My sand wedge would instead bounce off the sand, and I would watch in horror as I caught the ball square and saw it sail over the other side of the green. In general, the rough wasn't too bad, but there is some thick stuff that separates the 6th and 7th holes from the elevated, parallel 8th and 9th holes, and we lost a few balls in it. The pin locations seemed to be in challenging spots all day. I don't think I saw a pin that was more than 7 yards from one edge of the green.

Never saw a beverage cart on the course, but there was a snack shop that you roll past after the 5th and 9th holes. I played the front nine well, but my shots got loose in the back and I ended up losing almost two sleeves of balls. Would love to get another crack at this course and see if I can play station-to-station and put up a better score.

Played on a late Friday afternoon. There was a fivesome in front of me and another walking single I was paired off with. Although we did tend to wait, it was only for a minute each hole as the fivesome were hustling pretty well.

I do have warm nostalgic feelings for this course because it was my team's home course for high school. It's never been meticulously maintained, but I was shocked at how poor the playing conditions were. The course was severely dried out, with about half of the fairway on any given hole being dead brown grass. Many of the greens were suffering as well, most notably the par 3-8th hole had some really bad damage on the backside edges. My playing partner told me that the really bad windstorm in the San Gabriel Valley a couple of years ago knocked down dozens of trees on the course (I really noticed this on the uphill par 4-7th hole, where I could plainly see the 2nd hole across the wash, when trees used to block that view). And the current drought conditions in California had really affected the course's ability to water the property.

Overall I just felt sad that this golf course I had grown up on was in such bad shape. Luckily my playing partner was a really fun conversationalist and we had a good time. Shout out to you, Dolan, if you read this. Hopefully this course will get turned around and once again be a nice spot for beginners to get a taste of regulation-sized golf.

Got out for a mid-morning tee time on Saturday, and got around in 4 hours and 35 minutes. We could have actually gotten around a little quicker, as the group in front of us were usually getting off the green when we would drive up to the tee. I really enjoy the layout of Admiral Baker's North course, in comparison to the South course which just feels like a march of straight short par 4s. There's much more variety in the meandering North course, as the layout tests the wind from a variety of directions, and you get a couple of holes that are sharp doglegs as well. The ninth hole doesn't lead you back to the clubhouse, instead bringing you to a snack shop that looked closed. Fortunately, the beverage cart came by four times during our round.

The greens felt a slow to me, and I really felt like I needed to kill the ball on uphill putts. One of the staff mentioned that they had gotten a little rain in the early morning hours, so that might explain the sluggishness. The par 3s on the course really ate me up on a fairly windy day, and they are all in the 160-185 yd range from the white tees, so practice those clubs on the range before you hit the course.

Played for the first time today with a 10am tournament. I grew up in the nearby San Gabriel Valley, so I was mystified that I had never heard of Hansen Dam before, let alone played the course. I'm glad I rectified that situation today, because I surprised how much I loved the course. The greens were exactly the speed I like to play, fast but not unmanageable. The greens are very large as well, and I could see how holes could play very differently with different pin positions. The greens played very firm, with a couple of my shots bounding off the back of the green. Ball marks on the green were very shallow, the balls not having much to dig into.

The holes themselves are very straightforward...what you see is what you get, with no blind shots that I can remember unless you're down in a valley and can't see the bottom of a flag stick. You're given ample room on most holes, and the rough allows you to recover if you do make a mistake. The amount of sand in the bunkers did seem to vary, with most of the bunkers having a ton of fluffy sand but a couple others having only a thin half-inch of dirt (the one behind the 2nd green comes to mind, as well as the bunker to the left of the par 3 16th hole). I didn't see a beverage cart out there, but there is a snack shop at the turn. The staff that I interacted with were all very friendly and helpful. I'd love to play this gem again, especially because the greens putt exactly like how I like them.

P.S. I see that the website has this course marked down for aeration this weekend (21st & 22nd) but I didn't see any signs of punching in the greens at all. I don't know if it was done earlier or will be done on a future date.

Played a round after some Black Friday shopping in the morning, going out when the twilight rate started at 12:30pm. It had been raining all morning, but it had tapered off by the time we teed off. The wet conditions made the greens play slower than I've ever seen them at Santa Anita. The pace of play was fine for the first few holes, but our twosome eventually joined up with the twosome in front of us on the fifth hole, and the pace was brutally slow after that. The tee boxes were sanded down with a lot of repair mix, so I often had to back up a couple of yards to find some firm footing to stand on for my tee shot. Bunkers were packed down because of the rain, but were in good condition. We eventually finished barely able to see around 5pm, making for a 4 1/2 hr round that felt much longer because of all the waiting.

Although the scorecard doesn't reflect it at 6412 yards from the blue tees, the course tends to play long. Except for the first par 3, the par 3s are pretty lengthy and challenging. The signature mounds on the course also protect the long hitter from overpowering the course by requiring a variety of lie angles to hit from. I also have never made the transition of the ninth hole being a par 5, it still feels like a brutally long par 4 to me. I still think of the course as a par 70.

Played on an overcast Tuesday afternoon. The round was pretty quick, 4hr 15m for our foursome. The fairways are pretty beat up right now, with lots of bare patches, and a shameful amount of unrepaired divots. The course is good for the beginning golfer. Lots of short par-4s, and the rough is very forgiving. The greens were very lush and receptive, and putted fairly slow. The beverage cart zipped by a few times during the round. Service was very nice.

Played a Thursday 12:45pm round. I haven't played this course in over five years, and it's nice to see the improvements to the clubhouse and pro shop that weren't there before. What are they feeding the geese there? Those things are huge, fat and happy.

The course was in pretty decent shape for late fall/winter play. There were some bare spots on the fairways, but the greens were holding up nicely and were generally very receptive. There didn't seem to be much sand in the bunkers, only an inch or so, so I felt like I needed to chip my greenside bunker shots more versus going for explosion shots. The sun came out after an overcast front nine, and the afternoon west wind picked up as well, making the finishing holes fairly difficult. The pace was pretty good, with only a wait on one of the back 9 par 3s. The beverage cart was a helpful busy bee, coming by four times. I've always enjoyed the layout of this course (designed by Billy Caspar...for a guy who played a legendarily big draw, I'm surprised how many left-to-right dogleg holes there are). And the value is really hard to beat in San Diego.