Played early on Sunday, 12/4, around 7:00 am. Cold wet morning. Fog on the way up the hill but none on the course. No amenities open that early although the coffee shop was open as we made the turn. POP continues to be very good as we came in at almost exactly 4 hours.

The course is in decent shape still after an outstanding autumn for conditions. It could use some rain. There are some bare spots in the fairways although I avoided them. The rough it hit or miss. The grass has come in nicely on some areas such as left on 2 and right on 8. They are also adding mulch in some dirt areas such as left on 1. The greens were interesting. The course did not aerate them this Fall and they are very firm. They roll well but there are some possible fungus areas where they do not look as good as they did. They also were slower than usual, medium speed, but it was a wet morning so that might have been the reason. No complaints about them.

Overall, the course is doing a good job on conditioning. Recommended.

Played around 6:30 am this morning. We actually got out a few minutes early. POP was outstanding, 3.5 hours with three walkers and one riding. Unfortunately, the group behind us was three holes behind when they made the turn as we could see them on the 10th tee as we walked down the 13th fairway. So, POP not so good after us.

The course was in decent shape. More bare areas in the fairways. Uncertain lies in the regular rough although it was healthy and thick around the greens. The greens were good. Some bumps but generally rolled well with medium speed.

I enjoy the course. In the morning when it is not rolling as much in the fairways, it provides nice length requiring most of the clubs in your bag. One peculiar thing this morning is that three of the par threes were set up so they were between 202 and 207 yards from the blue tees. I finally got it right on the last one but peculiar they were so similar in length.

I'll be back.

Played Sunday August 8, around 7:00 am., black tees. Was able to walk up and get out immediately, paying the public rate of $65 with cart. Always pleasant and professional staff, this time was no exception. Pace of play was outstanding. I was told to join the twosome on the tee but it was obvious they had no interest in my joining them or waiting for me. They were off the tee before I had my bag strapped on the cart. I waited on almost every shot behind them but played in about 3 hours exactly. I was going to see about joining the threesome behind me but they never caught up to the extent I could talk to them.

The course is in very good shape considering the hot weather. The fairways were consistently good. The rough was long enough that I had to look a while to find my ball at times. The greens looked great and rolled well. I thought they were only medium speed and were grown out because of the weather, but as the day heated up the greens sped up. The black tees consistently had some crowning and were not easy to find a flat lie on several.

Some notes - No mosquitoes! The sand traps looked good and were pre-raked (no rakes available on course), but the sand layer was not very thick. I used more loft once I figured that out. The black tees were generally all the way back on their tee boxes and the course played relatively long from back there even with the altitude. There were some tough pin positions. The par five 10th was back left on a slope that bent more than it looked to me. Both one of the players in the group in front and I missed five foot birdie putts at it.

Highly recommended.

Played on Saturday, July 17, at about 6:00 am. Beautiful summer morning. The coffee shop was closed when we teed off. The halfway house was open when we made the turn about 8:00. Friendly service all around. We played in 3:50 although it took a call to the clubhouse from one in our group to get a marshal out to push the group in front of us who were over a hole behind by #6. We had waited on every shot until then. Kudos to the course for getting someone out there quick to take care of it.

The course was in pretty good shape. Some over watered spots presumably because of the warm weather. There were some spots in the fairways not as good as others but no real bare spots that I saw. I was in several sand traps and they were okay. One player in our group was in a greenside bunker that did not have much sand. Tee boxes were very lush and generally level. The rough was cut down and generally not much of a factor. The greens were the highlight. Smooth, better than medium speed and sneaky fast downhill.

The course is in pretty good shape right now. Recommended.

Played Saturday, 5/1, at around 7:00 am. Great morning for my last time to play before an extended lay off. Very efficient pro shop, we went out right on time. Unfortunately, the coffee shop does not open until 8:00 and I am not sure when the half way house opens. We went through there right around 9:00 and it was closed. POP was okay, right at 4 hours.

The course was in pretty good shape as long as you were in the fairway. I do not recall a bad lie in the fairway. They looked nice and were decently lush. I recall several bad lies in the rough, sometimes sitting on dirt between clumps and a couple of times on the back nine in the wire grass (or whatever its called) that also plagues Los Verdes. The sand in the bunkers was plentiful in the two I was in. The tee boxes were generally level with good grass, to where if I was hitting a hybrid or iron I had to make a footprint to get the grass down. Not atypical of Kikuyu.

The greens, with a few exceptions, looked fully recovered from aeration. A few greens had faint outlines on some edges with what may have been follow up sand. The greens rolled well. They were not as quick as usual and they were not as quick as they looked. Medium speed.

I always enjoy playing this course. A good test from the blue tees especially in the morning when tee shots might not roll out as much. Can't wait to get out there again.

Played Sunday 4/11 at 6:30 am. Very good pace of play at 3.5 hours. Beautiful morning out there. I am not sure if the coffee shop is open yet. They still have a food and beverage area near the driving range. We passed the halfway house the last time about 9:30 and it was not open. No idea if it opens later but it was disappointing to see it not operating. The services are sparse at present, at least for the early morning crew.

TThey aerated the greens this week. It looked on the first green like they were aerating in front of us. The sand was piled in drifts. My putt hit a sand dune about two feet from the hole and turned up the hill. They had a person out there in a tractor dragging something to spread the sand out but we did not see the effects until the third hole and it looked like they had not done the back nine. Very, very slow. They were the worst greens I have played on in quite a while.

The rest of the course was pretty good. Unusually, the rough is up. We had to look hard to find balls and one player in our group lost at least two balls in areas not far off the fairway. It was quite penal on a course which has been cropping the rough low.

I would wait at least a couple of weeks to get out there again.

Played Sunday 2/21 in a tournament starting about 9:30 am. It was pretty crowded with another tournament going off the North course about the same time. I had to wait to hit some balls on the range. Nice to be at a course with open putting greens but the one I hit some on was faster than the course which caused some difficulty on the first hole. Food and beverage service through the back door still. Cheerful and efficient service though.

I think Chevelle's last review is spot on. The greens were very firm and it was difficult to spot divots. They also rolled really well at a fast speed. Late there were some tough pin positions to be above such as 17 which was in the back right. An 8 handicap in our group four-putted two greens. Fun to watch until it was your turn.

The rest of the course was in pretty good winter shape as Chevelle noted. The sand traps were an exception in that they had not been raked for a while (and no rakes available per Covid mandates). Good sand but with a crust and there were many historical footprints. We were playing lift and place in the bunkers if needed. It was.

Always a pleasure to be out here. I love the layout and appreciate the work the owners do to keep it in good condition. I'll be back.

Played Sunday, 1/31, at 7:00 am. Crisp morning that evolved into a decent, sunlit day. Still checking in people through the back window in the pro shop but the restaurant is open early which was appreciated.

I have not played here in a while and I was pleased with the conditions. Even though we had rain recently, the fairways were mowed with little residual moisture. The fairways were tight winter lies though. The rough was cut down and not much of a factor. The sand was in good shape. The greens were much improved from my last time here. Slower in the morning quickening as the round progressed. I had a four foot downhill putt on the par 3 16th that I barely tapped and it slid 3 feet past the hole.

Pace of play was also nice. Two hours at the turn, four hours total. We had to wait most holes being a 3 following a 4, but nothing too bad. Overall a nice morning.

Played Sunday, 1/17 before 7:00. Warm Santa Ana morning with a breeze blowing west. The smog was piling up on Catalina but we could see at least one of the islands to the northwest. POP was outstanding at 3.5 hours.

The course conditions were a little ragged. The fairways looked like they had not been mowed with clumps of grass sticking up from the generally dry turf. The rough was rough. A lot of dirt out there. The bunkers were in good shape. They had someone raking them on the front. Unfortunately I was undermining much of that work as I played out of the sand quite a bit.

The greens have been outstanding lately but they were merely good. Still firm and fast, there were some bumps out there. Not so one had to worry on short putts; they were just not perfect.

Overall, a nice summer day in January. Tough to complain too much about the conditions. Not perfect but still the best deal in golf.

Played New Year’s Day at 6:50 am. Blustery front nine evolved into a gorgeous back nine. Four islands in view from the 16th tee. Service was good although still nothing open early. Standard Covid restrictions. Pace of play was good at about 3:55.

The course is playing January firm and fast. Lusher in the fairway than in prior years, but I had a fade working that was rolling into trouble on occasion. Pretty darn dry overall. Not much rough so nothing to stop the ball. If you were in the the fairway though, it was a good hitting surface.

The greens are really good. Rolling true and fast. They were fun. When the wind was blowing on the front, it was a factor. One guy’s putt on #4 was about 6’ short. The wind caught it and it rolled at least 15’ back. It was like watching a car wreck, you wanted to turn away but couldn’t.

The course is not pristine but it is playable and fun. I got an incredible photo on the 12th green. Get out there if you can get a time.

First group out at 6:40 am on Saturday morning 12/19. The lady checking people in is always professional and courteous. With the limited c-19 era amenities, that was the limit of our interactions with the course personnel. Pace of play was obviously not an issue. Four walkers, we played the front in 1.5 hours but hit back nine crowds on 15. It was standard slow from there but still managed to finish in 3.5 hours.

Not much change to the course conditions except the tee boxes seemed even more lacking in grass. That early, we were mainly standing in mud when teeing off. The fairways were probably a little more lush. We had decent roll out so they were fairly firm. Not much rough as it is cut down or winter sparse. The greens are still excellent. No complaints there.

I like the layout. It has a good mix of holes. Recommended .

Played the blue tees in the GK event with Alex. Ron and Kevin. First time here and really enjoyed it. Pace of play was okay at 4.5 hours although it seemed longer as we waited on the two groups in front of us who were in no hurry (they played as a six or eightsome on 17). The service was generally good. The street tacos at the halfway house were a nice change of pace.

The course itself was generally in excellent shape. The fairways had some bare spots and one had a large section roped off where the bare spots had congregated. Generally, though, I had good lies. The rough was a factor if you were in it although the layout was pretty forgiving with many humps directing balls back into the short grass (or one of the many sand traps). The sand was great. Really nice hitting surface both in the fairway and greenside bunkers. The greens were tricky and interesting. They were quite firm. They rolled at a medium fast speed and one had to be careful on downhill putts.

The layout was interesting. As stated, it had some forgiving features. Some of the tee shots were visually intimidating and it turned out there was more room than appeared from the tee. Many times the tee and green were higher elevation than the fairway, and many of the greens were higher elevation than the fairway and tees, so I thought it played farther than the yardage on the card. It was tough at times to identify the dimensions of the areas on the green in which the flag had been placed because it was higher than the fairway. The GPS on the cart was helpful in that regard but not like knowing it. I could see local knowledge being very important in scoring well.

Can't wait to get out there again.