Played solo on 3/8/17 BDay golf for $25 cart fee (no way could you walk this layout), great deal. Temp was in the mid 70's. Played with an elderly 2-some. POP was about 4 1/2 hours, had to wait on a few holes. Course was in great condition. tee boxes level and full, fairways were perfect, I mean perfect, greens med-fast and rolled very true. This is a course you'll need to play a few times to get a handle on it. Did I know there was a hazard down the entire right side of #1, nope. If your spraying your driver, it could be a long day for you, a lot of lateral hazards await you. You can find some really good deals online, I'll be back out there again and tame this course.

Played 01/30/17 Sunday with Tustin Ranch member as a 3 some, teed off at 12:15. POP 5 hrs. Tee boxes seemed pretty beat up, dormant grass, lots of divots. Fairways dormant, you got your share of lies, perfect to playing off hard pan. Greens were in really good shape, somewhat firm, held iron shots, putted pretty true (lots of divots, I repaired 3-4 per green). All in all the layout was ok, no way I would ever pay the full rate ($111) at the Ranch.

Played Sunday as a 3-some @ 208, finished @ 550 (3 hr 50 min round, wow!) Brown is the new green. If you like a firm and fast track TCGC is the place for you. Tees are level and well maintained, fairways are hard, firm, with a lot of bare spots, re-sodded areas and punched areas (local rule, you get a free drop from any GUR). Greens were okay, rolled pretty true, tons of ball marks, medium fast speed (a couple greens had small ant holes, with little mounds of sand and tiny red ants) never seen that before. Course is pretty beat up, but with a Creek Card $40 is just about the max I would pay. Pray for rain because the city has put the freeze on water usage.

Played Monday (played the Blue Tee markers) 6/6/16 @12:08 as a foursome (Creek Card $40), POP 4:45 min. Monday's at Tijeras has a lot of activity going on, meaning maintenance crews are all the place. Let me break it down from tee boxes to greens.
1. Tee boxes were level and had nice coverage
2. Fairways probably weren't mowed in 2-3 days, they were long, lush and had zero roll, cart wheel marks all over the place, hard to tell were the fairway and rough began.
3. Bunkers (I was in 5 today) sand was soft, not hard packed at all.
4. Greens had recently been punched with tiny holes, they were soft, receptive and slower than usual. I probably repaired 3-4 old divots per hole x 18=72 (come on people repair your divots) Cups seemed pretty beat up, I wondered if they still were in the same location as Sunday???
The greens still need a few weeks to recover before they can get smooth and regain there speed. Other than that, Tijeras should be back by then.

Played Monday @ 930 am (creek card) with another single and a twosome. POP 4 hours on the dot. The weather was perfect, low 70's with a slight breeze. Overall condition of the course is really good. The fairways are as green as green gets, pure, lush and full. Don't expect much roll on them. Rough height was about 2" and very consistent thru out the entire course. Tee boxes good, bunkers fine, although the two fairway bunkers I were in, #17 was really firm, hard to even rake it, #8 was fine. Now for the greens, they look fast, but are defiantly on the slower side (the practice putting is way faster and firmer). They're somewhat on the softer side, irons shots will hold, no doubt about that. Had to keep telling myself "hit it harder than you think". They need to somehow get them a lot firmer. Other than that, the layout is in really great condition.

Played Saturday 2/6 black tees @ 11:45 with 2 buddies of mine. Weather low 80's, POP 4 1/2 hours max. I guess The Ranch is being squeezed by the city of Tustin with water restrictions. No over seeding this year, the fairways are burnt to a crisp, I'm talking rock hard fairways. Great for your ego, my drives were running like crazy, made the course play way shorter. Never ever played on fairways that hard. Now for the good, greens in excellent shape, rolled really nice, even with the late tee time. A few heel marks, ball marks but that seems to normal at any public track. Rough inconsistent, the height differed on every hole, areas that they watered equaled grass, everywhere else, crunchy burnt out grass. I'd stay away the Ranch untill the dormant fairways come back, on a scale of 1 to 10 I'll give it a 7, only because of the greens.

Monday 8:24 tee time, played as single with a threesome.
POP 4 15 mins, never had to wait on the group in front of us. The wind was a none factor, temp in the mid eighties.
Tee boxes were in great shape (2 has been redone, 17 was looking pretty bare from the blues)
Fairways were firm, tight and constantly gave you a perfect lie.
Bunkers were really firm, all the sand was very compacted (played out of a fairway and greenside bunker, both were firm)
Greens were in excellent shape, held a well struct shot. Greens felt hard and rolled very true. They seemed faster than normal. 10-10.5 on the stimp meter. You'll have to ask the super to get the correct number.
$42 to walk a course that's actually set up for walking. The tees are situated right next to green you just walked off of, I like that.
See you next month Goose Creek.

Played the Ranch on 7/29 @ 10:35 as a twosome, black tees. Overall condition of the course was really good. Tee boxes, fairways and greens were pure, bunkers now have blinding white sand since the renovation (4th hole tee box has been completely rebuilt and sodded). There are some spots off the fairway were the rough can be pretty penal, I happened to find a few of these spots. Greens were firm, rolled very true, medium fast speed, ball held its line nicely. All in all no complaints, POP just over 4 hours.

Played 04/10/15 @ 7:30 am as a single, hooked up with a three some. Two brothers and there 90 year old dad! I choose to walk the "pride of the pacific". POP was about 4 hours, never had to wait on any holes, if anything we fell about a hole behind. Tees lush, fairway lush, perfect to hit from with some low rough that was very playable. Greens not to bad, pretty firm, medium fast speed and as usual a little bumpy on those poa annua greens. As always with these greens towards the ocean fast, away slow, always tough to get the right speed on your putts. All in all an enjoyable day at SCGC, $36 to walk + the starter gave a free token for a warm up bucket.

Played Sunday as a threesome (bday golf) with two of my friends. Teed off at 7:45 am, POP 4 hrs 5 minutes, only had to wait on a few holes, excellent POP. Going in I knew they had just punched the greens on 2-23/24, greens still needed a good 3-4 weeks to recover, very sandy, soft and bouncy. A couple green side bunkers on the back nine were under construction as well. Other than that the course was in really good condition, tee boxes level and tight, fairways firm and lush (a few bare/ hard pan areas). I must admit there bday special is awesome, bring a guest it's FREE or play solo and it's only $40 w/ cart, free range balls and a free lunch (killer menu, I went with the lamb burger on a brioche bun with hand cut fries). I'll be there again next year, now dropping $165 to play sat or sun I'll pass on that in a heartbeat.

Played 2/13/15 @ 7:15 am (dew sweeper) as a single, hooked up with another twosome. POP was just 4 hours, that's always nice. First time I ever played this course with no wind, I'm talking zero wind, lets just say the holes that usually play into the wind were way easier. Overall condition of the course was really good. Fairways full, lush and tight (except for the four newer holes), greens pure, smooth and pretty quick, above the hole really quick. Once the course dried out, the fairways had some good roll on your drives. My only complaint were the tee boxes, seemed like everyone of them needed to be mowed. Plus it was hard to find a level lie. The only two good ones had 20-30 mud hens on them, they were nice and tight. Hey, 88 degrees on a So Cal winter day, I'll take that any day of the week.

Played Sunday 11/18 @ 11 am as a threesome. The place was pretty dead because of the NFL playoffs. POP a little over 4 hours. The overall condition of the course was pretty good ,tee boxes, fairways ,bunkers were just fine. The greens were in excellent condition, firm ,full and the ball would hold it's line nicely. For poa annua greens they rolled real smooth. The greens were firm yet receptive of shots, anything above the hole or putting towards the ocean were very fast. They had that trickle effect, you know when the ball just keeps rolling past the cup. I must admit that the greens are probably in the best condition that I've seen them in years. Well done head greenskeeper and staff. Nice greens always put a smile on my face.