Played here today with a 10:10 TeeOff.com "Deal" time that popped up on Friday for $52, including cart. Started right on time behind a twosome. I was paired with a threesome of nice players. POP was great at just a bit over 4 hours. Perfect weather and beautiful day.

Conditions are nice. Greens are medium-fast, pretty slick on downhillers, mostly smooth, and medium firmness but accepting of full shots. My well-struck full shots mostly ended up about six feet behind the ball mark. (The 14th green was weirdly soft underfoot, almost like the whole top layer of grass had become detached from the ground below. Hope nothing's wrong, because I love that green and that spot on the course.) Fairways have good coverage and provided nice lies for the most part. Kikuyu rough can make you work a little bit more but also tends to "tee" the ball up a bit more than the fairways. Nothing too penal. Blue tee boxes were probably the low point. Glad I was able to use a tee on many of them. The bunkers I was in were great, full of nice soft sand.

As others have mentioned, the clubhouse is all fenced off and the starter/check in desk is operating out of a trailer. The big clock is turned off. (Stuck at 10:05, which scared me when I suddenly thought I'd somehow lost track of time en route to the course.) The putting green near the driving range was closed today, but the two out near the parking lot roundabout were open, but seems like it'd be a long walk out there. The black and blue tee boxes were all back in place from the last review on here. Recommended.

Played here for my first time today. Earlier this week, a single spot for 10:40 popped up on the LA City Golf booking site, so I nabbed it. $44 green fee + $16 for cart. Check in was smooth but as our tee time approached, the pro shop kept calling two of the players booked at that time, who never showed up. So he stuck another single from the wait list with me and another single already on the tee. I rode, sharing a cart with the wait list guy. The other guy walked. Started right on time and POP was good at around 4:15. We never waited until the last two holes got a bit bunched up.

Conditions are mostly good. It's a lot of "good, but..." Greens are smooth, medium-fast to fast, and medium firmness. The "but" is quite a few ball marks and some greens seemed to have small bare spots. Fairways are green and have good coverage for the most part with some less than ideal areas. Rough varies from bare spots to about two-and-a-half-inch deep turf. Black tee boxes were mostly good, but a couple weren't. Bunkers were very well maintained, but some only had a very thin layer of top sand over a very firm base.

Unfortunately for me, it was my third consecutive round playing in very strong winds. As a result, there was lots of tree debris (pine needles, mostly) on the course. I enjoyed the back nine more than the front. In spots, it reminded me of a little nicer Green River. Overall, a solid course and recommended conditions.

Played here today with a TeeOff.com "Deal" time for 11:56. For the last few days, Las Vegas weather forecasters have been acting like the Storm of the Century would hit today around noon, so this morning I called the course to see if they planned to be open. They said yes, so I asked if I could possibly get out earlier, and they said to come by around 11:00. I showed up around 10:25 and was sent directly to the first tee to join another single just about to tee off. We were stuck behind a foursome who took forever on every green but pace was still good. Another single joined us on 10, and we finished in a little under 3.5 hours total. Got rained on a little bit but not too bad, although the winds were howling all day.

Conditions are mixed. Greens are a patchwork of different types of grasses, leaving them a bit bumpy. They are around medium speed and medium firmness. Fairways are the highlight with great coverage of overseeded rye. The rough seems to be kikuyu, some where the ball sinks down in and other spots are thinner. Gold tee boxes were really nice. The bunkers I was in were well maintained but a little thin on sand, but not bad.

First time playing here. It's a very old-school traditional layout dating back to the 1930s. There's not much trouble lurking other than trees lining the fairways. Very flat. One hole is across the street from Siegfried & Roy's compound (look for the SR gates), which was cool to see. Their "Deal" times are a great value in a city where golf is getting increasingly more expensive. Good place to get some golf in but by no means a destination course.

Played here today with a 10:20 TeeOff.com "Deal" time. Paired with 3 guys visiting from Arkansas, and we started right on time. As soon as I woke up this morning I knew I was in for a long day because the winds were crazy, and as soon as I arrived at Coyote Springs they seemed even more intense. The flags on the large flagpoles near the pro shop were whipping around like mad. Probably made the course play slower, too. POP was 4:45.

Conditions are mixed. There should definitely be an aeration alert because it seems they aerated within the last two weeks. Still lots of holes in the green and top dressing of sand. I'm not sure how much it impacted putts, though. They seemed to roll pretty smooth and fast. That said, they're not in great condition. Many greens have bare spots around the edges, which was surprising to me. They are about medium firmness. Full shots make a ball mark but rarely grab and stop. Fairways are probably the highlight of the course right now. Good coverage of overseeded rye that looks great. The rough was much less consistent coverage with bare and thin spots in addition to lush areas. Blue tee boxes were good. All the bunkers I was in were good.

This is definitely the worst condition I've seen this course of the three times I've played it spanning around 8-9 years. It's still overall in nice shape, but seems they have lowered their standards just a bit compared to the past. Kind of a bummer to drive all the way out there only to fight the elements all day. The winds made scoring extremely difficult and they just beat me up all day. Also, there's a weird grasshopper invasion happening right now where some spots of the course are absolutely inundated with grasshoppers. As you drive your cart, they all start flying and land on you and fly into your face. It's kinda chaotic, kinda fun, and kinda apocalyptic.

Played here today with a 10:30 TeeOff.com "Deal" time for $52. I'd seen them announce on IG that their bunker renovation was complete, which seemed to be the primary knock against this course for the past couple years. Checked in and was sent over to the tee on time, but then the starter accommodated a few guys who had 10:30 and 10:40 times to play together and knocked me back to 10:40. No big deal, and the 10:30 group ended up being surprisingly fast for how novice golfers they seemed to be. Minimal waits all day and total POP was just over 4:00.

Course conditions are wintery but decent. Greens are smooth and sneaky fast. My entire group had a hard time getting putts to stop near the hole. They were about medium firmness and almost always ran out some on most full shots. (One of the guys in my group said he believes these greens are a combination of real and synthetic grass. I agree there were some weird spots that looked sorta like fake grass or some sort of fungus, but I'm not sure they were synthetic. Anyone heard of that? He said Monarch Dunes does the same thing.) Citation (orange here, but blue in general) tee boxes were mixed quality; some good, some needing some TLC. Fairways had good coverage of colorant-treated dormant bermuda. The rough does not have the colorant and is fluffy deep bermuda in spots and thinner bermuda in others. Sometimes balls were hard to spot in the fluffy stuff. I was in one bunker and it was good.

This was my first time playing here. Hard to imagine the PGA Tour played this course at one time. It's very run down/rough around the edges feeling, and there's a weird smell of manmade lake/stream water throughout much of the course. The greens are fairly interesting with quite a bit of back-to-front slope on nearly every green, putting a premium on placement of your approach shot. I'm glad I've now played it but I doubt I'll rush back again anytime soon. Good value for the price I paid, though.

Played here today with a friend. We had a 12:50 TeeOff.com "Deal" time for about $78 pp after 20% off promo code. Checked in around 12:10 and were told we could start right away if we wanted to, so we did. This led to crazy weird "tale of two nines" POP. We played the front nine in about 80-90 minutes, but then at the 10th tee, several groups were stacked up. We invited the twosome behind us to join us, which they did, and then the entire back nine was backed up. Overall time on course was still decent at around 4:00 hours, but the back took probably at least an hour longer than the front. Gorgeous day in Ojai with blue skies, big puffy clouds, a slight breeze and temps in the low 70s.

Conditions are very nice. Greens are smooth, medium-fast, and various firmness. Some full shots stopped very quickly while others took a bounce before stopping. Fairways are excellent with great coverage, providing nice lies that really sat up on top of the kikuyu. Rough was a little spottier but mostly nice, maybe 2-3 inches deep and could be somewhat penal because it's thick kikuyu. Blue tee boxes were mostly good; a couple were not. I was in two bunkers and they were both good.

Second time playing here. The setting is hard to beat and the course is fantastic. I love the first seven holes, then 8 through 14 are a little more pedestrian, then 14-18 are great again. The short par-3 8th is really weird with a different type of grass on the green than the rest of the course, rolling completely differently, too. Luckily we didn't have to play the neutered version of 18; the tees were at the actual 402-yard tee box. Definitely recommended at the rate I got.

NOTE: Aeration begins in a couple days.

Played here today with a 1:30 tee time with an acquaintance from another online golf community. Arrived about an hour early, checked in, paid, and informed them we were ready to start anytime. They said it was unlikely we could start early, but then a little after 1:00 a group must not have shown up because the starter was looking for us and sent us to join a twosome who'd already teed off. Turned out to be two really nice guys and we had a good time. POP was great. Minimal waiting and no pressure from the group behind. I think we finished a little under 4.5 hours. We all rode.

Conditions are good but aeration starts tomorrow. The greens were good, mostly smooth and running around medium speed. They accepted full shots well and even chip shots would often grab a bit. Fairways were probably the highlight. Gotta love that paspalum and the gorgeous carpet of fairway on many holes out there. Rough was mostly lush, a couple inches deep and not too penal. No complaints about the blue tee boxes. Bunkers were also good.

The sun only emerged sporadically throughout the afternoon and it was even a little chilly by the time we finished. Pretty good breeze most of the day. Always love this course and glad I was able to expose my out-of-towner playing partner to it.

It's not often I leave Rustic Canyon disappointed, but today I did. I had a 2:00 tee time which is the first twilight time available. Checked in and opted to ride ($60 with cart) and headed to the tee a couple minutes late. It soon became obvious that the course was moving much slower than normal. We encountered big backups on 3, 6, and 7, then again on 10 and 11, and worst of all on 14 tee, where two groups in front were still on the tee when we finished 13. After we finished 10, it was clear that the problem was whoever was currently on 15, because all of 16 and all of 17 were wide open with no one playing either hole. One of my playing partners called the pro shop at one point and they were no help, saying the marshall went home a couple hours earlier. Total POP was a few minutes over 5 hours, and I didn't even finish. After the rest of my group bailed out after playing 17 in near darkness, I tried to play 18. I hit and found my drive, but never found my next shot and then my cart got a notice that it must be turned in. Very frustrating to not finish and have the course take no action to keep slow groups from logjamming everyone behind them.

Conditions are okay, having deteriorated a bit since I was here 3-4 weeks ago. Greens are mostly good, but my group got some bumpy putts today and late in the day they were a little wobbly. They accept full shots well and run around medium speed. Fairways are mostly good but are starting to get lots of browned out areas. Another factor that probably contributed to slow play was the fact that holes 3, 5, 14, 16, and 18 were all "cart path only" for at least part of the fairway, if not the entire hole. Rough was the usual – very green lush around the greens and thinner and less consistent everywhere else. Blue tee boxes were decent, many are missing one or more of the blocks, and the black tees are even worse where some holes had no markers at all. (I assume golfers are stealing these wood blocks that seem to be stamped or "branded" with Rustic Canyon as souvenirs.) I was only in one official bunker and it had nice sand but looked neglected. I was also in a couple waste bunkers which were hard packed and difficult to play from.

On the upside, it was a gorgeous day. It's just too bad the course didn't take more proactive measures to keep POP tolerable. I know it can be slow out here on weekend afternoons, but this was the worst I've ever seen.

WARNING: This review will be mostly irrelevant because they start aeration tomorrow.

Played here today with a 12:20 TeeOff.com "Deal" time for around $54 after the 20% off promo code. Check in went smoothly, paired with another single and a twosome and sent to the tee a little early, although the group in front was still teeing off. They were only a twosome and kept a good pace that meant only short waits for us all day, and we finished in just under 4.5 hours. Hot day but nice breeze kept things tolerable.

Conditions-wise, greens are good, medium speed, mostly smooth and very accepting of full shots. Again though, they aerate tomorrow. (The starter said they'll do one nine Mon/Tues and the other Wed/Thu with large holes.) Fairways are mostly good with about 90% green grass and some browned out/drier areas. Rough was a little spottier with mixes of grasses and occasional bare spots. Blue tee boxes were inconsistent; some good, some less than good. Same for the bunkers. I was in several and they were all different conditions, some wet, some dry, quite playable though.

Last night I looked up on GK the last time I played here and was surprised to realize it had been over 5 years since my last visit. Way too long to be away from this gorgeous course. One of my playing partners today says the course changed ownership a few months ago and they've been doing lots of work to clear out brush, clean the place up, and seemingly add more wedding/event business as well. I no longer see them on the list of GK supporters but if this new ownership info is true, it'd be nice to get them back in the fold and see another GK event there in the future. It's such a tranquil, beautiful spot and a really fun course.

I saw Rancho Del Sol had a bunch of midday tee times available today, so I just drove out there and arrived a little after 12:30. Checked in and a foursome had just teed off, and the starter said there was no one else scheduled for a bit, so he sent me off alone. The foursome in front let me play through on the 5th hole and then I caught a twosome on 9, so I slowed down and took lots of pictures on the back nine. I was in my car headed home by 4:20, so amazing POP.

Conditions, as usual here, are mixed. Greens are really nice, mostly smooth although there were quite a few ball marks on them. They run around medium speed and are VERY soft. Full shots stop quickly and make large ball marks on the green that are difficult to completely fix without leaving evidence. Fairways have good coverage but it's a couple different types of grasses and also some wet/muddy spots here and there. Maybe I got bad luck, but it seemed a few times I was in the middle of the fairway with an odd sidehill lie. Normal rough is about 3-4 inches deep and can be penal. There's also deeper stuff when farther offline. I was only in one bunker and it was mediocre. I had a downhill lie to an elevated green from pretty hard-packed sand, which was virtually impossible to escape the bunker. At least my next shot was from the flatter bottom of the bunker with a little better sand quality. Black tee boxes have good coverage but many are quite lumpy. (Seemed like they forgot to put the black markers out on No. 11 today, though. I believe today was the first time I've seen the blacks out in the handful of times I've been there since they reopened.)

The way things worked out, I pretty much had Nos. 15 & 16 all to myself for about half an hour with no one in sight in front or behind me, which was heavenly. Not sure why this course continues to fly under the radar since it reopened. Attractive tee times were difficult to find today but RDS had plenty at their midday weekend rate of $55 w/cart, which is fair. Admittedly it's a little scruffy around the edges, but the layout and the greens outweigh that in my book.

Played here today with a 2:30 tee time. With the heat wave, I opted to ride so it was $60 with cart. Paired with three nice guys. Pace was good on the front but slowed down (including my group) considerably on the back. We let the twosome behind us play through on 14 and finished in about 4 hours 50 minutes. A nice breeze and lots of cloud cover kept the forecasted high temperatures in check and it was actually quite comfortable. Saw some lightning on the drive home; glad I didn't see that while playing.

Conditions are good. Greens are smooth, accept full shots well and run medium to medium-fast speed. As might be expected late on a weekend, there were quite a few unfixed ball marks. Some of the very wide collars around the greens have lots of big bare spots for some reason. Fairways are healthy with good coverage and provide a nice hitting surface. The rough overall seems to be getting thicker here, where for a while the only thick rough was around the greens. Now there's a little thicker grass alongside the fairways as well. Not deep or penal, but better than the very thin rough of the past couple years. Blue tee boxes were good. I wasn't in any bunkers but they looked good.

Always a treat to play here. Recommended.

Played here today with a 10:03 tee time. $48 walking rate, paired with a threesome who all rode. Started right on time. Pace seemed decent with minor waits all day but generally no long ones. Finished in just over four and a half hours.

Conditions are good, very similar to my last review in early July, with a little more browning in the fairways, but also some brighter green in spots. Greens are smooth, medium-fast, and accept full shots well. Fairways provide good hitting surface with occasional browning, but even those areas aren't bad, just a little dried out. Rough was pretty good overall. Blue tee boxes were improved since last time. I was in one bunker and it was good, not great.

Always recommended.