Played in a scramble tournament on 10/22. After the recent overseeding, and the rains, the fairways were extremely lush. In many areas, they actually played like light rough. The greens were very receptive to iron shots. I was actually able to back up a pitch from 55 yards out on 18, making me feel like a pro. Because it was a scramble format, I didn't spend much time in the rough or the sand, but they both appeared to be in good condition, especially the bunkers. Greens were a shade slower than normal because of the rains. Customer service is top-notch there. I especially like the practice range and chipping area. Although shorter than the Ike, probably plays as a harder course because of the narrowness of the fairways and the overhanging trees.

Just my luck. The one day I take off of work (9/21) to play Oak Quarry, the first Santa Ana winds of the year kick up. I had been looking forward to playing this course for a long time, and it had to be with 40-mph wind gusts.

Good placement of different tees for varying levels of skill. Being an 11 handicap, I played from the white tees to accompany my playing partners and because of the ridiculous wind conditions. I still had a challenging round.
Winds seemed to come from multiple directions, deflected by the large cliff faces. This was especially evident on the great downhill par 3 14th hole, which has a sign stating that it is the "best par 3 in Southern California". Stuck in a little valley, the wind swirled and shifted in completely the opposite direction from the prevailing wind.
Great vistas on the first few holes, especially #4-6, then again on the back side, on the finishing holes.
Nice bunkers, could use a bit more sand for my taste.
Great fairways and greens. Greens were a medium-fast speed and smooth. I'm surprised they didn't get glassy-quick with the wind, but instead maintained a reasonable speed. There wasn't much rough to speak of, because most of the terrain off of the fairway was rocky, "environmental" hazards. The older "green" GPS system on the carts really helped, although the fairways themselves were well marked on sprinkler heads.
Barely saw any other players, probably because it was a Tuesday and because of the winds. There was one group about three holes behind us, and we never saw anyone in front of us.

I would really enjoy coming back to this course, especially on a day when the conditions aren't as severe. It really is an impressive course, both visually and in its layout.

Played for the first time in a tournament on Sunday morning, on a very mild, pleasant day where a nice breeze came up around noontime. Layout is okay, not wide open, but not too tight either. It's good to play a course where houses don't line every hole (although they are on the left side of the first hole). On the front side, there is a stretch of holes that go steadily uphill along the I-215 freeway. A couple of those greens had holes cut on some pretty tough slopes. The back nine is across the freeway. The constant train movement nearby was a bit distracting. One train in particular made some really awful squealing noises, like "The Best Sound Effects from The Exorcist". Greens were nice, smooth and a little above medium speed. Ball marks looked mostly repaired, but not repaired very well. Worst part of the course appeared to be the bunkers. Each bunker I was in seemed to have less dirt (not sand) than the one before. You almost had to play the shots like chip shots off of hard pack. The tee boxes sometimes had little slopes in them, but not as severe as I've seen other American Golf courses. Service was pleasant, with the pro shop being extra friendly. The range was kind of odd...irons only, with no fencing on either side, just tall trees. I was in a tournament, so play was pretty slow. I wouldn't mind playing here again, but I don't think I'll make a point of it.

I used to think that this course was good for beginners, but after playing it on a hot Labor Day Monday, I'm having second thoughts. It's not because the course is really that hard, it's that the holes are spaced so close together that errant shots are likely to land in adjacent fairways. Also, many tee boxes are placed only a few yards away from the preceding greens, sometimes with no fence protection. The tee shot into the long par 3 11th hole almost aims you to the 12th tee, especially with the prevailing wind against you. The approach into the par 5 13th hole, with the 14th tee just a moderate hook to the left, also seemed especially dangerous. The course starts off tough, with the first hole a par 4 that requires a hard draw, followed by a long par 3 over a gully with a green that is framed by a couple of trees. Then holes 3 through 7 are placed parallel with one another, separated only by a single line of large trees. Calls of "Fore!" are heard constantly, and holes seemed to back up as golfers waited for groups to clear so they could run over and hit their balls. All of the par 3s, except for the 17th hole, were pretty long, over 175yds from the blues. The greens were pretty nice, as nice as I've ever seen them here, putting at a medium speed. The only exception seemed to be the fourth green, where the hole was inexplicably cut in a moist part of the green. The fairways were decent. The bunkers were brown, little dirt clumps that could be half the size of your ball. The rough was nothing to speak of, with many dried over mud patches. I saw some pretty severe divot damage on a couple of holes, with the 9th tee coming to mind. The course was pretty busy, and we waited on the tee on most holes, and ended up with a 4 1/2 - 5 hour round. No beverage cart came around, but the snack shop was smartly placed in that you go by it three times during the round. The prices for food were very reasonable for a golf course. Get a fountain drink, and you can get free refills.

There is a lot of renovation happening on this course. There is a list posted that shows they are aiming to finish by the end of September. The course remains playable, with no effect on the course setup or length. The only hole where the renovations really changed play was the 3rd hole, a short dogleg right. Dirt mounds lined the fairway on that hole. There did appear to be a lot of standing water on the fairways and in the rough, even though we haven't had any rain here in quite a while. The green "ground-under-repair" ropes were very apparent, especially on the back nine. The course layout is pretty nice, and its flatness makes it walkable. The first five holes start off with trouble on both sides, so make sure you're hitting the ball straight on the range. The first few holes on the back nine run right next to each other, so be wary of stray golf shots from the groups around you. Play can tend to be slow, not just because fivesomes are allowed. But my foursome finished in 4 1/2 hours with a Sunday 10am start time. I noticed a few holes with uneven tee boxes, and the aforementioned fairways and rough are not in the greatest condition right now. The bunkers appear to be hardening into dirt as well. But the greens were in very nice condition, rolling fairly fast and true, and playing fairly soft. The tough kikuyu grass around the greens stop a lot of chip shots short, so try and land your ball on the putting surface. The beverage cart came by pretty often, four or five times in our round. May not be the best course for beginners because of quite a few forced carries over water hazards and the need for some accuracy, but it is a great value.

My first time playing the course, I was suitably impressed. Course was in great condition, although I could never get the speed of the greens down. The first couple of holes were very narrow, with OB just off the edge on the right side. I was lucky my driver was going (mostly) straight, or else I would have been in a lot of trouble. I liked the 14th hole, "Carnoustie", with it's incredibly large and deep pit bunker short left of the green, and the huge tier on the green. We had a pretty slow round because of the group ahead of us. It can get hot out there, so we were glad to see the beverage cart a few times, and there are water jugs scattered throughout the course. Definitely NOT recommended for the beginning golfer, and I dread to think of how my round would have went if I hadn't been driving the ball straight.

Short course that may frustrate impatient big hitters. The course has four sub-300yd par 4s, none of which are very prudent to go for the green. I can't remember ever going 8-iron, then pitching wedge on a par 4, but I did it three times on Sunday. The course is a little longer on the back side. The greens are pretty small on the front side, and just covered with pine needles from the trees nearby, making it nearly impossible to get a smooth putt. They also played extremely slow in the morning, barely getting to a medium speed as the afternoon set in. The fairways and rough aren't in the greatest shape. The bunkers seemed to have a lot of sand, and some of them had deep faces. For the most part the course is flat and walkable. The round was pretty slow with all the fivesomes out there. One good thing was that the beverage cart made its way around quite a bit, plus you can go to the snack shop after the 6th hole as well as the 9th hole. Seems like it would be a good course for a beginning golfer.

Greens looked like they were aerated last week. They played very slow, but the sand covering the green was pretty even, so they weren't as bumpy as I expected. Still, it's no fun to see a puff of dust come up when you hit the green. I also saw plenty of ball marks on the greens, as if people didn't care about damaging the sandy greens. Rough was probably lower than I've ever seen it at Torrey South, maybe 1-3 inches. But the ball still nestles down, and you can easily lose your ball in rough that's only a few yards off the fairway. I believe the South course has tee times every ten minutes (compared to every seven minutes on the North), and although we were constantly a hole behind, we weren't pushed at all with our 11:30am tee time. Maybe people heard about the greens and flocked to the North course, because that course looked packed. Prices were raised on 7/1/04. As a San Diego resident, I paid $45, but my out-of-town partner paid the weekend/holiday rate of $135. Luckily I checked Greenskeeper.org beforehand and told him about the reviews about the greens, so he was forewarned about their condition.

Really good layout, with many holes that have an interesting "twist". #2 has trees that split the fairway. #4 is a par 3 with a 2-3 club elevation drop. #8 is a tight downhills dogleg par 4 with water left and OB right. I wish they had kept #9 as a par 4 instead of making it into a relatively easy 470 par 5. The new green for the par 3 #14 plays faster than the other greens, and the bunker on that hole has deeper sand as well. #17 & #18 are really good finishing holes. Could use a little TLC on the fairways and greens. Greens were of a slow-to-medium speed. Rough isn't that high, but the ball tends to nestle down and disappear. Service in the pro shop was excellent, and the beverage cart came by a couple of times. Worth playing if you want a fairly tough but fair test of golf.

My first time playing here, and it's easy to see why people fall in love with this course. With all the palm trees, cool breezes, yachts, and pretty-people jogging nearby, this course epitomizes a dreamy Southern California. In fact, all the hubbub of the city of Coronado around the course can be almost too distracting. Good thing, because in my 18 years of playing golf, I don't think I've ever played a slower round. But it was so beautiful out there, I didn't really care.

The greens were really nice, only getting a little bumpy late in the day. Someone should get a medal for keeping these greens as nice as they are with all the use they get. And it's good to see that the players on this course do their share to repair their ball marks for the most part. Some of the greenside bunkers have some tough lips to carry over. It looked like many of the tee boxes had been aerated within the last week or so. The course has a nice layout, wide open going out but narrowing a bit on the back side. Agree with prior comment from arguswilson about players slowing down the course trying to reach the par fives in two. I'm surprised there aren't more and higher fences up to protect golfers on the tee boxes from errant shots. But then, fences would detract from the beauty of the course.

Greens were slower than I remember. Ivanhoe has a much better layout than its sister Monte Vista course. The front nine favors a fade, while the back nine favors a draw. There were a couple of tee boxes that should have been mowed down...I felt like I was hitting out of light rough. The course was surprisingly empty for a Saturday. We got around in a little over four hours. A good course for walking. I like the chipping/practice area that they have. Bring your pills if you have a problem with allergies.

It's built around a retirement community, so it's short length caters to its customers. The greens were very nice, running slower than normal in the morning but then picking up speed as the afternoon wind dried things out. The pollen was really bad out there. My playing partner couldn't even concentrate on playing, he was sneezing so much.

This course used to have the problem of having rock-hard greens. I'm glad to see that the last two times I've played it, that problem has been alleviated. This is a fairly open course, but if you're lulled by the small size of the holes and you lose your concentration, the course will bite you. Check for the location of the mountain on your putts. The greens are normally a joy to putt on. Some of the bunkers have nice size lips, and the sand is pretty good and uniform. Service was excellent this last time out. We started off slow on the first three holes, but a marshall really sped up one group that was a couple of holes ahead of us, and the rest of the day was smooth sailing. Beverage cart came by four times during the round, and the clubhouse personnel were very friendly. Will play again if I want a fun round, or want to take a beginner or high-handicap friend.