I played Biltmore yesterday morning joining two locals and another single. This course is marketed as one of the highlight courses in Miami so I was curious to see if it lived up to its billing. Things didn’t start off very well regarding customer service. First off the service in the restaurant was some of the worse I’ve had in years. The food was average at best. Oh well, on to the pro shop. Not much better there. She couldn’t find my reservation even after I showed her a screenshot of my booking confirmation. We got through that but there were a couple of other issues. One, you have to pay for parking in the parking lot. However, you can scan a code in the pro shop and they will comp you the parking. But not if you have already paid for your parking. This information would have been helpful to have on the website and in the parking lot. Two, the online price indicates that a cart is included. Negative, carts are extra. I’m all for a walking price and a cart price, just be clear about it. Next came range balls. I inquired about range balls and she said there was a ball dispenser on the back side of the shack near the range. She was correct, except you have to have a code which you get when you pay for range balls in the pro shop.

On to the actual course itself. Overall, not a bad layout. They have a few creative holes in what is a mainly a parkland setting. Fairways are generously wide on most holes with some well placed trees and plenty of fairway bunkers to keep you honest. For the most part the fairway bunkers weren’t an issue. I was in a few of them and no problem getting out and reaching the green. The fairways at Biltmore were very nice. Lush and green and easily the best I’ve played since being here in Florida. I’d rate the fairways at a strong 7 or weak 8.

Greens were a different story. One of the members said the greens were in horrible shape and needed a complete overhaul. At first I thought wow this guy has high standards as the greens weren’t bad at all. Then we ran into some that had some bad patches but the pin was kept away from those areas. As the day progressed I started realizing all of the greens had some serious disease, brown spots and general ugliness. I will say that the grounds crew did a good job staying away from the bad areas with the pin placements. The greens rolled at a medium pace.

Tee boxes were in bad shape. Obviously a different grass was used for the tee boxes and it is struggling to survive. A lot of the tee boxes had recently been filled with sand to try and get them back into shape. There was enough good coverage on the par 3’s to find a good clean hitting surface.

There was one water hazard in the form of a man made canal that runs through about 6-7 of the holes. There was about 2 forced carries over the water with the rest being lateral hazards. Not the most creative use of water hazards but not the worst either.

Overall, this was a decent course that at the walking resident rate (they will check for ID) it’s worth it. The extra fees for cart, parking and range balls make it a so so and the rack rate for visitors takes it off my “recommendation” list for sure.

I played Spyglass back with DeapSea14 on what was another perfect Monterey Peninsula weather day. I’m starting to think that if you want guaranteed good weather, just invite Peter! Anyway, he did a great job explaining in the conditions. I just thought I’d provide an update after talking to my buddy who’s a caddie for PB and played with us last week. He said the greens are 100% healed from the aeration and are rolling great. The fairways are still showing signs of maintenance but they aren’t too bad. Just some brown showing in a few places from the fill sand that was applied.

I played Crandon GC at KB yesterday with a 7AM tee time. This is my second time playing here. Conditions have improved slightly over the last go round. Mainly the fairways. They are still not quite up to my expectations for a course of this caliber but there were’t any real dead or bare spots. Just mainly thin coverage throughout. Greens were firm but rolled at a medium pace. Tee boxes and sand traps were all fine. Given the fun layout along with the improved conditions to go along with the price break with my resident card, I’ll give the course a “recommendation”.

Course if officially closed! We played on Monday at Noon with one of the last public tee times for Spanish Bay before it closed for the remodel. We were treated to another superior day weather wise. Sunny and hot (by Monterey standards) with very little wind.

The course was finally showing signs of the impending shut down with several of the fairways being brown and hard pan. The course actually played more like a true links course. But even with the “deteriorating” conditions the track still was a joy to play.

The rerouting won’t look too different from the current layout. The main difference will be the greens. They will all be softened up to a much more manageable and “resort” level basic green complex. Front nine layout won’t see any significant layout changes. Some waste land areas, aka Poppy Hills style are allegedly being added to conserve water. The back nine will see one significant change. The iconic and diabolical short par 3 hole 13 is being completely removed. Not sure why as that is such a great hole. Hole 14 is being changed from a par 5 into a long Par 4 and a new Par 3 will be added utilizing a new tee box from the left side down onto the existing hole 14 green. Course will be a par 71 layout with only three Par 5’s.

As someone who has played Spanish Bay as much or more than anyone else, I will miss the current layout. I have had so many great memories and GK Cup battles here. So many birdies over the years, yet never made a birdie on #4. Had a chance yesterday but it was not to be. My least favorite hole was #7. Only a couple of pars on that hole total but managed to roll in the long putt of the day from over 50’ out to save par and have one last great memory on an otherwise forgettable hole.

No birdies on the day from anyone in our group, but plenty of smiles all around. The sun has set on one of my favorite “go to” courses for now, but I will surely resume my quest to conquer this scenic course when it re-opens in 2027.

A good tittle for this course is you get what you pay for! It was inexpensive and course conditions showed. The track sits inside a gated community and the layout is a typical Florida course. Flat with numerous water hazards. As far as the layout goes, no complaints. A good mix of hole variety with plenty of water hazards throughout. Some forced carries over the water and some lateral so kudos to the designer.

Conditions were pretty bad. Fairways were non existent. Just some grab grass, clover and dirt. I will say the last few fairways were a tad better but still in the “poor” rating category. Tee boxes were even worse. Mainly sand from maintenance recently filling in all the divots. Hopefully that’s a good sign of things to come. The nice thing was there were a couple of artificial mats. Those presented the best hitting surface of the day.

Believe it or not. The sand traps were actually decent. As for the greens. Well they started off ok then got a little worse. But with a couple of birdies on the day, I can’t complain too much about the greens.

Misc. golf carts are gas powered and have GPS. Course was quiet and I finished in around 3 hours or less. Restaurant was closed. Overall fun layout with poor conditions.

I finally got my clubs out here so I wanted to play a “nice” course. I’ve been cycling around Key Biscayne a bit and have passed by Crandon Golf course, so I chose this as my first stop here in the Miami area. I played on Tuesday with a 10AM tee time. Chandon Golf sits in the middle of Key Biscayne island so I was expecting great things as this is a nice area just over the bridge from downtown Miami. The price point also suggested that I was in for a treat. Whereas the course layout was very nice with numerous water hazards and forced carries throughout the entire course, the conditions were a let down.

The greens themselves were large with moderate undulations. Basically what you would expect on a resort course. They didn’t look very pretty, but actually rolled ok. Fairly smooth at a medium pace was not desirable but acceptable. Fairways were the big letdown. Brown and bare spots throughout the entire course. What wasn’t bare was generally patchy. Fairways were generously wide and offered good roll out. If you don’t mind a little foot nudge to give yourself a good lie then all is well. If you play the ball down then it’s a frustrating day for sure.

Tee boxes were ok. Definitely level and most were divot free or at least had plenty of area you could find good footing and area to tee it up. Bunkers were really nice. They matched the price point. The sand traps were consistent throughout the entire course and between the four of us, we were in probably a total 30 bunkers so we had a good sampling of the bunkers. It was one of those days!

Carts had GPS to the flag and cart service came around a couple of times. Overall customer service was ok. Nothing to brag about, but nothing to complain about either.

The course had easily 15+ water hazards plus a few views of the Miami skyline. A big plus on that. I do think give the location of this course right on the edge of the water, they could have done a better job with views of the bay but overall, not bad. Given the location and course layout, I’m sure I’ll play here again at some point but not sure it’ll be anytime soon given the current conditions. I would just like it to be a little better for the cost.

5 weeks left before the course shuts down for the remodel. DeepSea14 and I teed it up with my buddy Bob at our usual 9AM (9:10) tee time. I have played Spanish Bay many many times and this may have been the best weather ever. Perfectly sunny without a breath of wind all day long. Temperature was around 80 degrees and just glorious. Course conditions remain steady as always. Greens were excellent. They rolled smooth at a medium fast pace. Greens are still tricky, as indicated by my fiver or six 3 putts. It will be interesting to see how tame they make the greens during the redo.

Fairways were super for the most part. Only #11 had some issues and had a portion being re-seeded. The rest were lush and offered good roll out. Rough was the only sign of the course starting to slip. Rough had some patchy areas that probably aren’t being attended to, due to the course being shut down in a little over a month.

Tee boxes and bunkers were fine.

Spanish Bay is one of my favorite go to courses and I’m curious what the redesign will look like, but I’m certainly going to miss playing here for 2 years while they do the makeover.

I’m still waiting for my clubs to arrive (and my car and bikes) so I decided to just rent some clubs and get out and finally get my first Florida round under my belt. I went with the local muni course, Palmetto GC since it was close by. This is your average muni course with about average conditions all round. Maybe slightly under “average”. Course is completely flat (aren’t they all in Florida?) with plenty of water hazards. Greens were fairly docile in that they were single tier and mainly flat with just some slight back to front slope. Greens were on the slow side for sure but rolled fairly smooth.

Fairways were a very weird grass but had decent coverage. Fairways were pretty wide open. Rough was more crab grass than anything. bunkers looked to be a bit hardpan but I wasn’t in any so hard to say. Tee boxes were flat but chewed up for the most part, but not horrible.

Overall, it was a nice walk on what was an overcast day. Palmetto is a typical Municipal course with average to slightly less than average conditions but very playable. Not a bucket list course by any means but worth the entry fee. I’m sure I’ll end up playing here again in the next few months.

The third and final round of the Vegas trip was at Anthem Country Club on Wednesday. This is allegedly one of the higher end CC’s in the Vegas area. I will be as open minded as possible during this review and my comparison will be against other high end public courses in the area and not against the Uber elite Southern Highlands CC which I played the day before playing Anthem.

I’ll start with the layout. Anthem has some of the widest fairways I have ever seen. It really begs a grip it and rip it attitude. Plenty of room for error in the landing zone with only the occasional bunker to disturb a tee shot that lands anywhere in the same zip code. Stray way way off path and your ball is in a creek or bare desert terrain separating the course from the surrounding houses. Plenty of modest elevation changes throughout the course but most holes are pretty straightforward. The course has a number of water hazards, but most are behind the green. Overall it was a decent layout similar to that of Serket or the two courses at The Revere Golf Club.

Greens at Anthem were very large. They had moderate undulations and rolled at a nice medium-fast pace. Fairways had some of the weirdest grass I’ve ever seen on a golf course. On the surface it looked fine but it had the tendency to grab your club in the worst way. On the other hand the rough was great. Only about 2” deep but lush and predictable.

Overall, Anthem is a nice course. Nothing super fancy but definitely enjoyable with decent playing conditions. I would put it on the same level (or a touch below) that of Serket.

Regarding recommending the course, I’d say there are better options (especially if you have to pay the ridiculously high “holiday week reciprocal fee” but if you get invited by a member who wants to treat you, don’t turn it down.

I’ll start things off regarding the name change. Rio Secco is now officially called Serket. I talked to the head pro regarding the name change and he clarified the course is still under the same ownership along with Cascata. Apparently they paid a licensing fee for the old name so instead of paying the increased fee and passing that along to players, they opted to change the name. I’m good with that.

For all the times I’ve played Cascata, I’ve never played here before. We tee’d off on Monday with a mid/late morning tee time. Weather was absolutely perfect. Course layout was fun with a number of elevation changes. I would have liked to have seen some more water features but there were some other forced carries to make up for it. Conditions were very nice all around. Fairways were great. There had been a lot of rain the previous few days so it was CPO which was a drag as it slowed the round down to over 5 hours. Other than a couple of plugged tee shots, the fairways weren’t bad at all. Definitely plush and easy to hit off of.

Greens were also on par with the level of this course. They rolled smooth at a medium pace and had what I would call a normal amount of undulations. Enough to challenge you, but nothing overwhelming. Tee boxes were level. Sand traps were a bit thin from time to time but overall ok. Customer service was excellent from the pro shop attendee’s to the waitress in the restaurant. Bag drop and club cleaning afterwards to ensure you get the complete service.

If you do the Double Down or whatever they call it with the Cascata package this is a great second course at a very reasonable price. In fact, I actually liked Serket better than Anthem Country Club which we played a couple days later and paid a WHOLE LOT more to play.

Bob and I joined SDF at Tehama Friday morning to kick start an upcoming week of great golf. Well at least great golf courses. The way I’m playing is an entirely different story. Anyway, we caught the first day of some glorious weather. This course is always in top notch condition and today was no exception. Even after a week of rain the course was only CPO on about 3 holes. Very few wet spots on the course which is mainly due to the severe slope and elevation changes on every hole. It also makes a for a fun and challenging track. Definitely a far cry from a flat parkland been there done that layout. Also, the stunning views of the ocean (from afar and high up) and the mountainous terrain on the back give this place a surreal and quaint vibe. The only house you will encounter is Clint’s house which has a driveway that goes through the middle of the course!

Greens at Tehama are the fastest in the business. Lightening fast in all directions. Including uphill against the grain. Just wicked. Rough was tough. Longer than usual due the recent rain which has kept them from mowing in a while. Everything was lush and green as expected. Customer service was great as always. One minor drawback is the lack of GPS in the carts.

Well, it’s a bike ride tomorrow then off to Vegas to see if I can double down on some pars and maybe find an Ace I can keep!

I played. Del Monte on Tuesday with a late morning tee time. Conditions are very nice all around. The small greens roll true at a nice fast pace. Fairways were lush throughout and the rough was very manageable. The sand traps were a perfect 10. Super fluffy sand throughout. This is a very easy course to walk so it was great to get out and stretch the legs after my MTB ride the previous day. The downside of the tight parkland setting is the greens are very close to the next tee box. Great for transfers when walking, not so great when things backed up and you had two groups waiting on the tee box, chatting away while you’re lining up a birdie putt. POP was ok for 10 holes then got horribly slow. The layout is so so but the conditions are up there with the big three.