Golf Course Reviews
Golf Course Reviews: California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Florida, Hawaii!My first ever bad experience at one of my favorite courses. Let me first say that conditions are absolutely top notch. Greens are smooth, firm and fast, and everything else is lush, lush, lush. Despite a generous 10 minutes between groups, by the second hole, the group in front of us was 2 shots out of position. By the 4th, it was almost an entire hole. On the 6th hole, the entire course came to a stop, and there were as many as 3 groups parked at the tee. Up ahead, entire par 5's sat empty. No marshaling whatsoever. Being tired of waiting on every single shot and on pace for at best a 5.5 hour round, we abandoned the course at the turn. Maybe the combination of great conditioning and low greens fees is the problem. There seem to be lots of inconsiderate golfers frequenting the course who are unfamiliar or unconcerned with other golfers and the pace of play. The course, by virtue of its lack of having Marshals on staff, seems ill-equipped to deal with the problem. The pro shop staff is top notch, and listened to our concerns respectfully. We were told that this seems to happen only on Friday and Saturday. Maybe a part time Marshal on those days? Great course, but to be avoided on peak days, or at least go in with the proper expectation of a long, slow round.
I play here often and am a huge fan of the course, usually. I got out this weekend for a very rare weekend round. A note to fivesomes: If you MUST play as a fivesome, please be aware of all the other golfers on the course and do your best to stay on pace. If you are hitting your 4th shot on the 5th hole and you you are still 200 yards from the green on a 300 yard par 4 and there are 2 open holes in front of you and 2 groups standing on the tee behind you, please consider picking up and moving on. Or at least allow the groups behind you to play through. Saving time by not raking bunkers doesn't count.
A note to the marshals: 'Let them have their fun' is perhaps not the best answer to the groups waiting behind a fivesome on every single shot. Maybe only allow fivesomes if at least one of them is dressed somewhat appropriately and has clubs made since Reagan was President?
Other than 5 ignorant golfers and an indifferent marshal, the course was pretty nice! The fairways were lush, as were the greens. There are lots of ball marks that have gone unrepaired on the greens, but overall they are pretty good considering. The tee boxes really, really need some work. Many are very uneven, and some hitting areas are totally barren with no grass anywhere within the allotted 2 club length.
I think Westlake is a great, great practice course, and the people there are awesome. This is the first time I have had issues with marshalling or impolite golfers at Westlake. I won't hesitate to come back and play again. But maybe not on a weekend.
A note to the marshals: 'Let them have their fun' is perhaps not the best answer to the groups waiting behind a fivesome on every single shot. Maybe only allow fivesomes if at least one of them is dressed somewhat appropriately and has clubs made since Reagan was President?
Other than 5 ignorant golfers and an indifferent marshal, the course was pretty nice! The fairways were lush, as were the greens. There are lots of ball marks that have gone unrepaired on the greens, but overall they are pretty good considering. The tee boxes really, really need some work. Many are very uneven, and some hitting areas are totally barren with no grass anywhere within the allotted 2 club length.
I think Westlake is a great, great practice course, and the people there are awesome. This is the first time I have had issues with marshalling or impolite golfers at Westlake. I won't hesitate to come back and play again. But maybe not on a weekend.
Played a casual round 8/18 at 9AM. Got off on time and finished in a hair under 4 hours. The course is in surprisingly good shape. Far better than I expected. Plenty of grass on fairways, some honest-to-gosh rough and the greens are nice (except #5 which is thin and mottled and rolls horribly). The bunkers seem to have new sand in them, as it is light and fluffy. 3 out of 4 shots my partners hit into bunkers were comically plugged. Tee boxes a little uneven at places, but plenty of turf on them. Fun course in good shape!
Played as part of a company tournament. This was my first time on Victoria Lakes, although I've played Vineyard many times. This is a totally different course. Lots of water and trouble everywhere. Once you clear the first 2 holes, this is no bombers paradise. Accuracy with precise distance is required, along with some serious course management. If it's your first time, bring plenty of extra balls. The wind was blowing which makes a tough course even tougher, so unless you a a solid single digit and can consistently and accurately hit the ball a really long way, check your ego at the clubhouse and play from the Whites. It was common to have to play as much as 3 extra clubs hitting into the wind. Short is almost always bad here, and being above the hole consistently brings 3 putts into play. Local knowledge is worth a few strokes on this course. The greens were lightning fast and super smooth. The whole course was in great shape, and I can't wait to play it again. If there's no wind.
Played both courses as part of a company tournament. Course was in great shape. Perhaps the best I've ever seen Vineyard. Did not seem crowded at all. Greens were noticeably slower on Vineyard than Victoria. The only negative was that we played 36 holes (Victoria Lakes, then Vineyard) and did not see the beverage cart until the 9th hole of Vineyard course. We never saw it playing Victoria. Great track in great shape. Go play!
Greens seemed to be fully recovered from the aeration. You can see the pattern, but they are lush and thick. They are in great shape although quite slow and often bumpy. Fairways, tee boxes and rough are spotty (but not as evil as the squirrel who chewed through my golf bag looking for a Nature Valley Granola Bar while we were waiting to tee off on 15). The golf carts are embarrassingly old and mine barely made it around. I should have walked. All in all Fun course. About what you'd expect from a city facility. How often do you really get to see guys playing in flip flops with no shirt?
My second time here. Course in really nice shape. Greens had waaayyyy too many ball marks for $169. Played at 7AM and was done in 4 hours. The back nine is a little redundant with playing several holes over what seems like the same terrain. They are sticklers for cancellation policies. We had a guy in our group cancel last minute, and they charged us anyway despite filling the foursome. It's worth playing once, but not twice, especially at $169.
First time playing Harding. I thought it was overall a fun course to play. The fairways are in pretty tough shape. Lots of bare spots and thin lies. Greens are surprisingly good considering the amount of traffic it gets, although no one else in our foursome seemed to be fixing ball marks other than me. The overall level of disrespect for the course by the regular patrons is obvious everywhere: Unraked or poorly raked bunkers, no filled-in divots, cigarette butts in the divot mix bins and no marshalling to be seen anywhere. The tee boxes are probably the worst I have ever seen anywhere. There is very little grass and unfixed divots make up most of the lies. Pace of play was 4:45, not bad considering the amount of traffic. The process of getting a City Reservation Card and making the tee times was remarkably painless. All things considered, a fun day on a fun course, just really crappy conditions except the greens.
Played today for the first time after a forced 5 month layoff due to injury. I don't what happened in that time, because this course is totally different than I when last I played. First: The tee boxes all seem very uneven. It was often difficult to get a flat lie. I did find an even lie on the 12th hole. I had my ball teed up, then a greenskeeper drove up, picked up the teemarkers where my ball was teed, moved them back about 3 yards, then drove away without a word. I could find no flat lie in the new location.
The fairways were prety good, but the greens were not as I remember them. It is as if pitchforks/divot tools are banned or something. Unfixed ball marks everywhere. Some fresh, some old. It made putting all but impossible. It was never like that before. Maybe the clientele changed, but the greens were truly awful. Slow, bumpy and full of pitch marks. Really sad. I am hoping that this was a one-time-only occurrence. I do plan on playing there again soon. I really hope things change.
The people at Westlake are still top notch.
The fairways were prety good, but the greens were not as I remember them. It is as if pitchforks/divot tools are banned or something. Unfixed ball marks everywhere. Some fresh, some old. It made putting all but impossible. It was never like that before. Maybe the clientele changed, but the greens were truly awful. Slow, bumpy and full of pitch marks. Really sad. I am hoping that this was a one-time-only occurrence. I do plan on playing there again soon. I really hope things change.
The people at Westlake are still top notch.
We played on a $59 weekday e-mail special. The Inn was closed for 10 days for maintenance. The course is spectacular. I've not seen or played better greens anywhere in recent memory. Customer service is the best anywhere.
A rare, last minute weekend day of golf for me. I had limited time so I went to Westlake. The fairways have looked better, the tee boxes are lush but uneven, and they could still use some marshalling. Other than that, it's still a great place to work on your game around some great people.
Played 10/31 after a long break. The course is is great shape, and the greens are 100% recovered from the punch. Plenty of grass and the results of their recent tree reduction are showing. There's a lot of grasss where dirt used to be. The back tees were closed as they are in the last stages of growing in from being re-seeded. They are lush and gorgeous, but still severely uneven. It looks as if they just put down seed and didn't grade at all. Uneven teeing areas would be the #1 issue for me facing this course. Other than that, it was just the usual really slow group or 2 with Marshals nowhere to be seen. Still a fun track and great course to work on your game. The People are top notch.
note: the Driving Range's back fence was destroyed by wind during those freak Santa Ana's. They want everything to be kept to less than 200 yards, so no hitting drivers.
note: the Driving Range's back fence was destroyed by wind during those freak Santa Ana's. They want everything to be kept to less than 200 yards, so no hitting drivers.
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