Played the course 3-2-22 with JohnnyGK and couple other guru guys. I was a bit out of my league with these guys playing the green tees with course slope of 129 but considering that I didn't play too bad by my standards, even got the first birdie in the group on first par 5 hole 2. I played the course before several years ago and remembered how tough it was. It is a beautiful course set in the hills above Camarillo, CA. I've had opportunity to play several country club courses as a guest through the years and this one is one of the best. Country club courses are generally well maintained and tough courses, and in southern California they usually have some beautiful views of surrounding areas and maybe some ocean view also in places. Being in the hills makes this what I like a call a 3-dimensional course which means you're going to encounter lots of uphill/downhill shots, uneven lies, undulating fairways, a few blind shots, etc. You have to play the course smart and plan your shots the best you can or you're going to go out-of-bounds, lose balls, end up in some tough rough (with ice plants in some here), etc. There's also some water on a few holes including hole 18 which is one of the toughest holes on the course. I use an app called Skydroid which will show you a satellite view of hole layouts and you can touch points to find distance from where you are. This really helped me to plan my shots and stay out of a lot of trouble. As a couple other reviews have already stated; the fairways, tee boxes, sand traps and greens were in great shape. The traps had plenty of nice sand and several are large with high rather high walls to get over. Several holes had multiple traps grouped together. The greens are a little tough to read in places being a hilly course but I actually putted pretty decent considering that. I was quite worn out by the end of the round being a senior guy and we had to keep the carts on the cart path for the front 9 for some reason which resulted in walking up and down several hills and already feeling it by the time we started the back 9 where we thankfully did not have to keep the cart on the path. All-in-all though it was a fun day away from work.

Played Porter Valley CC yesterday with Johnny GK and couple other GK Guru members. I don't know why they call the area Porter 'Valley' because I never felt like I was in a valley, especially considering the course is in the northern part of the San Fernando Valley. However it's in the area as you start climbing the Santa Susanna Mountains out of the SF Valley. I checked the altitude using an app on my phone a couple times which read over 1100 feet on one hole and close to 1300 feet on what I was told is the highest hole of the course. The temperature is a little cooler than the SF Valley below which is certainly a good thing in the summer months. It was a beautiful day with very low wind and a clear sky.

The course was in amazing shape. Tee boxes, fairways and greens in great shape. There are four tee positions - black, white, gold and family (whatever that is). Many of the greens slope downward from back to front. The slope from white tees I played is 124, fairly difficult. Yet I played one of my best rounds all year mostly because I did some advance homework reviewing the scorecard and using Google Earth to measure some distances to doglegs, determine how wide fairways were, how many trees or houses were near, etc. The result of that research for me was that I needed to stick to clubs I had most confidence in hitting straight shots wiht and having a good idea how far I hit my clubs. I chose not to use my driver on any shots and stick to my 3-wood and 3 hybrid on par 4 and 5 holes and it paid off. Some holes run along side a couple of major streets in SF Valley and I didn't want to chance breaking a car window either. Since the course slowly climbs up a mountain and descends back down there are a lot of uphill fairways and uneven lies to compensate for. Bottom line is you need to play this course smart and fairly conservative if you want to score your best. It averages about 200-220 yards to the bend of most dogleg fairways so a driver could put you in rough, trees or someone's backyard on some holes. I only lost one ball and it was on an approach shot, not a tee shot. There's also small lakes near the greens on three holes, if I remember correctly.

It's a beautiful course with some nice views and scenery along the way. I consider it a very 'nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there', as the saying goes. The sound of emergency sirens all through the four hour round and a fire that broke out not far away with the smell of smoke and helicopters flying nearby sort of spoiled a perfect outing and reminded me I was in the crowded city of Los Angeles. I'm a rather spoiled nearby Ventura County resident where most of our golf courses are pretty quiet places. Nevertheless honestly it was one of my most enjoyable golf outings this year and I would definitely be open to playing the course again.

Played course for first time yesterday. I'd always heard it was a tough course so I spent time doing research. Their website (https://www.thesaticoyclub.com/) has videos done with a drone of every hole along with playing tips. I also used Google Earth to view the course and measure things like how far it was to doglegs and identify hazards that might not be noticed from a tee box. I like to describe some courses as 3-D which means there's a fair amount of hills, up/down tee/fairway shots, etc. This course is very 3-D. The first hole is even a tee shot from top of a hill. There's also many uneven lies on fairways. The range is even hitting down to level maybe 100 feet down so forget about figuring out how far you hit your clubs. Members can go to the range of Saticoy regional course a couple miles down the road to figure that out or Sterling Hills course range not far away either.

The course was in great shape as you would expect a private course to be. Greens rolled nicely and quite tricky to read on several holes. Traps had plenty of good sand and I found myself in a bunch of them. The rough areas have much growth to hide your balls if you end up in them. I lost several that way, to be honest. It wasn't a good golf day for me but I can't blame it on the beautiful weather nor lack of good information I found. The course sits up in the mountain fairly high so you get ocean breeze and it was in our face on several tee shots and fairways. Everyone in our foursome was playing it for the first time and described it as a beautiful but very challenging course. My rather out-of-shape 68 year old body was very worn out at the end of the round even though I did some yoga before the round to stretch.

Played Wood Ranch yesterday afternoon. We got lucky and temperature and weather was perfect and not too hot as I expected it to be in Simi Valley. I've been waiting a long time for opportunity to play the course and it was well worth the wait. Beautiful course but fairly difficult for a currently 100+ scoring guy like me these days, to be honest. It's kinda funny I only parred two holes which are two tough par 3's on the course, holes 13 (155 yards over water) and 17 (159 yards up steep hill). The fairways were in pretty good shape but there was a few bare spots and some ground under repair before a couple of greens as well. There was also a few little bare spots on some greens. Overall though the course was in pretty good shape. There are quite a few doglegs and up/down hits, definitely what I like to call a '3-dimensional' course. You need to take your A game. There's pretty good amount of lateral water hazards to avoid as well and rough that will consume your ball to probably not be found; and you might not want to look for a ball either this time of year due to possible rattlesnake hazards we have in Ventura County. There was no cart girl but it was a weekday which might have affected that. All the staff I encountered were very nice and cordial. I would love to play the course again someday - after I try to pull my game together better.

Played Simi Hills Sunday 6-27-21. It was hot but at least they had a cart girl and she had a special bucket of ice to give out to players besides drinks and stuff. The course was in great shape and challenging as usual. Tee boxes, greens, fairways and bunkers all were in good shape. The kitchen and the bar were open. There's enough trees around to hide under for some occasional shade (and also to catch your balls occasionally). My cousin who is a 12 handicap shot about 11 over par so I guess from that you can maybe expect to play to your handicap. He hadn't played the course in a couple years either. There was a marshal strolling around pretty regularly so the pace of play was normal I'd say. Simi Hills is one of my favorite places but it gets some high winds in the winter sometimes. Be cautious of that in the late and early part of the year.

Played Soule Park Sat. 6-26-21 late morning into afternoon with my golf club. I hadn't played Soule in a few years and it was nice to see it again. It was hot but on a few holes a slightly higher elevation you can feel little cooler breeze since the ocean isn't that far away. The course was in great shape on tee boxes, fairways and greens. The greens seemed pretty fast but you're in a valley so several greens are tricky to get a good read. Pace of play was good for our foursome. There was no cart girl so make sure you purchase or take plenty of your own liquids and energy foods. The bar/restaurant is being remodeled so it was closed but they sell food and drinks in the banquet room bar. You have to eat at some outside tables but they were in shade, at least in the mid afternoon. The bunkers had plenty of sand. I live in Moorpark so I like to get there via the 126 freeway and then take the highway 150 in Santa Paula. It's a nice drive through the mountains for about 15 miles and not that scary (for people not used to that) until maybe just before you get to Ojai and you start descending down into the Ojai valley. Just stay on the road, turn on your headlights and watch your speed around curves. Soule Park is at the southeast end of Ojai so you avoid driving through Ojai much when you go that way. I think they still honor free birthday golf also.

Played Simi Hills 5/12/20 in afternoon. It was busy but they are managing the check-in and starting well. There was a marshall on the course as well to insure good flow. It was a cool day and fairly breezy but a great day for golf. The course was in great shape on fairways and greens. There was a nice cart girl in service. They allow you to rent an electric cart a ride as a single if you have a physical ailment. I was very happy about that thanks to my bad lower back which was nagging me all day. They didn't ask me what my ailment is. I don't think I would have survived walking whole 18. I would say about 50% of players I saw were riding. The range is open but not the putting green. The club repair shack is open also. They keep the flags in the holes with a foam donut in to keep the ball from going low in the cup. You can't remove the flags. You can go to their website to read all the Covid-19 playing rules.

We were looking for reasonably priced courses to play on our Maui trip and discovered this course had a $45 Thursday deal including cart posted at their website. The course is in the city of Pukalani which is up in the hills of Maui in the right half of the island not too far from the airport and south of the city of Paia. Beautiful course in great shape. There's a lot of trees on the course and some great views of the south shores of Maui and the ocean. Since the course is in the hills there's a fair amount of slight uphill and downhill shots to make. The fairways are fairly wide open but there are some homes not far away on on some holes if you go wide. The slope from the white tees is 116 so it's not considered to be extremely difficult. I would definitely play the course again. Also it's a little cooler in temperature since it's up at altitude of 1500 feet above sea level. You might get a little drizzle or some rain as the north part of the island gets a lot of rain. It was raining just as we finished are round about 2 pm.

Played Maui Nui in Kihei for second time on 9-10-19. This is a beautiful course with a very friendly staff and reasonable price. It is considered not to be that difficult a course with a slope of 116 from white tees but it is challenging. It's not very hilly though and there is nice ocean view from a couple of holes on the back 9 one of which is hole 18. You can find deals on Golfnow for the course. It was in great shape on greens and fairways both times I played it, this year and two years ago. I recommend it if you are in the Maui area. It's not far from the airport, in Kihei. The food is also good in the restaurant and I got a second beer at the price of my golf score 97 centts.

Played Friday 11-29. It was a chilly day around 50-55 but we dressed for it. A lot of people stayed away probably because of the cold temp, Black Friday shopping or maybe both. Because of sitting water problems of the past after a lot of rain I really expected to deal with some of that on this course after last weeks rain but there was thankfully none of that. Sure some fairways and greens were understandably kinda soft but no standing water. I ended up in a couple traps but all the traps seem to have decent amount of sand in them and also no standing water in them. This course is the only course I've ever played that has an air compressor to blow dirt and grass off your shoes and gear. That really came in handy since getting in traps and some slightly messy areas on the course from the rain caused me to collect stuff on my shoes and golf cart. Overall a fun time.

Played Lakes course Sunday afternoon. Course was in good shape but greens were a bit bumpy. They'll be aerating greens in couple of weeks so maybe that will help the greens. The fairways and tee boxes were good. Pace of play was also good. Took us about 4.5 hours. We had to wait a little on some holes in the beginning of the round.

Played yesterday mid day. It was a beautiful day about 60 so riding in the cart was a bit chilling since the carts don't have windshields. The course was in great shape though. I had heard it was supposedly in bad shape and read a review on here from last summer saying that as well. However they are under new management and they have obviously turned the course around. Also they're running an incredible promotional special until Apr 15 of $40.38 peak rate including cart and a meal with choice of dish on the menu! I couldn't resist that. I had a chicken sandwich that was great. It's even cheaper after 2pm.