Played this one the day after Black Horse and this one just plays more difficult compared to BH in my opinion. It’s narrow, long, and challenging, especially the first few holes. You need extreme confidence in your driver to get off to a good start. Trees lining the fairways swat down anything close, and also block out any recovery attempts. The fairways were punched on a few holes but otherwise in great condition. The greens were much faster than BH but less undulation. Sand in some bunkers was a little thin and wet. Unlike the new sand waste bunker designs on BH, this course still has rough and bark lining the fairways so it has a much different look. Housing surrounding the course was better now that most are constructed, but definitely also changed the look of some holes on the back 9. Play Bayonet if you’re a great driver, play Black Horse if you’re a great putter.

I knocked this course down last review, but they’ve made excellent progress on the renovation and conditions today were excellent. A ton of rough has been removed and waste bunker sand has been put instead. Grass range was pristine. Tee boxes and fairways were pure. Greens weren’t lightning fast so it made them playable. Greens were excellent, no damage or ball marks, just smooth. New sand areas change the way the course plays a little, more punishing than rough I’d say. Overall, besides the new house construction, the course is dramatically improved compared to a year ago.

First time playing here, easy walking course. Range is mats with shot tracer. Course is very exposed and gets windy as the day goes on, which seems necessary to make this course tough. Fairways on the front are wide open, links style. You can get away with some pretty loose drives because the fairways are so wide, but they are in fantastic shape with a lot of roll. The slope rating on this course is pretty low and it plays easy when there’s no wind.

Greens are supposed to be the best part about this course and they lived up to the hype. Every green was fantastic, smooth, super fast, but true. Approaches held, putts were often straighter than they looked, but overall best greens I’ve played in Bay Area. I could see pace of play being an issue as this course was a zoo by the time we finished. Play early, avoid the wind and the crowd.

Showed up to a surprise of punched and sanded greens today. No warning when booking, still charging regular rate. They offered a free round next time, but we passed and received half off today instead. Course was in good condition minus the greens and sand traps. Good sand but just not raked or prepared at all. If the traps were prepared they could be great, but for now they are nice white packed hard pan sand. Last few times I’ve been the management just doesn’t seem to care at all about customer service. I’m not rushing back even though the course itself can be great when routine maintenance is done.

Played an NCGA event here, overall extremely well run as you’d expect for the headquarters. I was expecting the course to be cart path only as that’s how it used to be year round in the past, but that seems to no longer be the case. Nevertheless, this course is very walkable and designed with walking in mind. Pace of play was 4.5hrs, never waited and was never pushed by the group behind, perfectly spaced tee times. Only minor complaint is the range balls could use a refresh, they are quite beat up.

Course is in the best shape I’ve ever seen it. Greens are no longer rock hard, and approach shots can actually hold now. Green speed was fast which kept your attention all day. Fairways, bunkers immaculate. Sand was super predictable and consistent. There isn’t much rough on this course by design, so overall the challenge comes from staying out of the trees and hitting accurate approach shots that don’t leave super long tricky putts on the large greens. Highly recommend checking it out now, it’s worth the greens fee.

Played on Sunday after a couple days of rain. First few holes were a little soggy and muddy, but I expected conditions to be a lot worse. Cart path only makes for a lot of hiking back and forth on this extremely hilly course. A lot of 220 yard tee shots required, with only a couple holes where you can really let the driver loose. Overall course conditions were improving compared to last reviews. Fairways were growing in nicely from all the rain and they were firm enough not to have any balls plugging. Greens were rolling very nicely, soft to firm, but consistent speeds, especially for getting so much rain. There were some ball marks on many of the greens, but not enough to noticeably affect putts. Bunkers were muddy/flooded so it's tough to give a good review on them at the moment. Customer service was a little lacking, they didn't seem too welcoming and a little bit annoyed about us showing up to spend money. Tee sheet was nearly empty, seems like they are at risk of going downhill with that approach.

Course is in best shape I have ever seen it thanks to a nice rainy season. 7am Sunday morning doesn’t get much better for a 4hr pace of play. Starting with the range, excellent grass to warm up. Tee boxes and fairways were lush and firm, summer roll is already in effect. Rough, bunkers, fairways all very well maintained. Plenty of fresh sand in the bunkers made for consistent play. Finally, the greens were excellent. Looked like they had been micro punched a few weeks ago and it had no effect at all on the play. All the greens were very nicely paced, on the fast side, with firmness. First time in a while I’ve seen the course play where you’re safe to land short and roll on the approaches. Definitely playing more like a links style course now. Overall, I was very impressed with the conditions and quality of the course and it is currently the best course conditions I’ve seen in the whole Sacramento/ East Bay Area. Highly recommend checking it out before the summer!

Fairways and tee boxes were punched and sanded today. Seemed like greens may have been punched or sanded a few weeks ago, still a lot of sand on the greens.

Haven’t played this course in a few years and was a little let down to see the conditions have deteriorated a bit. It’s been raining a lot so I’ll give them some slack for trying to keep things in shape, but showing up to punched fairways was a surprise. Hopefully by next month things will recover and it will be the nice beautiful fairways I remember. In addition, there was a ton of heavy construction going on, as another reviewer mentioned, it looks like it’s soon to be full of new homes on the course.

Aside from all the negatives, the course layout is still excellent, with a nice variety of short and long holes to keep it interesting. The greens were tough as always, and avoiding 3 putts was the main challenge. Range was mats, practice balls were new, facilities were great. Come back in a month and hopefully it will have improved conditions.

First time playing this course, extremely challenging, but still fun. Played the Mountain/Lake combo. The course has a total of 3 different 9 hole courses that are rotated each day, can't wait to go back and try the Canyon 9. From the Cinnabar tees (Blues?) the yardage was only 6300, but the slope was 138!

Each 9 starts off with a pretty wide open fairway for the tee shot, followed by a remaining 8 holes that are very challenging for various reasons. Multiple blind/deceptive tee shots, tons of 100-200 yard forced carries, fun elevation changes, and progressively narrower tee shots all help to earn that high slope rating. Once you get it in the fairway, there are a lot of uphill approaches to super nice, tabletop speed greens. Quite often I was able to land on the front and roll all the way to the pin. A couple par 3s had shallow greens, making it tough to stop even a correctly played shot without rolling off the back. Overall, the super fast, well guarded greens kept even the best drive and approach from being an easy par. GIR and 3 putts were common, just tough to get the putts to stop close to the hole due to speed and slopes.

Overall course condition was top notch. Currently I would say this is in the top 5 in NorCal for under $100. Fairways were excellent, greens were even better. Pace of play was also perfect for a fully booked course, taking just around 4:10. This is one of my new favorite courses for quality, challenging golf.

Update to previous reviewers- there appears to be some progress, greens are the only thing going for this course at the moment. If I wasn’t playing in a group event I wouldn’t have played, nor paid the 49 dollar greens fee for this level of poor quality. The fairways were a mix of mud, dirt, patches of grass, and weeds. Think swamp mud in the middle of 100 degree summer heat. Rough was just as bad, no grass, muddy, weeds. Sand was terrible, most bunkers appear to be under renovation by simply putting down sod in hopes they turn into grass bunkers I guess. I went into the day thinking it couldn’t be that bad, right? It was… This course needs a couple more years I guess if they are going to turn it around, but for now I can’t recommend anyone choose this course no matter how desperate you are to play golf.

Visited Aspen so decided to make the drive to Ironbridge for my first Colorado golf experience. Staff was super helpful, provided brand new Taylormade set of rentals for a family member. Playing on a Sunday morning, we saw a total of 2 other groups the entire round. Fantastic experience being able to enjoy a pristine course without waiting around because the course is slammed (like most California courses now).

Course conditions were excellent. Free range balls on a very nice grass range set the tone for the day. The course is set in a community, but the houses don’t really distract or get in the way of the experience. Beautiful red rock mountainside, pretty wide fairways, and some nice variety of hole layouts made this a memorable course. Tee boxes were in excellent condition, not sure how they stay in business because it looks like no one had played recently. Fairways were firm, providing some nice yardage boosts on drives, especially with the help from the elevation. Greens had been punched a few days prior, but I had no idea until the greens guy told me on hole 8. I couldn’t even tell, had no bearing at all on speed or smoothness of the greens.

Highlight of the course is the last few holes up on top of the mountain. Some awesome blind tee shots, extreme elevation changes from the tee, and forced carries made it totally worth the greens fee. Not a typical course layout I could find in California, so overall I loved the experience. I highly recommend checking out this course if you’re in the area. Excellent quality, fun variety of challenging holes, and doesn’t appear to be too busy- best combination possible for a round of golf.

Excellent January weather, no wind and warm temp made this the perfect conditions to try out this course. Arrived about an hour early to take advantage of the free range balls, and mandatory (if you want to have a chance on the greens) 30 min putting warmup session. Staff was super friendly, let us borrow a cart to take to the range since we walked the course. Overall I’d say this course is walkable and I would encourage you to do it.

Conditions- as I would expect/demand for $325 walking greens fee. Greens were fast, but not tabletops, so that was a relief. Putting was tricky due to the severe setup and design of the greens, but I would still say Black Horse has the most tricked out greens in the Monterey area. Approach shots were always stressful since there were many areas of the green that could leave you completely helpless if you miss the placement. Bunker visuals and elevation change also messed with the depth perception on many approach shots. Fairways, tees, rough all immaculate, no complaints at all on the conditions.

Layout- a little disappointing for the cost. Great setup for walking, tees next to greens was nice, but also makes the course feel a little cramped. Constantly felt like I was approaching greens with the next players teeing off, and teeing off while the people behind you miss their approaches onto your tee box. Interesting par 70, tough par 3s, and a great final par 3 for hole 18. Really great bunker visuals, not so fun trying to avoid them.

Finally, one unexpected note- semi private means we were paired with 2 grumpy members. Nothing worse than paying $325 to have some members annoyed they have to play with outsiders, halfway playing holes because they’ll be back tomorrow afternoon and the round doesn’t really matter to them. I wouldn’t be surprised if their goal was to scare off the public so they can have the course feel more private. I’ll check this one off the bucket list, but I could name at least 10 courses in NorCal that are a lot more fun and in some cases more challenging without the annoying membership factor. Staff fantastic, members terrible.