Played Rio Hondo on Wednesday, 11/30 for the first time in a few years. PoP was 4:10 with a starting tee time of 8:12.
Overall the conditions are not up to Rio Hondo standards. Seemed like everything was in winter conditions.
Tees: Pretty chewed up and firm.
Fairways: Very this and firm to hard. Hitting the ball first was a must as a slightly fat shot would bounce the club into the ball. There are many GUR in the fairways with only a painted circle around the area, no ropes, and you can tell that carts drive across these areas. So I don't think these areas will ever heal.
Rough: thin and patchy.
Bunkers: The only highlight on the course. Bunkers are filled with nice sand and most have been raked nicely. And each trap and plenty of rakes, which is very nice to not have to hunt for one.
Greens: Damage on every green. Some are worse than others, so it's a mixed bag. The greens were running medium fast. The 18th green is in the best shape with very little damage.
Overall I will wait to play Rio Hondo again till spring or early summer.

Played on Monday the 31st with fellow GK'r SR129. It was a fantastic day for golf. The course had just came out of maintenance and had reopened on the Friday before and the course was is great shape. We had a PoP of 4:15 and the new carts are very comfortable with a nice GPS. Staff was great as usual. Only hole 6 was cart path only which was a nice surprise coming out of overseeding.

Tees: Very nice shape, but I do wish they would do something with the #17 box in the 3rd location as it's like trying to get the tee into concrete.
Fairways: The new grass is awesome, but there were a few that were a little long, but they were out mowing so on Tuesday they were probably perfect. Golfers: Please fill your divots. Too many unfilled for being open just a few days.
Rough: Nasty long and thick. takes a little more time finding your ball. Hint: Don't hit it there.
Bunkers: Wasn't in any, but they looked fluffy with nice white sand. They really pop off the emerald green grass.
Greens: Not up to the Goose usual standards. They were dry and haven't come out of being punched. Was a little surprising. Even though they didn't look great, putts rolled nicely with no noticible bouncing. The speed was med fast and held shots nicely.

Im a huge fan of the Goose and think it's one of the best courses around.

Played on Wednesday, June 29th with Steve (sr129) on a beautiful morning. Teed off at 6:40 and POP was 3:30. The course has work being done in many areas, but does not effect play that much. The collars around the 17th green are GUR as they have been re-sod. 12 of the holes have been punched with small holes and does not effect putts at all. I wish I could blame them for my poor putting, but thats not the case. The 11th green has a large repaired area that does not effect putting to much and it coming along very well. The few fairways are showing a few signs of the heat recently, but they are still great. They were watering in many areas trying to keep the course in top shape. Was not in any sand so I can't comment on those. I am used to playing Goose in immaculate shape and playing it in only great shape was just a little odd. I can't wait to go back

Played AH on Friday, May 6th. I hadn't played here for about 15 years. I had a really good time, but the cost could keep me from booking as there are cheaper places to play. Their rates fluctuate depending on demand. I booked 7 days out and got a decent rate and a few days later it was about $10 higher for the same tee time.

The course was in very nice shape and it exceeded my expectations.
Tees - A few could use a leveling, but it nice shape.
Fairways - In really good shape and never a bad lie.
Rough - Thick. Sometimes you needed to be over top of your ball before you could see it.
Bunkers - Playing in the morning made the bunkers a little moist from the dew and nighttime watering, but very playable.
Greens - Very good shape, but other players ball marks needed to be fixed often.

I was surprised how short the course is, but it plays so much longer as some tee shots play uphill. Some of the downhill tee shots are very fun. I know I will be back sooner than later, as I had just a fun experience. Oh Hole 12 sucks! Maybe because I missed a 2.5 footer for par.

Played Monday (4/25) morning with Steve (sr 129) and what a great day it was. The course is in fantastic shape from tee to green.

Tees - great coverage and mostly level. A few are difficult to get a tee into, but that is no biggie.
Fairways - perfect. Firm with great coverage. The collars around the greens were very tight and using a putter instead of chipping with a wedge was a good choice.
Rough - Only about a half inch long, not very penal. Very good coverage.
Bunkers - Was in one of each (fairway, greenside) and both and very good sand and well kept. They also have a good amount of rakes around each bunker. Example: the large greenside bunker on 17 had 4 rakes around it. Very nice touch.
Greens - A little bumpy in the early morning, but once it started warming up they became perfect. Medium fast and firm. Not many unrepaired marks on them at all. I didn't hit many in regulation so I can't comment on if they held or not.
PoP - 4 hours.
Customer Service - Everybody I came in contact with was pleaseant.
My review is just the standard of Goose Creek, making this one of my favorite courses to play.

Played on Tuesday Nov. 16 with fellow GK'r sr129. We tee'd off right on time and had a great 4:10 pace, just waiting on a few shots. The course has come out of being closed for a month great. Goose is always a pleasure to play and the senior rate makes it even that much better.

Tees - great shape, the grass might have been a touch long, but mowers were out so they are probably even better now.
Fairways - very nice. never a bad lie all day with very little divot damage.
Rough - great shape and still very playable.
Greens - Other than a little damage on hole 11 they were great to putt on. Didn't break as much as they looked which caused our group to burn the edges all day long.
Bunkers - Have brand new white sand in them and is one of the first things you notice when you first see the course. The sand is very fluffy, but many foot prints from people not raking them. d%mn it people pick up a rake and use it. Lets keep this course up and in great shape for everybody.

Overall I had a blast out there and will be back very soon.

Played in the GK event on June 6th. This was my 2nd time O.L. and both times have been GK events. Olivas is just about the golf as they operate out of a trailer, there is no clubhouse. Other than not really having a snack bar or restuarant on site, but that is fine with me. PoP was right at 5 hours, but it was a Sunday afternoon on a well conditioned, fun course.
Conditions were great.
Tees - In good condition, but a few felt a little shaggy towards the end of the round.
Fairways - great. Ball sat up nicely and GUR was marked nicely on a few holes.
Rough - nice condition and made you really think about club selection hitting out of it.
Greens - great to putt on these medium fast greens. since I have not played here that often reading them was a little difficult and some of the flags were located in some tough spots.
Bunkers - nice sand, but lots of foot prints as not many golfers raking them. I was raking my tracks and many others when in them.
I wish this course was not such a long drive for me as I would play here a lot more often.

Played on Monday, May 3rd with the gurus. Thanks to Johnny for setting this up and thanks to Johnny, Steve and Ron for making it such a great day. You guys are awesome.

This was only my 2nd time playing this course and I enjoyed even more than my first time playing it.

As the previous 2 reviews by Steve and Nick were right on with their insights to the conditions. I really don't have much more to add. Bunkers not that great, fairways were awesome and rough was thick and penal. The greens ran very nice and down hill putts could get away from you.

I really like how they are using the old 17 and 18 as holes 1-2, Makes they layout way better, ending with a nice par 5 and not the shorter old hole 18. Just a way better finishing hole and the new hole 1 is just a better starting hole. Most likely you GPS will be screwy because most companies have not updated their software to reflect the new routing.

I found that everybody that I came in contact with that works at OQ to be very friendly and that just adds to the enjoyment of this course.

Get out and play "The Rock" you will be glad you did.

Was out with the Gurus today for an absolutely great day golf. Thanks to Perry, Gary and Steve for making it so fun. Staff at Desert Willow are fantastic and seem to go out of their way to make golfing at Desert Willow a great experience. Normal COVID precautions are in place, but they do have you share carts but there is a divider between the passenger and rider. Carts have a very nice GPS and have very comfy seats. Now onto to conditions: ( you may notice a pattern here)

Tee Boxes - Played the Lavender tees and they were in perfect shape.
Fairways - Immaculate and a beautiful emerald green.
Rough - Immaculate and about 1-2 inches of perfect green grass.
Bunkers - Great sand and they do have rakes so it did feel a little odd raking a bunker again.
Greens - Immaculate with very very few unrepaired ball marks. Rolled true and were a blast to putt on, and tricky After our round a Desert Willow employee was out to greet us and ask what we thought about the course. He said the greens were a Rye/Poa Aunna mix. He also told us how they make sure the greens are kept firm enough to resist some ball marks by measuring the amount of water they put on them. He said they have a person go around and check each green in multiple places. The tool they use has bluetooth and sends information back to an app that shows them the places on the green that have too much water and the areas that are underwatered, even though us normal golfers could never tell by looking at them or putting on them. Was very interesting seeing the app.

As you can tell I loved the course, staff and the friends I golfed with today. I can't imagine how I would have felt about the day if I had even golfed halfway decent.

Thanks to Johnny putting this together, and thanks to Desert Willow for hosting us today.

Played on Thursday the 10th with the "gurus" and had a blast. Thanks Johnny, Mike and Steve for a great day. Not much to add that hasn't already been said. The bunkers may have been in the worst shape that I have seen here, but this is out of the norm for Goose Creek. I'm sure that the Goose won't let that be like that for long.
I have played here many times and my expectations are always met. You know that conditions are going to be great and the pace of play will be good. The par 3's here are fun and challenging and #16 is just a beast. You never feel like you are playing the same hole twice as every hole has a personality of it's own.
Customer service was great and everybody was very pleasant.
Can't wait until the next time I play here. This course is one of my favorites.

Played on Tuesday October 27 and all I can say is that the course is immaculate. The weather today was a perfect 72 with light winds, just enough to make you think about club selection. I love this course and it doesn't get the props it should.
Tees - in great shape and the grass has come in from recent punching.
Fairways - in great shape in fact nearly perfect. There has been turf reduction at the beginning of the fairway, and could come into play for shorter hitters like me.
Rough - nice and lush and does effect how the ball comes out. Almost guaranteed to add at least a stroke.
Bunkers - wasnt in any greenside bunkers but it looked nice and fluffy as you can see some foot prints because of covid rules.
Greens - Did not disappoint. In perfect shape, but did get a little bumpy in the late afternoon. Somebody must have made the greenskeeper mad because some of the pin locations were nasty. These greens are very undulating and can mess with you head. They did not break as much as they looked and the guys I played with were missing putts by fraction of a inch.
I havent had this much fun on a golf course in a long time. Normal Covid rules are in place.
The views on this course are amazing from deer on the forest holes to surfers on the ocean holes.

Played on Friday, Oct. 9 with sr129. This was my first time playing here and it ok. Not a course I have to get back to, but not a course I would avoid. I was late for our tee time because of a batterey problem, but they got me set-up with a cart very quickly to meet Steve out on the course. The staff I had encounters with were very friendly. Standard covid precautions were in place.
POP - 3:30 even though the te sheet was full of us old farts.
Fairways - Very green with a few bare spots, but the longest grass in a fairway I have ever seen. They were mowing towards the end of our round and the cut blades were about an inch and a half long and the grass was still shaggy. The aprons in front of the greens are cut nice and tight and in great shape. This is how the fairways should be.
Rough - A mixed bag of bare and very long grass. With the morning dew, it was difficult to hit from.
Bunkers - Thin to hard pack, just of.
Greens - Slow! not great with ball marks and some thin areas and bumps. The 18 greeen looks like they are having problems with crab grass growing in.
Course is not long with the tips playing 6400 yards and the white tees at 6000.
Had a fun day, just wish the fairways had a little run to them.