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Sunset Hills reputation let me to believe it was a course I wouldn't like, but I came away enjoying my round there. The layout is a bit tight and there are some holes that can be a bit quirky but not as much or as many as I had feared. Many holes have room in general and some have a whole side available for spraying.

Conditions were, as others have detailed, mostly really good. No complaints about from conditions for me.

My only frustration over the day was that the greens were mostly small and slanted and the rough around them so sticky and penal that it was really hard to make par if you missed the green by a little and difficult to make bogey if you missed it by a bit more.

Fun course though - I'd like to play it again
13 Likes.
Olivas Links gets it. It's all about the grass. Every time I play here, the greens fairways and rough are in good shape. The grass has good roll but also spongey enough for confident shotmaking. Beyond the rough, the lay of the land is very seasonal and can be punitive.

It's a good variety of hole lengths and difficulty that normally the offshore breeze has a say in.

The GK event here didn't disappoint. Had a good group with good weather at a good course that was in it's usual good shape.
12 Likes.
Chances are I'm going to hate a course nicknamed "Mission Impossible" but I loved Mission Viejo. The layout is interesting, generous and varied. Yes, all the slopes and elevation changes make it hard but everything is out in front of you and there are no tricky holes where you hit a good shot and end up someplace terrible. The course is lush and beautiful with flowers and trees winding around and over rolling hills.

We were fortunate to get greens that had been punched a couple of weeks ago but the grass had already grown into the holes. That and the light sanding lead to medium slow greens that were a bit bumpy but nobody lost there putt or chip off the green and in the end I assume strokes were saved with the slower greens. The rough is very sticky and the fairway grass will slow your ball down faster than most - plus elevation - so the course plays longer than it's yardage, but the fairway grass it great to hit from.

Compared to the other private courses offered up - this one is a steal at it's price and I would recommend anyone to give it a try when they see a chance.
8 Likes.
Many private courses have been a letdown. You realize the course is private because it couldn't handle public play. It's too tight, too punitive, too limited in facilities to handle more than a few people at a time. Los Coyotes isn't one of them. It could handle the public - maybe the range is too small - but otherwise the course is playable and interesting.

As was said, the practice green was unreal - so smooth and perfect and sneaky fast. The regular greens not as much, but still, two hole locations were on slopes that made any miss from anywhere except below the hole roll off the green. (lame)

Conditions overall were pretty good - described in detail in other reviews. Without any direct complaints, I didn't fall in love with the course. There was something "American Golf" about it that I can't put my finger on. That said, I'm really glad I got to play it and would recommend anyone else give it a try.
11 Likes.
I don't think I've ever said about a course that one of my favorite things about it is looking at the houses that surround it. Beautiful varied older houses most with a large footprint and each one with its own personality. That said, on at least a third of the holes, there is little protection from a slice heading into the street and making residence in one of these houses. Maybe the cars driving up and down the streets provide some protection - but I don't think of that as a plus.

Got a great rate on-line when little else was available out there and have wanted to check this place out for the last couple of years. Conditions were mostly fair and below. Greens were decent with the punch marks being mostly visual. Fairway thin, rough varied, bunkers a bit inconsistent and had too many pebbles or stones in them. The worst was around the greens where the patchy thin grass made hitting soft shots over the many bunkers frustrating.

I think the grass around the greens and the tension of this potentially being the most expensive round I've ever played make this a one and done for me, but I think many would overlook these problems and be glad to have a decent place to get a round in.
6 Likes.
In a golfer's fantasy, all this rain would have made courses in the best shape they've been in months. In reality, it doesn't seem to have made much difference. Balboa was dried out and a bit hard. It was easy to get a thin lie almost anywhere on the course. Drives ran but chipping was a bit dicey. Tee boxes and bunkers were ok and the greens were decent - a little faster than I'm used to here. The 10minute apart tee times give plenty of room for everyone to play at a decent rate and the on-line reservation system makes getting late tee times as a single relatively simple.
7 Likes.
Bing Crosby was attractive, unforgiving and cruel. I only assume this is true based on the tenor of his namesake course. Played an SCGA outing here a couple of days ago and am still reeling from the experience. We started on the back 9 which is prettier and therefore meaner than the front. The hilly slanted holes are only made more difficult with the hard ground and low rough. Balls roll out like fallen skiers on an icy hillside - who knows when and where your ball will stop. Half of this course probably has never had a divot on it while 20% has had 80% of the divots. Maintaining a place like this must be difficult and it showed here and there.

Fairways in general were fine a bit hard and thin in spots with various marked GUR areas and unmarked areas that I would have moved my ball from because the grass had seams of missing grass here and there. Rough was only a couple of inches and this course needs more of it it areas where your ball is likely to roll through. Sand traps are super deep and penal and usually in good shape. I think one of the deeper ones fronting a green I was in gets a LOT of use and probably needed a top off due to all the swings people have been taking in it. Greens were smooth and medium fast. The real issue is here is the false fronts, false backs, false sides, lumps and tiers that make one feel silly sometimes trying to get to the hole.

Overall, I played great and that helped my enjoyment a lot. I would have probably scored 6-8 shots better somewhere normal but I could have shot 20 shots worse on a bad day. There are a bunch of fun holes where you can watch you ball keep rolling and almost reach the green with the right kind of drive. There are some great photo opportunities along the way. I'm going to hold onto my positive experience and not ruin it by ever coming to play here again.
13 Likes.
Haven't played here in 8 years and had no idea what to expect. Seemed a little better than I expected. Tee boxes seemed good, fairways mostly good grass to hit off, greens had hints of a past aeration but rolled decently smooth medium speed.

Off the fairways - there is 5-20 feet of rough then mostly dirt which isn't fun to look at. It seemed like at least the scruffy areas had been mostly cleaned up and while not as pretty as foliage, much easier to recover from. The routing is quite the mix of hard holes and easy holes, boring holes and interesting holes. Little far for me to be a regular at - but if I was closer, I'd play it regularly.
9 Likes.
Sal's review is the one to read but if you still are interested in another perspective on this course, here goes.

It's a place, in my opinion, built around the concept of money rather than golf. Yes, the golf has to be perfect, because that kind of money expects perfection. So, the course is perfect.

Driving on the cart paths is like the Radiator Springs Racers at Disneyland. Rockscapes and waterfalls and a cart that can accelerate to the point that a wheelie seemed possible. Hold off taking a drink until the cart has come to a full and complete stop.

The layout is the best I've ever played without having that "special" feeling. The feeling I got playing Pebble, Aviara, and Rams Hills is missing. Too many straight holes with varying lumps, at one point , I though we had accidently stopped at a hole we already played. Hole 18 is the obvious finishing hole because it had everything you'd want in a hole visually and playing wise. A couple more holes like that and I'd probably think differently about the course being special.

Never having played with a caddy, it was incredibly odd. I stood there until he came over and told me what yardage to hit and where to aim. It sometime felt like I was a golf swing robot - (an often malfunctioning one). At the same time, I stood over the ball with less thoughts in my head and could focus on the shot at hand in a way I rarely ever had before.

For a place that doesn't need to let the outside in, I wonder a bit why they let the SCGA play there every year. But, from the outset, they treated us well and I appreciated that.
11 Likes.
What's the best thing to do when your premiere Southern California course is starting to look a bit raggedy? Apparently, it's not course maintenance, it's "raise the price".

I've played the IKE a bit in the last couple of years and this outing had the worst overall conditions. The fairways were brown and sticky or brown and hard. The whole place had a slightly unkempt feel. But the greens, bunkers and tee boxes seemed normal, so maybe this is just the wrong time of year to play here.

The IKE is a layout where I basically like every hole. Unlike it's neighbor where I don't care for most holes. It's weird that two courses on the same property can feel SO different.
8 Likes.
Puzzling. Why remake a par 59 course with short holes but heavily bunkered and relatively difficult greens? Pretty frustrating for any beginner trying to learn golf with the hard greens, hard grass, difficult bunkers.

That said, I like Birch Hills - nice place to play. 20 bucks to walk on a beautiful Friday late morning was just what I was looking for. Fairways and greens were the best thing about the course. The greens were a bit too hard but smooth and medium speed. Around the greens was the worst part of the course - hardpan and thin and/or clumpy grass made chipping difficult - even more so with the hard and sloping greens. Any miss of the green would travel quickly away. I would imagine it would be easier to take care of the bunkers if there weren't so many of them. Some were decent and some a bit hard but none were good.

I'd probably take a beginner someplace with flatter greens, less bunkers and more grass but if you like a good short course, this might fit the bill.
8 Likes.
Don't know if I've ever played out this way during "peak" time but I can see why some would travel and pay to do so. Firecliff was immaculate, I wouldn't change a single thing about the conditions. Everyone who worked there was helpful, polite and comfortable to deal with. The practice facilities made me wish I'd gotten there even earlier, and even the price for my Gatorade was reasonable.

The lack of houses and wonderful landscaping led to picturesque holes and while the layout has a couple of lulls in it, the course rightly deserves to be in any top 10 list of where to play in the desert.
11 Likes.
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