The good: Everything's lush to the point of being muddy at some spots. Some deep rough, some not so deep, provides a reasonable challenge if you get in it. Greens are in great shape overall, some bumps and unrepaired ball marks around but nothing too crazy, rolling with medium-fast speed where some downhill putts can be killers. Teeboxes still unlevel at parts but mostly fine, not incredibly lush. Bunkers are the usual rock-filled dumpsters.

The bad: 5 hour round, teeing off at 12:09 on a Wednesday. No starter or marshals to speak of. Especially fun when a slow twosome cuts in front of your group on the third hole and causes a wait on every shot. Luckily they elected to cut back into the start of the front 9 and things sped up for us on the back and we played the 18th right after sunset, and I think we were the last group to finish.

The ugly: I removed a discarded Zyn from my line on one green and saw a bunch more. Bleh.

Overall just fine, had a very fun round despite the pace. Rate was $61 which is comparable to the other area courses for a weekday non-twilight round. Great course to walk, but note that there's no rate break for walking.

It's about time for another review of good ole Fairmount Park. Got out for 9 yesterday afternoon, course was uncrowded at 1pm on a weekday for sure. Rates are the same ($18 for 9 holes for a non-city resident) but conditions seem to be on the decline: fairways are more dead/dying/dirtpatchy, especially big swaths of the par 5 4th hole. Greens are cut and roll nicely but aren't super fast or anything. Teeboxes are either unlevel or patchy dirt. Still a perfect muni walking experience, all things considered.

Greens are in the best shape I've seen them here: smooth and fast, not too many unrepaired pitch marks or spike marks. The rest of the course is pretty normal "budget" public: Teeboxes are fine, not incredibly flat, fairways are mostly lush with the occasional weird dead spot/dirt patch/GUR, rough is grown in on some holes but never too punitive. Bunkers are basically waste areas. Still a really fun layout with a good price, $47 for a weekend afternoon, somehow got around in exactly 4 hours on a Sunday 1:00pm tee time, paired with a nice older couple and surrounded by golf bro foursomes that seemed to leave a yellow ball on every other hole. Would love to see them do a 'walking' rate like Seven Hills does, alas.

Weekday afternoon rate is $60 and that starts at 12pm. It's too hot to walk anyways, and they don't allow walking here. IMO this rate is actually pretty okay for this course.

Conditions have not changed a ton. Teeboxes are majority good shape, and some are closed for maintenance, that's a good sign. Fairways have good coverage except for scattered dry spots in short approach areas. Driver landing areas were great.

The greens are the feature of this place that make it worth the bit of extra dough and extra frustration. They were running slower than expected (call it 'medium' speed), but tricky nonetheless with difficult pins.

The attached bar and grill is actually a separate business, didn't see a beverage cart but we also didn't have anyone behind us and POP was spot on for a 3-some at 4 hours. Nice time of day to play cart golf without waiting. I'd come back twice a week if they'd let me walk in the afternoons..

Played at 11:50 on a Sunday for $43 via a GolfNow hot deal. I believe rack rate is $58+ on weekends. This course remains one of the best value options in the area. Conditions are not pristine but completely playable. Teeboxes have flat spots and some are worse than others, some bunkers have more sand than others, fairways have good coverage and you won't find a bad lie after a striped drive. You will have to hit off some funky dirt or weeds if you're errant off the tee.

I have come to appreciate the layout even more after learning that this course was designed by the same architects as Tukwet Canyon. The greens are in great shape, rolling very nicely, medium speed on the flat, and soft to a well-struck approach or wedge. I was pleasantly surprised to have 4 hour round while walking with 2 other singles in carts on a Sunday afternoon. Clubhouse is great as ever, the $5 hotdog was grilled perfectly.

Legends is back open as a full 18, however the 7th hole is playing as a 200 yard par 3 while they repair the teeboxes now that the bridge is repaired. Conditions are pretty great, the greens are rolling really nice and are definitely less beat up than Champions with old ball marks/spike marks, rough is grown in, bunkers still very crappy. Beverage cart was by twice (I think it was actually two beverage carts). 12oz Modelo was $6, this is up from $4, someone finally noticed they weren't maximizing profit on Modelo I guess.

One interesting note was an apparent large water leak creating a small lake on the 14th fairway that might have just started when we came through there - maintenance guys were flying by on carts to check it out.

Overall a very nice round, 1:13PM time was $45 on golfnow which was great for a Saturday. We passed a group on the 6th hole and had it wide open the rest of the day, which was awesome.

I think I've always liked this layout more than Champions - doesn't beat you up as much with wider fairways and more inviting greens.

Check it out but don't pay the morning prices.

Played South/North courses on 4/15 with a nice Golfnow hot deal, $53 with a 1:15 tee time which was significantly lower than rack rate. Haven't played here in probably 20 years, it used to be a private club when I was growing up and the conditions are still quite solid for a desert course despite being owned by a hotel chain now: Great teeboxes, lush fairways with very few dead/rough spots, rough was up to maybe over half a ball or deeper and required a good swing to get out of. Greens were hard and reasonably fast, mis-struck approaches or poor wedges rolled out a lot and putts rolled true. Fairway bunkers had hard dirt-esque sand but greenside bunkers had the really nice fine-grained white stuff.

I would describe the layout as an 'easier resort course' - South and West courses are lined with houses but nothing is too narrow, most of North course plays down and up elevation through the large drainage canal in the area, offering some nice views and close-to-blind approaches in some cases. It's easy enough on the scorecard at par 71 and 6300 from the blues, the rough and smaller greens are what give this place some teeth. Overall a very enjoyable experience, I was able to walk 9 and take a cart for 9, facilities are clean and staff was very friendly. Also: free range balls is a huge plus in this day and age of hyper profitseeking behavior from most public courses.

Played in the large Stater Bros corporate "tournament" (raffle) event on 4/5/25 with a bunch of friends, couldn't have asked for a better place to carry a bunch of my hacker friends to a rather average best ball 74. Conditions were pretty top-notch, as expected for a resort desert course: Lush fairways, rough that was thick enough to be punitive and quick true-rolling greens were the norm here. Layout is fairly interesting, despite houses lining every hole, some holes have narrow approaches into greens, most have wide fairways and landing zones, all bunkers were manicured with fine-grained sand that did not hesitate to plop into a fried egg on an errant shot that landed in them directly. The short-ish par 5s (from the whites, 6500yds total) generally have a challenging dogleg element to navigate with an appropriately placed drive: with the right position you can go for the green from 200+ out or lay up, but if you miss the fairway you can expect to be blocked or looking for a shot through various trees palm and otherwise.

Facilities are nice for an older place, the proshop only carried Titleist balls which I thought was a little wacky but they also wanted $20 for a sleeve of three, no thank you. Bar carts were out in force, did not try the local food as it was catered at the turn and afterwards.

The funniest part of the whole thing was being promised a "wind-free round of golf" due to the course's position in south Palm Springs and surrounded by beautiful mountains, but we did encounter strong gusting wind for about an hour that sent a lot of errant balls further off course.

Great facility if you get a good price - tournament was $100 with extensive raffle prizes, I am lucky to have an 'in' for it from friends that work there. There are probably better places to play for rack rate in the valley.

It has been a while since the last review here. I've played probably 10 times since October, this is basically my 'home course' now because I live 5 minutes away and I am a maniac.

Weekdays are much better pace of play than weekends. They will let you walk but I don't recommend it unless you're in good shape. Conditions are seemingly improving ahead of the upcoming Epson Tour event, there is something resembling real sand in some of the bunkers now, teeboxes are probably 90% nice and even, greens are fast and hold shots if you land where you ought to, rough is still a little hit or miss. Maybe it'll never be as manicured as it once was but it's still an interesting and challenging layout (with fabulous views of suburban sprawl and Amazon warehouses). I would call their afternoon rate of $45 on the weekday 'approaching reasonable' for the golf you get. Wish the restaurant/bar was open on weekdays.

Legends course is going to be reopening as a full 18 soon (mid or late April?), from gossiping with the pro shop guys.

Got out for 9 around 2pm on a beautiful day. Conditions are improving: Greens roll well but aren't super fast or fancy, nice fluffy lies in most parts of all fairways, teeboxes bumpy but manageable. A bunch of relatively easy holes with a 217y par 3 and a 460y par 4 in the mix makes this a fun layout to walk anytime. You can't beat the price ($16), there's a range and multiple short game/putting greens, and you're surrounded by natural beauty and the 60 freeway. What's not to like?

Got a 9:50am on Sunday 3/23, cost was $58 with or without the cart (I went without). Played with another single behind foursomes, so the pace was a rough 5+ hours.

I like the conditions at Hemet though they are nothing special. Only a few bad lies in fairways, greens trickier than they look with some pin positions, good variety of layout and views. Teeboxes could always find a flat spot but not incredibly clean/manicured. Great little pro shop and restaurant, actually feels like a "nice muni" in 2025, price is creeping upwards and I'd probably rather play during the week when it's less stacked.

Paid $70 in the afternoon (2pm start) out of desperation for a round without driving too far... kinda regret it. Conditions still not worth the price, many bare spots or funky lies in fairway landing areas and crummy bunkers are the norm. Rough is grown to a couple inches but some holes have a gopher hole problem in the rough. Greens are great, but worth the price? Methinks not. Managed to get the front 9 done in about 2.5 hours, the marshal found us on 4 tee and recommended just going off 1 again instead of waiting more on the back 9, so I split from the threesome I was paired with and got another 6 holes in before dark. Hate to support these prices but that's Saturday golf for you. Biggest joke here might be the $50 rate for 9 holes.