Spent this past Sunday afternoon playing in a Rancho Park men's club tournament on a very hot day enjoying one of SoCal's best public courses. My group played from the white tees and had an 11:40am tee time, so we were right in the thick of the heat, but the course has held up well.

Fairways are in good shape with the occasional thin spots around the greens and many remnants of old GUR areas that are apparently back in good graces - but the faint outlines are there to see! Rough was thick in areas but thin in others, while the bunkers in good shape from what I saw. The worst part of the course were some of the uneven tee boxes and one that had barely any grass at all (I'm looking at you #10) - definitely improvement needed there.

Greens were in good shape - consistent speeds, holding shots well and lines being true to the putts taken. No complaints on the greens at all. I was very appreciative of those greens as I had a career afternoon which I'll write about in the 'What'd you shoot - September' section!

POP was not great at the start but really picked up after the 4th hole and we pretty much kept moving nicely for the rest of the afternoon. The old rumors of Rancho Park's six-hour rounds are nothing more than nostalgia now and that's a great thing.

If you can get a time there, I would recommend it right now.

Played last Friday at Skylinks with one friend, then somehow managed to add Mattias and one of his friends late for a fun foursome at one of the LBC's best courses. We had an afternoon tee time and were able to take off a bit early and had a very nice POP for most of the day until we hit some snags on the back nine.

Course conditions at Skylinks are improved from my last visit but still not at its optimal best. The fairways are playable but don't look very nice and are still saddled with some thin areas, while the rough is not too penal at all. The bunkers are a little on the thin side while the tee boxes (we played the blues) were all just fine.

Greens were running pretty nicely to the best of my recollection - nothing really stood out too much in terms of issues. Sure, there are a few with some limited damage around the edges, but for the most part they ran consistently medium-fast, held shots well and stayed true to their lines. Nothing too bad to complain about.

Overall it's all just above average, but of course you're paying optimum Long Beach course prices, so it should simply be a bit better than that, but I will give them some concessions based on the very hot temperatures over the past week or two. I think some rainfall and some fall aeration will probably do this course wonders.

Played in a Rancho Park Men's Club tournament at Los Robles on Sunday morning and was very excited to check out this cool track again after six years since my first and only visit. We had an 8am shotgun start and began play on the 12th hole. It was a perfect morning for golf giving way to an extremely hot early afternoon which certainly affected play later in the round.

First off, the driving range is a decent walk/haul from the clubhouse so keep that in mind if you're wanting to get some practice in before your round. First tee is conveniently located and a very warm and inviting straight-ahead par five to kick off your round. After that things can get a little crazy but it's a super fun layout that really indulges all the golf senses.

You've got a lot of elevations and tricky angles at Los Robles, along with a few decent carries and lots of 'native' areas that will tease and torment you. It's not a particularly long course but it certainly makes up for it in other ways.

The course conditions were really, really nice. The greens were devilish and confounded me all afternoon, but they were in great shape, rolled really nicely and held shots well. Apart from the first and tenth fairways, the rest were really in pristine shape and very well-received by myself and my playing partners. Yes, country club quality on so many holes. Rough was never too penal but of course the mulch and native areas play much more difficult. Bunkers were not so great - very thin and actually watered down pretty heavy. A lot of my playing partners had great struggles getting out of them and it did not look like a lot of fun. Tee boxes were very good.

I really enjoyed the round immensely despite not shooting a great score and would really love to come back again and work out some of the holes that I now remember a lot more clearly. It's just a fun round of golf and I would highly recommend it right now to anyone.

Finally made it back out to Black Gold this week for the first time in many years and it was a real treat (albeit a challenging one) to play it again. I had two out-of-towners from work out and another local who's a member at Shady Canyon, and they were all not only impressed with the challenging layout and interesting routing, but also the very nice course conditions.

It was a midweek round so the price was great (around $125) for the experience. We had cart service at least 3-4x during the round on a very hot day, so that was very necessary, and the POP was very good as we didn't really have any waits all day. This course is most certainly a non-walking one with all of its steep elevations and distances between holes.

It's a tough 18 no matter how you slice it. Many of the holes are uphill or downhill, there are some decent and intimidating carries and the green complexes are very difficult with some incredibly subtle but impactful breaks. We played the blue/white combo tees and it gave us all everything we could handle.

The fairways are in really nice shape despite the hot temperatures all summer, while the rough is very grabby, especially around the greens, so no chip is ever a simple afterthought. Tee boxes were all in nice shape and the bunkers were mostly good but we found one or two that were slightly thin in parts. The grounds crew were doing a lot of watering as we played, so it was disappointing on one hole where my chip ran long and into a newly formed puddle on the green ... but luckily I still got away with a two-putt. As for the greens, very fast, very tricky and very difficult to hold the greens without perfect approaches. I had trouble with the speeds all day which led to a pretty poor putting round overall.

At the end of the day though, a truly fun and challenging golf experience to be had at Black Gold right now.

Got back out to Woodley Lakes with a friend recently and was expecting to find the course really dried out and thin after a long, hot summer, but was pleasantly surprised that the course is holding up quite well and there's still a very decent amount of green everywhere.

Price is always right for this confidence course and our outing was no exception ($32 walking rate). No cart service and the snack shop isn't exactly convenient at the turn, but hey, you get what you pay for. It does have a great driving range with actual grass.

In terms of course conditions, everything is just good to good enough. Nothing bad, nothing exceptional or awe-inspiring. You're playing golf under the hot SFV sun and life is good. Greens were rolling at medium speed but held good lines and shots just fine. Fairways are mostly in good shape with the occasional thin area, while the rough is barely distinguishable from the fairways, but all good. Bunkers have sand and the tee boxes (we played the blues) were always flat and level with good to decent coverage.

This course is never going to go down into your top 10 in the state but it's almost always going to provide you a great opportunity to try out any club you're particularly working on and give you lots of room for error to post a decent score.

Played a GK Cup match at El Dorado and got a very good midweek (and probably twilight) walking rate of $57. Feels like stealing nowadays in Long Beach! Kramnetto2 and I had a 2pm tee time with Mark playing from the blue tees and I played from the whites. A very hot day!

Course conditions are not as good as I've seen them here before, but by no means poor in any way. The fairways had plenty of nice, lush patches all around, but of course there were also some thinned out and drier areas in case you got unlucky. The rough is completely playable right now though, while the bunkers were not really too great as they had varying degrees of sand - some very thin and frustrating, others pretty decent, but none superb.

Tee boxes that I played were flat and level with mostly good coverage. They're holding up well with all the traffic and hot temperatures of late. And the greens? Well, they held shots well and rolled relatively true, but there were definitely a lot of pitch marks to navigate and the speeds felt a little inconsistent over the round, but nothing too crazy to bring a lot of negative attention.

The layout is always super fun at El Dorado with lots of tree-lined fairways, some dangerous water features on select holes, and strategic bunkers that are a lot more daunting when the sand isn't in great shape. But overall it's a very solid eighteen holes of golf with plenty of variety, but nothing in terms of elevations.

We had cart service come around a few times which was nice for a midweek round. So yes, all in all another good showing from the pick of the Long Beach litter.

Played in the Saturday Rancho Park Golf Club tournament at Brookside #2 and found the course to be lacking in a lot of areas, but it was still a fun day out despite the scorching temperatures that greeted us with a 10:20am tee time.

First off, the driving range is entirely too limited for a two-18 course with this much business. I wish they could find a way to improve that - maybe a second level? It's far from ideal having to wait in a significant line for a stall to open up with limited time before your call.

In terms of course conditions, again, it's not that great but it's playable. There is a massive dirt patch from the concert stages just before the green on the first hole and right after the tee box on the 18th. This section makes the Links at Victoria look like Bandon. After that it's better, but you're never going to confuse this 18 with the more pristine and challenging #1 course.

Greens were in good shape despite all the other issues - no real complaints there. Not too fast or anything, but solid enough. The fairways are dry, thin and a bit haphazard to be honest, but some of the holes are just fine. The bunkers were very thin and not great to hit from, while the rough was not penal in the least and just an extension of the thin conditions from the fairways. Tee boxes were pretty beat up but nothing too awful (we were assigned the white tees for my flight).

As previously mentioned, it was an incredibly hot day so thankful to have the cart service running around but I don't recall seeing a water station to refill the Hydroflask until around the sixth hole or so. Did I mention it was really hot? POP was not really high-intensity but then again it was tournament play so it's what one expects at those events.

So overall it's just not quite as satisfying as the other 18 at Brookside, but could be a heck of a lot closer if the conditions were more favorable. That's obviously tough to maintain though as the summer heat really starts to pound down on Pasadena.

Played a Friday round at Los Verdes this week with an old high school buddy just getting back into golf and then found out he's been on GK for years longer than I have! Good fun playing with toddieo and getting to see all sides this Palos Verdes gem has to offer.

Our weather fluctuated all afternoon from warm, blue skies, to rolling fog and putting the pullover back on depending on the hole. Slightly more consistent were the course conditions that were not too bad depending on where you found your ball. There were a lot of good sections in the fairways, but also a few too many thin spots for my liking, but this course gets an unbelievable amount of play, so that must always be kept in consideration.

The greens were running quite nicely. They weren't necessarily as fast as I remember them in the past, but they rolled true and consistent - evidenced by a no 3-putt 29-putt round. They held shots well but are also quite tricky and many a slope if you're unfamiliar with them. The tee boxes were in good shape (we played from the white tees) overall, while the rough and the bunkers were also very playable but not quite pristine. Everything is in good working order right now - let's just put it that way.

Price is always right for Los Verdes and we got a great tee time online the day before. There was no cart service that I can recall but stopped at the cafe/grill during the long(ish) walk from the 9th green to the 10th tee. This course will still give you plenty of challenge from the white tees if you're a mid-handicapper like myself, and I've realized that I have a lot more fun playing it from there than maxing out on the blues.

A true LA experience that rarely disappoints, except of course if the POP is out of whack, which it often can be, but we did pretty decently in that regard this past week, despite a rather slow group ahead of us who got better at keeping pace as the round went on.

Rounded out the busy golf week with an RPGC tournament round at the home course on Sunday. My flight put me in the white tee box and we had a 12:30pm tee time on a very hot but gorgeous summer day in the Cheviot Hills.

First and foremost, the greens right now are running great at RP. They roll true, they're much faster than they look and are holding good shots well. Absolutely getting it right currently when it comes to the flat stick surface. And to be fair, the rest of the course is pretty darn good right now as well.

Fairways have plenty of green and lush areas but you'll also get some thin especially up around the greens and in some runoff areas. Rough is generally mixed but nothing too crazy that I found. Bunkers were in good shape with ample sand but you're not mistaking it for Augusta. Tee boxes were good - flat and level. Everything is working properly at Rancho right now.

No cart service but that's standard at Rancho Park, but the snack shop on 12 remains one of the best in the business. The driving range is really interesting because it's absolutely packed with all walks of life - range rats, Instagram influencers, coaches, college kids and everything in-between. The people watching at the range is LA pure.

So yes, overall, good value for your money right now at Rancho Park and definitely a very good challenge for your game at all times.

Mattias and I decided late on Friday morning to play and looked online and found a nice 1:52 tee time at Los Amigos. Please note that time. We arrived early, warmed up on the somewhat depressing driving range, and then made our way to the putting area to await our turn to tee off.

From the first looks of it we could tell it was not going to go well. At first they told us that they were about fifteen minutes behind, but we finally teed off (along with two singles) at around 2:20pm. From then on and for the rest of the round it was an utter disaster with no marshals and a 2-3 group backup on every single hole for the rest of the round. Usually things clear up after the third or fourth hole here, but not today.

By the time we putted out on 18 to finish the round, the clock read 8:12pm. Read that again. We literally JUST made it before it started getting too dark. With a 1:52pm tee time. Absolutely and ridiculously unacceptable. It's just mind-boggling how poorly the day was organized by the staff there. Unbelievable.

Course was also not that great if we're being honest. Greens were a bit bumpy and slow with some dead areas, the fairways are 'okay' at best, while the rough is fine and the bunkers were a little on the lame side. You would think that maybe the tee boxes were the course's saving grace, but alas - no. They were thin, beat up and all over the place.

I will always keep returning to Los Amigos as it's almost always a good value round and while it won't be winning any beauty contests anytime soon, it usually provides a 'good enough' golf experience for its patrons. That was absolutely NOT the case this week. Very disappointing.

Busy past week of golf started out at Rio Hondo midweek just before the 4th of July and the course is in really good shape right now from tee to green. It's all good ... nothing super spectacular, but also no glaring faults that come to mind.

Driving range is not bad at all, and it's two-tiered if you're into that kind of thing. We played from the blue tees and this course will throw all its toughest angles at you on the front nine. The back nine is kind of a picnic in comparison, but there are always a few holes here that can get you.

Greens were in very nice shape but not rolling ridiculously fast or anything. They did hold their lines well and were very consistent. Same with the fairways - lots of really good areas with the occasional thin ones, but very playable indeed. The rough has a few thick areas but for the most part not very penal and easy to play from. Bunkers were good, not great - again - playable. And the tee boxes were flat, level and decently maintained enough to not cause any issues.

There was no cart service throughout the hot day which is always a bummer, but also understandable midweek. I walked so I can't speak for the current conditions or accessories with the carts. But yeah, all in all a good showing from Rio Hondo and not a bad choice right now.

First time ever playing Hidden Valley this past week for my GK Cup match with JaySolinari619 and it was quite a memorable and enjoyable experience. This is one of the most utterly un-walkable courses you will ever play so don't plan on getting your steps in - you are 100% riding and by the back nine you'll be very happy about it.

This course is about as target golf as target golf gets. I can't think of more than a handful of holes where you don't have blind shots to small areas or split fairways with invisible barrancas tempting and teasing your ball. You absolutely have to be sharp with your club selection, ball flight accuracy and ability to check the ego here. You're very often tempted to bite off more than you can chew, and if you get it wrong, the punishment is severe.

Course conditions were actually quite good all around with one very glaring exception - the bunkers. Terrible. Dry, hard, rocky and completely miserable. They're bald. You can't do anything with them but hit and hope. The rest is good. Not great, but good, even very good. The fairways had much better coverage than expected, while the very few areas of rough were thick but not unplayable (there's very little rough because it's either fairway or 'desert'). Tee boxes were good (I played the whites, Jay played the blues) for the most part but some were a little worn, while the greens themselves had some ball marks spread around but mostly rolled quite true, held shots well and had nice coverage.

We got a late start so we only got cart service on the front nine, but we stocked up well and handled the hot temperatures just fine. Carts were in very nice shape and also had a good GPS system but the governors are ridiculously fine-tuned and far too slow on some of the downhill sections (did I mention there are a ton of elevations and long distances between many holes?). Quite aggravating! But overall, it's a fun experience with nice conditions.

I don't think Hidden Valley is the type of course I would want to play every week or join the men's club or anything, but it was a much better experience than I anticipated and would actually love to go back another time with some course knowledge that I now have.