I had a opportunity to play Talega Golf Club on August 19, with three friends. We were celebrating a birthday in our foursome. Not a bad course to bring a buddy for his birthday to play a round of golf. As we pulled up to the bag drop, you cannot help but to be pleased by the service you will recieve from the guys greeting you at the bag drop to the starter, food service, and course marshall. The clubhouse and pro shop wasn't to bad either. Very nice!! The staff at Talega Golf Club really know what the word service means and they know how to put SERVICE into action.
We had 8:40am tee time and had arrived a bit early to have enough time to grab a bite and take some swings on the range. I must say the breakfast burrito is a must before you hit the first tee.
After chowing down on the breakfast burrito, the starter notified us that we could tee off before our scheduled tee time since the course was not busy at the moment.
This course is Fred Couples design. It was challenging but fun. There are a FEW bunkers on this course so you should know your club distances so you can pick your shots. It was my first time playing the course and I do hit the ball long and payed a price for using the driver on some holes. I purchased a lot of beach front property. The bunker sand was a good grade of sand so if you are in a bunker use the fundalmentals of bunker play and you can get some sand saves. Or use the GPS unit on the cart and play the distance and know where to hit and miss it the ball. Put the ego aside on this course if you wanna score low. There are a few holes where you will have a blind tee shot but they have placed reference poles to aim at. The par 3's greens are well protected so play to the middle of the greens and go for par and run. As I mentioned Talega Golf Club placed a few bunkers on this course so before you trek out to play the course polish up your bunker play you may need it. I learned my lesson and next time I will use course management.
As you play the course it is layed out very nice. The tee boxes are in good shape wasn't a lot of old divot marks. The fairways were well manicured. My shot shape with the driver is a draw and I did benefit with a lot of roll in the fairways due to the good condition that they were in. As far as the greens I will say that they were in a good condition and was rolling fast. However, my fellow golfers please fix your divots on the greens. It will take you a few seconds out of your life to fix your divot mark and a few more. This can be easily accomplished when you are waiting to putt and approching your ball to mark it while waiting you turn to putt.
The pace of play was good. We did catch up to a group ahead of us, and we finished our round in 4 hours 14 minutes.
The green fees are a bit expensive, $90 skins for non residents. But after experiencing this outstanding course and enjoying the beauty of the course with three good friends, PRICELESS!!
My overall experience at Talega Golf Club was very nice. The course was in excellent shape and the service from the staff was very pleasant. Talega Golf Club will be a course that I will continue to play. I would suggest to others who would like to have a wonderful golf outing for a day to experience Talega Golf Club. It will be worth the green fees. You can always play twilight or Monday-Thursday when the green fees are reduced.

I played this course along with a friend of mine on July 1st, 2011. This was a first for the both of us. We had heard all the hype, read all the reviews and I must say we were very happy and impressed with the couse. The staff was ok. The greens were a bit fast. The fairways, greens and tee boxes were highly maintained. The views from around the course were just spectacular even with the SoCal smog! The course played tough but fair from the blue tees. We got for $44 bucks thanks to Golfnow.com, however the rack fees would be worth playing this course. I play alot in Palms Springs and I would put this course up against the Palm Springs area course as far as price, playability and just a nice course to spend your money on without traveling to the desert. I will definetly play Hidden Valley numerous more times. I didn't get a chance to enjoy the clubhouse and the Swordfish lunch special. Has anyone out there tried it and if so how was it? I had to rush home and go with the wife to a wedding!!

The wife and I had no tee time scheduled for 6/11/2011, so we decided to trek over to Cresta Verde. We called ahead to check and see if there was a tournament going on. The gentlemen on the phone said no tournament and it was wide open for play. Well when we arrived to the course and journey on down to the first tee box my visual scan of the course showed me why it was wide open for play. The tee boxes were horrible. Basically the tee boxes were dirt patches. Before we got to the second hole my wife was complaining and was willing to sacrifice the green fess for the day and leave. Me being a golf addict, I talked her into staying and finishing. Should had took her advice and left. There were quite a few holes where the signs were wrong or they just didn't want to replace the signage. On hole # 17 when you approach the tee box the sign said #8, but on the reverse side of the sign it said #17. My GPS unit didn't even function right on this course.
Now the bunkers! There is no excuse for a course to leave their bunkers in the condition that I witnessed at Cresta Verde! Those bunkers were a down right shame. As far as I concerned the greenskeeper and the management staff at this course should be locked up for abuse to a course that has potential to be a modern classic course.
We tee'd of around 1:15 pm and it took 4 hours to play at a cost of only $48 bucks. However the paste of play was good probably because there is not alot of golfers out there willing to play this course because of the bunkers and conditions. Oh back to the bunkers on #5 I ended up in the bunker. I now know how Dustin Johnson felt at the 2010 PGA. THIS BUNKER WAS SO BAD THAT, YES I PICKED MY BALL UP AND PLACED IT IN THE NARLEY RUFF INSTEAD OF TAKING A CHANCE AT RUINING MY CG15. JUST WASN'T WORTH IT. Now use your imagination on the condition of these bunkers.
Ok i don't want to continue beating the greenskeeper and management up for the awful conditions my wife and I were forced to deal with on this course, but take that $48 bucks and go have a nice lunch somewhere. This course isn't worth the green fees. oh one more thing, my wife was starving after we finished the course and I suggested we go to the clubhouse and grab a bite, her response was, "are you kidding!! If they will not take care of the course what makes you think they are taking care of the cooking facilities!!"
One last thing!! For real this is the last thing at the turn and after the round and even on the course and in the clubhouse, we notice a lot of the staff sitting around on their cell phones talking or texting on their phones! The cart guy was sitting in a cart trying to keep from becoming a bobble head! Poor guy was so tired he couldn't stay a wake. I hope his neck is ok today. If each of those staff members take five minutes of their time from that day instead of talking, sleeping and texting, and put it towards the course or even one of the tee boxes we may have put a smile on a golfer who want to enjoy a nice day of golf at their place of employment.