Played Arroyo Trabuco on 5/13. They had a US Open qualifier on 5/12, so we were warned about2 the greens - but I didn't find the greens to be at all brutal. They were quick, but not so quick as to be penal.

The course is in really nice condition all around. Firm fairways, wide, not much rough and it is pretty much fairways or gorse. I suggest staying out of the gorse. Greens in very good shape with not many ball marks. Fairways in very good shape, although still a little tighter and firmer than I like. Bunkers in good shape.

Staff was great.

Usually I come out from the >$100 courses thinking "how can they charge that much for this?". Not the case for Arroyo, this course is just really impressive.

Played Tijeras on May 6. I tend to avoid this place, as the conditions are often a challenge. After hearing a recent report saying it was in great shape, I decided to give it another go.

CORRECT! The course is in great shape right now. Greens are soft, smooth and quick. Leftover ball marks are a challenge due to the softness, but they weren't too abundant. Fairways and rough are great. Tee boxes are good, with the normal areas of overuse as the tee boxes can be small on some holes.

The only negative for the day were the sand traps. They looked nice, but that was just the tiny laver of sand on top. Wedges quickly hit the hard bottom and send balls flying. Luckily I was only in 2, but my playing partners also noted the lack of sand at times.

In all, very nice at Tijeras Creek right now.

Played Navy Destroyer on 4/29. Conditions are good all around. Greens almost completely recovered from aeration, certainly playable now, and should be really good in a week or two. No issues with conditions at all.

Has to be the flattest course in SoCal. Still, the layout is good, and it is a fun track. Lots of players not in a hurry, POP 5:15.

Played Muni on 3/30. Still pretty much the standard muni report...
Greens - really nice
Fairways - best in the county
Rough - good, pretty easy to deal with
Tees - very good. The 2-3 tee boxes that they usually have issues with are doing better.
POP was a surprisingly quick 4:15 for a 12:45 tee off. Don't usually see that.

Played Fairbanks in the GolfMoose outing on 12/29. I had been here once before, 12 years prior. The one thing that stuck in my mind....lots of water. Lots. That was confirmed my 2nd time around.,

We played Lakes/Valley combo. Conditions were really good all around. Greens were soft, and at medium speed. I got the speed dialed in quick and made more than my share of putts. Bunkers are large, and the sand is very nice. The staff was very helpful, and made this a really enjoyable experience.

It is a really fun layout, you can get some birdies, but you'll probably splash a ball or five. No houses on the property at all, and really just the one street you come in on. A very isolated place, just a really nice golf course.

Thanks to GolfMoose for getting us out here, and I hope we get to come back.

Played Muni on 11/26. I was not aware that they had a new Head Greenskeeper, but one of my playing partners told me on #1 tee. And we get to #1 green, and there he is, checking things out at 6:40 am.

He's doing a great job so far. This course has always had a good grass foundation, but this looks even better. Tee boxes are just really good...although a few were very shaggy (but the mower was on a different tee box, so I think we were just too early. Fairways are great as always.

The greens are a bit longer than I am used to seeing here. The tough fast greens (and chipping) is the tough part at Muni, but now they are only "quick" and not treacherous. Softer greens too. This will make the greens a bit easier. Chipping is still tough here. The fairways are also a bit longer than normal - but in great shape. That will make the course play a little longer. In all, I like the subtle changes.

20 years ago, I swore off Shorecliffs even though it was 4 miles from home. It was a mess, and then a landslide made it more of a mess.

Time passed. I mellowed. Shorecliffs got a new managing group, and money started to go into the course. Nice new clubhouse and restaurant. Nice practice green and decent chipping areas that I use for practice weekly. Reviews started to pour in about the improvements and positive trends.

Finally, the stars (schedule, openings, hot deal) aligned, and my 20 year hiatus from Shorecliffs came to an end today.

THE KING IS NOT DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!

Shorecliffs is still awful. Worse than anything I have played in 20 years, since Shorecliffs.

Here we go. Greens are shaggy, soft, and bumpy. Nothing over 2 feet rolled straight. At least the grass is there, it could be cut short and rolled and I think they would be fine. I might give them the benefit of the doubt, but at least 6 of the cups were cut at ground level. 2 of the cups were actually at grass level, you could run your hand over the hole and feel the cup edge. I can't remember ever seeing cups that poorly seated. If they don't care about that, I doubt they care about shaggy greens.

And an unannounced surprise, all Blue and White tee boxes were closed. So we played from the Ladies' Tees for half of the holes, and the other half the tees were actually ahead of the ladies tees. This already short 5700 yard course played around 4200 today. There was a 267 yard par 5. It was downhill and downwind. I was one good bounce from driving the green on a Par 5.

As for the layout changes over 20 years, as others have stated, the nines have flipped. Now you get to start on the two tightest fairways, without having a range to warm up on. Good luck. The landslide lost Par 4 on the now Back 9 has been replaced by making the Par 5 #10 (old #1) into a 150 yard Par 3, followed by a 220 yard Par 4 (?). And that is a straight 220, although we were playing it at 175. The hole before the landslide is a complete mess. Tees way left of the hole, so you actually have to hit over trees on the left side of the fairway to get to the fairway (that you can't see).

On my golf tracker spreadsheet, 20 years ago I left this liitle note on the Shorecliffs line.... "play only if less than $3". I think I may have been a bit too generous.

Highly not recommended.

Played Pala Mesa on 9/30. I don't remember seeing Pala Casino branding here before, but it is there now, so apparently the course may be owned by Pala Casino now. Likely a good development based on what we've seen at other courses that get Casino support.

Greens are really nice. Very soft though. But roll very well.

Everything else is pretty good here. Fairways are good, with a rough spot here and there. Sand was plentiful, although there were quite a bit of unraked areas ( we were first off, so this was late day golfers not raking).

Really enjoyable course. Hit it straight though (I wasn't).

Played SC Muni on 9/10/25.

Fairways have dropped a notch since I last played here. But last time - fairways were fantastic, so no where to go but down a notch. Still mostly very good, but there are several spots that were dried out and thin - not a surprise for late summer heat. Same for the rough, which is normal for Muni.

Greens - I don't know if they have a new formula, but the greens are amazing right now. Shockingly green and plush for late summer. Usually this time of year, they are getting dried out and dangerously fast. This year they are just so green and plush and smooth. Kudos to the SC staff.

Still my highest "bargain" recommendation.

Played Dos Osos on 8/11/25.

JC Golf is definitely putting some work into this place. But it is still a struggle in many places. The greens are nice, but are a bit shaggy and quite slow. Playable.

Fairways and rough is a challenge to get grass growing everywhere. Play it up or you'll get some nasty spots. I lost two balls in the fairway, things just seem to disappear at times. It's OK though, I was playing some ugly yellow balls that I don't mind losing.

Sand was nice. Tee boxes were decent - good spots, bad spots.

The range is still there, but no longer in use? Kind of surprising, I thought ranges were decent money makers. Couple of poor mats and range nets to get a few swings in before. Hopefully all the money is going into the course now, and the range will be brought back to life later.

I like the layout for a residential neighborhood course. While it does go through housing, the houses for the most part are far enough away and raised above the course - so it doesn't feel too close. If I lived closer, I wouldn't mind going here for a cheap fun round.

For now, just be warned that it is a work in progress. I like what JC is doing here, looking forward to coming back and seeing progress.

Played Arrowood on 6/17/25. This course is almost always in great condition, and I must say I have never seen it better than today. Just outstanding all around. Greens were also being rolled as I played, so the speed was tough to figure. I am sure tomorrow greens will be at full speed.

The only curiosity was the return of the greenside bunker on #14. It used to be there, then it was removed and turned into a deep grass bunker. And now it has been rebuilt to a sand trap again. It was still roped off as ground under repair, but it looks like it will be ready for action any day now.

As always, the staff is top notch.

A great bargain with the Palm Card, but well worth it at rack rates (can't say that about many courses these days).

Higest recommendation! I'm even going with four exclamation points and a smiley !!!! :)

Played Trump Natl early on 5/19.

What a tremendous, and tremendously difficult, golf course. Fortunately, my driver was on today. And the only missed driver was one of the few places you can get away with it. Only two lost balls, both on layup shots that I thought were good, just had a hazard I could not see.

Course is in great condition. Greens and tees excellent. Fairways perfect. The sand did seem to vary in consistency, but still really good.

Course was fantastic, but surprisingly, the customer service was a big ZERO! No valet service on arrival. No beverage cart. No marshall. No water in the cooler. Stopped at the turn to the snack bar / grill, and they were too busy to bother coming to the window. It really was shocking how we were completely ignored once we were on the course.

I'm assuming the staff was all in the parking lot watching BMW films commercials for their new cars - because they sure weren't interested in the golfers.