Had a couple of hours to kill, so I hopped over to Lake Forest for the 1st time to work on some wedges and putting.

Course was actually better than I expected. Greens were quite decent, grass coverage was good, rolled good, and surprisingly ball marks were not excessive. Not much to complain about, course was quite acceptable in all areas.

HOWEVER, pace of play was awful. Several times, had 4 groups on a tee waiting. I quit after 8.

Played Strawberry on 1/17/25. Love the layout, staff is nice, but man the grass to dollar ratio is way off here.

Tee boxes are the worst offenders. On most tee boxes you won't get grass under your feet and the ball at the same time. Mostly, it is just sand coverage. Fairways are a little better, but there are still large areas of many fairways that are just sand.

Greens are pretty good, couple of rough spots here or there, but nothing really troublesome. Sand traps were real nice.

Course was busy, and pace was 4:45. Started out quick through 8, then slowed for the back 9.

Can't recommend Strawberry at the price they are asking. Hopefully this is just a winter condition, and the grass will fill in for spring. I think the fairways will be good, but those tee boxes have a long way to go.

Played SC Muni on 1/8. Standard Muni conditions - greens and fairways excellent. Rough and tees good with the usual trouble spots.

Of note, vandals partied on #3 green the night before, so #3 has a temp green while repairs are made. My guess (based on nothing - just a guess) is they will have the green back in play in a few days, but it will be a while until it fully recovers.

Played MSQ on 12/12/14. Fairways / Rough / Traps all in very good shape for a muni. Greens were quite good, smooth and quick, but not too quick. Surprisingly, not an ocean of ball marks on greens. Need to add this one back onto my bargain rotation, it was a fun day.

Highly recommended.

Still sad to see the Players course remnants out there, with nobody at all using the new park facilities.

Played Muni on 11/15/24. Sorry for not posting more Muni reviews as I do usually play here every other week, but there is rarely any changes for a really solid Muni course.

Greens are at full nasty. Down grain to the ocean, the putt always rolls much more than you'd expect. Chipping is a nightmare here with the Kikuyu. I'm not sure if they aerated as I haven't been here in a month, but I guess not because the greens are great right now. Not as firm as recent years, so they do accept iron shots better than they have in recent summers.

Fairways and rough are amazing for a bargain public course.

Only negative is that the tees have been recently verticut. Still very playable, just not visually appealing.

As always, highest recommendation.

Played Coyote Hills on 11/5. Fun layout and good customer service. First time getting to use the all-in Senior deal which is nice.

Conditions leave me shaking my head though. Greens are pretty good, a little shaggy but still roll pretty well. But with the shaggy, footprints are a problem.

I hate the fairways. Yes, it has grass on it, but they are hard as rocks. It is like hitting off the worst possible range mats. And I still hit 16 GIRs, but maybe only because I practice on awful range mats a lot.

Tee boxes are pretty bad. Just not enough grass at all. Looks like they have done some recent maintenance, so maybe it will improve.

Sand traps look very nice, but I was in 2, and both times there was about 1/2" of nice sand and then it bottomed out

I'll give it a slight recommendation. Fun course to play, but enough issues to make me hesitate.

Played Talega on 10/29/24, first time back here in 4 years even though I live 1 mile away.

Conditions have improved. Greens are nice, a bit healthier and not quite as fast as before. That may be since they are post-maintenance though. Fairways are pretty good, more grass and less hard spots.

The rough is getting some work done. Many areas are roped off for new growth. Sand was pretty good, and I got my share of looks at the bunkers.


Glad to see things looking up here, and I'll add Talega back to my rotation.

Played Dos Lagos on 10/3. In all, it is a fun course and in decent playable condition for the price. Greens are soft and roll mostly true, but can get bumpy at time with ball marks and footprints. Fairways are generally good, with some thin/hard areas but still good enough. Rough is varied, nasty where they get water.

And I agree with the last couple of reviews - #6 is just a bad hole. There is just no place to safely hit a drive on a 420 yard hole. Next time I may just hit a 5w short of the trees and pond, and hope to get a 3w near the green. Outside of that bad hole, I enjoy the rest of the course.

Played OSide on 9/26, first time back here in 4 years. They have been doing some work around the greens here. Most greens have added 6-10 feet around the outside. New sod in many areas around the greens. All bunkers have been reworked and are in great shape.

The new green areas on the outside of the old greens are still coming in. Still a lot of grass missing in those areas, however the old greens are in great shape. Very soft, but still roll well.

Fairways and rough is hit and miss as expected for a real affordable muni.

Pace of Play - I was nervous as we were the 2nd group off in the AM, and the 1st group played the first 4 holes in 1 hour (after going out 20 minutes before sunrise!). Fortunately, the coffee kicked in for the 1st group, and we finished in 3:30.

For a cheap muni, OSide gets it right. Very good greens, and everything else is playable. Recommended!

Played Hidden Valley with some AZ friends on 7/21. Here's the warning - the GK at HV has apparently decided to keep the grass higher during the hot summer to keep it healthy. You have been warned.

Kudos to him, because the grass out here is better than I have ever seen it. But it is LONG. Fairways are shaggy, rough is thick and difficult at times. And yes, the greens are brutally slow. The greens are also a bit wobbly due to the high grass, but you need to ram putts anyway. I never adjusted to the slow, left almost everything over 10 feet short.

I know some don't like the layout, but I really enjoy it. Some short par 4s that can be an adventure if you take risks. Elevation changes. Great views if you take the time to look around. Just really a fun track to play.

I much prefer the long and shaggy grass in summer versus the cut it short and die approach. I know the putting is tough, but I suspect come September this place will be in great shape for the winter. I need to get back here more often.

First review now that TopGolf took over. Too far away for me to usually play, but I had to take my daughter to a book convention in Santa Monica, so I had a few hours and tried out the new Lakes at El Segundo, adjacent to the new TopGolf. TopGolf owns it, and the entire complex has been redone to match TopGolf.

I will say, it far exceeded my expectations. It is a small Par 3 course with 10 holes. The longest hole plays 150, and most are in the 80-110 range.

I expected that due to the location, the course would get tons of play, and also lots of beginners. True and true. It was packed, and probably half of the players I saw had not likely been to a course more than a couple of times.

What I didn't expect was a course in great condition. Greens were great. Rolled very smooth, a hair on the slow side. And shockingly, they were not covered in ballmarks. Even though all these 100 yard holes probably get pounded daily, I would only find 3 or 4 marks to fix on each green.

Not much to say about fairways and rough for a Par 3 course, but everything else was fine. Bunkers looked nice, but I didn't get in any.

Although we were 20 minutes late starting, the marshall quickly saw a slow group on #2 and talked them into playing a scramble to move it along. And that worked, things moved great after that, and we were done in 1:20.

TopGolf itself looks fun - not really my thing though. TLAES though is a fun way to practice your wedge game and putting. Really nice putting green and chipping area as well.

Played Muni on 4/3. Conditions continue to be very good here. Fairways are fantastic. Rough has filled in nicely with the rains.

The teeth of this course are the greens, and they are tough. Getting firmer, and fast. Lots of divot marks, but most of the players here do tend to fix the marks, so the greens do roll well.

Aeration is still 6 weeks away, so I expect the greens to get firmer and faster until then.