Played Pala Mesa early on 9/22. Conditions out here are probably as good or better than I have ever seen it out here. Fairways are great, thick and pl... » More

Played Pala Mesa early on 9/22. Conditions out here are probably as good or better than I have ever seen it out here. Fairways are great, thick and plush, but play slow and soft. Greens have good coverage and are very soft. Rough can be painfully thick just off the fairway.

The only negatives - lots of ball marks on the soft greens. And the bunkers, while the amount of sand was good, were really unraked and quite a mess. We were 2nd off in the AM, and maybe the grounds crew hadn't gotten to the bunkers yet. But I didn't see anyone working sand traps. Luckily I had good lies in the two I was in, but it could have been in footprints easily. Still, it does not stop Pala Mesa from getting a high recommendation.
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First time out to Links at Lakehouse on 9/15. This course will skew your stats. Small greens, but fairly flat and easy to putt. Nasty kikuyu grass. S... » More

First time out to Links at Lakehouse on 9/15. This course will skew your stats. Small greens, but fairly flat and easy to putt. Nasty kikuyu grass. So you aren't going to hit so many greens, and chipping is tough. On the other hand, I probably had 5-6 iron shots that I thought were really good that ended up on the fringe just off the green.

Condition - the greens were very good. Soft, and normally I'd expect more ball marks, but the greens are too small to hit for most humans I think. Fairways were decent, generally good grass, but there were many areas that were grass challenged.

The not so good are the bunkers and tee boxes. The sand traps were short of sand in several locations, and I saw a lot of bottoming out. Tee boxes, several are just a mess.

Still, for the price they are charging, it is pretty decent and worth it. Definitely not a destination course, but a fun local affordable track.
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Played Arrowood on 08/26. After the greens fiasco, can we return Arrowood to the regular rotation? YES! Of course, finishing with 4 pars on the Qua... » More

Played Arrowood on 08/26. After the greens fiasco, can we return Arrowood to the regular rotation? YES! Of course, finishing with 4 pars on the Quandary will make any reviewer happy and positive.

Greens are not back to where they were, and probably won't be for months. But they are playable. There are some bad patches, but I never had any of them in my line of play. They keep the pins away from the really bad spots. Greens are a bit slow as they are letting the grass get healthy first. But they rolled much better than they look.

I would even say the bigger problem with the greens now is unfixed ball marks. A crazy amount of unfixed ball marks this morning. I had one 10 foot putt, and I had to fix 7-8 ball marks on my line. Half were poorly repaired, and half were not reparied at all.

The rest of the course is fine, even better than most for late August conditions.

Starter said that aeration is coming up (no date set yet), and after that the greens should take another leap forward.
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Played GCC Fallbrook early on 7/21. Out at 6:00am, had to race around before an 8:30 shotgun started. Surprised they wouldn't warn you of that when y... » More

Played GCC Fallbrook early on 7/21. Out at 6:00am, had to race around before an 8:30 shotgun started. Surprised they wouldn't warn you of that when you booked. But I made it around and done before 8:00, so all good.

This was my first time back here in a few years, and first time since JC Golf took over. They have done some turf reductions, so staying on the short grass is more important now.

Conditions are very good right now. I got ahead of the maintenance crew, so the greens were a bit shaggy, but still rolled well. Fairways in good shape. Tees mostly good, although several had been overrun by weeds. Playable, but I suspect a full redo is needed on those boxes.

Sand traps were very nice. Rough - a lot of it is now harpan due to the turn reduction. Balls can run away for days on that, so stay away.

Still a great track. Looks like they are offering a players card (comparable to the Palm Card at Arrowood) that gives a nice weekday rate. Might have to keep that in mind.
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