Nick’s detail hit the points I wanted to make, echoing my review of last week. Shop said the final decision on closing has been pushed until after the... » More

Nick’s detail hit the points I wanted to make, echoing my review of last week. Shop said the final decision on closing has been pushed until after the first of the year. Minor other observations include: the course had a guy out hand grooming the bunker margins, in addition to the machine grooming from a couple days ago; and fairway lies on the back nine were especially poor, with holes 13, 14, 17, and 18 being especially thin/bare in large areas.
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After the GK Enagic outing was postponed, looking to get in some swings and finding a good combo of price, quality, and time availability was limited.... » More

After the GK Enagic outing was postponed, looking to get in some swings and finding a good combo of price, quality, and time availability was limited. Booked Oak Quarry at 12:44 pm on Wednesday, 11/11/20, realizing I likely wouldn’t finish. There might have been a chance if the course hadn’t been as busy as I’ve ever seen it (holiday crowd?), they weren’t ½-hour behind when I checked in (funny, they didn’t mention that at the time), and there were no marshals on the course – maybe they were letting the holiday players have fun. I did note that every trash can I saw on the course was overflowing with beer cans and bottles. Starter moved me up to play with a pleasant Korean couple and we had a relaxed round. Pace was consistently slow and we observed many/most players hitting from the wrong tees for their skill (shock!). We struggled through 14 holes before it got too dark to continue.

Coming out of overseeding, the course is in very nice condition. Greens look and roll great with very few ballmarks. I was especially happy with the consistent quality of the green surrounds, as I didn’t hit many greens. These grasses were trimmed fairly low and were consistent to play from (and are NOT that darn kikuyu!!). Fairway lies were good, ranging from very nice to fairly tight. Bordering rough was a little longer (3-4Inches) but attractive and consistent. Some bunkers had weeds and grass growing in the bunkers along the margins, but mostly were adequate to play from, although they were ungroomed today.

The course has started using the old hole #17 as the first hole, and temporary markers are used to keep golfers on the correct sequence. The scorecard reflects the new routing (but the nice interactive GPS still shows the old hole numbers. GPS gives the pin position – nice. With the numerous blind shots here, it would be useful if the GPS also showed the locations of other carts, but it does not. Carts are newer and very powerful and comfortable. Single carts available. Divot mix bottles were on the carts but empty, and par-3 teeboxes didn’t have mix containers. I wanted to play the yardage plates on the par-3s (the course frequently moves the markers on par-3s up here, possibly to speed play), but I never saw a yardage plate on any tee on any hole, although I’ll swear in the past they were used on almost every tee.

With the new routing, the course is now a 35-37-72 with par-5s on #10 (the old #8) and #18 (the old #16). Another course, like Hidden Valley, where the #1 handicap hole is a par-3 (hole #7 [the old #5]). Missed out on playing "The Rock" now #16 - bummer.

Always recommended.
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Escaped the election coverage to join my high school buddy at Players at 1:36pm on Wednesday, 11/4/20. Weather was sunny, warm and smoggy with a light... » More

Escaped the election coverage to join my high school buddy at Players at 1:36pm on Wednesday, 11/4/20. Weather was sunny, warm and smoggy with a light breeze. Joined by two new golfers who sprayed the long ball, but they were pleasant to play with and we had a fun round. Heard that the course may (or may not) be closing December or January or not.

Course was in pretty good condition; design is flat and fairly wide open with scattered water hazards. Sand is used mainly for defining hitting lanes along the fairways, but is definitely in play in front of and beside many greens. Greens were firm and rolled well at medium+ speed, and watch the downhill rollouts toward the southwest! Many greens have deceptively steep slopes that can quickly take your putt well offline. Fairways had good coverage, although we saw many scattered thin/bare spots. Rough is fairly short and playable, but can be dry and ropy especially around greens, making pitches/chips uncertain. Sand was thin, damp, and firm. Tees were mostly flat but fluffy/clumpy.

Scattered mushy spots can be avoided but when carts run through the damage is pretty severe. Ranger out on the course. Started on time and finished 18 in the dark around 5:20. Good for a casual round – hope it doesn’t close.
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Played Carlton Oaks GC at noon on Sunday, 10/25/20, joined by GK legend lotrgolfer48 using an UnderPar certificate. I had long heard that COGC was a g... » More

Played Carlton Oaks GC at noon on Sunday, 10/25/20, joined by GK legend lotrgolfer48 using an UnderPar certificate. I had long heard that COGC was a great layout that had suffered recent neglect, and I wanted to get down to Santee and play it before something happened like the course closing, as in the current economic climate we’ve seen a lot of course closings. After a couple months of pretty good heat this year SoCal is transitioning into Fall, and we experienced much cooler temperatures and the first scattered rain showers of the season, along with blustery winds that came and went. Overall it was a pleasant day to play golf, joined by a big hitting but inconsistent local, and we had an enjoyable round in around 5 hours, going off on time but moving slowly behind a junior tournament from earlier in the day. The extensive waiting on each shot made it difficult to get into any kind of rhythm in your game.

I had looked at aerial photos of the course and read reviews on the GK site. This is a Dye design that has apparently been let go to seed over the years. The facility is advertised as a “resort”, and there are quite a few hotel rooms on property, but I have no idea what their utilization percentage is. The overall impression of the buildings is “tired”. The place has a pretty stealth entrance as the entry sign is small and partly hidden, and I drove right by it the first time. Everything immediately looks overgrown, aged, and neglected. There’s no bag drop, no grand resort entrance, no parking lot welcome. Walking in you get a panoramic view of many holes and the Dye touches are evident. You can see the large waste bunkers, mounding, elevated plateau greens, railroad ties and other features familiar to Dye courses. But the features are muted and hazy – you find out after getting out on the course itself that years of benign neglect have resulted in grass growing in the bunkers, bordering shrubbery growing unkempt and wildly, and everything looking pretty tired.

Conditions were OK but not good. Tees (we played the Green tees [6,320/71.1/131]) had not been cut in some time and could have used a wheat thresher. Tees were soft and had numerous divots and uneven ground associated with them. Fairways had overall pretty good coverage but the turf was thin at best, with some scattered bare areas. My ball seemed to always be sitting a little down on the fairways, which in the Dye mode were all rolling with various dips, swales, and mounds. Rough could be thin and dry, thin sandy waste, or 2-3 inch grasses. Bunkers were thin and resembled groomed cement slurry (sign in the cart – “Take a Drop”). Greens were the best part of the course, generally firm but showing a lot of recent and old ballmarks. They rolled well at medium+ speeds.

There aren’t any blind shots and the course is pretty much laid out in front of you, although in a few cases sneaky bunkers are not always completely evident. The front side is more open off the tee and around the greens, while holes on the back are mostly lined with mature trees. In all cases being in the correct position off the tee is key to approaching the greens. Many greens are elevated pedestal greens with steep falloffs on the sides. Greens are not that large, although the size varies and some greens are 40-50 yards deep. Almost all holes have penalty areas bordering them in some fashion, with creeks/drainages, ponds, the river, and other hazards scattered about. There’s no real elevation change on the course as it is routed across the floodplain adjacent to the San Diego River.

This course reminded me of rounds at Carmel Mountain Ranch GC in San Diego that closed a couple years ago – great bones and a good design that could be a sought-after venue but needing a big capital infusion to get the course back to solid conditions. Carmel Mountain never got that savior and closed, and anyone trying to get Carlton Oaks back into prime condition would need to bring a big cash truck and a boatload of dedication to be successful. Maybe we can get the new owner/savior of Enagic GC at Eastlake interested in a sister course! [Matt had a different, much more shocking and misogynistic take on what the course reminded him of, involving poor Goose Creek GC and unnatural relations with another unnamed venue!!]

Driving range was on rough, uneven mats. They’ve moved the “Pro Shop” to the cart barn, I guess while other facilities are being upgraded? We didn’t take advantage of the food services or outdoor patio. Basic carts with no GPS or yardage book. I liked the layout and the variety of holes at Carlton Oaks, and would welcome another opportunity to play it and improve my initial score. I’d be hoping for improved conditions if I did.
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Back to San Clemente at the invitation of a high school buddy on Wednesday, 10/21/20 at 1:20pm. Temps have dropped seriously since I was here 3 weeks ... » More

Back to San Clemente at the invitation of a high school buddy on Wednesday, 10/21/20 at 1:20pm. Temps have dropped seriously since I was here 3 weeks ago and we had a nice breeze on a great day for golf. My review from 3 weeks ago adequately summarizes conditions, except that I seemed to encounter every thin/dry/clumpy lie on the course today. Some tees are still sloping, sand bunkers have good coverage and play consistently, and the final 4 holes are a tough challenge. Recommended.
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