Do you think concrete and steel are as beautiful as flowers and grass? Do you prefer the sounds of progress over the sounds of wildlife? Shandin Hill... » More

Do you think concrete and steel are as beautiful as flowers and grass? Do you prefer the sounds of progress over the sounds of wildlife? Shandin Hills has got you covered. Straddling the 215 freeway and pressed against a shockingly busy stretch of train tracks - there are few holes where some vehicle isn't moving in your peripheral vision.

I was worried about playing here since not much is said about this course, but was pleasantly surprised. Fairways were in mostly great shape, greens were smooth and consistent - also apparently the perfect speed for my putting style because even my misses stopped near the hole. Only $21 to walk during the week and an under 4 hour round was all I could hope for.

If you're a "miss left" person, you could have a miserable day because almost all the OB is left and it's in play. I found two errant shots overly punished by finding my ball snuggled against an OB fence even though the shots weren't terrible.

Tee boxes were, in general, a mess - it was weird because all the grass around them looked flatter and healthier then they were. The other big thing here is the bunkers - there are a lot and they are a main feature of this course. The heavy dirt that fills them makes them even more punitive than your average bunker and probably the biggest deficiency most golfers would point out.

According the group ahead of us that we met on the turn, if I had spend $14 more on my round, it would have included a cart, range balls, and food before, during and after the round. That's an amazing deal - and I was a bit jealous of those guys as they strained to pick up their tees and waddled to their cart on the 10th tee.
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My on again off again relationship with CW is back on. It's been a while since I played here due to problems with getting out on-time and course cond... » More

My on again off again relationship with CW is back on. It's been a while since I played here due to problems with getting out on-time and course conditions. We printed out an old e-mail from nearly a year ago offering us a free foursome after 10am as an apology from the last time we got out 45 minutes late and played on mostly dead grass. Surprisingly, they honored it, even though our tee time was 9:30 AND said we could use it again for a twosome since we were only a twosome. I was beyond shocked. They sent us out early where we got around in under 4 hours.

I'm not sure if the conditions were they best they've ever been there - but I can't remember the course like this. They've been making small but smart changes to the layout, many of the holes have thoughtful mown areas around the green - not just green, fringe, rough.

Fairways and rough are in good shape. Everywhere is green. There seems to be a renewed pride in this course and I'm happy to see it. It's a good course with nearly half the holes being fairly easy and half being more of a challenge.

Two caveats to my glowing review. The greens are still a little bumpy from the aeration a while ago and the sand traps we were in were inconsistent.

Overall, I'm happy to have this course back in my rotation since it's not far away.
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In many ways my round at Soule Park was for me the perfect round of golf. Perfect weather, on a course you can walk for only $40 bucks on the weekend... » More

In many ways my round at Soule Park was for me the perfect round of golf. Perfect weather, on a course you can walk for only $40 bucks on the weekend. The surrounding hills were enrobed in green and looking majestic. The course - very green - challenging but not hard so you can enjoy the company of the friends you came with without someone becoming sullen over their lost balls and dignity.

The greens hadn't yet completely healed from the aeration but we agreed that the little bit of slowness and bumpiness offset the difficulty of faster greens we might have faced - so nobody was bothered. Tee boxes were mostly fine but had to move my tee when I found myself standing in a depression a couple of time. Fairways were good and rough was thick - really thick in places - where, when trying to find a ball - the four of us had to set up one of those lines like they do when investigators are searching a forest for clues.

Soule Park is an easy place to have an enjoyable round of golf.
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Played an SCGA outing in wonderfully warm conditions. Just like golf used to be 7 or so months ago. Went in with lowish expectations and Porter Vall... » More

Played an SCGA outing in wonderfully warm conditions. Just like golf used to be 7 or so months ago. Went in with lowish expectations and Porter Valley sneaked over them with little room to spare. While par 70 it does have three par 5's and most of the par three's are over 200 yards so it rarely feels short and since it's full of huge sand filled calderas guarding tiered and tilted greens - it also rarely felt easy. Front nine was friendly enough but after the turn the walls started closing in and the houses kept inching toward the fairways until the cart path becomes and integral part of the fairway (they have special rules to deal with that).

Tee boxes, fairways, and rough all had a public course feel to them but on a slightly better than average day. The bunkers I was in had heavy sand that caught me off guard the first time I hit in one. Greens were smooth and fairly fast - with all the undulations - difficult to score on.

For me the back nine is the reason I probably won't play here again. Watching a ball travel into somebody's back yard or worse detracts too much from the fun. I kept the ball in play all day but not everyone in my group was so lucky and next time it will probably be me.
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