Joined the other GK’ers at Quail yesterday for a super fun round in the peninsula. Quail Lodge is part hotel resort and part country club. They do... » More

Joined the other GK’ers at Quail yesterday for a super fun round in the peninsula. Quail Lodge is part hotel resort and part country club. They do a great job at appeasing both sets of clients by keeping the pro shop and restaurant (now café) away from the main hotel. Edgars restaurant has now (for about a year or so) moved up to the hotel. Staff all around at Quail is excellent with bag check service at the drop off and a well stocked pro shop that has not only your typical golf apparel, but also some nice customized Quail lodge gifts like wine glasses and such.

As for the course it was excellent as usual. Greens were near a 10. Easily a 9.5. They rolled super smooth at a medium -fast pace. Had I not just played Tehama the other day which has the fastest greens anywhere, I probably would have said the greens at Quail rolled at a fast pace. Most greens at Quail are manageable with just a single tier that slopes front to back. There are a few thrown in with multiple breaks to keep things challenging. The greens easily held well struck approach shots, yet didn’t have any ugly pitch marks all over the place. Even the greens on the second half of the round which was in the late afternoon, still rolled very smooth.

Fairways had great coverage throughout and were lush. Some of the fairways had a light dusting of sand on them that was more noticeable when your tee shot landed than when standing over your ball preparing to hit your approach shot. Whereas the fairways this time around weren’t over the top excellent (I’ve seen them where a 10 isn’t a high enough rating), they were still above average and a 9.

I wasn’t in any bunkers but they looked like they had ample sand from the other players. Tee boxes were level will good coverage. POP was slow because of a Twosome (in our group) that kept holding us up! Even though we were the slow group out there, we only let a single then a twosome through. The rest of the course was quiet and had that country club feeling.

It's been a couple of years since I’ve stayed at the hotel, but it is worth doing a stay and play as the hotel is great and the golf course is excellent. Quail is also dog friendly and usually in the sun when other courses are fogged in.

Highly recommend it.
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Last day of the So Cal trip was at the ever popular and scenic Indian Wells Players course for a fun GK outing and the birdie chain on the line. IW j... » More

Last day of the So Cal trip was at the ever popular and scenic Indian Wells Players course for a fun GK outing and the birdie chain on the line. IW just came out of overseeding with yesterday being the first day of lifted cart path only restrictions. Course was in great shape as always. Greens rolled extremely smooth at a nice medium-fast pace. Green complexes aren’t overly complicated and are more on line with what you would expect at a “resort” course. Greens easily held well struck approach shots.

Fairways were excellent as well. Good solid coverage from side to side and I did not notice any thin or bare spots on the course. As good as the fairways were, I have seen them better and would expect them to improve in the next couple of weeks and move up from the 8 range into the 9-10 quality rating arena.

Bunkers are big and plentiful at Indian Wells. Luckily they have high quality sand in them making them predictable to escape from. Tee boxes were flat with ample coverage.

Customer service is top notch at Indian Wells and the pro shop is the BEST, bar none! My only complaint (other than my birdie putt on 18 stopping 3” short), is that we caught the course in between flower seasons and the flower beds were empty.

Indian Wells is my go to course whenever in Palm Springs. It is always a highly recommended course.
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Day 2 of the short So Cal trip was at the ever popular and exciting Rams Hill. This remote track is always a crowd pleaser with a fantastic layout. ... » More

Day 2 of the short So Cal trip was at the ever popular and exciting Rams Hill. This remote track is always a crowd pleaser with a fantastic layout. It might be a bit of drive to get to the course, but it’s not short on amenities that’s for sure. We had breakfast on the outdoor terrace which overlooks the 18th green and valley below.

This was opening weekend for Rams Hill and being “shoulder season” the course wasn’t quite in its usual super high end condition. Not that conditions were bad mind you, but when you set standards as high as Rams Hill does, then that’s what you get compared to.

Greens were a little shaggy and rolled at a medium pace. A handful of the greens had some burnt edges. Most of the pins were kept away from those areas, so any relatively close 10-20 foot putts weren’t affected. Greens held well struck shots and have enough slope and undulations to make it challenging. Leave your ball on the right tier and you have an “easy” flat and straight putt.

Fairways were about the same. Most had good lush coverage throughout, but there were plenty of thin/ dead areas throughout the track. I would assume that this will all be grown in within the next few weeks.

The tee boxes were fine. I will say that I was surprised by how many divots were on the tee. Maybe it was just because we had the afternoon tee time and were behind the majority of players.

I was disappointed in the range. It was torn up. Plenty of grass behind the markers but the markers hadn’t been moved and there was more than just a weekend of activity on the range based on the divots and limited grass within the marked area.

Plenty of elevation changes and water hazards to make the track enjoyable. The layout alone make you forget about the minor imperfections of the course. For full rack rate, I would wait a few weeks until the course is in full mature state.
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Started off my So Cal trip with a round at the scenic and always tough, Maderas. I was joined by my good buddy Roarksown1 for an extremely enjoyable ... » More

Started off my So Cal trip with a round at the scenic and always tough, Maderas. I was joined by my good buddy Roarksown1 for an extremely enjoyable afternoon. I’ve always played Maderas in mid summer so this was my first venture on the course during fall conditions.

I’m not sure if the fairways are starting to go dormant or if they were a little brown from the summer heat. Either way it was just an aesthetics issue as they still presented a great hitting surface off of lush grass.

Greens were smooth and wicked as ever. They rolled smooth at a respectable medium fast pace. The practice green seemed to roll faster than the actual greens which were on par with the last couple of greens (Dragonfly and Hunter Ranch) this week. Greens at Maderas have numerous breaks, but as tough as they are, the breaks are predictable.

Tee boxes were level with good coverage throughout. Bunkers had ample sand. Rough was moderate in that the ball would sit down somewhat, but you could generally get a club on it. The rough is needed to help keep stray balls from going into hazard areas. Almost all holes have some sort of danger zone on one or both sides of the fairway.

Layout is super fun with numerous elevation changes, water hazards and forced carries throughout the entire track. Carts have GPS and staff is very friendly. POP was slow due to a slow group in front of us. Hats off to the marshal who actually did his job and after warning them twice forced them to skip a hole. This helped the pace tremendously on the back nine.

Maderas is scenic and tough but definitely worth playing.
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Played Spanish Bay on Tuesday with a 9:40 AM tee time. After having a picture perfect day weather wise at Poppy Hills the prior week, we were treate... » More

Played Spanish Bay on Tuesday with a 9:40 AM tee time. After having a picture perfect day weather wise at Poppy Hills the prior week, we were treated with wind and rain at Spanish. We did manage to get in 9 holes before the rain came in and it wasn’t too bad for a few holes but 14-18 were downright storm conditions. Two of us through in the towel and the other two were troopers and completed all 18.

Conditions wise the course is was in excellent condition. I say was because a few hours after our round they began Verti cutting and overseeding the fairways. Prior to that the fairways were in excellent shape. Easily a 9 all around with no thin or brown spots. Greens were also in great shape. Greens rolled very smooth. Due to the wind the speed was hard to judge as downwind they were ridiculously fast and upwind they were slow.

Bunkers were in great shape was well. I can’t say what they were like after the rain started, but prior to that the sand was nice and fluffy. POP was normal. Would have been a 4.5+ hour round but once the heavy rain came, people started clearing out so the pace was super quick for the last 4 holes.

Customer service is excellent all around. Very friendly staff.
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