Played with the GK Cup 7 final match with JohnnyGK, lotrgolfer48, and HmtGolfGuy on a hot, sunny, breezy Wednesday, 8/5/15. I had never played here before and, frankly, was wary of the course based on... Continue »

Played with the GK Cup 7 final match with JohnnyGK, lotrgolfer48, and HmtGolfGuy on a hot, sunny, breezy Wednesday, 8/5/15. I had never played here before and, frankly, was wary of the course based on past GK reviews and comments from other golfers regarding the difficulty of the course. In addition, I haven’t had very good fortune on most other Nicklaus design courses I had played – my impression is that you generally need to hit high soft approach shots to be able to play Jack’s courses well, and I don’t have that game. But the course wasn’t the fanged monster I feared, and I found it to be very playable and enjoyable. We played from the blue tees and the yardage is hefty (card distance 6600 yards), and much of the yardage includes several long par 4s that play into the wind AND require approaches over native areas. Also, the two par 3s on the front side are long and play into the wind. If you can hit solid drives on these holes and negotiate them without too much damage, there are a lot of opportunities for scoring on some shorter par 4s and 5s, downwind holes, and accessible par 3s. [Or if you consistently stripe it down the middle, hit almost every green, and make putts from everywhere like Matt, you can score that way!] Greens were not as severe as I expected, and the fairly significant undulations were moderated by the fairly slow speed of the greens – the course is keeping the grass a little longer to keep the greens from burning up in the heat. Green speeds were very consistent, and the medium-slow speed minimized downhill runouts and allowed everyone to be more confident and aggressive with their putts. Fairways were wider than I expected and provided plenty of playing area. There were traps to be avoided but hitting lanes were generally available. On several holes there are peninsulas of rough that intrude on the fairways, and these need to be avoided, as the rough here really grabs your ball and costs you distance off the tee. I found a few of those and wound up with 180-200 yards to greens on my approaches. In rough areas the ball could sit up, be on thin or bare ground, or sit down in a bushy lie that was difficult to get a club on. Beyond these areas there’s a lot of environmentally sensitive areas where you aren’t likely to find your ball, although it looks like the coursed recently added some “barked” transition areas between the rough and ESA where you get a free drop. We didn’t lose too many balls on Wednesday. I wasn’t in the sand (Johnny was in enough traps for all of us, I think[!]), but sand quality and quantity appeared to be adequate. The POP was unhurried as the course was not crowded, and we were behind our first group and were passed only by a couple of singles during the round. I’m not a big fan of the huge palm tree that blocks the approach to the 18th green – I guess the uphill shot, a big lake next to the severely angled green, and the big green contours weren’t quite enough! The closest comparison I have to other Nicklaus courses I have played is the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament course (an earlier review called this an Arizona desert course in a Los Angeles riverbed). I’d definitely recommend the course and would enjoy playing it again, but the commute from south OC across LA during work rush hours was brutal. The course needs more water available for golfers – on this hot day, I drink a lot of water, and I ran out on #5 – I got pretty toasted by the end of the front nine, and there’s no water on the back nine after the 13th green. Good food in the clubhouse afterward, as well. Thanks to Johnny for setting up this round and to Angeles National for hosting it. And a big congratulations to Matt for a stellar round – worthy of a champion.