$37 GolfZing early tee time at El Slo-rado on a Friday morning where they put out 5-somes galore (thanks, AmGolf) leading to slow play. Gonna rant here, so skip to the next paragraph if you just want... Continue »

$37 GolfZing early tee time at El Slo-rado on a Friday morning where they put out 5-somes galore (thanks, AmGolf) leading to slow play. Gonna rant here, so skip to the next paragraph if you just want to read about course conditions. Golfers: if you want to play early you absolutely MUST be able to get around in a minimum of 4 hours ... 3.5 hr round if you're using carts. The 6:30 and 6:40 tee times today were absolutely clueless on PoP which causes the slow play El Do is known for. If you play early, play fast ... or just get a later tee time! Rant off. Greens are the best part of the course, quick and slick right now, even when it's cool and damp like it was this morning. Aprons and grass near the greens was green and in better shape than the fairways which have thinned a bit (Kikuyu in the winter) but still very playable. Rough can be penal or non-existent depending on where you miss. Bunkers looked good and maintained. Always a challenge to play early in the winter even here in So Cal. Just would expect a decent pace, not a 4:30 round when you're scheduled to tee off at 6:50AM.

Conditions are deteriorating, probably due to lack of water. Fairways are getting patchy. Found myself on very thin lies, even hard-packed dirt. Greens are still good, must be taking extra care to ... Continue »

Conditions are deteriorating, probably due to lack of water. Fairways are getting patchy. Found myself on very thin lies, even hard-packed dirt. Greens are still good, must be taking extra care to water and keep smooth. Bunkers are inconsistent, although we saw maintenance workers putting in sand on a few greenside traps that had been hard pan. Pace of play was typical 5+ hours. #18 has been playing easier now that fairway bunkers have been removed.

Morning round at El Do today with a terrible PoP of 5hrs. I'd rant but it'd do me no good. Course is dry due to the low humidity and warm weather, so we got some good rollout on tee shots and lots o... Continue »

Morning round at El Do today with a terrible PoP of 5hrs. I'd rant but it'd do me no good. Course is dry due to the low humidity and warm weather, so we got some good rollout on tee shots and lots of release around the greens which were firm (but holding most shots) and fast. Many thin but playable lies. Was in a couple GS bunkers, well maintained very playable with some rocks. Made the tee time on the SCGA website and got double zing points so a freebie is coming soon. Recommended, but play early.

Played El Do yesterday, at 10:40am as a foursome. Perfect weather, amazing 4:10 POP, and great conditions. Overall, El Do is in great shape.
Level tee boxes, with plenty of coverage. Fairways were... Continue »

Played El Do yesterday, at 10:40am as a foursome. Perfect weather, amazing 4:10 POP, and great conditions. Overall, El Do is in great shape.
Level tee boxes, with plenty of coverage. Fairways were mostly nice and lush. Some dried out spots, but that is to be expected. Overall, they were great. Fairway bunkers and greenside bunkers all had adequate sand, no rocks in them, and good to hit out of. The rough was semi-thick, but still very playable. The greens were decent. Lots of ball marks, but they were still rolling fast, and mostly true to the line. A couple of them had bounces to them, but overall not too bad.
I'd recommend right now if you want a tight track, that is in good shape, for not too much $$, comparatively speaking.
I still can't believe the POP. We didn't catch a group till the 10th tee. I think the front was an hour and 45 minutes. Little longer on the back.. But again, it was a great day to be on the golf course!!

Second round of the SCGA Senior Net Championship on Tuesday, 10/31/17 – 7:30am shotgun. Warm-up in the dark, barely able to see your feet on the range mat. Another very crowded practice putting green(... Continue »

Second round of the SCGA Senior Net Championship on Tuesday, 10/31/17 – 7:30am shotgun. Warm-up in the dark, barely able to see your feet on the range mat. Another very crowded practice putting green(s). I hadn’t played here in several years, and many trees have been removed over that time, making what was a very narrow course in many areas much more open, giving you more confidence to be able to hit driver without worrying about encountering Robin Hood.

Greens were in better shape than Rec Park yesterday, as ED completed their aeration several weeks ago. Greens were fairly firm, smooth, and rolled at medium-fast speeds, especially downhill. Greens accepted shots and were the best part of the course. Fairways and rough were pretty short, and lies were tight and could sit down. Most of the rough was dry/thin and could be interspersed with bare areas. Sand was in good shape. Tees were generally OK; only a couple were sloping, but most were pretty wet and easily torn up just by softspike use.

Simple GPS and some other on-course markings. No yardage book available. Pace was pretty terrible - >5.5 hrs. Snack shack out at 3/13. I like this course more than Rec Park (but not as much as the redesign at Skylinks). Pace is always an issue here, but it’s a fun play.

Made it out to El Dorado again this weekend after reading some positive reviews about this Long Beach classic course. The reviews were pretty accurate.

Conditions are good all across the board at E... Continue »

Made it out to El Dorado again this weekend after reading some positive reviews about this Long Beach classic course. The reviews were pretty accurate.

Conditions are good all across the board at El Do right now. Greens were very nice, not particularly fast, but held (other people's) shots well and rolled pretty nicely. Not a lot of damage or bumps to speak of so that was nice.

Fairways are pretty lush in most areas, but of course you're going to find some dried out or thin areas, but nothing too thin to feel you're getting a horrible lie. There were some really wet or thick crabgrass areas around some of the greens and it was really difficult to chip out of that stuff. But overall not too bad.

Tee boxes were a bit shaggy and probably about the worst aspect of the course currently. Sand was nice in the many traps that I was in but of varying quality - seemed to be much nicer sand in the fairways bunkers than greenside, which I found a bit odd. But both totally fine to play out of right now.

POP was a bit poor as they failed to inform us that there was a tournament going out right before us, so imagining that was part of the slowdown. We waited a bit on just about every hole so it ended up taking a little over five hours. Cart service was around though and there were many water stations on a hot day.

Not sure what the aeration schedule looks like but you can have a fun round at El Dorado right now if you're looking for one. Pretty fun layout to boot.

Played El Do Tuesday, 10/4. A bit slow front but no waiting on back for a 4:20 PoP. Greens back from aeration and putted great with #1-3 a bit beat up. Fairways still full cover minus a few browned... Continue »

Played El Do Tuesday, 10/4. A bit slow front but no waiting on back for a 4:20 PoP. Greens back from aeration and putted great with #1-3 a bit beat up. Fairways still full cover minus a few browned out areas. Rough hit-or-miss .... lots of pine needles under (you guessed it) Pine trees. Bunkers were in good shape with some footprints present. All in all, the course is in typical El Do shape: decent Kikuyu fairways and good Poa putting surface. Flat and walkable, manageable for most decent golfers but a challenge for short hitters, new bunkering going on, too. Recommended.

Played in a tourney today, scheduled for 10:00 am. Got off about a half hour late and played in 5 hours. Both were expected.

Really enjoyed the course today. Lush fairways, rough was a factor, a... Continue »

Played in a tourney today, scheduled for 10:00 am. Got off about a half hour late and played in 5 hours. Both were expected.

Really enjoyed the course today. Lush fairways, rough was a factor, and the green side bunkers were nice. They are working on some of the fairway bunkers which are GUR. Sure there were some bare areas and a few tee boxes were not level. Meanwhile the greens were fantastic. Quick and true. As good as poa gets. The scores in my club were pretty high I think because the greens were so fast. We had two four putt greens in my foursome. I was worried the course greens would not live up to the perfect practice greens but they were right there with them.

Sorry about going on about the greens but to some extent I rate a course based on them.

The cart lady was diligent, they have a well stocked snack stand at a convenient junction, and a barbecue at the turn. There is a lot to like at ElDo right now.

Teed off about 6:30am Wednesday and finished in 3:45. The greens: a little disappointed to get to the first green and find out the greens had been verticut and a thin layer of sand applied. The putts ... Continue »

Teed off about 6:30am Wednesday and finished in 3:45. The greens: a little disappointed to get to the first green and find out the greens had been verticut and a thin layer of sand applied. The putts rolled fairly good but the release of the ball on full shots and pitches was somewhat unpredictable. In a few days days when the sand layer is gone the greens should be quite good. The fairways were in good shape with only a few thin spots. The rough was good with some thin/bare spots. The bunkers had good sand but they were a bit wet (to be expected early morning) but played decent. The tee boxes were good. Eldo is a flat course with large mature trees lining the fairways. It is an enjoyable track to play. The staff was friendly.