Played today in a nice 3 hour pace. Greens were punched on the dates noted in GK (2 weeks ago) and are healing very nicely (still a tad slow) and should be good in another 1 or 2 weeks (but who knows ... Continue »

Played today in a nice 3 hour pace. Greens were punched on the dates noted in GK (2 weeks ago) and are healing very nicely (still a tad slow) and should be good in another 1 or 2 weeks (but who knows with this latest heat wave - expected 102 + in Montebello today). What I noticed most of all, was the numerous bare patch's in the fairways. While you will get roll out, you might not like the lie. Not in any bunkers (thankfully) but I noticed they all seemed wet and hard and in need of work. There are areas of rough and it is difficult. Tee boxes all were clean and level. Customer service excellent at all levels.

Played an enjoyable Saturday round at Montebello CC today, and looked forward to playing here as it was my first time. Seeing a nice solid 6.00 GK rating had me feeling pretty confident the course wou... Continue »

Played an enjoyable Saturday round at Montebello CC today, and looked forward to playing here as it was my first time. Seeing a nice solid 6.00 GK rating had me feeling pretty confident the course would be a nice little surprise. Nope! Much like Santa Anita last weekend, the fairways were loaded with dried out areas and far too many dirt patches with short little weeds pretending to be grass. Far too many poor lies still within the fairways, and forget about the rough. Plenty of dirt to be found there as well, but the areas that did have grass were okay in terms of length. The sand traps were pretty thin and looking in dire need of a new layer or two. Even visually they just looked like empty brown pools waiting for the Lords of Dogtown to shred in them. I have actually also never seen roots coming out of the side of fairway bunkers, but here that treat shall be yours. Tee boxes were just okay. A few were burned out but mostly they were fine in terms of being level, but certainly a bit chewed up. Now, after all that, it's hard to believe that Montebello had many redeeming qualities, but that's not true at all. The greens were really good. Like, excellent. They were certainly a bit soft which made landing shots on them quite accommodating, and fixing ball marks was an exercise in being delicate. But they ran true and medium fast and I have simply no complaints about the job they're doing there. I also did not hate the layout one bit. The first 5-6 holes of the front 9 don't promise much, but it does get much better near the end of the front and there are some really nice holes on the back 9 in terms of layout. 18 is also a very good, tough closing hole, especially from the blue tees we played. POP was not good as the foursome in front of us pretended to be PGA pros on the greens and spent far too much time getting off of them. We waited on almost every hole for them to get a move on but it never happened so we clocked in at just around 5:15 - not great. It also got quite hot and not once was a cart girl to be seen on a busy Saturday. The conclusion? Well, it's a long drive from PdR so I won't be making the extra trip here anytime soon, however if I hear that conditions have improved (maybe after some nice fall rains) and have a crew wanting to come out, I think I would definitely give it another chance, but I will want some assurances there are no more visible roots in the bunkers.

Played today in a nice POP of 3 hours. Was very surprised how quite the place was? Course conditions for the amount of heat they have had in the area, are very good. Tee boxes were clean/ level; fairw... Continue »

Played today in a nice POP of 3 hours. Was very surprised how quite the place was? Course conditions for the amount of heat they have had in the area, are very good. Tee boxes were clean/ level; fairways are in good shape, good roll out, with good lies, though you will find some thin areas throughout all of them; bunkers were needing some TLC, as many of them (like the one I was in) were hard and crusty; greens were all in good shape and holding shots, as well as chipping and putting nicely. Customer service was excellent.

Played yesterday morning 6am. Greens in pretty good condition. Fairways were dry but wood let the ball run a little more. Pace of play about a little over 4 hours for a foursome. Great morning whe... Continue »

Played yesterday morning 6am. Greens in pretty good condition. Fairways were dry but wood let the ball run a little more. Pace of play about a little over 4 hours for a foursome. Great morning when everything is jellin.

Out today in a nice POP of 3 1/2. Not very busy, no doubt due to the expected heat (and it was heating up by the end). Not much to report since my last posting (6/23) other than the fairways are all f... Continue »

Out today in a nice POP of 3 1/2. Not very busy, no doubt due to the expected heat (and it was heating up by the end). Not much to report since my last posting (6/23) other than the fairways are all filled in nicely and providing good roll and lies. Tee boxes fine; bunkers fine; not much rough of any kind and greens (while slow - no doubt not being cut as short with the heat) are in very very nice shape. I did notice some cart path repairs being done, but it did not appear that it would effect play. Customer service excellent at all levels.

Played today prior to another tournament. They let me go off the back first (thank you) and I was able to navigate around the front 9 players and finish in under 3 hours. I notice that they do have a ... Continue »

Played today prior to another tournament. They let me go off the back first (thank you) and I was able to navigate around the front 9 players and finish in under 3 hours. I notice that they do have a lot of players (some seem regulars) and the course is busy (I am surprised that more players are not GK members). I agree with the last review about "fairways/rough being lush", as the fairways were clean and provided good roll and lies all round (but as the grass is bermuda, there are still some areas needing to fill in). Tee boxes clean and tee friendly. The bunker system on the course (both fairway/greens) is very interesting in their design/location and need to be navigated very well (there is a different type of sand in the bunkers than most S CA courses but easily playable). While the last review mentioned rough as a factor, it appears gone now (most likely mowed down to save water). The greens were in good shape visually but a little slow, but they were damp early (thus slower) but picked up speed as the morning dried them out (but chipped/putted very well). Nice old course design and very enjoyable with water on several holes on the back 9. Customer service was excellent at all levels. I recently found out, that you can purchase a Sr Card to play here ($22 walking; $35 w cart) even if you are not a resident of Montebello (card must be purchased at M City Hall) by showing a valid drivers license ($20 per year and pro rated depending upon when you buy it). I will for sure, play here more often and recommend the course.

Played in a small tourney Sunday, May 1. The customer service was mixed. Apparently they were brusque about the carts and only gave us them as earlier players turned them in. The food service was w... Continue »

Played in a small tourney Sunday, May 1. The customer service was mixed. Apparently they were brusque about the carts and only gave us them as earlier players turned them in. The food service was well done and courteous. The course was in so-so condition. The greens were shaggy, bumpy and slower than medium speed, which caused quite a bit of grumbling in my group. The fairways and rough were decently lush. The rough was a factor in some places. The bunkers were interesting with not as much sand as one expected. A guy in our group uses an Alien wedge and he is usually better than most out of the bunkers; he went trap, to trap, to trap on one hole before putting 15 feet out of a greenside bunker with a high lip. Do not see that very often. The pace of play was 5.5 hours. Overall, it will be a while before I come back.

Don't see many reviews of this course so I thought I would send one in. Montebello - or as I like to call it - Industry "No Frills" has a lot in common with the upscale course referenced a second ago... Continue »

Don't see many reviews of this course so I thought I would send one in. Montebello - or as I like to call it - Industry "No Frills" has a lot in common with the upscale course referenced a second ago. Both courses are on a hill with a hotel perched on top and can be seen from the freeway. Both courses have an uninviting driving range pushed away from the areas you want to be and require navigating various paved streets and parking lots to warm up.

At this point the similarities diminish - Montebello just the one set of 18 holes that are a bit more forgiving than Industry. Conditions were mostly typical for this time of year for this year. Fairways were a mix of brown, green and dirt - and quite chewed up in places. Rough wasn't. Greens were faster than I'm used to here - 3 or 4 were bumpier and slower than the rest. Bunkers were either quite sandy or very hard - hard enough that I hit a 3 wood out of one of them on a par 5 and didn't lose a yard.

PoP was like a teenager learning to drive a stick. We'd lurch forward for three holes at full speed then wait on a hole or two then lurch again. All in all I think it was just under 4 hours. For those who care - the cart girl came by a couple of times. My overall sense was that this was in slightly better shape that most of the American Golf courses in a 10 mile radius. I wasn't disappointed in the conditions. I wish this course had an online presence - I'm not a fan of calling the starter.

Played course Monday 3/10/14, found the fairways to be excellent, tee boxes good. I was disappointed in the sand traps. They have gotten so bad with no sand it is better to chip the ball out than sk... Continue »

Played course Monday 3/10/14, found the fairways to be excellent, tee boxes good. I was disappointed in the sand traps. They have gotten so bad with no sand it is better to chip the ball out than skull a blast. Greens on the front side were bumpy and speed unpredictable, but the back sidegreens were much better. We played the course in 4.5 hours. GH