Played here this afternoon. I've always had a fondness for this course, though it's been years since I've played here. The notoriously slow pace of play kept me away, but I went for it today with a GN... Continue »

Played here this afternoon. I've always had a fondness for this course, though it's been years since I've played here. The notoriously slow pace of play kept me away, but I went for it today with a GN hot deal for $23 at 12:22. It was busy as usual out there, but they offered to send me out early with another single and a twosome. We teed off just before noon. We picked up another single on the second hole and played the rest as a fivesome behind plenty of slow groups. As expected, the pace was slow and we finished in about 5 hours. I laughed to myself when we were on a 6-hour pace after 4 holes and the GPS in the cart said we were 17 minutes ahead of desired pace! That shows you the expectations here. The course is in less-than-ideal winter shape from tee to green, but playable enough. The tee boxes were mostly good. A few could use some leveling out and a couple of the par-3s were quite chewed up. The fairways and rough were thin and patchy. The extra roll-out is not always helpful on this course. The two bunkers I was in had excellent sand, but nobody seems to rake here. The greens were also exceptional. They were rolling true at medium-quick speeds. I did fix my fair share of unrepaired ball marks, but those and the abundant sand trap footprints are more of a reflection on the players here and not the maintenance. It's a shame because these surfaces are otherwise maintained beautifully right now. Though not a bad drive for me, I wish this course were a little closer to home and much less crowded. There's just something I've always really enjoyed about it. The front nine isn't anything too amazing and the 9th hole is just plain goofy. Then, the back nine is a whole lot of fun with some tricky target holes and two excellent par-3s. Great setting in the foothills and friendly staff.