Course in wonderful condition from tee boxes, fairways, bunkers and greens! Not a very easy course for the beginner .......in fact you should play from your true tees. Played with two guys who thought... Continue »

Course in wonderful condition from tee boxes, fairways, bunkers and greens! Not a very easy course for the beginner .......in fact you should play from your true tees. Played with two guys who thought they were better than they were, started at the black tees and after a few holes moved up to the blue tees. A few holes require some long straight drives from the tee box to even land the fairway....like almost 180-200yards. Tough greens but they do roll true. Probably the hardest thing on this course is...if you are not straight, you will be off into the enviromentally sensitive brush or the thick thick rough and bunkers that line many holes. This is a beautiful course, but not a very fun course. Forget keeping your score, but just enjoy each hole for its beauty and surrounding views of the Pacific Ocean. Was surprised how crowded this course was considering how much $$$$....in fact the back 9 was slow and backed up on the final 3 holes. Would I go back.....well if someone else paid for me!

Greens and fairways were punched last week so the course was a little beat up. Even if it was in immaculate condition it's not worth the high green fee. Great views, great service and great food. K... Continue »

Greens and fairways were punched last week so the course was a little beat up. Even if it was in immaculate condition it's not worth the high green fee. Great views, great service and great food. Kind of like playing golf at Disneyland with the manmade waterfalls. Go play it -- if it's on someone else's dime

Let's just say if you can get somebody else to flip the $195 midweek green fee, then it's okay to play. I wasn't overly impressed with the overall facility. You would think for that kind of money th... Continue »

Let's just say if you can get somebody else to flip the $195 midweek green fee, then it's okay to play. I wasn't overly impressed with the overall facility. You would think for that kind of money they would at least have a grass driving range. Nope, mats!. My impression is that The Don might be kind of cheap. No bag tags, ya you can buy one for $12 bucks. I've played courses for around $60 that gave you tees, divots tools, yardage books. Not here. About the course. It was okay. Beautiful views of the ocean. At first the waterfalls seem kind of cool, but then they have about 3 of them that all look the same. The coures isn't increadibly tough. You just need to hit a pretty straight tee shot. The greens are what will kill you. It's hard to predict the break due to the ocean influence. Some greens break hard towards it, some barely move. It's kind of a guessing game. Overall it was just an okay experience. I was pretty pumped about playing it, but I know I will never play it again.

There is both good and bad about this course.

The good is that there are the most beautiful views of the California Coastline, better than Torrey Pines or Pebble Beach.

The bad is that on a Thur... Continue »

There is both good and bad about this course.

The good is that there are the most beautiful views of the California Coastline, better than Torrey Pines or Pebble Beach.

The bad is that on a Thursday morning the round took over six hours. The golf course superintendent informed me that Rory Sabatinni and Lee Westwood played there the day before and it took them six rounds to play 18 also. I asked the course marshall why its so slow and he said it's slow all over and drove away.

The design is very poor. One guy behind us got hit two times by errant tee shots. There are a lot of parallel fairways at different elevations when your ball drifts into another fairway you can't tell if you are going to hit someone.

Although a guest, I wish I had known the above before as i would not play the course again even if it was free.

Great condition but a mickey mouse layout. On many holes ball rolls off slanted fairways and into hazard areas. Some of the grees have hazard areas about 3 feet behind the edge of the green. Waterf... Continue »

Great condition but a mickey mouse layout. On many holes ball rolls off slanted fairways and into hazard areas. Some of the grees have hazard areas about 3 feet behind the edge of the green. Waterfalls are unnecessary and don't come into play. Play it once - I'm sure very few people will return .... unless someone else is paying.

Great Views. Graet condition. Worst layout and playability I have ever experienced. It's not fair and its not fun.

Great Views. Graet condition. Worst layout and playability I have ever experienced. It's not fair and its not fun.

If you want to play a course with spectacular ocean vistas, then Trump would be it. The 1 and only negative thing I would say about this course is it's price ($195/round). Other than that, if you ha... Continue »

If you want to play a course with spectacular ocean vistas, then Trump would be it. The 1 and only negative thing I would say about this course is it's price ($195/round). Other than that, if you have friends from out of town wanting to play a course with an ocean view (every holes but the 1st have an ocean view), Trump beats all the other courses in the immediate LA/Orange County area. The course is immaculate. The rough is almost US Open quality. I would say the rough is as tough to get out of as Torrey Pines. For example, I was able to advance the ball 75yds with a CPR 24 hybrid from a uphill lie; after I hit my ball, two other balls (dislodged from the same area of the rough) came rolling down to my feet. The fact that they were both Pro-Vs meant that their owners probably spent a lot of efforts looking for these guys. In the course of the round, I ended up finding 6 Pro-Vs in the rough (not OB or enviromental areas; but in play) while in the process of looking my own ball in the rough. My suggestion is to bring wide sole irons and plenty of hybrids; and keep your eyes on the ball when it goes into the rough (it's in there ...somewhere). The greens have lots of undulation and hard breaks (and not necessarily toward the ocean). The speed on the green is not as fast as you think, other than the obvious downhiller. Play your approach shots like a link style course. There is no "1 hop and stop" on these greens, even on the par 3s. And finally, play 1 tee forward from what you use to, especially if it's your 1st time there. Having to carry over 200 yards over a ravine and into a 20-30mph head wind after 16 holes on a par 3 seems to take the fun out a beautiful course.

I played here last when it was Ocean Trails and I did not care for that course. I went into this course expecting an overpriced version of the same thing. Wrong! While I don't believe the course is ... Continue »

I played here last when it was Ocean Trails and I did not care for that course. I went into this course expecting an overpriced version of the same thing. Wrong! While I don't believe the course is worth the $$, it is one of the best conditioned courses I've played. The staff was totally delightful. The rough was up so the course played tougher than it normally would (Per the starter) because of filming of the "Big Break" on the Golf Channel. Local knowledge would have helped, but at these prices I won't get a lot of local knowledge here. I played the blue tees and that means that for those of you that have not yet played here, that means you have to go all the way back to the "pod" to the left of the 17th green to play from the "real tees" 487yd par 4. One tough finishing hole to say the least. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed myself and IF I had lots of money I play here all the time.

Great conditioned course compared to some of the others in the area. This course is definately one of the more difficult courses from the back tees. You MUST be able to control your tee shots on thi... Continue »

Great conditioned course compared to some of the others in the area. This course is definately one of the more difficult courses from the back tees. You MUST be able to control your tee shots on this course, from there it does not present to much of a challenge from the fairway in. The only complaint with this course is it lacks the diversity necessary to make it one of the "best in the state" as it is self acclaimed. This combined with the fact that the round took extremely long with 2-3 groups at one tee box at one time. The marshalls may be intimidated by the clientel because our group did not recieve any help from them. The final complaint I have is with the service the starter, and pro shop were very professional, but the attitude from the halfway house and grill staff left you wondering why for $300 a pop you still felt as if you were dealing with the cart boys at local muni track. All in all very nice course, but not worth the green fee.