Played the blues today, first time at this course since the old Ocean Trails days with the missing 18th hole. 10 minutes between tee times. Twosome finished just under 4 hours behind another twosome... Continue »

Played the blues today, first time at this course since the old Ocean Trails days with the missing 18th hole. 10 minutes between tee times. Twosome finished just under 4 hours behind another twosome, no empty tee times today but not all foursomes playing—very happy with pace. Best ocean views around, almost every hole. The course is in beautiful shape, and has outstanding sand quality in the bunkers (there are a lot). Front nine has a lot of very similar holes, not very interesting; back nine much greater variance and some very fun short holes. Very nice staff, locker room access, good parking, deluxe carts. Walking would be extremely difficult due to the elevation changes (not even sure it is allowed). Must drive straight; fairways not too narrow off the tee, but there is little room on the sides for error, usually means a lost ball. Greens are course’s best defense—very heavily tiered and undulating, getting away without a three putt or five is tough. Would be especially difficult in solid wind. NOTE: There is NO short game area as otherwise reported here, other than for lessons. A small bag of about 20 balls is free; large bag is $25, so expensive to practice here without one of their several deals for regulars. Good alternative to Pelican Hill, comparable in many respects, but not on interest and variety of holes. Would love another go at this course, could get used to its idiosyncrasies.

Played 12-15-18 early morning as a twosome and finished in a little under 3 hours. Tee boxes were very nice, good coverage, cut tight, and mostly level. Fairways were very nice and lush with great lie... Continue »

Played 12-15-18 early morning as a twosome and finished in a little under 3 hours. Tee boxes were very nice, good coverage, cut tight, and mostly level. Fairways were very nice and lush with great lies but not much roll out. Rough was in real good shape, not to long but thick and the ball would sit down at times. Was in three greenside bunkers all of which were a little thin and firm. Greens were in great shape, smooth fast and receptive to well struck shots. Overall course is in great shape. Costumer service was great from arrival to departure. Fun, challenging, scenic course that for me gets a little repetitive on some of the holes.

Had a mid morning tee time, had to make use of my last free round on trump's dime before it expired. This place is a trek from orange county, but I still think it's worth the drive for a memorable ro... Continue »

Had a mid morning tee time, had to make use of my last free round on trump's dime before it expired. This place is a trek from orange county, but I still think it's worth the drive for a memorable round. Not sure about paying rack rate though. Warm up balls included with complimentary valet. Conditions were good, but it was damp and they were letting the fairways grow out a bit after overseeding, so the course plays long. In addition, it was CPO for 14 holes due to the 'rain', so it made for a long day walking back and forth from the cart path. Both fairways and rough were a lot longer than when i played here 3 months ago. Rough was long and thick and would grab your club, good luck a) finding your ball and b) hitting it out. Greens were damp and receptive, i had a few plugged approaches. Rolled pretty nicely, not particularly fast, and always breaks toward the ocean. Bunkers had bright white sand, but there was hard pack underneath, so I thinned a few out of the bunker after my club bounced out of there. Got around in 4H. Take a deep breath before your tee shot on 10 and take in the views. Maybe less about the score here than the enjoyment. Still sad about the loss of the waterfalls though...

Finally got around to using my free round with 2 other buddies that also got the email special. My review would basically replicate Nick and Caligolfer's so I can't add much. Course conditions were d%... Continue »

Finally got around to using my free round with 2 other buddies that also got the email special. My review would basically replicate Nick and Caligolfer's so I can't add much. Course conditions were d%mn near perfect and you'd really have to be super picky to not like how the course if playing currently. Yes it's CPO since they just came out of overseed but if there's ever a course that CPO isn't so bad it's the former Ocean Trails since most fairways are barely wide enough for Shaq to lay across lol. I mean there are some seriously tight fairways here and if you're off by even a little bit it's going to make for a long day! The weather was PERFECT. Views were amazing and the price was the BEST! ;) Service is as expected for a course of this caliber. If you still have that free round hurry up!

Had a great time on Friday with nickesquire and two other golfers that joined us for the back nine. This course lived up to the hype and I was impressed. Using the free email voucher made it all that ... Continue »

Had a great time on Friday with nickesquire and two other golfers that joined us for the back nine. This course lived up to the hype and I was impressed. Using the free email voucher made it all that more special.
The course is tough, no doubt about that. With a slope of 130 from the whites, it gave me all I could handle. If you find an orange golf ball it's mine. There is a lot of them out there to be found.
Since Nick described the conditions perfectly, I will focus on a few other things. Customer service here is top notch, from the bag drop attendants to the cart girl, everybody everybody seems happy to serve you. One of the things that impressed me was that the starter is multi-lingual and I heard him speak a minimum of three languages. Very impressive.

They have a nice range which I used and it was mat only on this day because of the 2 inches of rain they received the day before, otherwise looks like a very nice grass range.

Don't know if I'll ever get to play here again, but I will always remember my round here and the fun that I had.
And yes the tee box for the blacks on hole 18 is something else and you need to take a walk up and look at the hole from there, or if you are not a wimp like me and play your tee shot from there.

Rode the Blues (6294/71.9/136) in 4H, 20M with Caligolfer1031, Matthew and Jerrod. CPO. Clear, breezy and around 70. We got about as good a day to golf as you will ever encounter next to the ocean. Gr... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6294/71.9/136) in 4H, 20M with Caligolfer1031, Matthew and Jerrod. CPO. Clear, breezy and around 70. We got about as good a day to golf as you will ever encounter next to the ocean. Greg and I enjoyed using our free Trump e-mail voucher rounds immensely! My 1st time playing here. Course conditions were excellent bordering on immaculate. Wet but very playable after the recent rains. Other than 1 bunker and a few areas that had some runoff challenges, the entire place was in the 8+ range out of 10 condition wise. The Pete Dye layout is tight and every hole has a great ocean view. Very tough, unforgiving course. Side note: Just for kicks, we teed on the Black tees on #18, which is perched on top of a hill beside the ocean. Toughest par 4 I have ever seen from there... 512 yards, with a 200 yard forced carry to reach a fairly tight fairway with lost ball bushes down both sides before you reach a very severe green with trouble all around. The Blue tees are almost 1,000 yards shorter than the Blacks here, the largest yardage gap I have ever seen between tee boxes. The tees were lush and very well maintained. The fairways were lush and maintained high coming out of over seeding. The course played long with almost no roll because of the higher grass and wet conditions. The rough was nasty. Lush, 3" tall and the ball sat down, made worse by wet conditions. Several times we almost had to be hovering over our ball to find it. Advancing the ball more than 125 yards and getting it back in the fairway w/o roll was a good result. The sand traps were in amazing condition considering it had rained the previous 2 days. Thick sand that was for the most part immaculately maintained. The greens were medium fast and putted well. The contours appeared less severe than most Dye courses until you watched a few chips/putts roll much differently than expected. You did not want a putt or chip down a slope here. The customer service was excellent. The friendly, informative Player attendant out making numerous rounds, as was the drink cart gal. Combination of price and out of the way location would have me rarely playing here, but the course and layout were better than I had heard. It's tough and tight, not a place most people are going to lower their handicap. However, I came away feeling like I usually do when I play another one of Dye's more famous layouts, Stadium @ PGA West. It beat me up but I still thoroughly enjoy the experience. Definitely recommended, especially if you can get a deal.

Fake News said it would rain on Wednesday so waited until Friday to play my free round. The perfect weather and great conditions colluded to make for a perfect round and impeach many of my criticisms... Continue »

Fake News said it would rain on Wednesday so waited until Friday to play my free round. The perfect weather and great conditions colluded to make for a perfect round and impeach many of my criticisms of this course.

Was happy to see they drained the swamp water hazards on the first hole and made it more friendly - now they should redesign the par 5 14th hole to make it more than a crap shoot. Still not a fan of the layout overall but removing all the tacky waterfalls and leaving just nature and places where they've built a retainer wall was an improvement.

Conditions were tremendous, tee boxes and fairways in perfect shape. Believe me folks when I say that the greens were very smooth and very fast and very hard to putt winningly when one of the many undulations were between you and the hole. Rough only slightly worse but the perfect height to keep a ball hit crooked from leaving the course. Some of the bunkers are fine but some need more sand - especially a couple of the hyuge ones I was in.

Service was bigly and I think many people would find playing here absolutely covfefe

Played here Sunday, 9/16 at 1:50 using the free round they emailed me. Valet, check-in, cart attendants and on-course personnel all very friendly and efficient. They paired me with a single from Georg... Continue »

Played here Sunday, 9/16 at 1:50 using the free round they emailed me. Valet, check-in, cart attendants and on-course personnel all very friendly and efficient. They paired me with a single from Georgia, and a twosome, one of which was a local and his friend from Chicago. All nice guys and fun to play with. We played the blue tees. Started right on time and POP was decent, right around 4:30 total. Front was good but on the back the group directly in front of us was a little slow, but there's plenty of gorgeous scenery to admire while waiting to hit shots out here. I chose the 1:50 time because I knew it would find me playing the back nine as the sun set, and the whole course looked amazing in that late afternoon sunlight. It was warm and clear with a little haze/cloud cover concealing parts of Catalina and the horizon line, but otherwise a beautiful day.

Conditions are very good. Greens are smooth, semi-firm and very healthy. Green speeds are fast; very fast if downhill at all. The only putts you could really hit hard were putts up a severe slope. Everything else is a touch putt. Fairways were good, a few discolorations here and there, but overall very nice to play from. The rough was a slight step down from the fairways with occasional clumps and dead spots between the clumps. Otherwise lush grass and often sticky. I didn't get much roll on the fairways or the rough, which makes the 6,200 yard blues play long, especially when the narrowness often makes "less than driver" the best play off the tee. Bunkers were good but would be fantastic with just a little more sand. Tee boxes were good. Overall, nothing is immaculate right now but everything is very solid and enjoyable to play.

This was my second time here. The knocks on the layout is that it's repetitive (back and forth) and very narrow in spots. I feel that's true for the first seven holes, but the rest is pretty darn good. I think the entire back nine is a lot of fun and the views are hard to beat. I want to play the tips sometime but I'd have to hit the ball much better than I did yesterday. This course will beat you up if you're not playing well, and I'm not talking only about the abundant ESA. I only lost two balls but the slopes on and around the greens can be very difficult.

I created a Flickr photo album of 55 photos that can be viewed here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmsAp76z

played mid-morning weekday. rack rate was something like 275 but not sure if anyone pays that. last time i was here was maybe 5 years ago. complimentary valet and nice, somewhat gaudy clubhouse. s... Continue »

played mid-morning weekday. rack rate was something like 275 but not sure if anyone pays that. last time i was here was maybe 5 years ago. complimentary valet and nice, somewhat gaudy clubhouse. starter manny was friendly and made lots of small talk. complimentary small bag of balls for the range (25?) which was fine. course can be tough if you don't put it out there straight. runs along side of hill mostly and goes back and forth along it, so many holes run parallel with ESA in between. An off center drive may mean a 200+ approach from the rough or a lost ball in the ESA. conditions were very good, with even and uniform thin cut fairway lies, semi-thick rough. played a bit wet, very little roll. Greens were in excellent condition, smooth and receptive. Didn't notice any ball marks. Appears completely recovered from aeration. Putts ran perfectly true, always broke a few inches toward the ocean. Put a good stroke and it did exactly what you would ask it to do. Perhaps I am biased as I only had 24 putts, felt like everything went in. Greenside bunkers generally had good layer of thick sand, one (#4) was kind of thin. Teeboxes were also in good condition. Views are what you would expect for an oceanside course, in general pretty amazing. holes 10 and 11 are especially picturesque, and if you play the blacks, the tee box on 18 is pretty crazy. i'm disappointed they removed the waterfalls from #1 and #17, those really added to the scenic overload of the course, but still the course stands on it's own. got out in front of a 5!(some) and finished in 3 1/2. i wish fewer holes were cart path only, but i still enjoyed it thoroughly. Definitely recommended at this time. edit: i just went and looked back at pics from the last time i played trump when they had waterfalls. OMG those things were spectacular. a real shame they are gone IMO. drought and $$$ and all i'm sure.