Course Conditions: Great Shape! The greens are excellent and rolling true. The fairways are in decent shape. The rough is good in most areas. The sand traps are still a little wet since we played at 6... Continue »

Course Conditions: Great Shape! The greens are excellent and rolling true. The fairways are in decent shape. The rough is good in most areas. The sand traps are still a little wet since we played at 6:30AM. We played in 3 1/2 hours and loved it. This course is wouth the price!

Played a Wed. round around noon and finished in a few ticks over 4 hrs. Found the course in real outstanding condition, tee to green. With a fantastic out and back layout that winds thru the foothil... Continue »

Played a Wed. round around noon and finished in a few ticks over 4 hrs. Found the course in real outstanding condition, tee to green. With a fantastic out and back layout that winds thru the foothill region of Mission Viejo, it's now officially my favorite OC track. We paid a senior midweek rate of $58 w/cart which I feel is a very fair price under current conditions. Fairways were mostly lush with a few thin/dormant Bermuda areas to play from, and some unfilled divots popped up at unexpected times. Rough about the same, not really much of a factor. Several H2O hazards and 'green tipped' staked lined fairways to avoid, and a few narrow landing areas (like weird #6) and forced carries, but mostly a user friendly course as long as you're not spraying your tee shot. If your game is unpredictable you could be in for a long day. Greens look a tad shaggy but rolled true at medium pace (starter said 10.5 which sounds about right). Was in one GS bunker: sand thick and deep ... my bud said the fairway bunkers were much firmer. All in all, very picturesque day at the Arroyo. Excellent customer service all around and a beautiful setting to have a couple cocktails after the round at O'Neill's. Definitely coming back now that I can get that old fogey discount.

Played the course today. Had a 7:38 start time but it rained last night and was still drizzling this morning so we got there early and was hardly anyone there. Starter let us out 20 minutes before our... Continue »

Played the course today. Had a 7:38 start time but it rained last night and was still drizzling this morning so we got there early and was hardly anyone there. Starter let us out 20 minutes before our scheduled time. We only play this course a few times a year in our rotation but I must say the staff is topnotch. From the Clubhouse to the starter to the Cart gals. The advantage of going out early on this course is that for a public course they ROLL the greens! We had PERFECT lies for our putts all morning! Fairways are like most of the courses in the County right now, pretty dry and you get some tight lies that can be formidable. I won't comment much about the sand because of the overnight rain and drizzle but the couple times I found it I was able to get out with no trouble. Fun round and because we were only the 3rd group out we finished in 3 hours 20 minutes!

Review is a little late, but agree with prior posting. Dormant fairways, but very playable and the greens getting much quicker, I suspect in part due to the fact that the grass simply does not grow in... Continue »

Review is a little late, but agree with prior posting. Dormant fairways, but very playable and the greens getting much quicker, I suspect in part due to the fact that the grass simply does not grow in this frigid weather. While the course doesn't actually look all that great, it plays better than it looks. Hey, it's mid December, so hard to be critical, just happy to be outside hitting a golf ball rather than shoveling snow in Chicago.

The staff at this course is always fantastic! It's probably one of the reasons I play here more often than other local courses.

Played yesterday in cold & blustery conditions after the rainstorm Sunday night. The course is in very good condition especially the greens. Although the fairways are turning dormant they provide a ... Continue »

Played yesterday in cold & blustery conditions after the rainstorm Sunday night. The course is in very good condition especially the greens. Although the fairways are turning dormant they provide a good surface to play from. The rough is difficult as it's growing in tufts so you can get some difficult lies. We played in 4 hours as the course was rather empty.

I played this course today for the first time and in a tournament event. It's not my all time favorite course in terms of layout since I prefer more variations off the tee and this allows for a lot of... Continue »

I played this course today for the first time and in a tournament event. It's not my all time favorite course in terms of layout since I prefer more variations off the tee and this allows for a lot of drives despite a few short 4s, but still pretty nice. It definitely helps to have played it once since there's a few blind/unknown spots off the tee box... and that's by excuse for a crap score!

Super fast greens today, some have a ton more break than I would ever guess even after playing, some the opposite so it's a matter of realizing the slope of the mountains I suppose.
It's probably been in better shape than today since there were a lot of yellow/brown areas but still grass so not completely dry.

Good course on a overcast day and no rattler sitings despite the multiple signs giving me the shakes, and that's my final excuse for a crappy score ;)

Contrary to the posting on Greenskeeper, Arroyo Trabucco will NOT be punching their greens at this time. I was not able to find out if/when it will be rescheduled. The greens were better than the las... Continue »

Contrary to the posting on Greenskeeper, Arroyo Trabucco will NOT be punching their greens at this time. I was not able to find out if/when it will be rescheduled. The greens were better than the last time I played here in June, still a few bare spots, but not too bad. They were slow perhaps due to the overnight rain?

Because of the rain, it was cart path only, so I walked. Mistake, because I did not bring my GPS unit, excepting to use the system provided on the cart. Because there are no distance markers other than 200/150/100, it was not my best decision. (Funny how dependent you become on technology! For most of my golfing life I only used the 150 marker and my judgment, now without the GPS I feel lost?)

Staff was as always perfect. Fairways are in the best condition I have ever seen here. Keeping the carts on the path was the correct call, even though walking this course was not in my plan for today. Still ...... a wonderful October morning, what could be better?

I played out here this afternoon with a couple of friends, and one of them is a member so we got a decent $40 guest rate at twilight. It was extremely busy here, so we teed off a little after 3:00. We... Continue »

I played out here this afternoon with a couple of friends, and one of them is a member so we got a decent $40 guest rate at twilight. It was extremely busy here, so we teed off a little after 3:00. We waited on just about every shot, but the pace was still better than expected with such a crowd. The course is laid out in a nice way to keep a decent pace of play, so we finished in about 4.5 hours. After the last couple of reviews from GK'ers I trust a lot, I was looking forward to seeing the newer "lush/green" Arroyo. My previous experiences were several years ago when things were super tight and firm. I enjoyed the layout a lot, but the firm conditions were often frustrating. Well, from tee to green, I definitely experienced the "new" style course with fluffy bermuda that was in fantastic shape and great to hit from in fairways. The rough is not super penal as it is cut low, but it is also lush and thick, so it will stop your ball from running into the ESA areas now. Around the greens, the rough is thicker and chunkier, so it can make chips shots tricky. As weber said, you don't get all the extra roll out like before and it definitely makes the course play longer, but the look and feel of it is so much better now. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything good about the greens right now. They are awful. My playing partner (the member) said they were ideal just a couple months ago and that's apparently closer to what the previous reviewers experienced. Today, they were just not good. Lots of dead/sandy areas, tons of old and unrepaired ball marks and boy were they bumpy! And slow!!! They were softer than the "old" ones I remember, now with the poa turf, but they are rather jacked up right now for whatever reason. Hopefully they can bring them back around because that's the only negative about the course right now. Unfortunately, it is a major negative. Just so my number rating makes sense, I gave the fairways a 9 and the greens a generous 3. Otherwise, it is looking and playing so nicely from tee to green and the layout is really enjoyable. I was in one bunker and it had good sand. My playing partners experienced some mixed results in other traps, though. Hoping to hear the greens improve, because for the price we paid today, I would come out here a lot more.

Played 7-1-15 for $48 early morning joining a twosome and playing in about 3 hours and 45 minutes. Tee boxes were in nice shape lush and level. Fairways had very nice lies with an occasional brown or... Continue »

Played 7-1-15 for $48 early morning joining a twosome and playing in about 3 hours and 45 minutes. Tee boxes were in nice shape lush and level. Fairways had very nice lies with an occasional brown or bare spot. Rough was cut down pretty low and easy to hit from. Found one greenside bunker that early morning firm sand. Greens were rolling pretty good, medium speed. Overall the course was in good shape and definitely worth playing.