Played 7/29/2014 and tee'd off at 4:40 pm as a twosome. POP was quick which is again unusual for this course, walked off the 18th green at 7:45. Costa Mesa City Championship is this weekend (8/2-8/2... Continue »

Played 7/29/2014 and tee'd off at 4:40 pm as a twosome. POP was quick which is again unusual for this course, walked off the 18th green at 7:45. Costa Mesa City Championship is this weekend (8/2-8/2) and the course is starting to firm up. Fairways are pretty lush with some bare spots lie in the usual spots (holes 5 and 14). Rough was thick and pretty nasty, areas around trees and near bunkers were really long and tough to get your ball out of. Up until this week the blue tees have been off-limits meaning some of the par 3's had some pretty extensive divot damage since only the white tees are being used. I'm sure after the tournament passes the blue tees will be in good shape. Some of the tee boxes were uneven and crowned despite being pretty lush. Greens were outstanding. Virtually no divot marks and rolling true. Pin placements are in some pretty brutal positions right now so make sure you are on the right tier or have your delicate flops and chips in the toolbox. The sand here is probably my biggest gripe here. Pretty inconsistent, some bunkers nice and fluffy while other are pretty thin. All you have to do is rake people! Anyways, always an affordable and solid round here.

Out with some OC buds early round on the Linda course, not playing here for several years I almost forgot that it's very short (with a couple of long par 4's) but can be a bit of a challenge around th... Continue »

Out with some OC buds early round on the Linda course, not playing here for several years I almost forgot that it's very short (with a couple of long par 4's) but can be a bit of a challenge around the greens if you're not on your game. Otherwise, a good ego booster (par 70, slope 117) for when you need a pat on the back. Greens were in good shape, rolled nice and true at medium speed. Fairways in decent shape for a muni, green and mostly full with a few bare spots to negotiate, no real rough to speak of. Bunkers were not maintained which meant lots of damp sand and unraked footprints (I don't get it as there were plenty of rakes in every bunker). Paid $38 to walk on a Sunday and got around in 4 hours. As Sixpez said, worth a look. For that, I recommend playing here, as it is an especially nice course for higher hcp'ers, seniors, short knockers ... or just about everybody.

Went out this evening with a couple guys from work and one of their friends. Walked on as a foursome and were teeing off quickly a little before 4:30. Not too crowded, so we enjoyed our own pace and f... Continue »

Went out this evening with a couple guys from work and one of their friends. Walked on as a foursome and were teeing off quickly a little before 4:30. Not too crowded, so we enjoyed our own pace and finished just before dark. $24 with cart for twilight rate.

Overall, the course was in good shape. Always impressed at how well they keep this place up despite the amount of play it gets. Mostly lush and green throughout. Tee boxes good. A few thin/bare spots scattered throughout fairways and rough, but mostly quite good with excellent fairway lies. I wasn't in a bunker and what I could see looked fine, but my playing partners complained about a lack of sand in a couple they found. The greens still show a little bit of the holes from the aeration, but in another week they will be back to normal. Bumpy toward the end of the day, but rolling at good medium speeds. The greens were the firmest I've ever seen them there and it was hard to hold shots. Most anything that landed on the greens would scoot off the back and anything short would get snagged in the fluffy kikuyu fringes. That made these already tricky greens and tough pin placements even more challenging than usual.

Still, it was a fun round as always at old Mesa Linda. Ideal course for a relaxed after-work round with buddies and a few side bets. Short layout tempts you to be aggressive, but it's always a little trickier than it looks out here!

Always enjoy playing this little course ! The greens today were probably the best I have played on this year ..... anywhere! Fairways had some issues and the bunkers were still not repaired from all... Continue »

Always enjoy playing this little course ! The greens today were probably the best I have played on this year ..... anywhere! Fairways had some issues and the bunkers were still not repaired from all the recent rains, but I thought the course was in overall nice condition.

With the greens being as nice as they were, and with some interesting pin positions, this is really a fun little course to play. A nice change of pace from the "big" courses. Staff was great and being first off, pace of play not an issue. Course was still wet from the rains, but very little casual water and very playable.

Played this course 4 times in January 2014. Course in very good condition. The super's men do a great job. Greens are true and in great condition. Fairways pretty good and the sand traps tricky. ... Continue »

Played this course 4 times in January 2014. Course in very good condition. The super's men do a great job. Greens are true and in great condition. Fairways pretty good and the sand traps tricky. Good value for the money but takes about 5 hours after 9am. I'll be back.

Date played: 11/03/2013, Sunday Tee time: 6:53 am Greens fee: $38 (walking), rack rate # of players: 4 My handicap: 16.8 Tee box: Blue Pace of play: 3 hours 40 minutes Course facilities: Good Lar... Continue »

Date played: 11/03/2013, Sunday Tee time: 6:53 am Greens fee: $38 (walking), rack rate # of players: 4 My handicap: 16.8 Tee box: Blue Pace of play: 3 hours 40 minutes Course facilities: Good Large driving range with grass and mat options. Prices for buckets are reasonable (large mat $8). 2 large practice putting greens and a separate green exclusively for chipping. Pro shop seems to have sales fairly often but there is not a large selection of merchandise. Restaurant: Looks like a diner, all booths and some seating at the counter. Breakfast is typical american fare and is pretty good. The food here isn't too bad and is reasonably priced. Bar: Medium sized bar with a couple of large flat screens. If you are ordering food at the bar, food service is a little slow; you are better off walking over to the restaurant side which is connected to the bar, place your order at the counter and let them know where you are sitting. Surprisingly, the bar seems half empty every time I play there. There is an outdoor patio area with a few tables and umbrellas overlooking the practice chipping green. Course conditions: Good For a municipal course that gets a ton of play it is amazing that the staff are able to keep this course in good condition. I have payed twice as much at other courses where the conditions are way below what you get at either course at Costa Mesa. The greens are in good condition but on some of the greens you can still see healing punch holes, although the greens were running smooth, although a little slow. The tee boxes were a bit shaggy, but for the most part they were level and in good condition. Fairways had some patchy areas, some slightly muddy areas but all in all in very good condition. Ground under repair areas were clearly marked with painted white outlines. Rough is short and balls are easy to find. It wasn't muddy or too soft in most of the areas near the fairway. But don't let this wide open course fool you, ending up in the rough usually puts trees, branches and bunkers in your way. Bunkers were in decent condition, some were a little more wet than others, but there is enough sand in the greenside bunkers to play a standard bunker shot. Course layout: Fun We played the shorter of two 18 hole layouts, but don't let the yardage (under 6,000 yds) deter you from playing this side. What the course lacks in distance it makes up for in strategy. There are a lot of holes where you should be thinking about your approach shot when you step up to the tee box. Taking driver out on every par 4 and 5 is a bad strategy. You should be using metal woods, hybrids and long irons on a few holes that the occasional player would automatically take driver on. Bunker placement around the greens and in the fairways makes accuracy a must on this side if you are trying to score low. Even though this is a open course and the rough will not penalize that much, straying too far from the fairway will leave your next shot under, over, behind or in front of a tree. A low running punch is a good shot to have in your bag on this course. If you are able to successfully execute a flop shot, you should be in good shape because of how small and tiered the greens are on some of the holes; some greens are long and narrow and 3 putts are not uncommon if you end up on the wrong side. The par 3's on this course seem really short and easy, but depending on pin placement a 110 yard par 3 can have you hoping for birdie but scrambling to save par. I have heard some players say that the Mesa Linda side doesn't resemble a real golf course because of how short the track is but make no mistake about it, this course is great fun for all levels and does require strategy, which is a side of golf that I am really starting to appreciate and understand. If you are playing this course for the first time, you really won't appreciate it as much as on your subsequent visits. The more I play this course, the more I enjoy it. The $38 prime time rack rate and the overall good conditioning of this course may make one of the best values in all of Orange County.

It has been decades since I have played Costa Mesa. The staff was awesome, it was great to see the Head Golf Professional Mr. Booth, I was shocked to learn his brother Doug pasted away a few months ag... Continue »

It has been decades since I have played Costa Mesa. The staff was awesome, it was great to see the Head Golf Professional Mr. Booth, I was shocked to learn his brother Doug pasted away a few months ago, he was a awesome instructor and a great guy. I played with Johnny GK himself and we had a ball. Yes it is a little bit shorter than usual, but the course takes no back seat to longer course. It is a blast and for the amount of play this course receives it is in darn good shape. I highly recommend both Costa Mesa courses.

Found myself with some unexpected free time in Costa Mesa Thursday so decided to finally play the Mesa Linda course. What a treat and a very affordable price. The sister course Los Lagos was packed ye... Continue »

Found myself with some unexpected free time in Costa Mesa Thursday so decided to finally play the Mesa Linda course. What a treat and a very affordable price. The sister course Los Lagos was packed yet Mesa Linda was wide open so despite teeing off just past 3:30pm, I still got in 18 holes with GK’er Jaybird…round took just over 3 hours.

Funny thing was GK’er sixpez happen to be out on the course at the same time…that would have been great to bump into him! Sixpez, see below, is spot on with his review. Overall I thought the course was in good shape with the greens being the highlight. Moderately fast, held shots and bumpy only where players did not fix ball marks. Shame because if players regularly fixed their ball marks, the greens would be fantastic. Costa Mesa CC is punching the greens this week so unless you are playing today (Monday 10/14), you’ll need to wait a few weeks before they are rolling good again.

As a first timer playing the course, it’s a fun layout with many birdie opportunities, interesting shots, interesting shaped greens, mature trees and an easy walk. The price is right and I can now see why these courses get so much play. If I’m in the area again and have some free time, I would definitely play it again.

Played out here this evening with a couple of guys from work. Teed off around 4:30. Was hardly anyone out there, so we were able to get in 14 holes as a threesome before it was too dark.

The course... Continue »

Played out here this evening with a couple of guys from work. Teed off around 4:30. Was hardly anyone out there, so we were able to get in 14 holes as a threesome before it was too dark.

The course was in solid overall shape. Not the best I've seen it, but not the worst. Fairways and rough had some scattered bad patches, but mostly quite nice. The greens were soft and rolling at fairly quick speeds. A little beat up so late in the day with plenty of unrepaired ball marks and spike marks, so pretty bumpy. The two bunkers I was in were decent. They were clearly doing some maintenance on all the tee boxes, so most of the holes had the blue and white tees together and they'd either be at the very front edge of the normal white box area (way up) or the very back edge of the blue box area (way back). They were all very chewed up and have obviously been playing in the same spots for several days. The rest of the boxes looked to have good grass coverage, so I would guess they'll be in full play again soon.

Always a fun course that I have a soft spot for. Short layout with some very, very tricky greens. There's always one or two pin placements that are really tough. Today, almost all of them were in difficult spots, so it was an adventure on putts and chips.