Wanted to play early on Labor day so I found a tee time at Meadowlark. After playing here once a week after work It had been 2 years since playing here. nothing has changed. POP is still terrible. I s... Continue »

Wanted to play early on Labor day so I found a tee time at Meadowlark. After playing here once a week after work It had been 2 years since playing here. nothing has changed. POP is still terrible. I saw three 6somes on the course. No Marshall to be seen all day. POP 5 hrs.

Conditions are still pretty bad. Id compare the conditions to shore cliffs or green river. Lots of different grass, firm lies, and terrible tee boxes. I will however say the one sand trap I found was the softest sand I had ever played in. Go Figure right?

If you are looking for a practice round in the late afternoon this is the place for you, but don't expect good conditions or fast pace. I give it a 4 out of 10

Played Fri Aug 17th with the OFG group at 7.07 I live in Norco so this was a drive for me. Got there way too early for breakfast someplace else which was way too expensive, (typical O. C.) Check in w... Continue »

Played Fri Aug 17th with the OFG group at 7.07 I live in Norco so this was a drive for me. Got there way too early for breakfast someplace else which was way too expensive, (typical O. C.) Check in was quick $34 walking rate and this is an easy course to walk. I haven't played here since 2010 so i only remembered 1 or 2 holes. This is a short course with 3 par 4s at 250 yards, but there are plenty of holes to hit drivers on. Water comes into play on many holes. Like all the courses now there were spots that were over watered. The greens were receptive and rolled faster than expected, traps appeared to have good sand. You need to know the course since there are dog legs, water and sand in front of many greens. The guys I played with helped me with that until 18, (they were off to the left in the trees) I didn't know how far the water on the right extended and after a good drive to center fairway I took too much on and put it in the water for a double on the hole, (dang I needed a par for 79, which would have been my 1st sub 80) oh well. POP was good at 343. Service in the restaurant was not good and we ended up getting up and not eating.

Played Meadowlark in Huntington Beach Thursday 07/16/2018, with a 12:15PM scheduled tee time on a Golf Now Hot Deal @29 per player with cart, plus fee. Used my $25 discount code earned by booking an e... Continue »

Played Meadowlark in Huntington Beach Thursday 07/16/2018, with a 12:15PM scheduled tee time on a Golf Now Hot Deal @29 per player with cart, plus fee. Used my $25 discount code earned by booking an earlier round during the July promotion. My cost with fee was $7.98.
Arrived early 10:45AM driving up from Mission Viejo early to assure time to stretch, practice pitching and chipping. The parking lot was about 20% full and the course was pretty open. I practiced pitching, chipping and putting before checking in at 11:25am and getting assigned a cart which I prepped and then went to the clubhouse restaurant for a tasty bagel. I did not try to go out early however when I went back into the pro shop to get a pencil the starter told me a twosome had just gone off at 11:40 there would be another at 11:50 which hadn’t checked in yet. I could tee off an catch up to the twosome or wait for the 11:50 to check in. I tee’d off to catch the twosome at 11:45.
Upfront I have warm feelings about Meadowlark, as it is the course I learned to play golf on in 1971. I like the layout of this course and the challenges. This classic course built in 1922. (Having moved to HB in 1969 when there was very little around, I can’t imagine how this got built in 1922) wind and doglegs are it’s primary defense.

The course has ample parking, a nice pro shop, and restaurant. The practice range is OK, with mats the only option. The practice green is very representative of conditions on course both in speed and contour. Carts were neatly lined up in front of the pro shop. They are clean efficient and simple, no GPS. Weather for my round was pleasant, blue sky, fluffy clouds, and about a 5-knot breeze wind that would grow to 10 knots with higher gusts as the round progressed. High was in the mid 80’s.
I played from the whites. Meadowlark is not an overly long course playing 5,568 yards from the blues, and 5251 from the whites.
Tee boxes were mostly level, light divot damage, with few brown spots. Ground was spongey in some spots. Overall good footing was easy to find.
Fairways were mostly lush, with patches of brown grass, roll was very good. The course had been heavily watered and there were some areas of mud, soggy rough, and standing water in dips in the cart path.
Meadowlark features concrete cart paths, which the course requires carts to stay to on some holes, and they force you onto in same areas around greens. Currently there are many signs telling golfers to exit the cart path only at a 90-degree angle to their ball. You are not to drive up the fairway. Many of these are in desperate need of maintenance. Either Kidney belts or raised ground clearance are needed until they can be patched replaced. I suspect the California national guard could use Meadowlarks cart paths to test the durability of armored vehicles.
Fairway rough is thick with bare patches, sticky and penal. These are aided by a large tree population defining the fairway. There is water on the course, but it is not the primary defense of the course.
Fairway bunkers – there are very few fairway bunkers on the course, but those that are present are like their greenside counterparts, well cared for sand was compact in the two bunkers I played from requiring a chop shot exit taught by Gary Player and Lee Trevino vs the more fashionable sand explosion shot.
There are three forced carries of water, none of which are that daunting. The primary defense for this course are the postage stamp size greens and on this day the wind. The numerous trees hide the strength and direction of the wind, when the ball gets above them shots get exciting and your recovery game will be tested. The greens are Poa Annua mowed very tight resulting in very fast greens, firm with few levels lies lots of slope in all directions, and ridges. The pin placements today were most frequently on a ridge or the break of a false front. On several occasions balls that landed within 5 feet of the pin rolled to the fringe or off the greens. I felt the greens were softer than when I last played here in May, and fair, there are a couple that are best described as upside down salad bowls, but they rolled reasonable well there a number of unrepaired ball marks.
Pace of play was excellent, I was not able to catch the twosome in front of me until the ninth hole and only because they had caught up with another twosome that was walking. They asked me to play through. Essentially although the course was busy, I had the course to myself. I completed the round in exactly three hours.
I really enjoy this course. The greens are in overall good condition. The elevation changes, judicious use of water, bunkers and trees puts a premium on finding fairways. The upside-down salad bowl greens mean you want to use a very lofted wedge if you can. There is currently a lot of ground under repair, the most extensive being the eighteenth hole where it compromises the route to the hole. If the wind hadn’t been present this might not have been an issue, but as the largest section of GIR sits adjacent to the large fairway bunker and water in a natural lay up zone it made playing the hole much harder.

At the Golf Now Hot Deal price of $29 this is a very good course, at rack rate during the week can still be a good value. Right now, in this condition I recommend playing. The coastal location makes for great playing weather, and the design of the course will challenge you. Bombing driver is often not rewarded.
Now if we can get them to fix the cart path that they want us all to stay too.

Played today, 5/12/18, at 10am with my monthly club – otherwise, I wouldn’t ever play here. Conditions are the same as they were when I reviewed last June – small slopy greens, kikuyu everywhere, indi... Continue »

Played today, 5/12/18, at 10am with my monthly club – otherwise, I wouldn’t ever play here. Conditions are the same as they were when I reviewed last June – small slopy greens, kikuyu everywhere, indifferent conditioning. Surprised that the round took less than 5 hours today – made my escape sooner than expected!

Noticed today that on many of the small greens with false fronts or severe slopes, a good % of the green is unpinnable, leaving few options for placement and making red/white/blue flags almost meaningless. I guess that’s why the course isn’t concerned that, since they fall in the same place in the color rotation, all the par-3 holes were red pins today. Turn off brain, take players’ money!

Not recommended.

Played Meadowlark in Huntington Beach Thursday 05/10/2018, with a 12:15PM scheduled tee time on a Golf Now Hot Deal $35 per player with cart, plus fee.
Arrived early 10:30AM driving up from Mission ... Continue »

Played Meadowlark in Huntington Beach Thursday 05/10/2018, with a 12:15PM scheduled tee time on a Golf Now Hot Deal $35 per player with cart, plus fee.
Arrived early 10:30AM driving up from Mission Viejo early to assure time to stretch, practice pitching and chipping. The parking lot was about 20% full and the course was pretty open. I mention this to note that Meadowlark is one of those rare facilities (at least that I have found) that will not send a Prepaid player out on course early even if there is room available. I don’t believe I saw a single golfer tee off between 10:45 and 11:45 with a foursome went off. My partner and I were called to the tee at 12 noon along with a single.

Upfront I have warm feelings about Meadowlark, as it is the course I learned to play golf on in 1971. I like the layout of this course and the challenges. As such I will share some complaints from my best friend who has a different view of this classic course built in 1922. (Having moved to HB in 1969 when there was very little around, I can’t imagine how this got built in 1922).

The course has ample parking, a nice pro shop, and restaurant. The practice range is OK, with mats the only option. The practice green is very representative of conditions on course both in speed and contour. Carts were neatly lined up in front of the pro shop. The are clean efficient and simple, no GPS. Weather for our round was perfect, blue sky, fluffy clouds, and about a 5-knot wind that would grow to 5 to 10 knots as the round progressed. High was in the mid 70’s cooling off by 4PM to the low 70’s.
Chris our single played the course to an 8 over from the blues, my playing partner played to 10 over from the whites, I played from the whites. Meadowlark is not an overly long course playing 5,568 yards from the blues, and 5251 from the whites.
Tee boxes were mostly level, light divot damage, with some lush brown spots. Ground was neither too hard nor too soft. Good footing was easy to find.
Fairways were mostly lush, with patches of brown grass, roll was very good. The course had the sprinklers on at 11:00AM for a short period. As we reached the back nine, my partners had trouble on the right side of the fairways in areas that significant shade and as a result were more marsh than fairway on #12. There were several other small muddy spots. They did not affect me but were a problem for my partners. (unkind words were spoken about the course watering during play).
Meadowlark features concrete cart paths, which the course forces you onto in same areas around greens. Many of these are in desperate need of maintenance. Either Kidney belts or raised ground clearance are needed until they can be patched replaced.
Fairway rough is thick with bare patches, sticky and penal. These are aided by a large tree population defining the fairway. There is water on the course, but it is not the primary defense of the course.
Fairway bunkers – there are very few fairway bunkers on the course, but those that are present are like their greenside counterparts, well cared for and filled with fluffy sand.
There are three forced carries of water, none of which are that daunting. The primary defense for this course are the postage stamp size greens. The greens are Poa Annua mowed very tight resulting in very fast greens, firm with few levels lies lots of slope in all directions, and ridges. The pin placements today were most frequently on a ridge or the break of a false front. On several occasions balls that landed within 5 feet of the pin rolled to the fringe or off the greens. I felt the greens were very hard, but fair, my playing partner described them a upside down salad bowls, and again did not have kind words for them, despite them rolling reasonable well even late in the day, and with few unrepaired ball marks.
Pace of play was good, it could have been a little better but we had a foursome of twenty somethings playing in front of us, that were playing multiple shots, and tended to wait until the green in front of them was clear despite not being able to get a shot straight down a fairway or over 200 yards at any time during the round. They did mange to hit a tree and almost hit me and hit balls into some yards on shanks. This brings up the point that well we say the cart girl at least four times during the round, we did not see a single marshal. Pace of play was 4.5 hours.
I really enjoy this course. The greens are in very good condition. The elevation changes, judicious use of water, bunkers and trees puts a premium on finding fairways. The upside-down salad bowl greens mean you want to use a very lofted wedge if you can.

At the Golf Now Hot Deal price of $35 this is a very good course, at rack rate during the week can still be a good value. Right now in this condition I recommend playing. The coastal location makes for great playing weather, and the design of the course will challenge you. Bombing driver is often not rewarded.

Played on 2/24 at 8:30. Got out a few minutes early. Not too many on the course which was a little surprising. Greens were pretty fast, tee boxes were ok, fairways were thin. Good customer service (es... Continue »

Played on 2/24 at 8:30. Got out a few minutes early. Not too many on the course which was a little surprising. Greens were pretty fast, tee boxes were ok, fairways were thin. Good customer service (especially at the snack bar). Challenging for a 5600 yard course but if you stay in the fairway and hit your approach shots well, you can easily shoot a low round. A few some greens and has a couple hard pin placements but it’s usually a fun course barring slow play

Played on December 30. I haven't played here in awhile so I thought I would give it another try. Had a tee time of 11:00 and didn't tee off until 11:30. The starter told us that they were 30 minutes b... Continue »

Played on December 30. I haven't played here in awhile so I thought I would give it another try. Had a tee time of 11:00 and didn't tee off until 11:30. The starter told us that they were 30 minutes behind because of fog in the morning. First tee was disorganized as a twosome were late teeing off and the twosome they were to be paired with went ahead and tee'd off. They did tee off next, but never joined the twosome they were to be paired with, so that did slo down pace quite a bit.
Conditions were not the best, but somewhat doable.
tee boxes - chewed up and not level.
fairways - playable, but somewhat thin.
bunkers - I was only in one and it was hardpan dirt. Others in our group was in others and they had sand and seemed to play nice.
rough - hit or miss, mostly miss with bare spots galore.
greens - looked like they never came back from punching fully. Some were fast, others slow and bumpy. Very much like a Forrest Gump box of chocolate. One hole location was on a slope only 3 paces from the front edge and was impossible to stop the ball anywhere near the hole.
Pace of play was 4.5 hours, but felt like 6. Waited on every shot on the front nine. Had a nice BBQ set up next to the 7 hole and were grilling some great hot dogs.
It seemed like they were having problems keeping the carts supplied for afternoon golfers. Many unhappy faces near the clubhouse.

Played here 11/12. Booked a time via GN but starter tried to charge me rack rate (58.00 no way for this place). Once I showed him my confirmation on my phone everything was ok.

This is a fun, short... Continue »

Played here 11/12. Booked a time via GN but starter tried to charge me rack rate (58.00 no way for this place). Once I showed him my confirmation on my phone everything was ok.

This is a fun, short course. Holes that make you think and not just bomb and gouge.
But for the life of me I can't figure out why this place is always soaking wet.
I mean like leave tracks in some spots with your cart wet. And with it being super soaked you would think it would always be lush. Nope. Bare spots galore in the fairways.

Greens were actually pretty good, highlight of the course. Rolled pretty true and medium speed. Tee boxes pretty crappy with markers placed in some super uneven spots . Bunkers fair.

Another kikuyu cow pasture. I’d never played here until today with my monthly club – and won’t likely be burning up the road to get back. I confuse this with Willowick, but I think there's a little mo... Continue »

Another kikuyu cow pasture. I’d never played here until today with my monthly club – and won’t likely be burning up the road to get back. I confuse this with Willowick, but I think there's a little more room here - WW is good for getting shelled from adjacent holes. Very noisy/busy course, with a lot going on around the first tee – clubhouse, putting green, driving range (VERY busy), the terminus of several hole loops, and other tees, resulting in lots of crisscrossing traffic. Indifferent conditioning, inconsistent greens, uninspiring conditions.

Many greens are crowned, and with the firmness and scattered thin grass after recent punching it’s like trying to get your ball to stop on an inverted serving bowl. Many of the greens are also significantly elevated, and are very small, so missing means delicate chips from that mean old kikuyu rough. All the greens showed damage from old ballmarks. Sand in the bunkers I was in was plentiful, although my footing in the fairway bunker on #18 was soft and unsure. Fairways generally gave good lies, but lies in the rough were chancy around the many trees and on slopes around the greens, and with some obvious water-system challenges resulting in mushy areas. Also, many fairway and rough areas were recently punched and not well-watered, so look out for the dime-sized dry holes! Tees were pretty terrible – almost all were unlevel, with the markers often set on the edges of the box where extreme slopes and uneven areas were encountered.

We saw extensive cartpath damage from tree roots all over the course. There were 3 groups on #7 when we arrived, capping the 2.75-hour front nine – we finished in just over 5 hours. No marshal. Wind is a significant factor in the afternoon, especially to those elevated greens. We ran out of divot fill pretty quickly and there are no refills available.