Played out here this morning with a Forelinx round, along with a couple buddies. We had the 7:23 time as a threesome and were the fourth group out. We had to wait on the group ahead for most shots, bu... Continue »

Played out here this morning with a Forelinx round, along with a couple buddies. We had the 7:23 time as a threesome and were the fourth group out. We had to wait on the group ahead for most shots, but it was still a decent overall pace of under 4 hours. The course is in okay shape for winter I guess. The greens were by far the nicest part, as they were soft and rolling smooth at medium speeds. They were great. The tee boxes were fine. The fairways are pretty much dormant this time of year and it's kind of thatchy/puffy grass. It seems that to maintain them, it's less about mowing the grass than matting it down. Sometimes you get a bit of a chunky lie against the grain. The rough was also basically dormant and a little longer. The ball sits down just enough to make you work for a recovery. About 50 yards from each green and in, things are kept somewhat greener and nicer, but grass was still somewhat spotty. I was in a couple of greenside bunkers on the back nine and they were nice. My friends were in a few early and complained that they were very firm and thin. This was only my second time playing Strawberry and I had pretty good memories of it. I definitely like the back nine a lot more than the front, but overall I do enjoy the layout. I probably didn't like it as much as the first time, though, but the conditions may have impacted that quite a bit. I have to agree with everyone that as part of the Forelinx package, it's nice to have this normally expensive course in the rotation (especially being so close to home for me). But to think there are people paying well over $100 to play here right now makes me kind of nauseous. Another example of vastly overpriced OC golf that I normally choose to avoid.

Played the Blues (6276/70.9/128) using Forelinx in 3H, 45M. I like the course & layout, the conditions and difficulty are both above average. The back nine is tighter & more interesting than the fro... Continue »

Played the Blues (6276/70.9/128) using Forelinx in 3H, 45M. I like the course & layout, the conditions and difficulty are both above average. The back nine is tighter & more interesting than the front IMO. Par 71 with an extra par 3 on the back. For me, SF has the feel of more like a 6500 yard course, not slightly less than 6300 yards from the Blues. Many holes have trouble down both sides with no bailout. For that reason, I thought the 128 slope rating from the Blues was lower than I would personally rate it. The tees had good grass, but many tees had large amounts of unfixed divots. More than I would expect for a higher end course. The bermuda fairways had good coverage with a few well marked GUR areas. I like hitting off bermuda fairways, so I thought thses fairways were good. The rough was not overly penal unless your ball settled down, which it did often. Then, it was short iron get it back in play time. Fairly lush and had good coverage. The traps were very nicely maintained with good sand. The greens were mostly smooth, putted medium speed & held approach shots well. Tougher than most courses for me to read. Many had subtle breaks and crowns running down the middle where depending on your angle, balls started slightly one way or the other could break in completely opposite directions. The customer service was excellent, quick & efficient check in. The starter was especially exceptional. Nice clubhouse & restaurant/bar area. Beverage cart was around several times during the round. However, despite all the positives... SF does not rise to the level of being a great course that would justify paying their rack rate (at least to me). Recommended = Definitely IF you can get a deal.

Played Strawberry Farms on Tuesday, 11/24 with a 8:45 tee time. Utilized the Costco deal that is on the GK Blog for $80 (Thanks!). The course is tucked back into the canyon and quite secluded. This ... Continue »

Played Strawberry Farms on Tuesday, 11/24 with a 8:45 tee time. Utilized the Costco deal that is on the GK Blog for $80 (Thanks!). The course is tucked back into the canyon and quite secluded. This was the first time I've played here and the staff was professional and courteous. The starter gave us a good rundown of the course and pointed us in the right direction.

The facilities here are average. The driving range was relegated to mats (which stinks) but it was a nice big range with plenty of stalls available and it is lit at night. There are 2 different putting greens that make it easy to find your own hole to practice on. Carts have GPS, but it only provides distances, not a course or hole map. My partner had a breakfast burrito that he raved about and I've heard the restaurant is above average (although I did not personally eat anything(.

Conditions today were good, but not great. The greens are fully healed from the aeration a month ago and run mostly true, but they have a lot of ball mark damage. Fairways are decent, but really thin throughout the course. Rough is sparse and not a real issue. Tee boxes are mostly level, but there are about a 1/2 dozen where I had to move around a bit to find a flat stance.

Course is a tough, but fair course. It plays 6300 from the "mens" tees, but it's a par 71 and it plays a little longer than 6300. There's 2 very short par 5's that counter act the ridiculously long 630 par 5 12th (that played into the wind today!) Actually, that long par 5 is a pretty well designed hole with a big landing area and narrows as you get further down, but it's an absolute beast. There are some really cool holes, like the short par 4 8th that yielded both an eagle and a double in our group and the 420 par 4 fourth that rewards 2 great shots.

Strawberry Farms is a good, but not great course. As far as Orange County golf goes, it's one of the better tracks, but at the $175 rack rate (weekends) it would be a massive disappointment. However, for $80, it was a great day and totally worth it.

was able to get out on a weekday morning 930 after the kids went to daycare. it was pretty busy, which i guess justifies their rates. i don't usually play here even though it's down the street as i ... Continue »

was able to get out on a weekday morning 930 after the kids went to daycare. it was pretty busy, which i guess justifies their rates. i don't usually play here even though it's down the street as i feel it's overpriced, but then again it's OC. the fairways are consistent, though a lot of brown on the course. greens are soft and receptive, don't break much until the ball slows and then they will turn right at the hole. teeboxes are fine, rough is fluffy making consistent face contact tough. pace of play was about 4.5 hours. i generally like the layout although some of the par 4's are fairly forgettable. nice and serene, not a lot of houses border the holes. still way better than work.

Played this morning, first off the tee at 6:00 paired with another single. Great POP at 3:15, and that includes catching up with back nine players around the 14th hole.

Course is in fairly good co... Continue »

Played this morning, first off the tee at 6:00 paired with another single. Great POP at 3:15, and that includes catching up with back nine players around the 14th hole.

Course is in fairly good condition overall. Greens are mostly healed from aeration and medium fast and probably will be quicker as they dry out later in the day. Fairway conditions are inconsistent from one hole to the next. Many are thin, wet and compacted, requiring precision shotmaking. Others are dry and lush with the ball sitting up beautifully. Rough was pretty good throughout. Tee boxes were fine and bunkers were all very nice.

Even though I took pictures here recently, I finally caught Strawberry Farms on a blue sky day, so I took some more today: https://goo.gl/8RFau9

Played the Blues (6276/70.9/128) with RGM2525 using Forelinx on 11/6. We played 36 and were done before 2pm. The 1st 18 in 3H, 30M, the 2nd 18 in 3H, 45M with a short break in between waiting on the t... Continue »

Played the Blues (6276/70.9/128) with RGM2525 using Forelinx on 11/6. We played 36 and were done before 2pm. The 1st 18 in 3H, 30M, the 2nd 18 in 3H, 45M with a short break in between waiting on the tee to clear, so the POP was excellent. My 1st time here, enjoyed the course. Par 71 with an extra par 3 on the back. The back was the tighter, more interesting 9. Agree with Mark's earlier review, many holes have trouble down both sides with no bailout. For that reason, I thought the slope rating was perhaps too low? Definitely tougher than average for a course less than 6300 yards from the Blues. The tees had good grass where the golfers had not chewed them up with divots. Many tees had large amounts of unfixed divots, much more than I would expect for a higher end course. Ron & I went through probably 6 bottles of divot mix and repaired probably 200 divots total in 18 holes, and could have fixed 200 more. The bermuda fairways were neither lush or thin but had good coverage with a few well marked GUR areas. I like hitting off bermuda fairways, so I thought they were good overall. The rough was fairly lush and had good coverage. Not overly penal unless your ball settled down, which it did probably 1/3 of the time, then it was short iron only time. The traps were very nicely maintained with good sand. Inconsistent on the depth of the sand, I was in 5 total, 4/5 I could blast, 1/5 it was thinner. Even on the 2nd round, a few were still wet from watering over spray, so that had to be taken into account on how far behind the ball and how hard you needed to swing on blast shots. Barely 2 weeks after aeration, the greens were only a little bumpy, putted medium speed & held approach shots well. Tougher than average to read, many had subtle breaks and crowns running down the middle where depending on your angle, balls started slightly one way or the other could break in completely opposite directions. These greens are going to be excellent, maybe even exceptional in about 10 days. My overall course rating will probably be lower because I only gave the greens a 6/10, but they will likely be a 7 or 8/10 soon. The customer service was excellent. Quick, efficient check in and the starter was exceptional. Nice clubhouse & restaurant/bar area. Beverage cart was around numerous times during our rounds. I liked the course, definitely above average. I look forward to playing here again via Forelinx. However, I agree with the majority of people I have spoken to about Strawberry Farms. The layout, conditions and difficulty are all above average. However, it does not rise to the level of being a great course that would justify (for me anyway) paying anything remotely close to their rack rate.

Played 11-6-15 with Nickesquire for 36 in about 7 hours in a cart. tee boxes were a mix, some were very nice and lush, others were a little thin with some heavy divot damage. Fairways were in OK shap... Continue »

Played 11-6-15 with Nickesquire for 36 in about 7 hours in a cart. tee boxes were a mix, some were very nice and lush, others were a little thin with some heavy divot damage. Fairways were in OK shape,some areas were thin while other areas were a little to long and there were a lot of marked off GUR with a few of the fairways being roped off. Roughwas a little bit longer than the fairways, but the ball did sit down in it. Sandtraps had descent sand but were a little wet from watering. Greens were healing nicely from being punched. rolling pretty good with medium speed. Another week or so and they should be in real good shape.

Had a 7:30 tee time this morning using my Forelinx membership. The starter/cart guy asked if I was ready as soon as he loaded my bag onto a cart, and when I said yes he sent me directly to the first t... Continue »

Had a 7:30 tee time this morning using my Forelinx membership. The starter/cart guy asked if I was ready as soon as he loaded my bag onto a cart, and when I said yes he sent me directly to the first tee to join a twosome. So I probably teed off about 20-25 minutes early, and POP was decent, just a smidge over 4.5 hrs. Weather was not pleasant – overcast, hot and muggy, with occasional rays of sunlight. Conditions are pretty good overall. I always have a hard time gauging conditions here because I think the course is so ridiculously overpriced. (The pro shop guy hit me up for $175 before realizing I was pre-paid.) Greens were good for the most part, quite firm although full shots would stop. Maybe it was due to lots of moisture, but early in the day we all kept leaving downhill putts short. They looked like they'd be much faster. Overall greens are about medium speed and seem sorta nicked up in spots. Fairways are good, not great, and some didn't seem like they were mowed today. On No. 9, I was about 90 yards out for my third shot and the fairway grass was more like rough than fairway. There are MANY spray-painted areas of GUR throughout the fairways. The rough was mostly thick bermuda and the ball would often settle down in it, although I did find some other type of deep grass behind the 12th green. Bunkers were decent but some were wet and compacted. Tee boxes on the front looked terrible, like maybe they're in the midst of being seeded and in transition. They were better on the back. I feel like this course always plays "wet," like the ground underneath everything is mud. I realized today I find this to be a very difficult course, at least for my game. There are many holes that offer no bail out play, with trouble both left and right. Overall, for the price I paid, I enjoyed it, but I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would ever pay $175 here. Here are some photos I took: https://goo.gl/xFwfCU

About the same time sixpez was teeing off out in Corona, I was in his neighborhood using my GolfMoose voucher at Strawberry Farms in Irvine. Looks like they're making an big effort to re-sod some of ... Continue »

About the same time sixpez was teeing off out in Corona, I was in his neighborhood using my GolfMoose voucher at Strawberry Farms in Irvine. Looks like they're making an big effort to re-sod some of the damaged fairways and tee boxes, marking it as GUR was nice to see and we did on several occasions ... it did not affect play other than the #10 tee was moved forward. Greens today were a tad slower than my last visit but still rolling fairly dependable at medium speed and holding a decently struck ball like velcro. In one bunker, wet sand and a bit heavy, but playable for sure. Some semi-thin fairway lies out there but turf was forgiving, rough could be surprisingly thick in places. One of my favorite OC courses and would play here as much as possible if not for the high and unreasonable green fees. $75 is acceptable (GM voucher = 2 for $150), but not much more than that. PoP was 4.5 at 9AM with most waits on the par 3's. Good food in restaurant.