Played Talega at 2:45pm on Thursday, 8/4/16. Got a $40 deal on GolfNow; day was warm but not hot, breezy but not windy. I was cautioned by GKer Matt’s recent review of course conditions, but decided t... Continue »

Played Talega at 2:45pm on Thursday, 8/4/16. Got a $40 deal on GolfNow; day was warm but not hot, breezy but not windy. I was cautioned by GKer Matt’s recent review of course conditions, but decided to give it a try, as I like this layout and I’m continuing my futile quest to eagle the downhill par-5 #11. [Explanation: I had a free video swing analysis I had won a few months ago at Pechanga, and the Pechanga teaching pro is also the pro at Talega (Randy Chang; nice guy and talks common sense!), so after the video analysis I wanted to get out and field-test the changes.] Conditions were better than I expected after seeing Matt’s review, and I know that conditions have been up and down here over the past few years. Greens were in pretty good shape – fairly firm, holding full shots, and rolling well but at only medium-slow speeds, which helped hide a lot of sins. You could be very aggressive on most putts. We did see a few scattered bare spots on some greens. Unfortunately, greens had LOTS of old and new ballmarks, and the number of marks seemed to increase as we progressed further into the round. The last few greens looked like a war zone! Too bad people won’t take care of their course! Fairways were firm and mowed tight and gave good lies and rollout, with some scattered thin or bare areas. Rough was dry, thin, and had generally been cut low. Tees were in pretty good condition – I never felt like I was standing on a sloping area. I wasn’t in a trap, but playing partners encountered hardpan, or fluffy cement, or hard-packed damp conditions, resulting in both flops and rockets. [Looks like the course owner, like many others in SoCal and elsewhere, has cut the Superintendent’s budget and staff to the bone, and conditions have suffered. I guess the course is doing the best they can with the resources they have.] I was paired with 2 nice younger gentlemen, long hitters but definite sprayers, and we had an enjoyable round (Although one had music playing softly in the cart – no, they didn’t ask me.). We were behind another 3some that moved along OK, although we were frequently waiting on them, and the quick-moving 2some behind us always seemed to be ready to hit as we walked off the greens. POP was about 4 hours. No cart girl. The snack bar outside the clubhouse was closed as we made the turn at 4:30 – you had to go inside for service. No starter, and pro shop kid wasn’t the sharpest pencil in the box. [Verdict on the swing changes: Mixed results – it’s definitely still a work in progress to get more comfortable and consistent.] The GPS on the carts, previously a fairly high quality system (albeit with issues in the back nine canyon) has been changed to a simpler ProShot system that gives only basic yardages. There’s still quite a few “construction” projects going on. Some adjoining areas have been converted from turf to mulch, and others could be seen with the turf stripped off, awaiting mulch coverage. The area short left of the first green had been resodded. I commented previously that several bunkers had been filled in and converted to rough – yesterday I saw that the bunker behind #18 has been removed. On hole #15, the intimidating tee shot was defanged as the blue markers were on the white box. [Hole #11 eagle update – I hit a pretty good drive down the left side, then my 2-hybrid got a great bounce just beyond the last trap on the right and caromed like radar toward the back left pin location. Just 8 feet to an eagle, but missed the putt to the right! I was playing too much break all day!! Next time!?!] Still recommended.