Played today for the first time in almost a year. We were very disappointed the last time with the course conditions (this track ain't cheap!) so we took it out of our rotation. Had been hearing that ... Continue »

Played today for the first time in almost a year. We were very disappointed the last time with the course conditions (this track ain't cheap!) so we took it out of our rotation. Had been hearing that things were better so we gave it a try. Got out quick (before our scheduled time) and knew they had been changing over the turf and conditions vastly improved. Greens were in very good shape! Hardly ANY ballmarks! (one of my major peeves!). Rough, not too bad but thick enough that you could chunk it or fly it. Found the sand on a few holes. Some traps better than others. Had a very enjoyable round. Staff always very accommodating. My playing partner and I are Seniors so we get a pretty good rate. I'd look for deal if I was anyone else because it is pricey but then again its south OC and that can be expected.

Talega is a nice course that I've played many times, but today it was in the poorest condition I've ever seen. The fairways had lots of bare spots, and the rough was even worse. Some very large port... Continue »

Talega is a nice course that I've played many times, but today it was in the poorest condition I've ever seen. The fairways had lots of bare spots, and the rough was even worse. Some very large portions had hardly any grass at all. The bunkers need some serious work, as the sand is hard packed and wet, even though we've had no rain, and by the look of the fairways it's not from sprinklers. The greens were in decent shape, but a little lumpy, and looked like they haven't been sanded in ages. Lots of GUR, but they look abandoned, like the grounds crew isn't working on it. Overall, it has the look of a course that can't afford to be maintained properly. While this is the time of year when courses are not in the best condition, other course I regularly play are not in anywhere near this bad of shape. We saw the snack cart only at the turn, and never saw a marshal, although POP was OK. Certainly not worth the $70 I paid to play. On the plus side, the roast beef sandwich was quite good.

WOW. Talega was AWESOME. Greens rolled true, tee boxes were flat and even, and I didn't have a bad lie when I hit the fairway. The course has a few blind tee shots, and I didn't navigate the back nine... Continue »

WOW. Talega was AWESOME. Greens rolled true, tee boxes were flat and even, and I didn't have a bad lie when I hit the fairway. The course has a few blind tee shots, and I didn't navigate the back nine well. I still had a terrific time at Talega. Will definitely be back! FYI~ Talega is changing the grass on their teeboxes currently. It didn't bother me, but I thought it should be noted.

Played at 1:44pm on Sunday afternoon, 10/11/15, on a hot sunny afternoon with less breeze than I'm used to at Talega. Course is very dry and plays firm everywhere, although some greens were pretty sof... Continue »

Played at 1:44pm on Sunday afternoon, 10/11/15, on a hot sunny afternoon with less breeze than I'm used to at Talega. Course is very dry and plays firm everywhere, although some greens were pretty soft. There's a lot of scattered GUR around the course and some small changes have been made. The bunker along the left side of #15, a par 5 with a blind tee shot over the wooded creek, has been removed. Some of the trap area on the right side of #3 fairway, a short par 4, has been removed. A number of areas around the course have been sodded over, either to repair damage or enlarge playing area.

Greens were generally in good shape, with good coverage, held shots and rolled at medium speed. Fairways and rough are being transitioned from rye to bermuda and were generally all right, but scattered thin or bare spots were evident in different places. Green margins could have thick bushy grass, but most of the rough had been cut short and was very dried out, so there's lots of rollout and wayward shots have little to stop them from going off into the ubiquitous ESA. Traps actually looked pretty good, although thin, and played OK. Tees were pretty torn up on par 3s but OK otherwise, although a couple were sloping.

Starter was on top of things. No cart girl at this time and snack bar was closed at the turn - you had to go inside. I was paired with a group of 3 Asian gentlemen who were very nice to play with and had some golfing skills, but all had VERY deliberate setup and pre-shot routines that seemed to slow the world to a crawl. we were pushed by smaller groups all day and a couple played through, but we still finished in 4.1 hrs (could have been faster). Pretty good GPS on carts, but it wasn't working on several 'ravine' holes on the back nine ("yardages not available").

sorry for the late review, played last sunday sept. 6th. Place is not in very good shape right now. The whole place is in need of a lot of work. They are still doing massive repairs on the rough, l... Continue »

sorry for the late review, played last sunday sept. 6th. Place is not in very good shape right now. The whole place is in need of a lot of work. They are still doing massive repairs on the rough, lots of GUR. Greens are still spotty, and pretty hard. Fairways are more dormant than the past, but still had pretty good lies in the fairways. Teeboxes were ok, fairly level and you could find a decent spot to tee it up. Sandtraps were not good at all, hard pan, avoid at all cost.

POP not too bad, 4.5hrs. got a deal on Gnow for $50 for a Sun afternoon, not bad, but still not worth it. The conditions are very poor right now and I wouldn't advise playing at all right now.

Service was great, nice guys pick you up and drop you off at your car. Load up the cooler with ice and clean your clubs. Starter was great as well.

Played here two years ago and it was in beautiful condition. A drastic difference from our round yesterday. The course layout with the large number of bunkers promise a fun and challenging day but the... Continue »

Played here two years ago and it was in beautiful condition. A drastic difference from our round yesterday. The course layout with the large number of bunkers promise a fun and challenging day but the conditions are really terrible now. Fairways have large areas of dead grass and patchy bare areas which could be justified by the extreme water shortages due to the California drought. But you can't blame the drought for the rocks and hard packed dirt in 95% of the bunkers. Or for the uneven and chewed up tee boxes or the cart GPS system that lacks coverage for all 18 holes.

During the current water drought all golf courses have to drastically reduce water usage. The better courses have been strategically eliminating areas of grass and rearranging sprinklers to make the most of less resources. This course appears like it hasn't even tried. Very sad to see a good course go down like this without an effort.

September 7, 2015

Played Saturday the 25th. Teeboxes were pretty crappy. Greens were not very good at all, still trying to recover from aeration maybe? Not sure. Practice green was fantastic, thought we were in for... Continue »

Played Saturday the 25th. Teeboxes were pretty crappy. Greens were not very good at all, still trying to recover from aeration maybe? Not sure. Practice green was fantastic, thought we were in for a treat with the greens on the course, but no, they weren't that good at all. The fairways were definitely the only good part of the course. Rough was not good at all, they are doing a good amount of work on the rough and the course in general, so hopefully good things are around the corner, but for the rack rate, save your time and money. We got a GN deal for 60$ at noon, which would've been acceptable, but not in this condition. Give it a few weeks

Talega, 12:48 time via GolfNow, $55 ... we were able to go out at noon and got around in less than 4.5 hrs with minimal waiting. The previous jerry64 review was a bit scathing but justified as I've s... Continue »

Talega, 12:48 time via GolfNow, $55 ... we were able to go out at noon and got around in less than 4.5 hrs with minimal waiting. The previous jerry64 review was a bit scathing but justified as I've seen this course in much better shape than it is now. I'll start with the positives: the greens, while firm and not holding anything less then a well struck iron, are nice and full, green and rolling smooth ... at least the majority of them are. The surrounding area of the green complex is also in decent shape, no real issues there. The rest of the course leaves a lot to be desired. Fairways are hit and miss, mostly thin lies but generally playable with browned out areas galore (the short par 4 #3 is worse than terrible, try to stay left). The rough, however, is spotty and bare, varies from hole to hole ... I'd give you 50-50 odds of a decent lie or hardpan crap. And I won't even mention the rocky, hard, high walled fairway bunkers ... greenside bunkers are better, I'd just rate them poor. Yeah, that bad. If you keep your ball in play you will enjoy the course as it's a fun layout with a couple quirky holes. But when the ocean breeze turns into a wind and finding the fairway becomes a challenge, hope for the best, you'll need it. sngernz cannot recommend this course at this time but if a good deal pops up ($40-50) it may be a less preferred option.

Played Talega Golf Club today at a 10:48 tee-off.
OH HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN. I understand the water problems so I will try to be as fair as possible. The fairways are hard, with very tight or t... Continue »

Played Talega Golf Club today at a 10:48 tee-off.
OH HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN. I understand the water problems so I will try to be as fair as possible. The fairways are hard, with very tight or thin lies, and have a well, brown hillside look to them, watch your driver because the ball rolls for ever. It really is bad, hate to see what the future holds right now. The rough, or lack of it is dry like Chinese noodles. It is so bad it almost cracks under your feet as you walk. Ok, so enough said about the fairways and rough, now lets get to something I think they can control.
The greens are as bad, no really bad for this course. Slow, bumpy, and very inconsistent, slow here and fast in other areas but overall very slow. Many have severe ball marks left unattended or repaired wrong. Some greens are bone dry and the fringe is very much obsolete, or dry as well. Now lets talk about the bunkers, WOW did I say BUNKERS, more of a Desert waste land, with minimal sand and what is there is hard pan at best, excluding a few that seem to be taken care of. Lets not forget about the ROCKS also, take your Jack Hammer in case your Sand Wedge won't do the job.
As always customer service here is terrific, from the bag drop boys, golf shop attendant, starter and even the beverage workers. This is one of my favorite tracks to play in the O.C. and enjoy the whole experience here normally, but right now its way over priced for the product that is being delivered. If you can find a deal for under Fifty bucks its still worth the play, if not stay away right now. It's sad but true, THE ONCE MIGHTY HAVE BEGUN TO FALL, here's hoping some water hits the fairways!!!!!