As much as I would love to gush about the PGA West Pete Dye Mountain course, it's unfortunate that I won't be able to do that after playing there this week. We had an 11:30 tee time on a gorgeous, sun... Continue »

As much as I would love to gush about the PGA West Pete Dye Mountain course, it's unfortunate that I won't be able to do that after playing there this week. We had an 11:30 tee time on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, but even that couldn't make up for some of the deficiencies we faced throughout the round.

Please bear in mind that it's the weight of expectations (and the value for the price) that is responsible for much of this review. Current conditions here at any LA Muni would be praised and celebrated, but when you come to a course with this one's reputation, its price and its designer - you simply expect more.

To put it simply the front nine is a bit hit or miss in terms of design, but it appears to still be having drainage issues from the hurricane a few months back, and that is impacting mud zones, bare spots and a general thinness to the fairways. There were a few GUR areas as well in bad spots. The rough was good. A few of the tee boxes certainly had some issues when it came to being level and/or lush, while the greenside bunkers were actually in pretty good shape, but the waste bunkers off the fairways had lots of rocks in them and I'll never quite understand those large waste bunkers in the middle of fairways and part of the cart path.

The greens? Well, they were inconsistent. They took funny turns. They were generally fast and hard as rocks and didn't hold shots amazingly well. But it was really the inconsistent speeds and breaks that made it a frustrating afternoon for many in my group. Personally I adjusted well to them but I saw so many questionable moves on the ball that it was impossible not to take notice.

We did have cart service many times during the day, the range is nice and there are lots of water and ice machines along the routing. No complaints there, but the POP definitely did leave a little to be desired as the two groups in front of us were in no particular hurry and it definitely had an impact while waiting for tee shots.

The last five holes here are really where the reputation is earned, and to be fair those were really fun to play, even as the sun dipped below the mountains and the temperatures dropped pretty significantly. But unfortunately that just didn't make up for all the rest of the inadequacies that we experienced. And just to be clear once again, this 'poor' review is only in relation to the near $200 greens fee and reputation for a Pete Dye course. You can definitely play it but I think it's still a ways from being at its best and with so many other options in the area, I'm not sure I will be in any rush to come back anytime soon.