When I heard that one of my friend's had booked a good 8am tee time at Cresta Verde earlier in the week for today, I had a few trepidations of course based on prior experience there and other reviews,... Continue »

When I heard that one of my friend's had booked a good 8am tee time at Cresta Verde earlier in the week for today, I had a few trepidations of course based on prior experience there and other reviews, but also thought it's always a good idea to give a course a second chance. A lot can change when you visit a track for the second time with a little local knowledge and some good foreshadowing of what's to come. I won't be giving it a third chance. The bones of this course could actually make it quite fun to play, but the conditions simply don't allow any joy. This could easily be one of those quirky but challenging private courses if the conditions were prime, but it's nowhere near that. It's the Inland Empire's Links at Victoria I reckon at this point, but maybe I just haven't played somewhere worse. Let's at least touch on the positives though. The staff are very kind and gracious, while there was also cart service 2-3x available on the course, which is especially great on a hot Saturday. On the course, the only really decent (perhaps even 'good') part were the greens. They are actually in good shape, roll well at medium-fast speeds and hold good shots with no issues. Unfortunately that's where the accolades abruptly end. There are some very narrow and hilly tee shots at Cresta Verde, so when you hit a nice, long and accurate ball off the tee, you expect to be rewarded with a great lie. But alas, here you won't be. I can't even count how many times I hit good shots only to end up in dirt, rocky patches, or previous divots. You also might want to avoid the toxic dump site left of the fairway on the 15th hole. The rough is pure mayhem and there's just not enough good lies to be found when your shots find their mark. Before discussing other conditions, the carts are archaic with ripped up seats and absolutely no frills, including, in the case of my cart, a steering box that wasn't loosey-goosey all over the place. The cart paths are a total disaster and you'll find yourself in need of a chiropractor after the round with all the bumps and bruises from either the cart paths or ditching them for the fairways with all their mounds and gopher holes. I wasn't in any bunkers all day, and come to think of it, most of the ones I saw were former bunkers that had now been converted into grass areas. Tee boxes were very beat up (we played from the blue tees) and it was a good find when you got a patch of moss to set your ball down for your tee shot. POP was definitely on the slow side as well, but once the sun came up it was a beautiful day so that was the least of our worries. I'd love to say more positives about this place but I just can't. I will say the last three holes, in terms of sheer design, are quite good, and 18 is a very nice closing hole - again, only in design terms, not condition. I would absolutely love to see this place get a million-dollar makeover and come even close to complimenting the design. It's a shame that, at least from the looks of things like the driving range, that's not going to happen anytime soon.