HmtGolfGuy and I played our GK Cup 10 match here this morning with a 7:29 hot deal for $23 each. Always a good value at General Old. It wasn't too busy out there, but we teed off on time and were pair... Continue »

HmtGolfGuy and I played our GK Cup 10 match here this morning with a 7:29 hot deal for $23 each. Always a good value at General Old. It wasn't too busy out there, but we teed off on time and were paired with another twosome. One of them was kind of a new player and they urged us to go ahead after the first hole. We then played as a twosome behind a foursome, who eventually let us play through on 11. In the end, it worked out well as we finished in under 3.5 hours.

Conditions were solid overall. Tee boxes fine. Fairways had mostly good coverage and I almost always had decent lies. Rough very spotty with some really thick stuff and some bare dirt. Things get better around the greens. That is where they obviously put the most attention. The greens had really nice turf. It was just really, really wet this morning. All ball marks were huge craters and the surfaces were spongy. They were drying out at different rates, so every green reacted a little differently than the rest. If we were there mid-day when they were dried out, I probably would rate the greens higher than the squishy inconsistency we got in the early morning. I was in a couple bunkers and they were just a sloppy wet mud/sand slurry.

I always have a soft spot for General Old. Funny I just spent the weekend up in Fresno/Bakersfield because GO is kind of a Central Valley course at heart. Nothing overly exciting, but always solid and enjoyable enough at the right price.

Played General Old this morning with a 7:22 GN Hot Deal. I booked as a single and then the threesome who bought the rest of the times brought a fourth person, so the pro shop guy sent me out by myself... Continue »

Played General Old this morning with a 7:22 GN Hot Deal. I booked as a single and then the threesome who bought the rest of the times brought a fourth person, so the pro shop guy sent me out by myself. I played behind a foursome all day, but I hadn't been here on a nice day for a while, so I took pictures and took my time and things moved great. Finished in 3:40.

Conditions are decent. Good news is the greens are the highlight, mostly very nice and nearly excellent. The third green had a bunch of dead/discolored areas, which was unfortunate. The rest of the greens are very smooth, medium-fast/fast and accept full shots very well. They are especially fast when putting toward the March Field runway. Fairways are mediocre, a mix of lush grass, dormant grass and thin areas. They were a little shaggy, too. So even when in the fairway, lies aren't that great because they're either thin or a bit clumpy. Rough was much the same as the fairway, just longer in length. (Even with a 7:22 time, there was frost on the fairways until the 4th hole this morning.) I saw a few muddy spots around the course but mostly it seemed that the recent rains have been absorbed (just in time for more storms later this week). I was in one bunker and couldn't play a traditional bunker shot due to being right against the edge, but the sand seemed nice and well maintained. Tee boxes had good coverage but were a little lumpy and/or not level.

The last couple times I played here, the weather was ugly, so today I took advantage of blue skies and made a Flickr photo album of 36 photos here: https://goo.gl/8GQyXs

P.S. I noticed there's a note on their website that says the property will not be developed and the course will remain open! Great news!

Played Tuesday, 8/2 with a 6:12 am tee time. Amazingly I was in the 4th group off, not sure when the first two paid or how they could see their tee shots!

General conditions are pretty good, wit... Continue »

Played Tuesday, 8/2 with a 6:12 am tee time. Amazingly I was in the 4th group off, not sure when the first two paid or how they could see their tee shots!

General conditions are pretty good, with the greens being the highlight (as usual here). They roll well and usually play faster than you think - just wish more people would fix their ball marks. Fairways had some patchy sections, some worse than others but mostly playable. Rough varies from "what rough?" to pretty long and thick depending on the location - around the greens it was consistently in the "make you think and execute" range without crossing over into "aw s..., this is gonna suck". Tees were ok, couple need a good mowing, couple had some spots that weren't quite level - divot damage on par 3's was reasonable, it appears they are moving the markers regularly.

POP was very good at about 3:35, could have shaved another 20 minutes off if the two-some in from of us had kept pace with the first two groups but we never had a long wait.

Despite the yardage, slope and ratings, this course tends to play harder and longer than you think. Due to the hole layouts and some very old/large trees, there are good and bad miss spots on nearly every hole - and trust me, if you find the bad ones you will be VERY happy with bogey (there are 3-4 that are pretty much a guaranteed double or worse). Some of those the smart play is hitting less than driver off the tee (#s 7, 14, also 18 if playing the white tees) which makes it play longer than the scorecard - others appear to be that way but laying back only makes things worse (#15, I'm looking at you!). The last 4 times I've played here I actually used every club in my bag and I can't say that about most courses.

Customer service is limited. No beverage/snack cart, no GPS, range and practice areas are is pretty "iffy". However, every single person I've been paired with was a pleasure to play with, and since it's an ex-military course you might be treated to 3-4 hours of some amazingly interesting stories.

Supposedly the course is slated to be closed and turned into a housing development (as if there aren't enough boring/overpriced developments within a 10 minute drive). If you haven't already done so, get out and play it before that happens - it won't "wow" you, but you'd be hard pressed to find many courses at this price point with greens this good.

Definitely recommended

The greens were in fantastic shape. The fairways were nice...just stay on the fairways as the rough can be hardpan dirt and run for miles! The sand traps were consistent and the pace of play was p... Continue »

The greens were in fantastic shape. The fairways were nice...just stay on the fairways as the rough can be hardpan dirt and run for miles! The sand traps were consistent and the pace of play was perfect and the price of this course is very affordable. I would highly reccomend this course, even for the extra drive out there in Riverside...you will have a nice round.

Itslikeimsayin pretty much covered it with his review but I'll elaborate on a couple points.

I've played here semi-regularly the last 18 months or so and this is by far the best conditions I've enc... Continue »

Itslikeimsayin pretty much covered it with his review but I'll elaborate on a couple points.

I've played here semi-regularly the last 18 months or so and this is by far the best conditions I've encountered. Bunkers are much better than before and the greens have completely recovered from the recent maintenance (as Mark pointed out, you can see where they were punched but they rolled true all day). To me they seemed pretty fast and downhill putts can get away from you if you're not careful.

If you haven't played here now's a good time to check it out - if you have, now's the time to come back!

Played my GK Cup match with HmtGolfGuy here this morning at 6:33. We got an "early bird" rate of $30 including cart from GolfNow. It rained several times on my drive to the course, but we encountered ... Continue »

Played my GK Cup match with HmtGolfGuy here this morning at 6:33. We got an "early bird" rate of $30 including cart from GolfNow. It rained several times on my drive to the course, but we encountered no rain on the course and the course showed no signs of recent precipitation. It was cloudy, a bit chilly and the air was damp most of the day with a little wind now and then. POP was excellent as we finished a few minutes before 10:00.

I hadn't played here for about 18 months and I'm happy to say conditions are pretty good. The greens showed visual evidence of aeration (grass where the holes were was darker green than the rest), but I don't think it ever affected putts at all. I thought the greens were very good actually. They were smooth, medium fast and very accepting of shots. Fairways were lush but a little shaggy and also sort of clumpy in spots. Rough was also clumpy with a considerable number of bare spots. The bunkers I was in were quite good, although wet so early in the morning. Tee boxes (we played the white tees) are very lush although they have some sort of green dye on them that stained my fingers, making me look like The Slightest Bit Angry Hulk.

I've always loved this layout and the course is in very nice condition right now (although overcast skies deterred me from taking many photos today). Let's all get out there and save this course from its rumored demise!

Early morning tee time on Sunday with my brother. Check in was quick and easy and went out as a twosome walking. Tee boxes, fairways and rough had good coverage, greenside bunkers were really bad with... Continue »

Early morning tee time on Sunday with my brother. Check in was quick and easy and went out as a twosome walking. Tee boxes, fairways and rough had good coverage, greenside bunkers were really bad with little to no sand and was worried after my first shot out of one that I may bend a club. We were one of the first groups out and the greens were very moist and soft so much so that you could see everyone's footprints on the green which made for some interesting putting around the hole. Once the sun came out and the greens dried up they were in good condition. POP was a comfortable four hours and the course was not very crowded.

Played Tuesday 11/17/2015 before work, went out at 7:22, booked through their website on a special deal ($26+fee). Stuck in traffic on the way, was stressed about getting stuck behind others and end ... Continue »

Played Tuesday 11/17/2015 before work, went out at 7:22, booked through their website on a special deal ($26+fee). Stuck in traffic on the way, was stressed about getting stuck behind others and end up late for work but when I showed up there was no one on the tee - guy at the pro shop said "go whenever you're ready" and I ended up playing by myself in just over 3 hours (could have been less but I took my time and included some "on course" practice time).

Conditions ranged from OK to very good, I'd say somewhat above average for this course. Fairways had some thin spots but for the most part decent coverage and good to hit from. Some of the tees had depressions and spots that weren't level and the par 3's showed fairly heavy use but you could always find a decent place to tee it up. Rough varied, some thick, some nearly non-existent.

Bunkers were ok, fairly heavy but decent and consistent to play from - fairway bunkers were harder with less sand but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

As always, the highlight of the course were the greens. Slightly firm so play for a little roll-out, VERY good roll when putting and fast enough you didn't feel like you had to "hit" longer putts but not so fast as to be problematic.

This course plays fairly long from the white tees - they're about the equal to the blue tees on most courses. Most holes it's not a huge difference, but a couple of the par 3's and #18 become a LOT tougher from the back.

Bottom line - if you're going to drive 40 miles to play somewhere, this probably isn't going to be your first choice. If you want to play an enjoyable round at a good price (and possibly have the chance to hit some extra shots for practice) give the General a shot.

9/2/15 Practice areas are very good except for the range, tee box very unlevel and shaggy; great to practice up down and side-hill lies. Played c: 9:00AM. Pace was great until we caught three groups o... Continue »

9/2/15 Practice areas are very good except for the range, tee box very unlevel and shaggy; great to practice up down and side-hill lies. Played c: 9:00AM. Pace was great until we caught three groups of older men at #5 still finished in about 4 hours. The fairways had a few bare spots but mostly good (they had just sprayed “blue” fertilizer), so they are trying to save them. They are letting the rough die, so anything missing the fairways ran quite a distance (usually into trouble). Bunker “sand” was coarse and still wet from watering, but playable. Biggest complaint, as noted in a previous review, the rakes are for “décor” purpose only for this club (it seems this high tech equipment is too difficult for the players here, to comprehend). Every bunker I was in had un-raked footprints (the bunkers had been machine groomed that morning).
Greens were still wet and held very well, very good condition and speed was good, not fast but consistent. Staff was very welcoming and friendly; they actually seem to be encouraging business in the bar in the afternoons. Overall a very positive experience for the fee $33 senior.