It has been some time since I've last played here and the first thing I noticed is they removed all the foilage in many of the hazards. (I guess to allow people to find their balls and speed up play) ... Continue »

It has been some time since I've last played here and the first thing I noticed is they removed all the foilage in many of the hazards. (I guess to allow people to find their balls and speed up play) The course has a general "scruffiness" to it, just did not present as very well manicured.

The greens looked bad, but they actually putted much faster than they looked and were overall rather nice. The greenside bunkers that I was in were perfect ! Also noticed they raised the green fees since I last played here, which in this tough economy was a surprise

Played here on Sat 3/2 7:50 morning time. Had a great time. i was expecting a 5+ hour round considering our tee time but surprisingly we finished in little over 4. Beautiful weather, quiet, and good... Continue »

Played here on Sat 3/2 7:50 morning time. Had a great time. i was expecting a 5+ hour round considering our tee time but surprisingly we finished in little over 4. Beautiful weather, quiet, and good condition all around. what more can you ask. Greens were nice but tough as usual. They had some issues with bunkers. seemed like no sand and just hard packed dirt area. one of the bunkers had a G.U.R sign. May be they are in the process of fixing the bunkers? Besides bunkers, not much to complain about the condition.
*10th hole: what a green. make sure to grab extra club or two to put in the back of the green. i hit the middle of the green and rolled all the way back down off the front of the green.

Played here for the first time on Saturday, December 22, and returned for a second go-round the following Saturday, December 29. Was able to redeem my final two Costco certificates and found the $37.5... Continue »

Played here for the first time on Saturday, December 22, and returned for a second go-round the following Saturday, December 29. Was able to redeem my final two Costco certificates and found the $37.50 green fee to be well-worth the 200+ mile round trip vs. the rack rate of $72.00. Although the second round was played in cold and rainy conditions, it was a nice change of pace from the sunny weather encountered the previous week.

As far as the layout is concerned, I found Hidden Valley to be challenging with a good variety of holes that take advantage of the inherent elevation changes, which makes for a visually stunning experience. Seems to be an equal split of uphill as well as downhill routing that helps to provide some diversity. As a result, there aren't many flat lies to be found so expect a lot of uncomfortable address positions if you play here. There is some local knowledge to be gained when playing Hidden Valley for the first time since there are quite a few blind tee shots as well as approaches in to the greens. Nothing too extreme but choosing the proper sight line off the tee can have a major impact on your approach shot (the Par-5 6th hole is a good example).

Length off the tee provides a big advantage, especially if playing it all the way back. Even at 6200+ yards, the course seems to play longer than its' yardage, which is attributable to some forced carries as well as the uphill tee shots. Found myself facing a lot of "in-between" shots as a result.

For the most part, fairways are relatively wide and invite shot-shaping off the tee in order to avoid trouble and/or work the ball into the optimum spot for your approach shot. Although it certainly didn't look attractive, the turf was relatively full though some holes sported more divots than others where short irons were used (#14 for example). In contrast was #15, which was closed to cart traffic and the condition of the grass reflected it. Definitely the best fairway on the course. Fringe areas were good although the length of grass varied from 2" rough to St. Augustine-type grass that would just disintegrate upon impact, which made short pitch shots very challenging.

Greens are also designed to allow shots to be played to the safe part of the green or, if you're feeling brave (or foolish), worked in towards the pin. A couple of the greens feature extreme contours that made some of the pins inaccessible, but I'll blame that on poor judgement by whoever set the cups that day.

Given that the greens were probably the quickest I've been on this year, the aforementioned questionable pin positions had three-putt green written all over them. Case in point is the short Par-4 7th hole, where the cup was placed on a shelf in the far right hand rear corner of the green. Just about impossible to get close to, even with a wedge, and a real adventure when it came time to putt. This green should be re-contoured.

Putting surfaces were in pretty good shape...the ball checked up beautifully, even on short pitch shots...and they rolled fairly smooth. However, I did have a couple of longish putts get kicked off line by some imperfections as the ball neared the cup, which cost me a couple of strokes as those putts were definitely headed dead-center. For the most part, however, ball mark damage wasn't out of control.

Tee boxes were pretty chewed up and not level; some had been filled with mixture while others had not. Despite this fact, I didn't feel it impacted my game although it is disconcerting when you can't locate a level spot to tee off from. Rough wasn't very long yet did have an affect on how the ball reacted upon impact, oftentimes requiring an extra club.

The bunker sand was absolutely terrible, especially on the 29th. Damp from the rain, combined with the fact that there wasn't much sand to begin with, the bunkers were d%mn near unplayable. It was akin to hitting a ball off the sidewalk in front of the house with no chance to get under the ball with any cushion; bladed shots that resulted from the club simply bouncing off the hard-packed sand were the norm. Probably the worst sand conditions I encountered anywhere in 2012.

Although I enjoyed the layout and had fun playing there, Hidden Valley is showing signs of duress. I'm led to believe this was not always the case and I have no explanation to offer and can only conjecture as to the reason for the deterioration: a reduction of resources, a change in management, or perhaps some questionable maintenance procedures.

A couple of holes could benefit from some much-needed renovation, most particularly the Par-5 opening hole, where a left-to-right sloping fairway kicks balls straight into the hazard that lines the right side of the fairway up to the elbow of the dogleg. I'd recommend relocating the cart path to the left side of the fairway and adding rough or a long waste bunker in its' place in order to help speed up play. Too much time is spent looking for tee shots that land in the middle of the fairway yet find their way into the hazard.

Customer service at the front desk was excellent (a quick nod to Jordan) and cart service was available throughout the round. Pace of play was slow on the 22nd (4:40) but a bit quicker on the 29th (4:30). Very friendly marshal was working both days I was there but wasn't able to get his name. Kept us informed as to what to expect with regards to slower groups playing ahead of us.

Driving range is a bit of a joke with only 11 mats available and an area that slopes uphill with yardage signs dotting the hillside after the turf runs out at about 140 yards. Certainly wouldn't waste my time practicing here; it's only functional as a place to make a few swings before heading over to the first hole.

I opted to hold off on my review of Hidden Valley after playing on the 22nd and I'm glad I did. Took a closer, more critical look at the course and its' features during my second visit and had to temper my enthusiasm. This course can be quite amazing if in pristine shape but given the current state of conditions, I doubt I'll be anxious to make another 200+ mile journey to play there in the near future, especially at regular green fees.

Hidden Valley Golf Club Review
Norco California Golf Course Reviews

I HAVE A NEW RESPECT FOR HV. ITS A GREAT LAYOUT AND GETS UNBELIVABLY QUIET ON THE COURSE. NOT GREAT CONDITIONS BUT GOOD ENOGH TO PLAY AND HAVE FUN ON. TEE BOXES WERE UNEVN AND SAND TRAPS WERE HARD. FA... Continue »

I HAVE A NEW RESPECT FOR HV. ITS A GREAT LAYOUT AND GETS UNBELIVABLY QUIET ON THE COURSE. NOT GREAT CONDITIONS BUT GOOD ENOGH TO PLAY AND HAVE FUN ON. TEE BOXES WERE UNEVN AND SAND TRAPS WERE HARD. FAIRWAYS WERE NICE AND GREENS HAD LOT OF DIVOTS. GOOD SPEED OF GREENS AND PACE OF PLAY WAS SLOW.

Played Hidden Valley at 9:30 on 12/26 in 55*F and 20mph winds. Course is as fun and challenging as I remember with lots of elevation and risk reward shots. It just rained that morning so the condition... Continue »

Played Hidden Valley at 9:30 on 12/26 in 55*F and 20mph winds. Course is as fun and challenging as I remember with lots of elevation and risk reward shots. It just rained that morning so the conditions were quite damp. The fairways are thin but adequate. The rough was almost non-existent, having been cut down to almost the same low level as the FWs. The greens were excellent, most divots were fixed, they rolled true and fast with plenty of break.

I noticed they switched to electric carts which seemed brand new, so the previous comment re: the bad cart may be a 'one off event.' Staff was friendly.

At $52 with cart, Hidden Valley is a great bargain for what I'm looking for in a golf course. The only negative was the 5 hour pace of play, but I guess I can forgive that too since it was the day after Christmas and the wet conditions required cart paths only on this difficult layout. I always love coming here.

played last Sat 7AM. man, was it cold! First time here and upon first looks, it was quite pleasing. Course seem to have a lot of different looks and pretty exciting to play. It was intimidating fo... Continue »

played last Sat 7AM. man, was it cold! First time here and upon first looks, it was quite pleasing. Course seem to have a lot of different looks and pretty exciting to play. It was intimidating for a 1st timer as we didn't know the terrain and locations that are safe to miss. The early morning fog didn't help either. Tip (esp for winter season) - play after 10am for best conditions..:)

Weird driving range. We didn't use it but it looks funny the way the yardages are laid out. 220 to the top of the mountain... really? wonder how they managed to calculate that.

Condition of the course is decent. Greens were great ! fast and rolls true. we were at the practice greens and balls were just scooting all over. we knew it was going to fun day. Balls landed soft and surprisingly, there were very little damage on the greens. We managed to find a few unrepaired but most of the greens were in Very good shape.

fairway lush but had a lot of wet areas (maybe due to the rain earlier).

the only 2 concerns were the tee area and bunkers. There were a few holes where we had to look for a decent level spot. As for bunkers, there were a few with little or no sand.

There was no marshals seen, and saw the bevcart a mile away.
Pace was about 4 1/2 hours. it was decent but the group in front was a tad slow for morning crowd. we waited on each hole in the front nine. back 9 was decent as we moved along nicely.

ooh, and we were surprised there was no GPS on the carts. Good thing we brought ours.

Overall, pretty nice course. Would like to visit again.

Hidden Valley Golf Club Review
Norco California Golf Course Reviews

Played 12/15 Sat morning. When i played HVGC earlier this year, I was very impressed. So I was excited to return to HVGC and enjoy a round. However, this time I was equally disappointed. First, th... Continue »

Played 12/15 Sat morning. When i played HVGC earlier this year, I was very impressed. So I was excited to return to HVGC and enjoy a round. However, this time I was equally disappointed. First, they got rid of GPS on the carts. And then, on the course, there is no yardage marker at all. No yardage stakes, no sprinkler head markers. Not what so ever. I only saw two sprinkler heads with yardage mark all day. Most of sprinkler head covers were ripped open! So if you don't have GPS device or laser finder, good luck with your club selection. And, we didn't see any marshal, nor a cart girl. I heard HVGC recently let people go after management change. Maybe that's showing in the negative ways.
As for the course condition, greens were good. Medium to fast. Fairways has some bare and wet spots but overall ok. The bad was the tee boxes, which were unlevel and had many severe divot makrs. Also the sands were damp and hard, which was same as earlier this year.
HVGC is a course with nice layout and lots of potential. I was just so disappointed with negative things I saw this time. I hope this is not permanent.

Hidden Valley Golf Club Review
Norco California Golf Course Reviews

Played yesterday 12/15. There was a tournament out in front of which slowed things down the whole day. Close to 5 hour round. Tee boxes are not good, as far as the tips go; unlevel and torn up. Fairwa... Continue »

Played yesterday 12/15. There was a tournament out in front of which slowed things down the whole day. Close to 5 hour round. Tee boxes are not good, as far as the tips go; unlevel and torn up. Fairways were good, ball sat pretty well in most places, some brown spots but overall good. Rough was a little thin overall good though. Greens were great. Fast, difficult and smooth. Some of the greens were soft from the rain so spike marks were a little bit of a problem, but overall nice greens. Layout is great; difficult and scenic. Would definitely recommend the course and play here again.

Hidden Valley Golf Club Review
Norco California Golf Course Reviews

Played Hidden Valley on tuesday, found the greens to be very good, rolling probably a 10 or 11. Tee boxes were in pretty bad shape, many divots and very thin. Fairways had many brown or dry spots resu... Continue »

Played Hidden Valley on tuesday, found the greens to be very good, rolling probably a 10 or 11. Tee boxes were in pretty bad shape, many divots and very thin. Fairways had many brown or dry spots resulting in some pretty tight lies. Not sure if overseeding was done or just did not take, course maint. really did not understand what I was asking. The experiment with Augusta sand or white sand in the bunkers either was placed on hold or discontinued as I saw only one greenside bunker with this kind of sand, really to bad because the bunker conditions here were horrible, one quarter or larger pebbles in every bunker with some being larger than one half inch. Overall all though course played great and will be back soon.

Hidden Valley Golf Club Review
Norco California Golf Course Reviews