Disappointing conditions here at GCRC on Thursday, 12/13/18, at 11am. It was bright and sunny and a full week after the rains in SoCal, so I was expecting pretty good conditions. This course reminds m... Continue »

Disappointing conditions here at GCRC on Thursday, 12/13/18, at 11am. It was bright and sunny and a full week after the rains in SoCal, so I was expecting pretty good conditions. This course reminds me quite a bit of the ill-fated Carmel Mountain Ranch GC – great bones, a challenging layout, but one that has gone to seed and needs a capital infusion and some serious TLC to get back to being a premier venue. While several fairways and tees looked busy when I drove in, only a couple of groups teed off in the hour before my tee time, and I played as a single in about 3.5 hr, catching the foursome ahead of me on #11 and plugging along behind them for the remainder of the round. Overall the course is in rough/seedy shape – I was expecting the course to be better groomed. Conditions ranged from nicely groomed to overlain with severe scattered debris. Greens here are fairly large, most protected by deep bunkers. Many greens are elevated and have slopy fronts that can repel short approaches or see shots spin back down the slopes. Some minor tiering on some greens, but nothing too wild – none of my putts today had a large amount of break. While the practice putting green was very bumpy, on-course greens rolled fairly smoothly at medium+ speed. Greens were pretty quick downhill. Not a great number of ballmarks, even though greens were receptive to approaches. Several greens had scattered sanded areas on them, mainly around the green margins. Fairways and rough were a motley mix of colors and quality. Both had scattered straw-colored and green shadings that gave the look of a camo outfit and made spotting the ball difficult – I spent a lot of time on some holes searching for balls that weren’t that far offine. Fairway coverages were generally good but the ball sometimes sat tight. Rough was a mix of several grasses and ranged from bare dirt to scattered clumpiness to a deep, juicy nightmare. Many tees had a lot of uneven surface, but none were badly sloping. Par-3 tees were not badly damaged. Sand (there’s lots of traps and lots of BIG traps!) looked to be nicely groomed but not real plentiful. Many greenside traps may be so deep they have to be hand-groomed, as a worker was doing ahead of me on the 12th green. Carts were pretty basic – no GPS, no ballwasher/cleaner, an empty cooler. Some holes had ballwashers mounted on the hole info tower (showing yardages, internal trash can, etc.), some did not. Par-3 tees generally had divot mix containers, and there’s a refill rack before the 10th tee. Quite a bit of maintenance work going on all around the course, although it’s obvious much more work remains to be done throughout. If I was a homeowner backing to the lake along the 13th hole, I’d be pretty upset about that ugly, stinking, fetid cesspool over my back fence. The pond in front of hole #3 had an ugly fence around it. Lots of birds in play on the back nine around hole #13. They were out of the course yardage books in the pro shop. Some sprinklers are marked, and some faiways had 200/150/100 plates. The course uses a R/W/B rotation for pin placements – 3 of 4 par-5s were white today. My old yardage book shows the greens with a 6-location clock for pin placements – this more complex approach would likely result in less repetition. I used the same club on the first 3 par-3 holes, despite them playing in 3 different directions. A local resident woman was walking 2 unleashed, barky dogs on #15 – I wonder if homeowners get course access? This is a fun, challenging layout that deserves play but needs more resources. Maybe we can have a GK Event there to get the word out and drum up more interest.

Early 5+ hour round after we were told we had to wait for three groups of their ladies club to play thru the 1st tee. My partner asked the pro shop in person when paying how the course was - WE we NO... Continue »

Early 5+ hour round after we were told we had to wait for three groups of their ladies club to play thru the 1st tee. My partner asked the pro shop in person when paying how the course was - WE we NOT told the greens had JUST BEEN vericut that morning either!! This is why I rarely play here anymore!! It's always something that makes me not want to come BACK!!! The course is in pretty good shape. The tee boxes were a little thin and shaggy in places and the tees were set in places with definite slope. The fairways and rough are being overtaken by the kikuyu grass which is good and bad. Good where it is thick enough and bad where it is still thin. The traps are fairly well groomed with dirt and lots of rocks. The greens were ALL bumpy from the vericut and extremely slow compared to what they usually roll. The weather was great - just be nice if the ownership gave a HOOT!!!

Player 9/25 going out at 8:40 - was booked as a single but paired up with Brian on the tee, nice guy, good stick and good company.

First and most important - this is currently CART PATH ONLY. Thos... Continue »

Player 9/25 going out at 8:40 - was booked as a single but paired up with Brian on the tee, nice guy, good stick and good company.

First and most important - this is currently CART PATH ONLY. Those who know the course understand that can lead to some VERY long walks with 1/3 of your bag in hand to have the right club when you finally get there. Even so, POP was an easy 4 hours despite waiting on several holes due to a slower 4 some a couple holes ahead.

Tees and fairways ranged from a little shaggy to a lot shaggy, with the fairways being pretty soft w/little to no run-out. Greens are coming around nicely, first few hadn't been cut but when we reached the ones that had and the sun/wind dried them out they pick up quite a bit of pace. Back nine you could barely tell they'd been punched and all rolled true.

Bunkers leave a little to be desired, half & half sand/dirt mix that was quite "heavy" but at least they're consistent and reasonably playable.

Overall it was worth the price but with the cart path only I'd say just barely - once that limitation is gone I'd definitely recommend it.

First time playing here on Saturday 6/24 at 11am. Course was wide open with nobody in front or behind us the whole way.

Blue tee boxes were mostly level with good coverage and minimal divot damage... Continue »

First time playing here on Saturday 6/24 at 11am. Course was wide open with nobody in front or behind us the whole way.

Blue tee boxes were mostly level with good coverage and minimal divot damage.

Fairways were mix of lush and dry and firm, but not dried out, still green.

Rough was patchy in places. You could get a ball in a thin patch or in a thick, hard-to-find and hard-to-hit-from club-grabbing rough.

Sand was decent also. A little darker and heavier than I’d prefer, but it was consistent.

Greens were in good shape and recovered from any recent aeration but with a few signs of it having occurred. Rolled mostly true but were a little spongy. Held shots well and rolled medium or maybe a little slower.

Lots of elevation change, forced carries, some blind tee shots, and hard doglegs provided a good but fair challenge. Really made you think your way around the course. Several real fun holes I thought. No GPS in the carts or hole maps, so unless you play here a lot, my SwingbySwing GPS app on my phone really helped me out mapping out my shots for course layout.

Early am Saturday round in under four hours here - miracle!!! The staff is great. The tee boxes were all in great shape with good coverage and very level. The fairways were in very good shape much ... Continue »

Early am Saturday round in under four hours here - miracle!!! The staff is great. The tee boxes were all in great shape with good coverage and very level. The fairways were in very good shape much to my surprise. Most had real good coverage and were in pretty good shape. The rough was thicker than usual today which made finding and hitting shots in and from it difficult but doable. The traps were some the best maintained of any course I've played in some time - nice! Some of the traps may have needed a little sand but were very playable and enjoyable! The greens were the usual slippery quick but most a little bumpy - I believe they are scheduled to be plugged this coming week. The greens were receptive to shots and like I said quick! Love the greens here!! The course is actually planting many palm trees throughout the course which is good to see finally. I would wait a couple weeks after maintenance and the course should be in great shape.

Played last Wednesday as the first off at 6:30 - was paired up by the starter with a twosome but they wanted to play by themselves so I ended up as a single. No need to rush, the Men's Club was start... Continue »

Played last Wednesday as the first off at 6:30 - was paired up by the starter with a twosome but they wanted to play by themselves so I ended up as a single. No need to rush, the Men's Club was starting a "reverse shotgun" on #13 at about 8 (caught them on #14).

Conditions were quite mixed. Greens were all good, rolled well at medium-fast pace but were a little spongy and the bunkers were heavy but good. Rough was hit & miss, some very thick, some barely there. The fairways were the same, some in good shape but most were quite patchy and some had several marginal areas. Tees were good condition and level (except #16, someone buried a medium sized whale under the white section, VERY crowned and not a flat spot to be found!).

This is a very solid layout but I'm used seeing it in better condition. Still a decent value but hopefully they bring things up a little in the near future.

Played yesterday with iluv2golflady using a Group Golfer deal. The weather was pretty hot in the 90s with no breeze at all on the front, but the wind kicked up pretty good on the back keeping us a b... Continue »

Played yesterday with iluv2golflady using a Group Golfer deal. The weather was pretty hot in the 90s with no breeze at all on the front, but the wind kicked up pretty good on the back keeping us a bit cooler. I’ve played here many times and have always experienced friendly and efficient service in the pro shop and restaurant with yesterday being no exception. Our tee time was 11:30 and got out on time. We were behind a slow threesome and foursome so waited quite a bit on the first 4 holes. The single behind us then caught up and we invited him to join us which really helped even out the pace for all of us. I really enjoy the layout of this course. It’s not a hugely hilly course but has enough elevated geens, blind shots, hidden bunkers and water hazards to keep things interesting and challenging. It starts with a bang on #1 with a par 5 dogleg with a huge bunker at the corner and forced carry to the green. The conditions were decent. The fairways had lots of thin spots and are getting very brown but we still had no bad lies. The rough varied a lot in length and is all getting brown, dry and crispy. The bunkers were thin and somewhat gravelly but still easy enough to hit out of. Tee boxes were good. Several of the reds were moved back to the gold making those holes a fun change. The greens played better than they looked. They all still showed the punch patterns and were a little bumpy but putts stayed on line. There were very few ball marks and I had only 12 putts on the back so I was quite happy. We finished in 4.5 hrs. I hope to return again soon before it dries out much more.

5/12 using groupon with discount $64 2some on a cool 830 start which turned into a pleasantly balmy round. Steve the starter was on top of his game giving us an accurate run down of the line up and e... Continue »

5/12 using groupon with discount $64 2some on a cool 830 start which turned into a pleasantly balmy round. Steve the starter was on top of his game giving us an accurate run down of the line up and encouraging us to start early ahead of several 4somes(and watching a couple of the groups rather confused approach to getting their carts loaded) we were thankful for the way Steve looked after us. We teed off behind a 3some that we saw only briefly and were quickly caught by a 2some on 2--then on 5 my playing partner sprayed a drive which we thought we found but after reaching the green discovered it was the wrong ball--so waved the 2 some through went back to the tee and played lost ball--never saw anyone the rest of the day so played a very comfortable POP of 4 hours. The course is quite scenic what with a lot of green from the rains and the lakes and water features being full. Fairways are generally lush good cushion and decent roll with some areas however having more than one variety of grass that can be a little clumpy but overall had really good lies with only 1 or 2 being a little sketchy. Rough for the most was not very long but sticky and in some places rather juicy. Some areas beyond the rough had an assortment of vegetation that has now replaced what used to be bare dirt. Tees level with mostly good cover. Bunkers were freshly groomed --green side #11 deep rather heavy sand but playable and #17 left green side groomed but very wet mix of sand and dirt--a challenge. Greens played much smoother and faster than they looked still showed the outline of being punched but was way more of a visual issue as they were tightly mowed and did not have any significant bumpiness. Rolled medium fast--were receptive to full shots and were consistent through the round. Back pin placements were tough as they were fully back and on the upper tiers--so a shot the just got to the upslope being about a foot short from getting to within 5-6 feet would roll back finishing 20-30 feet away. the these are big greens many set at angles so unless you were directly on line there was a feeling of being rather short sided most of the day. Nice staff with a very golfer oriented frame of mind. In my opinion the course is nearing peak condition-greens will get firmer and faster and the fairways will retain much of their moisture keeping them green and the temps will stay pleasant--so from now and over the next 6--8 weeks there is an ideal opportunity to play a good layout at its best. The rating that is posted is lower than I would have anticipated is more like a 7,3-7.5

Played this 6 words-in-the-name course Saturday AM with the Dawgs. Waited on most holes in a 5 hour round. I'll start by saying the food and service were very good ... friendly, hard-working people ... Continue »

Played this 6 words-in-the-name course Saturday AM with the Dawgs. Waited on most holes in a 5 hour round. I'll start by saying the food and service were very good ... friendly, hard-working people here. The rest is downhill. I haven't played here for a decade ... I remember when the SCGA called it their home course, it was well conditioned and stunning to the eye. Not now. Even after all the rain this winter, the fairways are drying out and semi-shaggy. Rough was not cut in a long while and was mostly crab grass type stuff. Visually, unappealing. In two bunkers which were in good shape, I will give them that. The RTJ design is challenging and well thought out ... the bones are intact but the skin is wrinkled and dry.

The greens were not in good shape. Not fully healed from aeration ... bumpy but still very firm, so very hard to keep putts online, however, my partner was making everything ... so go figure.

Anyway, it may be another decade before I return, especially with that drive (out/in) on the 91. A ton of people have moved out here (houses everywhere ... when did this happen?!?) and there's only the 15 to get in or out. Brutal commute ... could not imagine doing this every day. My apologies.