When things heat up out in Palm Springs, my cardiologist advises, and the wife INSISTS, that I stay away. So I passed on the GK Plays at PGA West and joined the ever-patient GKer 1RudeDog for an SCGA ... Continue »

When things heat up out in Palm Springs, my cardiologist advises, and the wife INSISTS, that I stay away. So I passed on the GK Plays at PGA West and joined the ever-patient GKer 1RudeDog for an SCGA Members Outing at Pechanga for $90 at prime weekend time. The weather was gorgeous for a 9am shotgun start on Sunday 5/1/16. Pechanga was to start their Spring aeration the following day, so overall conditions were dry and firm, and I was concerned going in that the level of conditioning might have slacked off as that time approached. No worries – the course was in great condition. The greens, while firm and not holding full shots well, were medium-fast, rolled well, and were in better shape than most of the courses I normally play, with few ballmarks. Fairways gave good lies, although I saw scattered thin/bare patches, and many unfilled divots scattered around the course. Rough had been cut down close and was easily playable, and also deeper in some areas (up to 2-3 inches). Tees were flat, firm, and very good. The only issue I had was with the bunkers – plenty of sand, but while fluffy around the edges the bottom of the bunkers were thin and very wet, making recoveries greenside very difficult. The other difficulty we both had was with the wind in the later holes – it was swirling and changing direction almost constantly, and we stood on some of the elevated tees having difficulty choosing clubs as the wind seemingly changed several times within a minute or two. Fabulous practice facility – turf to die for on the driving range. High-end carts with good interactive GPS and very comfortable seats. Saw the cart girl several times. With the group shotgun start and course difficulty, POP was about 5.5 hr. Highly recommended.

Played Journey on 3/6/16 teed off around 10:30 in the rain. The sun came out around the 6th hole and so did my golf game. I played the last 11 holes at 4-over which is pretty good for me. I won most o... Continue »

Played Journey on 3/6/16 teed off around 10:30 in the rain. The sun came out around the 6th hole and so did my golf game. I played the last 11 holes at 4-over which is pretty good for me. I won most of the skins that day. It is a beautiful thing when you take all the money from your brother and his friends. Also, gambled at the casino before and after and won even more money. Anyone who has played this course knows it is one of the best in SoCal. This course pretty much looks the same year round. Green and lush. Only one drawback on the day was the inability of the group in front of us to repair their ball marks on the greens. If you can play during the week, use the Underpar.com deal to play 36 and really get your moneys worth.

Played today with an underpar deal. This is the first time playing here and I had mixed expectations going into it. We tee'd off at 730 about 30 mins after the first group went out which was nice. as ... Continue »

Played today with an underpar deal. This is the first time playing here and I had mixed expectations going into it. We tee'd off at 730 about 30 mins after the first group went out which was nice. as a two some we did not catch up to them until the 10th as we were enjoying the course with no rush as there was nobody behind us. Pace of play was whatever you wanted we did about 3.5 hours

First the staff- From the moment we got there it seemed like we were number one priority. Cart guys were overly nice and the People in the pro shop were very polite.

The Fairways were lush and well maintained except for the bird droppings on every water hole. this was a nuisance and the bird population is out of control. My partner mike actually hit one of the birds from about 240 out and immediately went into a creek. he was not pleased. I know there is not much you can do about birds but they really have a problem.

Greens were a bit slow in the morning dew and really fast after drying up. Marshall said rolling at 10.5 on the stimp. No realy issue they were nicely maintained and smooth

Bunkers had great sand and luckily i was only in 2 of them no problem getting out.

Rough is a mix of dormant grasses not to shabby but anything around the green was about an inch longer than the rest of the course. Chip shots either had to flop over the rough or be firmly hit to make it through.

I definitely recommend playing here with a deal but rack rate of 140 on weekends id prefer to play Morongo as it is a better deal.

Dec 12,2015. Played the course today and thought it was in great condition even with California being in a drought. The staff was top notch and the practice facilities were second to none. I will defi... Continue »

Dec 12,2015. Played the course today and thought it was in great condition even with California being in a drought. The staff was top notch and the practice facilities were second to none. I will definitely return in the near future, it's well worth it.

Played 21-Nov-15 Sat 0810 tee time. Used an UnderPar certificate for $199 for two greens fees-no problem.

Got stuck behind foursome with two women, one carrying an umbrella for the sun. Told the ... Continue »

Played 21-Nov-15 Sat 0810 tee time. Used an UnderPar certificate for $199 for two greens fees-no problem.

Got stuck behind foursome with two women, one carrying an umbrella for the sun. Told the ranger we were waiting on every shot. He said, "there's a group three holes ahead even slower." I responded that there was a full open hole right in front of the group we were following and that was all I cared about. He shrugged his shoulders and drove on...polite but useless. The rest of the staff was outstanding though.

As for the course, the bunker sand is the best in SoCal, Greens fast and true. The fairways and rough are in distress. I'm guessing there is a water issue even for Pechanga.

I suggest waiting until we get some rain before going down. This remains one of my favorite tracks in SoCal.

The course is much different than in years past. The lack of rain seems to have had a negative impact on course conditions. The entire course was much drier than I've ever seen it from tee to green.... Continue »

The course is much different than in years past. The lack of rain seems to have had a negative impact on course conditions. The entire course was much drier than I've ever seen it from tee to green. The course is still very playable and definitely has some of the best views of any course around. Many of the greens are still showing marks from the recent fall maintenance. The duck and coot problems have also been handled well by the crew. The pace of play is still very slow from the first tee to the last - five hours and fourteen before darkness finished our round. The rack rates here are much more than I would pay - even the discount fees are still a little much, especially considering the shape the course is in right now.

A little late for the review and probably not worth anything because I think they are shutting it down for a few weeks for the maintenance, but for what it's worth don't go there right now. The fairw... Continue »

A little late for the review and probably not worth anything because I think they are shutting it down for a few weeks for the maintenance, but for what it's worth don't go there right now. The fairways and greens are ok right now, but everything else is poor. Service as usual was good, friendly cart guys and starter and snack bar girl is awesome. Beverage carts were frequent and they are very friendly as well. Note to self: do not go there before they shut it down for maintenance. They were already thatching the areas just off the fairway, had big equipment kicking up dust everywhere. They were sanding the teeboxes already. Weren't taking care of the bunkers and the fairways were very dormant. Tried to get our Underpar deal money's worth so we played twice, just because the underpar deal was expiring. Otherwise, I'd be pretty upset if we paid anymore than what we did. I will wait for someone else to be the guinea pig when they re-open.

I played there 9/8/2015 on a SCGA deal pass. Unlimited golf for $90. It was a scorching day but got 31 holes in before we wilted in the heat.

Like a previous reviewer, also encountered unfriendly... Continue »

I played there 9/8/2015 on a SCGA deal pass. Unlimited golf for $90. It was a scorching day but got 31 holes in before we wilted in the heat.

Like a previous reviewer, also encountered unfriendly staff in the proshop and also the starter. I arrived a little earlier than the guy in my group with the coupons, but when I asked about going out to the range to warm up I was told I must wait until he shows up with the coupons. I guess they must have a huge problem with non paying golfers wreaking havoc on the practice range. So after sitting around for awhile my buddy shows up and finally gets the coupons excepted after a very through investigation by the guy behind the counter he relented and sent us out. While two of us were driving out to the range, the started stopped us for the receipt. I explained to him that I didn't have one, that my friend in the other cart dealt with the proshop and he was coming up behind us. "I need to see your receipt", he demanded. Well Bob, I didn't get one. Why don't you call the pro shop to clear it up instead of holding us hostage. It was really unsettling and completely uncalled for in my opinion.

The golf is fine enough. Definitely not worth the rack rate and probably barely worth the "all you can play" for $90. The layout is interesting and the holes are quite varied in their design. The elevation changes are a novelty at best, certain holes feel like they did it because they could, not to make the hole any good.

The greens were slow and the fairways pretty sparse. The drought is hitting every course hard but this one is certainly feeling the brunt of the lack of water. My biggest complaint was with the bunker. There was not one playable bunker on the entire course. The entire course. There was perhaps a quarter inch of sand and beneath that hard pan. I've played a lot of terrible courses in Southern California, and seen a lot of terrible bunkers. These were the worst. I'm not a golf course superintendent, but pretty sure that the drought shouldn't affect the bunkers. Maybe if they put some SAND in them, or turn the existing sand over, that would be a start. The bunkers ruined the experience for me, without question. When I mentioned it to the pro shop between rounds, he mumbled something about fall maintenance and not really knowing they were in poor shape, but something there is gravely wrong. If you play there, don't hit it in the bunkers. Cheer for your ball to go in the water or rough, but if you get in a bunker it's thin city.

I played here on a Sunday with 7 buddies using an UnderPar coupon for unlimited golf. The course was beautiful and in great shape, but the golf staff was terrible.

I have played well over 250 golf... Continue »

I played here on a Sunday with 7 buddies using an UnderPar coupon for unlimited golf. The course was beautiful and in great shape, but the golf staff was terrible.

I have played well over 250 golf courses in my life from the best to the worst, and I have never experienced anything like what happened the day we played here. When I arrived in the morning, I was putting my shoes on in the parking lot and the cart attendant came out and asked if he could take my clubs, I said sure, thanks. Then he saw I had a cooler in my trunk and asked if he could take that too, so again I sure. I went inside to the pro shop to check in and met Kevin, who seemed less than happy to see us. He wasn't rude but not pleasant or friendly at all. After checking in I went out to the cart area to get my clubs and head to the range to warm up. Our bags were on carts ready to go but my cooler was missing. I asked the kid who took it where my cooler was, and he said its in the pro shop office, that there was beer in it and they don't allow outside alcohol. I asked how he knew there was beer inside and he said that he looked. I looked at my friends shocked and said why didn't you just say so in the parking lot instead of taking it and then confiscating it. He had no answer. So I went back into the pro shop and told Kevin that my cooler was there somewhere and I wanted it back. He replied harshly "you can have it back after your round!" I said that I had other things in there I wanted and he said, "there is nothing in there you need and you can't have it back!" I said there was an apple and snacks too and I wanted them and would put the cooler back in the car. He said again in a very rude tone, "nope you can't have it back until after the round!" I was dumbfounded, but instead of having a big argument over a cooler and risk getting kicked off the property I let it go.

Once on the course, the cart girl was non-existent for the first 7 holes, when she did arrive she was nice but the beer selection was awful, which she acknowledged. If you like water beer such as Coors Lite and Bud Light you're in luck, the premium beer was Newcastle.

After we finished our 1st round we wanted to play a 2nd in the afternoon. Keven told us to check back with him at 1:50 that at this time it was open but if someone else (I assume meaning a new paying customer) booked the tee time then they would bump us.

Fortunately that didn't happen and we teed off at 1:50 for our second round, but not before having more trouble with the golf staff. We wanted to play from the tips, The Copper tees for this round. Bob the starter immediately wanted to know why and what our handicaps were. I told him we were all single digit players and he said angrily "there is a big difference between a 2 and a 9 handicap" . I explained to him we were all around 5 or 6. He was not happy and said we would not have fun and that we had to keep up or else. I explained we would be just fine and that we knew how to keep the pace of play. Two of our friends didn't play again so we only had 6 players in the afternoon round so we went out as 2 threesomes. They put a single out last minute just before we teed off which was fine.

As our 1st group was teeing off I see the clubhouse manager come out of the clubhouse and watch us hit our tee shots on #1 (the steps from the clubhouse are right a the base back tee on the 1st) He seemed very interested and not happy, and I presume was informed we were paying the back tees and wanted to make sure we looked good enough to play from there. He didn't say anything.

Pace of play was good on both rounds, but during our second round we got backup up on the 6th tee box, as our 1st group was waiting for the single they put out ahead of us! There was nobody behind us so we figured if a single player couldn't play faster than a threesome then we should just play the rest of the round as a six-some, which we did. Not only did we keep up, but we played through another foursome at the turn, A Korean group who look a bit shocked when they allowed us to play thought and we had 6 players. We assured them they would not have wait for us and they didn't, we left them in the dust.

The course is great (not worth $250) but $80-$100 definitely, just beware of the grumpy staff.

As for playing the Copper Tees (7200+yrds) it is not that difficult, and does not play near that long as many of the shots are way down hill and down wind. There were only one of two shots where a 220+ carry was needed but if you can do that it is not that tough.

The bar and restaurant were great and the beer selection and staff were much better there too!