If you asked me what course I’ve played the most in my lifetime, I’d have to guess it’s either San Clemente, Casta del Sol or Moreno Valley Ranch. I loved MVR and was very bummed when it closed in 201... Continue »

If you asked me what course I’ve played the most in my lifetime, I’d have to guess it’s either San Clemente, Casta del Sol or Moreno Valley Ranch. I loved MVR and was very bummed when it closed in 2015. As you might’ve noticed in the GK forums, I’ve visited the course a few times since its demise to report any progress to everybody here. I was very excited to hear they were opening this past Wednesday and promptly made plans to visit as soon as I could, which was this morning at 7:15. At first mpisarski01 was going to join me, but unfortunately he had to bail out. I arrived around 6:50 and checked in, paid the $74 remaining after the $1 pre-paid booking reservation, and was told I’d be paired with three others. They also told me to check in with the starter out near the practice green. He was really friendly and the practice green is very nice. We did start a few minutes late, however, but it worked out well. They are waiting until the group ahead has teed off to even let you leave the clubhouse area and drive under the street over to the first tee (former Valley No. 1). Then additionally, the starter asked us to wait until the group ahead was on the green before we teed off. We did so and never had to wait all day. In fact, after the other guys I was playing with stopped at the turn for a bathroom break and drinks, I don’t think we even saw the group ahead of us at all on the back (former Mountain) nine. The group behind us was waiting on us a few times. Total POP was about 4:20. Before I get to course conditions, I’ll mention Rancho Del Sol has the most relaxed Covid precautions I’ve encountered since I started venturing out to play golf again. Nothing egregious, but there was a water bucket to wet your towel, there were the little pins in holes on the practice green that everybody grabs to get their ball out, sand containers in carts, an ice-filled cooler on the cart, and free tees in the cart. On-course pins have a PVC pipe insert to prevent the ball from dropping down far. I did get my own cart without having to ask or anything as a single, though. Starter and clubhouse employees were all wearing masks. Conditions are good, with the course playing better than it actually looks. The greens are very smooth, medium speed and extremely soft… super spongy and squishy feeling like you’re standing on a mattress or something. Full shots stopped quickly and made deep ball marks that I couldn’t really fix satisfactorily because they were so deep. (Makes it tempting/instinctive to use your divot tool to pull up on the grass, but we all know that’s the wrong way to fix a divot. Don’t do that.) Fairways have really nice coverage of light green and yellow grass. They are lush and play great, just not visually extra appealing. The rough varies from extremely lush, deep green grass cut a few inches deep, to bare spots, to really nasty deep stuff around some bunkers and adjacent to some fairways. On both the fairways and the rough, I found some wet areas but that’s to be expected with such high temperatures. Tee boxes were very good/great. I wasn’t in any bunkers but I took a good look at a few and they looked sort of wet and compacted. Not sure that’s fair to say because maybe they weren’t, but that’s how they looked to me. Overall the course plays great! I hope the extreme sponginess goes away from the greens, though. Design notes: The card lists black tees as the tips but they weren’t out today, and at least one hole (13, formerly 4 on Mountain) had the top tee boxes closed, which makes it play much straighter and easier than I was used to. The 18th hole is now a par 3, and surprisingly to me it uses the old Mountain 9 tee boxes rather than the green complex. They basically built a new green complex out in the middle of a giant field that used to be the fairway of Mountain No. 9. For a par 3 finisher, it’s a good hole. Pretty sure the par-5 3rd green complex is dramatically different from how it was before. Now it has more of a modern “trendy” linksy look to it with gentle mounding and trees all behind the green rather than Dye’s original, more severe mounding I seem to recall. Other tidbits: The course has no yardage markers whatsoever and no GPS in the carts. Unless they are partly owned by Bushnell, this seems like a bad idea and a recipe for slow play. Hopefully they can add some plates in the fairway or rocks along the side or something. Also, I love the course so much, I had hoped to play 36 and knew they had tons of available times in the afternoon, but when I inquired about a replay rate they said it would be $45. Which brings me to the rates in general. Obviously I want the course to succeed and remain in good condition, but I do think it’s slightly overpriced. The guy who offered the $45 replay said green fees go down to $55 at 3:00, so he’d be giving me an even better rate than that, but when temps are near 100 and the tee sheet is mostly open, I’d think they might attract more play with lower rates. I opted to come home and watch golf instead of playing 18 more in the afternoon heat. All in all, it was wonderful to be back and I can’t wait to return again, although I’ll likely be looking for a Hot Deal next time. Check out my Instagram post and Stories for a bunch of pictures from today.