Because of the time change, I had concerns as to how busy it might be, but perhaps due to the threat of rain, thee was no issue at all. First off on Chino Creek and enjoyed a quck round without even ... Continue »

Because of the time change, I had concerns as to how busy it might be, but perhaps due to the threat of rain, thee was no issue at all. First off on Chino Creek and enjoyed a quck round without even having any maintenance people to deal with. My expectations of the El Prado courses are never high, but I have to admit the fairways were very green and lush. As always there were bare areas in the rough, and since I was not in any bunkers, can't really comment on them, except they didn't look all that good. (Unmaintained) Greens rolled very true, and were fairly quick. Truthfully the course was better than expected. Dennis in the shop was great as usual and the price was right!

Finally a day without frost I guess because of the treat of rain, it was even more empty than usual. Not a problem getting out early and beating the rain, although I did have some showers off and on... Continue »

Finally a day without frost I guess because of the treat of rain, it was even more empty than usual. Not a problem getting out early and beating the rain, although I did have some showers off and on during the round. Can't be too critical because it's winter and I kind of knew what to expect. El Prado is never in great shape, but if you're looing to get a quick, inexpensive round, than this place fills the bill.

As prior reviews states, greens are decent, but the dormant fairways, scruffy bare areas off the fairways, combined with a general feel of neglect, does not provide a "country club" atmosphere, but the price is right, the staff is always great and it does provide good basic golf, which is all I expected.

Played early on Friday morning, New Years Day 1/1/2016, with a 10:24 time booked on GolfNow. I was hoping that all the partiers would sleep in and the course was very uncrowded, but a brisk east wind ... Continue »

Played early on Friday morning, New Years Day 1/1/2016, with a 10:24 time booked on GolfNow. I was hoping that all the partiers would sleep in and the course was very uncrowded, but a brisk east wind and temps in the 50s made for a nippy and uncomfortable start. After a creaky warmup on the grass range, I was paired with a single (thanks, Jerry!) from Huntington Beach and we jumped off on the back nine to avoid some 5somes that had gone out earlier. I hadn’t played in several weeks and immediately regretted the choice of the back nine, as I cold-topped my approaches on the first 3 holes, losing two balls and a total of 5 strokes to par. Good start! Jerry walked up to the blue tees and I blindly followed, forgetting that I had planned to play white today (diff. = 550 yards). So I got slapped around the first six or seven holes before getting into some kind of comfort level – but that meant another ball in the creek on the long (and headwindy) #15.

Course conditions were winter dormant and very scruffy. Rough was dormant and in bushy/fluffy condition. Fairways were very thin and firm, with some areas of bare dirt; many fairway areas on the back nine were roped off to carts; hole 1 was also CPO – a good start to the round!! Tees were generally OK, but some could use some leveling. I wasn’t in the sand, but I saw Jerry hit a couple shots and conditions looked OK. Greens were generally in good condition and held shots, and rolled medium fast, speeding up as the day warmed. These greens have been reduced in size so much since I was last here that some are just crazy small – it doesn’t make sense to me to hit a long approach on a 400+ yard par 4 to a green the size of a backyard swimming pool. Most greens also suffered from many old and recent ballmarks.

Anything off the “fairway” or cart path is an immediate tooth-cracker, as animal burrows and rough washboard conditions predominate. You get a basic cart – no GPS, no cooler, no ballwasher. Cart paths need a LOT of work. Some trees need trimming where they encroach close to tee boxes and limit hitting lines. The course surrounds = Chino!! The course interior areas look just like they did when I was here 10 years ago – a cross between a landfill and a green waste recycling area. With distances, elevation changes, and wind direction, I hit the same club on all 4 par 3s.

Basic golf for the undiscriminating; OK for a casual round.

Showed up as a single on 11/14/15 @ 10:00 and went right out by myself. The course is still a little rough with plenty of thin spots in the fairways. The greens were a lot firmer than I've seen in qu... Continue »

Showed up as a single on 11/14/15 @ 10:00 and went right out by myself. The course is still a little rough with plenty of thin spots in the fairways. The greens were a lot firmer than I've seen in quite a while, although you can still go pin seeking and they will hold. The greens were also quicker than usual.
I did manage to find a couple of sand traps and their still thin, but enough sand to slide a wedge under.
The beauty of the course is that its a confidence builder as for the most part you can grip it and rip it and not find too much trouble. Staff is always great and saw the cart girl twice.
POP was 4.5 hours.

Out for a quick early round at El Prado. I can always depend on getting out first and alone to get around quickly. Staff is ALWAYS accommodating.

Course is in it's typical state of condition, with... Continue »

Out for a quick early round at El Prado. I can always depend on getting out first and alone to get around quickly. Staff is ALWAYS accommodating.

Course is in it's typical state of condition, with the greens being the best part of the course. As usual, some issues with the rough (bare areas, uncut, thin, etc ) However when you do not expect perfect condition, and the price is right, you have to cut them a little slack. I actually feel the conditions have improved over the past few years. Hard to be critical given the cost and convenience. I never have a bad experience here !

Monday 10/26 was the final day of the $20 all you can play promotion, so I took advantage one last time. Check in was easy and efficient, and I was given the choice of which course to play. I got my... Continue »

Monday 10/26 was the final day of the $20 all you can play promotion, so I took advantage one last time. Check in was easy and efficient, and I was given the choice of which course to play. I got my cart, and without any warm up, I was taken by the starter to join a group of three already on the first tee.

Playing from the blue tees (6850 yards/126 slope rating/72.5 course rating), my first shot was hit at 9:35AM on a warm and windless morning. We were behind a group of five, and POP was slow at almost 4 hours 45 minutes. There wasn't any drink cart service on this day.

Overall, course conditions were good.

Tee boxes were generally level, with lush turf coverage and no divot damage noted. The par-3 16th hole is playing from a side tee due to a large eucalyptus tree that fell on the usual back tee location; that side tee is on the shaggy side, but gives an interesting angle to the green.

I played from one bunker (greenside), and it had improved dirt/sand mixture that allowed for a good blast shot. Evident that course maintenance has been working on the bunkers, as the edges had been trimmed and the sand/dirt mixture raked. Too bad the players using that bunker before me failed to use the rakes that they had even taken into the bunker (rake print easy to see next to where shots were played?!?!?!). All bunkers that I saw around the course appeared to be in improved condition over previous weeks.

The rough was the usual mixed bag, varying from bare dirt and low-growing weeds, to nice fluffy, to deep and penal. Balls that sat down in the deep stuff were hard to locate, and hard to extricate. In areas where the cottonwood trees are dropping their leaves, balls can be especially difficult to locate.

Fairways were also a mixed bag, but generally quite good in the main landing areas. In some areas closer to the tee boxes, bare to thin coverage existed, but in the main landing areas the turf was green and lush, allowing the ball to sit up. However, there were lots of divots that weren't filled - my very nice tee shot on the 11th hole stopped right in the middle of an unrepaired divot, making for a difficult approach shot.

The greens overall were good, with some exceptions. On the third green, near the back left, three small patches of brown (dead?) grass were noted. On the thirteenth green, there was a strip across the middle of the green "burned" by an oil leak(?) from equipment. Otherwise, greens were smooth, on the softer side, and held well hit shots. Putts rolled true at medium speeds. There were plenty of ball marks to fix - one member of my group attempted to fix his by "heeling" his putter into them (not effective - I used my tool to fix his for him).

As always, this course is worthy of consideration for its value, conditioning and playability.

Customer Service EXCELLENT, very friendly and thanked us for playing there...first time ever has a course done that! Great pricing this month too..almost to low to post!!$23 with cart!, conditions we... Continue »

Customer Service EXCELLENT, very friendly and thanked us for playing there...first time ever has a course done that! Great pricing this month too..almost to low to post!!$23 with cart!, conditions were great...great greens, but you better hit in the fairway or you will lose your ball! The rough was....rough! great conditons throughout, good pace and highly reccomend playing here. Go give them your business...they appreciate it...

I bought a twosome at $12 per player when it first went on sale as a "Deal" time on TeeOff.com a couple weeks ago for 9:33 this morning. Just too hard to pass up. I did notice that the price eventuall... Continue »

I bought a twosome at $12 per player when it first went on sale as a "Deal" time on TeeOff.com a couple weeks ago for 9:33 this morning. Just too hard to pass up. I did notice that the price eventually went up to $34 for the other two spots, so maybe the few times I've gotten it at $12 was a mistake, a summer special that has since ended or an anomaly. Either way, it's nearly impossible to beat that deal.

Sixpez pretty much nailed it with the conditions, although I think my number rating will be higher than his. Greens are good and I'd contend medium speed, a little slower than the Chino Creek norm. Smooth, soft and very accepting of full shots. Fairways were very good; green and lush. The rough is either nasty deep or almost non-existent. Either way you don't want to be in it. Tee boxes were decent. I was in one bunker (short right of 11th green) and it had no rakes around it, so of course it was in poor condition. I guess $12 green fees don't buy many rakes. All in all, no complaints from me for the price paid.

Played here today with Itslikeimsayin. He had bought the TeeOff.com deal time for only $12 a player at 9:33 on a Saturday? Not sure how such a deal exists, but it's hard to beat. Not my favorite cours... Continue »

Played here today with Itslikeimsayin. He had bought the TeeOff.com deal time for only $12 a player at 9:33 on a Saturday? Not sure how such a deal exists, but it's hard to beat. Not my favorite course, but well worth it at a rate like that! Despite the searing heat, it was busy out there today with a couple tournament groups out on both courses. We had a steady pace on the front, but slowed up on the back nine some, finishing in about 4:45 overall.

The course is in solid condition. Tee boxes a bit unlevel in places, but usually decent spots found to tee it up. Fairways mostly pretty good throughout. The rough is where this course will penalize you because you never know what you find. For the most part, the grass is deep and thick. It makes for some very difficult recoveries. Sometimes, you'll find a patch of dirt or little weeds, which isn't easy either. Basically, if you miss fairways here, you'll have a long day. I know from experience! I wasn't in a bunker but they looked pretty hard-packed from what I saw. The greens were pretty good, very soft and rolling at medium/slow speeds.

Always a good value course. Wish the layout had more variance in hole lengths. I ended up playing the blues again, which is a mistake for me that I probably won't make the next time I come here. It plays a bit too long for my wimpy game and hard to have too much fun hitting driver + 3-wood or hybrid on EVERY hole. Next time I will tee it forward like Arnie says, so I can enjoy the course a little more hopefully.