I played here March 14, for the greenskeeper.org book launch. The course was in really good playing condition, I had received an email special from Los Seranos earlier during the week for a aeration s... Continue »

I played here March 14, for the greenskeeper.org book launch. The course was in really good playing condition, I had received an email special from Los Seranos earlier during the week for a aeration special. So I thought we would have some rough conditions, but it was for the North course. Tee boxes where level and lush. The Fairway was in good condition for the most part, but some GUR. The rough was good playable length, meaning you can find your ball, when hit there. The bunkers had good sand and didn't had any hard packed or big pebbles. Greens rolled smooth and med-fast. Overall a really good course to play, worth the $$.

First off I want to once again thank everyone that came out to support the release of The Social Golf Course book Zeb and I wrote. A book we feel that will transform the golf course industry in so man... Continue »

First off I want to once again thank everyone that came out to support the release of The Social Golf Course book Zeb and I wrote. A book we feel that will transform the golf course industry in so many great ways. Regarding the course, it was my first time playing Los Serranos South Course. In fact my first time playing either of the courses. After Friday, I regretted I waited this long. I had heard about the ambiance of facility stooped in golf tradition and the uniqueness of the layout of the South Course – Par 74 with 6 Par 5’s, since launching GK back in 2002. The course lived up to that reputation. Being a first time player I can say it was a very enjoyable layout with great site lines off the tee and interesting approach shots and green complexes. Everything about the course was fair yet challenging. A long layout indeed which favors those that can blast the driver yet plenty of risk reward opportunities for all skill levels. The most challenging aspect of the course was the long par 3’s and a few monster par 4’s. The conditions of the golf course were very good. Just 3 weeks ago I read a forum post indicating the golf course was in the worst condition that golfer had ever seen, yet just a couple days prior to our event another golfer indicated the golf course was in good condition. My guess is the big rains did wonders for the course and now its over the hump of poor conditions and rounding into spring/summer conditions. I thought the fairways and tee boxes had excellent coverage. The greens rolled mostly smooth with minimal ball mark damage, the rough was non-existent, same height as the fairways, excellent coverage with bare areas only on some steep sloped areas. The sand traps had a sand/dirt like texture, well groomed and decent to play from. Overall, I was pleased. Another pleasant surprise was pace of play. I had read in the past how slow the rounds can be at Los Serranos, so with the gorgeous weather on a Friday afternoon, I was concerned. Instead the course played in just 4:30 hours and my group hardly ever waited. Lastly, best breakfast burrito ever and I've had many. They even include a side a hash browns with it. I live in Westlake Village, which is an hour drive with no traffic to this course. I will be making that hour drive again to play here and try out its sister North course.

It was my first time at this course on Friday's book launch. I really liked the layout with the six par 5's (par 74?), wow! That was fun. The clubhouse is immense. The food was okay, though. Maybe I s... Continue »

It was my first time at this course on Friday's book launch. I really liked the layout with the six par 5's (par 74?), wow! That was fun. The clubhouse is immense. The food was okay, though. Maybe I should have had the breakfast burrito instead of a burger. Three practice greens and a decent sized range made it easy for everyone to get their practice in before the round. I felt there were lush conditions from tee to green. There was some slightly stressed areas on the back, but they were small and did not really come into play or were not a factor for me. I did have a dirt lie from the right side of 10 and it was sketchy along the left side of 11. Pretty exciting elevation changes on several holes made it a challenge figuring out yardages and club selection. As always, it was great to see familiar faces and any GK event is a special round for me.

Played 3-14-14 in the book release outing. Course was in good shape. Fairways were very nice to play. Greens were smooth and fast. They rolled true but are a challenge to read. Course knowledge would ... Continue »

Played 3-14-14 in the book release outing. Course was in good shape. Fairways were very nice to play. Greens were smooth and fast. They rolled true but are a challenge to read. Course knowledge would help on a few holes but would really help on the greens. The bunkers were in good shape and I hit a lot of them. They were a bit heavy like they were half sand half dirt but played consistent. I have never played a par 74 course and I like all the par 5's. The par 3's are not easy by any means. They all present a fun and unique challenge. I would definitely play this course again and would be curious to check out the North course as well.

Played as part of the GK outing to support the launch of the book on friday as well, and have to say that this course exceeded my expectations based on the previous reviews.

Clubhouse/Restaurant: 9... Continue »

Played as part of the GK outing to support the launch of the book on friday as well, and have to say that this course exceeded my expectations based on the previous reviews.

Clubhouse/Restaurant: 9/10 - got there early and had a burrito which was pretty good. There are two jugs of water and what looked like iced tea out there for you to get any time you want, which is nice. Would definitely eat here again.

Practice Facilities: 8/10 - only giving it an 8 for two reasons. (1) mats. I hate hitting off mats, and that was the only option I saw here. I know some other courses (like Vista Valencia) have an unspoken rule where you can take the balls and hit the opposite way into the range with irons off the grass from the other end of the range, but I didn't see anything like that going on here. (2) range balls were a bit old and a good number were cracked. Overall though, this course has some of the best practice facilities I've seen. 3 putting ranges made it easy for everyone who wanted to putt to have their own hole to practice on.

Tees: 9/10 - few had some uneven lies, but a step or two to the side would take care of that. Most were in great shape to where you could always find grass to hit from.

Fairways: 8/10 - in racking my brain, I really can't remember too many bad lies from the fairway. Some areas may have been a little thin, but still definitely playable from any of the fairways.

Rough: 6/10 - given the drought, this is very acceptable. The grass rough was patchy if you were more than 5 ft off the fairways. One thing I did like, and I commend Los Serranos for, was having the rough between trees, bushes, etc. clean. I could tell that they were making their own mulch and filling in a lot of the dirt rough areas, so in a few months this may be an 8/9 rating.

Bunkers: 6/10 - like bsparks noted, the bunkers were a mix of heavy/soft stuff. Seemed to me that the fairway bunkers were heavy and the greenside bunkers were soft. It also seemed that in every bunker I was in, someone had walked right through it from one end to the other, and didn't rake it.

Greens: 9/10 - by far my favorite part of this course. All rolled true. This course definitely makes you think about which way the sun is beating on the grass, the wind is blowing, etc. - all the things that affect how the ball rolls.

Overall: 8/10 - would definitely play this course again. Love the length of the South course, definitely makes you think and decide if you can get there in 2 on one of the 6 par 5s.

Played at the GK outing Friday and this was the first time playing this course.
Found the layout interesting...course layer out nicely IMHO.
Fairways mostly green and offering good lies. A few bare ... Continue »

Played at the GK outing Friday and this was the first time playing this course.
Found the layout interesting...course layer out nicely IMHO.
Fairways mostly green and offering good lies. A few bare spots here and there...but for a course in this pice range they exceeded my expectations. Greens where in good shape. Bunkers were the only questionable areas I thought..somewhat a heavy mix of dirt and sand.
This was a long track for me compared to the sister course, maybe a shorter forward tee would be needed to bring my better half out with me. As always though, a fun day with the GKers.....playing bookie on a Friday rocks!!!

Had a great time out here this afternoon supporting the launch of JohnnyGK and ZebWelborn's new book. Big, fun group and an enjoyable course. My group (tonybarrett, kviser and Eaglee) were having so m... Continue »

Had a great time out here this afternoon supporting the launch of JohnnyGK and ZebWelborn's new book. Big, fun group and an enjoyable course. My group (tonybarrett, kviser and Eaglee) were having so much fun I didn't pay much attention to actual pace of play time, but it seemed to move at a decent clip for us.

The course was in better shape than expected after the recent reviews, and it's starting to round into good spring form. I thought the tee boxes were great and the fairways were mostly pretty good. The rough was spotty and obviously they are conserving water in some of the outer areas that don't come into play as much. So if you were just off a fairway, the grass would be a little patchy, but mostly decent. The further you stray, though, the worse things get. But then again, you get what you deserve if you are really spraying it here. I wasn't in a bunker, so no comment there. Greens good overall. A bit slow, but deceptive speeds. Downhill putts tended to pick up speed at the hole and run well past, but if you were too gentle you could easily leave it short. Uphill putts you really have to hit firm to get there.

It's been several years since I last played the South, but it's always been one I liked. Definitely a long course, but the numbers are definitely skewed by being a par-74 with six par-5s. It was pretty windy this afternoon and it seemed all the long/uphill holes were straight into it and the easier holes had the wind at our backs.

Played Saturday 3/8/14. Teed off around 1. It looked pretty crowded, but that was the only time I could do that day. The employees at the shop were polite. I didn't require much assistance from them o... Continue »

Played Saturday 3/8/14. Teed off around 1. It looked pretty crowded, but that was the only time I could do that day. The employees at the shop were polite. I didn't require much assistance from them other than paying for the round, but they weren't rude or anything. The starter was nice. We got some conflicting information when we first called in which caused some confusion. We were told we were joining a twosome but when we checked in about 10-15 minutes before, it became one person. But then that one person didn't show up yet. We packed the cart and talked to the starter for a little bit to wait. Didn't see the one or two that were supposed to play with us and it was time, so we headed off to the first tee.

We played behind a foursome and they weren't the fastest, but it didn't really matter. I could see within the next two holes that there were at least 2 groups in front of them that were waiting for each shot to be played. I tried to just enjoy the course and not worry about the pace. But that didn't last very long.

The course itself was nice. It was challenging for me. The fairways were fine. The rough wasn't that bad. I didn't think the greens were too bumpy. Surprisingly the greens were in good condition considering how much traffic was going through that day. I was surprised that most marks were repaired too.

After the 4th hole, the group (foursome) behind us approached us to talk to the slower group in front of us. They said that they don't hit far enough to wait for the group ahead of them. They weren't doing it all the time, but I did see them wait on a few shots that I knew they weren't going to reach. I agreed but they weren't that far off and even the times they waited, they quickly caught the group in front of them and had to wait. It would save them a few minutes on their approach shots, but they would end up waiting for the group in front to finish the hole at the green any way. The group behind us eventually left after the turn because they knew there was nothing they could do.

We get to the 11th and it plays right. The group in front is right at the dogleg and cannot be seen but they're not very far away. A new group behind us approaches us and asks why we're waiting. They were pretty rude and accused us of being the reason the course is slow. Once he sees our tee shots and the group in front of us, they realize it wasn't us. We get to the 12th, a par 3 and they finally see the 3 groups in front that are log jammed and don't say anything else to us about pace.

We get to hole 17 and it's dark at 6 PM. As we drove through we saw even more groups that we didn't see before. This course gets packed. I'm surprised the pace went as fast as it did. During the 5 hours we played, the marshal came by a few times to check the pace of play. He asked us if there were any problems we saw. He spoke to the groups in front too. I'm not sure if he told them to keep up with the groups in front. It didn't really help since it was so congested. I didn't see many hacks out there that were really the cause. Or if there were, they had plenty of time to recover.

The funny thing is that I never saw that one or twosome that we were supposed to pair up with. I felt bad that we started to play as a pair but every group behind us was 3-4. I'm glad we didn't wait for that group to ever show up.

Likes:
- The workers were nice. From the staff in the shop to the starter to the marshal. Nice people.
- Price. Pretty reasonable. $35 for twilight isn't bad. I would come back again, but a lot earlier.
- The course. I'd come back and play it again. It was fun and challenging.

Dislikes:
- The people on the course. Not a fault of Los Serranos, but you do have to take into consideration who you will be playing with. Of course everyone has somewhere to go and nobody wants to take a shot and wait 10 minutes to take your next. But when you're showing up on Saturday afternoon, you should probably set your expectations correctly. You're not going to fly through like you're the first one to tee off at 6 AM.
- Organization. Not a huge deal, but I'm wondering about the groups ahead of us that teed off and if they were sent out on time with the right number of people. Having a lot of small groups could definitely slow down the pace.
- Marshal. He was a nice person. But I did notice that there were some shorter hitters teeing off from the wrong tees. Obviously it didn't matter that day, but it is also something that can slow down pace. If you can't hit it past 200 yards, you shouldn't be playing from the blacks or blues. I'm not saying he could've turned a 5+ hour round into a 4, but it could've helped a little.

Played 2/1 in a 9:00 tourney. I was pleased. Played here last spring and thought it was scruffy. On Saturday the course was decently lush considering the season. The rough is not a factor and the ... Continue »

Played 2/1 in a 9:00 tourney. I was pleased. Played here last spring and thought it was scruffy. On Saturday the course was decently lush considering the season. The rough is not a factor and the course generally played firm and fast. The greens were medium fast and rolled well. The bunkers were not great with little sand in a couple of them. We played in 5:15 so pace of play was not good. The course is hosting a Northern Trust qualifier this week.