I was fortunate enough to be invited to play 1/5/20. I used to live in Redlands but at the time didn't know any members of RCC and never played. Looking at some info on the club & course I noticed t... Continue »

I was fortunate enough to be invited to play 1/5/20. I used to live in Redlands but at the time didn't know any members of RCC and never played. Looking at some info on the club & course I noticed that it isn't very long compared to most courses I usually play at just under 6300 yards from the tips. But RCC is still a challenge.
RCC has a grass range with practice balls available like most private clubs. It isn't a large range but plenty long enough for a proper warmup. (just use the yellow balls in the bags when hitting your DRIVER)
I haven't stood on a practice green in almost a year, since all practice greens in LA are STILL senselessly closed. I enjoyed the chance to be able to hone my putter before teeing off because the most important club to score at RCC is your putter. The fairways are more generous than they appear from the tee boxes. The fairways had very good coverage with decent rollout. The rough was very green and lush and about 2-3" which was penal but fair enough to allow you to gouge a shot towards the greens. Now the greens...the greens are NOT as friendly. Most of the greens are crowned and/or elevated from the fairways, heavily guarded by bunkers and all were very quick with slopes that required all your attention. They are in great shape than ran extremely true with few ball marks. I quickly discovered that RCC is a second shot course. Short & roomy enough that you can attack with driver but you MUST pick the correct number into the greens because a missed calculation in position of your approach in relation to the pin, despite a quality strike puts a 3 putt (or more) in play.
Despite learning all of this the hard way, I found RCC to be a good challenge and very fair to my best shots. The bunkers were also some of the best I've played this year, with the roughest parts on the course being some of the tee boxes were chewed up compared to the whole course but to me that's nit picking.
My group and I all had a great time playing and hanging out at the club. The members I came across were friendly and polite. Also the food and service were excellent. I feel that local knowledge is a huge factor in scoring around here...and look forward to my next opportunity at RCC.