Played twice last week, once on a dawn patrol and the other was mid Saturday morning. I was 3rd out by myself behind a twosome and a foursome right n front of me. The foursome must have been Mr Admi... Continue »

Played twice last week, once on a dawn patrol and the other was mid Saturday morning. I was 3rd out by myself behind a twosome and a foursome right n front of me. The foursome must have been Mr Admiral and Mr Baker because they acted liked they owed the course. They finished in 4 1/2 but I had 3 holes between me and the guys behind me who joined up on 11. They had to slow down the pace for the rest of the day. If I could have gotten out before them I probably would have finished in 3 hours. Pace on Saturday was to be expected, a lot of waiting and closer to 5 hours.

As far as conditions I think everything is actually a little bit better. During the week I noticed the greens were punched with those long thin holes. It looks like a knife but really had no effect on the putts that I could tell. By the weekend you couldn't notice these, maybe on a couple of greens where they hadn't fully healed. Greens I think have gotten a little faster too. The early round there was no evidence of ball marks but the Saturday round there were quite a few. Saw a few putts hop as a result too. Is it also too much to ask if someone is wearing spikes to pick up their feet when they walk. I saw a handful of evidence of spike marks dragged across the greens.

Fairways are getting better. It's still patchy but I think with some of the rain we have gotten has helped fill in some of these trouble spots.

Some of the rough was quite playable and there are some thicker parts too. Overall I don't it's overly penalizing.

On another note the wind can be tricky. The was especially true of the back 9 Saturday. Hole 15 is a par 5 which played into a heavy wind. Normally I can drive over the fairway bunker but I could barely get there. Punched a 6 down to leave about 115. I figured it was playing 125-130 so I hit a pw which flew over the green. I'm guessing I hit it 140ish I high I don't think I can do downwind and downhill. It was this way the whole back 9. This place can leave you scratching your head sometimes.

Still a good value even if you don't get a discount and some really good golf holes.

1plus1 review is still spot on except I didn't notice any evidence of top dressing so what was done has come and gone. I will say the greens seem to be much slower than I can ever recall here. Even ... Continue »

1plus1 review is still spot on except I didn't notice any evidence of top dressing so what was done has come and gone. I will say the greens seem to be much slower than I can ever recall here. Even downhiller I came up woefully short. Putts were even wobbly too and this were a multiple choice test the answer would be all of the above. There was of course ball marks, someone didn't pick up their feet to walk and created a skid mark on the green, the usually spike marks and the list goes on.

Fairways are iffy, some better than others. Case in point on number 1 I actually aimed for the bunker and hit it because I thought it would be easier to hit from and it was. There are some areas marked in white but I really don't think they are doing anything about it and the white is faded out so it's been there a while.

Rough is a mix too. Some thin and dormant and some kind of thick. I was the rough on the par 5 6th hole and barely get a hybrid on it because it settled down.

The bunkers I was in were very good but I saw a couple greenside ones that needed to be raked because they had numerous footprints in it.

Customer service is was great, I've always had a great experience with the people here. With many courses performing maintenance right now it's slim pickings. The cost is what makes this course attractive but with the conditions it getting harder to justify this. Hopefully they have some maintenance planned soon because it is a good track.

Again, due to unforeseen issues, this is another late post. Played Admiral Baker-North on 3/17 and found it to be an eye-opening experience as far as how playing conditions stacked up against Marine ... Continue »

Again, due to unforeseen issues, this is another late post. Played Admiral Baker-North on 3/17 and found it to be an eye-opening experience as far as how playing conditions stacked up against Marine Memorial, which I had played a day earlier. Since AB-North has basically become my home course over the past year or so, I've been generally pleased with conditions, willing to overlook some shortcomings due to my satisfaction with the fairly consistent presentation/playability of the greens along with my fondness for the layout. However, after playing at Camp Pendleton, it's become apparent that AB-North seems to be wallowing in mediocrity as conditions have failed to improve over the past couple of months. The patchiness of the fairways still exists while the greens have gotten slower, bumpier, and frustrating to putt on. For whatever reason, there's always a few pin positions cut extremely tight to the fringe on a few holes on a weekly basis but now they've become downright ridiculous. I don't mind a tucked pin here and there but cutting it into a slope that has an automatic ball return built into it makes no sense whatsoever. I realize we're still in the grasp of a major drought and various strains of turf respond differently but, with that being said, it's apparent I'm disappointed with the conditions, especially after I have been promoting this course for some time now via my reviews. Granted, this summary is almost two weeks old, but I'll probably look to play elsewhere for the next few weeks until I'm aware that some semblance of improvement has taken place. NOTE: Received word from someone who played AB-North on 3/29 that the greens have been recently top-dressed and the sand still remains to a certain extent.

Got out for an afternoon round on Thursday, March 3, and found course conditions have "deteriorated" to a certain degree vs. what I've come to expect at Admiral Baker. Fairways are still hit-or-miss ... Continue »

Got out for an afternoon round on Thursday, March 3, and found course conditions have "deteriorated" to a certain degree vs. what I've come to expect at Admiral Baker. Fairways are still hit-or-miss but I'm noticing more patches of very thin turf and, in some cases, bare dirt, which is reaffirmed by the amount of mud I'm having to clean off my golf ball. While there may be some small fairway areas where the turf is good, those spots are few and far between, which has now put me in a "lift-clean-and-place" mindset. Not sure if it's part of the maintenance plan but I also noticed some areas of the course were oversaturated with watering as well. This was also evident in the sand traps; texture was soft and very playable on #5 yet I found the trap on #9 to have a slightly firmer base. What really threw me, however, was what I encountered on #15. While playing a 30-foot greenside bunker shot, I actually sent a divot of packed sand onto the green; it looked like a six-inch strip steak had landed just a few feet from my ball. I had no idea the base was so wet and compact prior to hitting the shot but it was right there staring me in the face when I looked at my splash mark. Must say, I've NEVER seen that in all my years of playing. The rough is a bit taller than what I saw last week and the week prior; anyone's guess if it's by design or the mowers not having made their rounds yet. In addition to the increase in depth, the combination of clumpy and bare lies make it tough to get a clean strike on the ball. For distance shots, a fairway wood appeared to be the better choice vs. a hybrid or long iron. Greens remain in decent shape although I was very disappointed in the speed...if I can use that word ...as they were as slow as I can recall. Noticed a bit of sluggishness the previous week but it was more pronounced yesterday, to the point where I left quite a few putts short and that's not usually the case. And although rolling at a medium-minus pace, the greens did not hold that well. There were a few exceptions...my knockdown 5-iron on #14 backed up a foot...but most shots had a tendency to roll out on the firm greens, including a towering 6-iron on #13 that I thought would "drop-and-stop". The fringe areas, as noted in my previous reviews, are still choppy and uneven. However, after making a concerted effort to utilize the bounce on my sand wedge as opposed to trapping the ball with the leading edge, I was able to hit a number of very good pitch shots. However, hybrid or putter are still the safer bets until these areas fill in and provide a more uniform, cushioned surface to play from. Pace of play was right at 4:30 despite the initial impression we might be in for a slow day. Playing as a foursome sandwiched between another four and a group of three, we ran about 6 minutes behind pace for most of the round yet closed the gap by the end of the day. As always seems to be the case here, we eventually had to wait on a few tee shots as we approached the turn and closing holes but those were minor, uneventful delays that had no impact on our enjoyment level. Beverage cart and water service passed by on a couple of occasions during the course of the afternoon as well. I'm not aware of any impending aerification due to take place anytime soon and hope the greens will be back up to speed when I decide to play here again. Although I was let down by conditions as a whole, I'm willing to look past the shortcomings if the greens are where I expect to find them. Unless you take a similar point of view, then I probably won't be lobbying for you to get out there and play Admiral Baker any time soon.

Teed off yesterday a little before 7 and played in a tick over 4 hours but we could have been faster if the group in front of us wasn't 2 holes behind. We were a threes me and there was a 2 some behi... Continue »

Teed off yesterday a little before 7 and played in a tick over 4 hours but we could have been faster if the group in front of us wasn't 2 holes behind. We were a threes me and there was a 2 some behind us then it seemed like a bunch of 4somes but it didn't seem that busy.

I'd say 1plus1 review is still accurate. Greens are still the best part but I've said before that you'll see ball react differently around the hole here. It's still not something I have figured out. I did notice I think there were 2 greens which had some aeration work done on half of the green but it looks like it's been a little while and they may actually be fully recovered soon.

Fairways are still pretty spotty and you may hit a good drive and end up with a bad lie.

Rough sometimes were better to hit from than the fairway but still can be patchy too. It wasn't penalizing either with the exception of the hill on 11. If you try to cut it to much it may not roll down. I'd suspect as the temperature starts to rise this will change.

I was in 2 bunkers and the sand was really good. A little softer than I'm accustomed to playing and they had been raked.

For the price this is certainly an enjoyable experience and a good test of golf.

Took advantage of the February Special Offer...as well as ideal weather conditions...and got a couple of rounds in at AB-North this week. Teed off "early" (for me) on Monday @ 10:10 and found pace-of... Continue »

Took advantage of the February Special Offer...as well as ideal weather conditions...and got a couple of rounds in at AB-North this week. Teed off "early" (for me) on Monday @ 10:10 and found pace-of-play to be an issue at 4 hours and 55 minutes. Not sure if this is the norm at this time of the day but the course was obviously booked and played like it. Taking this into account, went with a 12:16 tee time on Wednesday and had better results with a 4 hour and 30 minute elapsed time yet it was about 15-20 minutes longer than it needed to be. Mixed group of four ahead of us took their sweet time over the last 10 holes...while blaring country music from their golf cart...and we suffered as a result (having to deal with their choice of music as well as the snail's pace-of-play). Overall, golf course is playable but the greens are the only redeeming feature at this point; still in good shape although I did see a few putts bounce at the point of impact. Didn't happen to me but to others in the group and I'm inclined to put the blame on their putting stroke rather than the greens themselves. However, spike marks (yeah, even in this age of plastic spikes and spikeless shoes) and other imperfections definitely had an effect on some greens. Fairways are spotty with a variety of grasses/lies to be encountered. Found myself bumping the ball on more than a few occasions in search of a decent lie as there are quite a few bare spots out there with little or no turf. Tee shots were also prone to picking up mud on the ball as a result. These fairways are usually in much better shape during the summer so keep that in mind...and I'd toss the tee boxes in the same classification. Fringe and collar areas around the greens are horrible and the uneveness of the turf resembles a washboard; it's almost as if someone went in and brushed something against the grain to create these annoying ridges. Not sure how to describe it although ragged comes pretty close. No uniformity whatsoever with regards to type of turf and coverage; there's absolutely no chance of hitting any delicate flop or chip shot. Many areas seem quite damp and soft so less-than-perfect contact results in a chunked shot. Even putting from off the fringe is a crap shoot since the random clumps of fescue will turn a simple putt into a game of pinball if the ball happens to come into contact with one or more en route to your target. Beverage and water service were very good on Monday but lacking Wednesday; didn't see the mobile water jug until the 13th hole. Luckily I had my own thermos but went longer than I would have liked between refills. Given the warm temperatures, this was not a positive situation. For $30.00, including cart, AB-North is in decent enough shape to make this an attractive proposition but the golf course, in my view, "shows" itself better in the summer months. Without overseeding, the fairways are a potluck of sorts in the winter time and the fringe areas, as mentioned, are exponentially worse and causing quite a bit of frustration for me. I'll either have to temper my expectations...and temper...or hold off until conditions improve as the summer approaches.

Played 2/7/16 $46 11 am POP 3:50
Course is in typical So.Cal condition. Mostly dry fairway's with a little green mixed in, but played better then they looked.
Rough thin with a few thick area and m... Continue »

Played 2/7/16 $46 11 am POP 3:50
Course is in typical So.Cal condition. Mostly dry fairway's with a little green mixed in, but played better then they looked.
Rough thin with a few thick area and many bare areas.
Sand traps looked like they had just been replenished with new sand and were in very good shape.
Greens were a mix bag. Mostly ran at a medium pace, but some where slow. Really had to pay attention to the grain. Some did not seem to break at all and others more then they looked.. Up hill into the grain and you better give it a good knock. Were receptive and held shot well, but were very bumpy.
Old school course with some entertaining holes.

Got out for an unexpected round yesterday (2/3/2016) at my old standby, AB-North, putting a temporary end to a self-imposed exile. The decision to play was more or less made to accommodate my regular... Continue »

Got out for an unexpected round yesterday (2/3/2016) at my old standby, AB-North, putting a temporary end to a self-imposed exile. The decision to play was more or less made to accommodate my regular playing partner, who's been recovering from labrum surgery for the past couple of months. Apparently, he doesn't handle cabin fever very well and decided it was time to test his shoulder so I felt compelled to join him. Golf course was in surprisingly good shape, especially in light of the recent rain and wind storm that passed through here last week. Didn't encounter any drainage issues although the soil beneath the turf was damp in places, which presented a tough challenge around the greens. With the tight turf, moist soil, and slightly uneven nap of the grain, there was no room for error, making delicate lob shots a risky proposition. Tee boxes were also uneven to an extent but not to the point where it was of major concern; a little searching usually yielded a relatively flat spot to hit from. As with the fringe areas around the greens, this was probably due to a steady stream of foot traffic following the heavy rain. The fairways were in typical winter condition and the lies, for the most part, were good. One thing I've noticed about Admiral Baker is that they are proactive when it comes to marking off ground-under-repair areas, no matter how small. Observed quite a few spots that are outlined so there is relief should your ball come to rest in one of these compromised portions of the fairway. In contrast to the tee boxes, the greens were smooth, healthy, and rolling at a medium-quick speed, which was a welcome surprise. I was expecting bumpy, pock-marked surfaces but that was not the case at all; there were very few unrepaired ball marks to deal with...nothing like what I saw in October, when it was out of control. Putts rolled true and with consistent speed although the grain did exert its' influence on a couple of occasions. It was nice to see the putting surfaces hold approach shots yet roll with decent speed as I despise slow greens. Bunker sand was excellent, which is nothing new at Admiral Baker. Even with last week's weather situation, the sand I happened to find on #6 was well manicured and fluffy with plenty of depth. With conditions like that, it was easy to get aggressive and hit a great recovery shot. There's a big difference when you can make a confident splash through impact without having to be concerned about blading the ball because of a thin, hardpacked base. The rough can present problems due to the spottiness and lack of uniform height. I faced shots on a couple of holes where the ball was nestled between two taller clumps of grass, making it almost impossible to get the clubhead on the ball. The fairways are pretty forgiving and benign so being accurate off the tee will usually lead to good scoring opportunities; stray offline, however, and your scrambling skills will be tested. Tee sheet was full (teed off at 11:40 as a foursome) and with the way Holes 1 and 2 played, I expected something close to a five hour round. However, things opened up once we reached the third tee and we moved along at a nice clip from that point forward. We did run into a delay once we reached #16-17-18, however, but that seems to be a regular occurrence so it came as no surprise. Still, even with that hiccup, we finished the round in 4 hours and 30 minutes. Beverage Cart and Player Assistant made multiple passes throughout the round and customer service level from everyone was friendly and efficient. With a February Online Special now up for grabs ($30.00 w/cart between 10AM-2PM Monday-Thursday; two player minimum) I may have to think twice about my exiled status.

First time out in well over six weeks; hope my review is sharper than what I displayed on the golf course yesterday... Over the duration of the past year or so, Admiral Baker-North has become my "hom... Continue »

First time out in well over six weeks; hope my review is sharper than what I displayed on the golf course yesterday... Over the duration of the past year or so, Admiral Baker-North has become my "home" course for various reasons: close proximity to home/work with easy access, great value for the money, challenging yet fun place to play, fairly consistent conditioning, and very good greens. However, based on what I encountered yesterday...and I had this premonition back in August...the greens have markedly deteriorated over the course of the summer. While most would assume the blame can be placed on the continuing drought and State Government-imposed water restrictions, the reason, in my view, swings in the direction of increased water usage, which has resulted in softer, more receptive greens and the ultimate death wish: unrepaired ball and spike marks. One of the main points I stressed in earlier reviews was the fact the greens at Admiral Baker-North showed minimal ball mark damage, which made for aesthetically pleasing and smooth, yet slightly firm, putting surfaces. Currently, that is not the case. Oh sure, it's nice to be able to back up short iron approaches and get a hybrid to stop dead a foot from its' pitch mark, but it all comes at a price. It wouldn't be so bad if the patrons...military as well as civilian personnel...were to get with the program and repair each and every ball mark they can take ownership for but this problem seems to have reached epidemic proportions. Whether through ignorance, laziness, or a combination of both, I simply cannot understand how someone can walk onto a green, mark their ball a couple of feet from its' pitch mark, and proceed to putt out without attending to the blatant damage they've inflicted upon the surface. The greens had been punched with mini tines on Monday/Tuesday yet the minor aerification process had little effect on the roll of the ball; rather, the bumpiness of the greens and older, unrepaired pitch marks made for an extremely frustrating day as very few putts rolled true and held their line. And the speed was probably the slowest I've encountered here as well; I could never seem to get the ball to the hole and that is out of the ordinary for me. The entire course appeared to have been overwatered: there was mud on the ball after every tee shot, the fairways were quite soft underneath (leading to some fat, soggy shots), the sand traps were firm with a very shallow layer of softer sand, and the tee boxes could hardly be deemed level. After all the accolades I had doled out regarding the consistent playability of this course over the past 12 months, I cannot express how disappointed I felt after the completion of Wednesday's round. The tee sheet was jammed up tight...we were sent off as a foursome at 11:36...and the movement was slow, as anticipated. Pace of play certainly wasn't aided by the presence of a few groups of five, which supposedly is discouraged and frowned upon by the Golf Shop Staff yet I see it time and again out here. We managed to clock in a few ticks under five hours and the round felt as if it took forever. I like a leisurely, unhurried pace but this was close to unbearable for me as it was impossible to get into a consistent rhythm and flow. And there were numerous groups who threw up their arms and packed it in long before reaching #18. Cart service was ever-present on numerous occasions as well as the cursory drive-by from the on-course marshal. Lunch after the round was excellent, as always; too bad it was the only bright spot for the day. I'm not sure if the onset of winter will tilt conditions back to what I've grown accustomed to but I simply cannot recommend Admiral Baker-North at the present time. I still enjoy the layout as much as ever but the ragged condition of the greens may have me considering another venue whenever the next opportunity to play presents itself.