I’m starting to get good at this “last minute” booking thing! Haha. Even though I already have plans to play golf Sunday, I woke up early Saturday morning with nothing to do for the day, so I started ... Continue »

I’m starting to get good at this “last minute” booking thing! Haha. Even though I already have plans to play golf Sunday, I woke up early Saturday morning with nothing to do for the day, so I started searching for possible tee times by refreshing a bunch of sites over and over. I ended up finding a couple slots available here at Balboa Park, which I’d never played before. I grabbed an 11:39 single time for $56 walking rate. That seemed a bit high, but there were few options available. The confirmation email said to be there at least 30 minutes ahead of time or else they can give your tee time to someone else (which is weird when other courses during Covid prefer you to NOT arrive until shortly before your tee time), so I arrived around 11:05 and checked in and paid. Then, after seeing golf holes along the ridgelines across canyons, I decided maybe I should ride instead of walking. It was another $22 for a single-rider cart. This was a Covid first for me: The practice putting green is open, but without any holes cut. It was representative of the on-course greens, though, so it does help to roll a few putts. Paired with two fun guys. We started right on time, fell behind a couple times but then would catch up when the course backed up some. We finished in four hours and 58 minutes.

Conditions are good! Many greens had some dirt/trouble areas around the edges, but fortunately it never impacted me. Other than that, they’re running medium-fast to fast, fairly smooth and accept full shots well. One or two greens seemed to have a bunch of unfixed ball marks. Fairways were good, green in color with pretty consistent coverage. The rough was probably a step down in quality from the fairways with more imperfections/thin areas. Not very deep, but does make you work more than when your ball is in the fairway. I was in one bunker and it was really good. Blue tee boxes were decent; lots of divots and seemed a little lumpy/unlevel on many holes.

As I said earlier, this was my first time here even though I’ve wanted to play it for many years. The first few holes play down in the “canyon” areas between various hills, but then later on the back nine many holes are routed along the ridgeline with canyons becoming “penalty areas.” Those holes are where the course really shines. Some of the front nine reminded me vaguely of The Saticoy Club. This is a course that definitely rewards accuracy over length. Good mix of fun par 3s. I really enjoyed it. It just furthers the “San Diegans are so spoiled” mantra when you consider how inexpensive their rates are here. Highly recommended. Next time I think I would walk. It wouldn’t be an easy walk, but I think it’s probably not as difficult as it looks from the hilltop clubhouse.

Tuesday morning tee time at BP. Previous review is spot on about course conditions with an emphasis on the greens which are in great shape after receiving some pretty good rain the day before. The ent... Continue »

Tuesday morning tee time at BP. Previous review is spot on about course conditions with an emphasis on the greens which are in great shape after receiving some pretty good rain the day before. The entire course drained well from the rain and the maintenance staff was out taking care of a couple problem spots. Covid precautions were all in place and being followed with the on course restaurant being closed. POP was a tad over four hours and the course is not charging holiday rates. Number four green is coming back around. Always a good time here.

Yo Johnny don’t blackball me again I know it’s been a while. Ok first off Balboa was the first golf course I ever played sneaking on # 5 so I am biased towards this place. Customer service is excellen... Continue »

Yo Johnny don’t blackball me again I know it’s been a while. Ok first off Balboa was the first golf course I ever played sneaking on # 5 so I am biased towards this place. Customer service is excellent. Literally walked out of my car to first tee. So most people know that Balby is a place where every club gets dirty and the yardage given is not true because really you are not hitting a lot of drivers. For me the key is the farther you lay back the bigger the fairway. Let me tell you the greens are stupid fast. Long on the pin you are done. I three putted 4 times from less than 10 ft but above the hole. Also greens are nice and firm. Wedges are taking a 10 ft forward bounce. Finally staff is cut above. Lost my range finder. They helped me out and got it back. Appreciate y’all. PS. Please blow up number four. Can you get a more poorly designed hole.

Played Saturday mid day. Course much better than it was a month ago. Not nearly as wet and greens better, 4 is still a mess and the edges of most were still dead from some error made by a GreensKeep... Continue »

Played Saturday mid day. Course much better than it was a month ago. Not nearly as wet and greens better, 4 is still a mess and the edges of most were still dead from some error made by a GreensKeeper but were fast and in great shape once you were on them. Pace felt slow but we still finished in 4:20. Service was good from check in to the cart girl. Rough was there enough to bother you but not overly penal. Sand was good in both fairway and green side bunkers. Course will only get better in the next few weeks would be my guess. Fun track and you don’t need to sell a kidney to play it.

Second off twilight, 10/21, which is still at 2 for some reason, we were the last group to finish 18 in the dark. Course is playable. Tees: Mostly level and plenty playable with some rough spots Fairw... Continue »

Second off twilight, 10/21, which is still at 2 for some reason, we were the last group to finish 18 in the dark. Course is playable. Tees: Mostly level and plenty playable with some rough spots Fairways: a mixed bag with many rough spots and some very nice, #8 comes to mind in that regard Rough: patchy with some thicker areas, caught a couple crazy fliers Bunkers: very nice Greens: well healed from a month ago, except #4 which needs replacement, mostly quick and fairly true Customer service: they are going individuals in carts unless you are already together so cart supply is limited and they were scraping for carts before twilight even started. The place is full everyday now.

Played Saturday at 1030. Course packed but pace not bad, about 415. The course was very wet, don’t know why they are watering so much but it was crazy how many fairways and rough areas that were mud... Continue »

Played Saturday at 1030. Course packed but pace not bad, about 415. The course was very wet, don’t know why they are watering so much but it was crazy how many fairways and rough areas that were muddy. Greens are a mess, number 4 should be completely replaced and whoever is doing the spraying of the pesticides has wrecked the edges of all of the greens. I guess all the good supers are over at Torrey getting it ready for the open, so screw balboa. Cart girl was awesome and saw here 3 or 4 times, bunkers were in good shape too. I love this track but the city really needs to give this course some love.

Tuesday morning tee time at BP. Strict covid protocols being followed, check in and first tee very organized and on time. Tee boxes, fairways and rough had good coverage and were very green. Traps wer... Continue »

Tuesday morning tee time at BP. Strict covid protocols being followed, check in and first tee very organized and on time. Tee boxes, fairways and rough had good coverage and were very green. Traps were well maintained with a good depth of sand. Greens are in bad shape with some sort of fungus some had been repaired and sand covering the repaired areas. POP was a little under four hours which is good considering how crowded the course was. The views and weather are always a plus.

Finally got to play after a long hiatus, at least a month just been too busy lately. Teeoff at 7:30am, so we show up and have a nice breakfast on the patio at Tobey's and then the crapshow started w... Continue »

Finally got to play after a long hiatus, at least a month just been too busy lately. Teeoff at 7:30am, so we show up and have a nice breakfast on the patio at Tobey's and then the crapshow started when we went to check in well ahead of our teetime. My resident card expired and now I can't renew it in person??? What the heck, I need to renew it online??? So I start trying to renew it online with my phone following very confusing instructions. Couldn't get it done after 15 minutes of trying, so I had to pay the $53 non-resident rate, even though I have my proper ID proving my residency. Thank god I wasn't trying to play Torrey, but needless to say, $12 is $12, so I went to the first tee very bitter. I played extremely well, so it didn't bother me, but the conditions on the course followed the poor conditions in the proshop.

Tees were not very level, had to search for a good spot.

Fairways were rather beat up and pretty wet. I only missed one fairway all day and had adequate lies most of the time, but caught a few bad breaks along the way, too. Some thin lies, bare dirt, some wet, etc. Visually had different colors, as well.

Didn't find any bunkers, so I don't know how they were.

The greens held most shots if you struck it very well. They were fairly hard for the most part and expect about 3-5 yds of roll if you're not hitting an 8iron or less and it better be struck with some spin. They were also bumpy for the most part causing some putts to go offline.

Not much rough to speak of, just some patchy crab grass and they had just mowed the thick stuff.

snack shop at the turn open, very friendly. Saw cart girl once at 12th hole but she was in a normal golf cart with a cooler, i thought it was the marshal with water because they cut out the water fountains because of the Vid, but she was "selling" water. Come on, if you're gonna cut out the water fountains, you should have someone out there with some cups of water, it's a tough walk and it was a hot and humid morning.

POP was ridiculous, 5hrs when we teed off at 7:30am. Group in front of us was two holes behind the whole time, they were slow as snot and no marshal in sight. I didn't want to say anything to the group in front of us and cause a ruckus, so bit my lip for 4hrs.

Epic fails by the staff on this muni today. Not worth the $53 to walk right now. If anyone has tips on renewing the resident card online, please let me know in an email. thanks

Played spur of the moment 1:27 time. POP was good right at 4 hours, times are spaced of course. Caught up with the earlier groups on 10, but then just sporadic waiting. Bunkers in great shape with nic... Continue »

Played spur of the moment 1:27 time. POP was good right at 4 hours, times are spaced of course. Caught up with the earlier groups on 10, but then just sporadic waiting. Bunkers in great shape with nice sand, I did have to smooth out some foot prints while I was in the two I found, but had good lies myself . . . that's the good parts. Tee boxes fine. Fairways, decent enough. Rough, variable and patchy. Greens were slow, bumpy and basically hit and hope. Looked like they had either been punched a month back and/or they were cut so thin we are now down to just barely above ground level. There are bare spots and when fixing the multiple unattended to ball marks I was basically leveling dirt. I do realize the last few places I have played Black Gold, Cross Creek and even San Clemente had greens in great shape, but the disappointment was still there. Last I played Balboa the greens were in excellent shape, smooth, not as fast as before the shutdown, but great to chip/pitch to and accepting of well hit shots. Not right now. Not sure what they are doing but I hope the green conditions improve. Not recommended right now. I'll probably wait at least a month.