Bucket list course checked off on Saturday thanks to Alex coming through with an awesome deal and inviting me down to play. It's one of his all-time favorite courses and it's easy to understand why by... Continue »

Bucket list course checked off on Saturday thanks to Alex coming through with an awesome deal and inviting me down to play. It's one of his all-time favorite courses and it's easy to understand why by the time you walk off the 18th green with a huge smile on your face. Quite simply, this is one of the most picturesque courses you'll likely ever play, with maybe the most gorgeous collection of par 3s anywhere, but it's also a very true challenge of high-quality golf. It's easy to get distracted by the great looks and forget you also need to bring your A game to have any chance of a decent score.

Want elevations? No problem. Want water features and long carries at varying angles? Done. Want risk-reward holes? You've come to the right place. Want some of the most challenging green complexes around with no flat spots anywhere? Wait, who wants that? Well that's what you get! What you won't get is a wasted moment at this great venue.

Conditions as you can expect are pretty great all around so there's no point going into too much detail about that. You may find a few GUR spots at the moment and the very infrequent thinner lie, but mostly you will find very lush fairways and incredibly penal rough that doesn't look to bad from a distance but will make it very hard to find any balls that venture into it, despite seeing it all the way. Tee boxes, sand traps and everything else is just about perfect. They take their time here to make everything amazing.

We played from the blue tees and I don't believe you're allowed to walk here because of some of the distances involved and keeping the POP moving, but the carts are nice and modern and have a good GPS system for any first-timers here. They also have course ambassadors that hand out lollipops and cart service throughout the round. There's really nothing here left to chance and they do seem to put their best foot forward in every regard.

Highlight holes? Well, of course the par 3 3rd hole is visually stunning and also quite challenging. The uphill par 5 5th is also very fun to play. Also fun to rip a long drive on the downhill par 5 8th and then decide whether to risk the approach over the small lake in front of the green. On the back nine, hole 16 is a treat and the finishing two holes are absolutely no joke. But every hole on this course is worth playing. Triumphantly. Get there if you can.

Aviara is one of my top 3 favorite courses so I may be a bit biased when I say this course is nothing short of amazingly fantastic. Played with Johnny GK on a beautiful sunny January day. Course wa... Continue »

Aviara is one of my top 3 favorite courses so I may be a bit biased when I say this course is nothing short of amazingly fantastic. Played with Johnny GK on a beautiful sunny January day. Course was in great shape as always. Greens rolled absolutely perfect. Greens are challenging with all having some tricky undulations to them. Uphill putts were slower than expected and downhill putts were lightning fast.

Fairways were excellent for the most part, though there were a couple of thin brown spots on a couple holes. I did notice that the grounds crew was out replacing some patches of turf so they apparently are clearing out the thin areas.

Tee boxes were great all around as were the two sand traps I was in. Customer service is the best in the business. Everyone on the property bends over backwards to make your experience positive.

Range was grass but I did hear that they were on mats a few days ago so apparently it just depends on the weather (like most places). Carts have GPS to the pin along with yardage to front and back.

Course layout what makes this place really stand out. Numerous elevation changes mixed in with several water features keep the fun meter pegged. The water falls are spectacular and most holes sit off by themselves so you don't feel like you're right on top of other players.

A highly recommended course.

This course was nothing short of beautiful. The most difficult greens I have ever played due to the undulations and multiple levels. It's a tough course (over my head from a skill level perspective) ... Continue »

This course was nothing short of beautiful. The most difficult greens I have ever played due to the undulations and multiple levels. It's a tough course (over my head from a skill level perspective) but I'd play it again if afforded the opportunity...the experience was great and much of that had to do with the staff. From the clubhouse to the starter to the marshals and 19th hole personnel, it was just a great time!

Thanks, Aviara!

Played today with bro at 1p on a GN deal at the twilight rate of $170, which is a steal for this track at that time.

Short and simple since a reviewed it a few months back:

Tee boxes, fairways, ... Continue »

Played today with bro at 1p on a GN deal at the twilight rate of $170, which is a steal for this track at that time.

Short and simple since a reviewed it a few months back:

Tee boxes, fairways, greens, sand and rough are ALL immaculate, as usual here.

There WERE a couple greens that were sanded and mini punched, which still played fine. Disappointed nobody mentioned but not enough to complain about. Other than that though, greens we're soft and receptive to all approaches but still rolling true and pure, and fast fast fast. Perfect elite level stuff, as usual.

By FAR AND AWAY the biggest difference from last visit was the rough, which played more reasonably difficult than the next to impossible it had prior. Not only was it much shorter, but more importantly it was MUCH THINNER than they had it set up for the LPGA'ers. Right now it's a great test, but you can still FIND YOUR BALL AND HAVE A CHANCE TO REACH THE GREEN. Couldn't say that before, it was simply TOO DEEP AND THICK for the amateur.

Service was ELITE again, everyone over the top friendly and professional.

It's ridiculously expensive on rack rate, but this course will NOT disappoint.

World. Class. Golf.

I played Monday and Tuesday this week in a work tournament. Aviara is absolutely a top notch facility and the service is always top of the line.

It was fun playing in a tournament out there as the... Continue »

I played Monday and Tuesday this week in a work tournament. Aviara is absolutely a top notch facility and the service is always top of the line.

It was fun playing in a tournament out there as they got the course primed for us and some of the pin placements were just insane. These greens are HUGE and they can really create multiple versions of holes, just by moving pins around. I'd say there are up to 30-40 yard differences on a few holes.

Anyway, Aviara is a gorgeous, gorgeous place to play golf. We had epic conditions although I will say that the greens, while as smooth as could be, were just not as fast as they looked. I'm not saying it's good or bad, it's just that it took a little getting used to in order to be aggressive and make putts (or maybe I just sucked on the greens).

I hadn't played Aviara for maybe 15 years but have played it three times since the LPGA was there and it's really a great track. I think it plays MUCH longer than the yardage with the hills, wind off the ocean and the overall lushness, but I can't remember a more beautiful course with all the landscaping (kind of reminds me of Indian Wells).

If you get the chance to get out there and play, definitely do it. The crew at Aviara are awesome and it's always been a fantastic experience for me.

Rode the Blues (6591/72.5/135) in 4H, 15M, matched up with 3 nice guys twilight. The weather was overcast, breezy and in the 70's. A rare Palmer design near the coast. This layout contains many of th... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6591/72.5/135) in 4H, 15M, matched up with 3 nice guys twilight. The weather was overcast, breezy and in the 70's. A rare Palmer design near the coast. This layout contains many of the things I like about courses. Some forced carries but nothing outrageous. Challenging w/o being ridiculous. Constantly up/down rolling hills, HUGE green complexes, numerous well placed, beautiful plants/water features and many strategically placed large bunkers. The entire course is still in excellent playing condition after recently hosting the LPGA Kia Classic. The tees were mostly lush with few unfixed divots. The fairways were mostly lush and well maintained. The rough was lush and just tall enough that the ball usually say down. The sand traps were excellent. Nicely maintained with good quality sand. The huge Poa greens were smooth and putted medium speed. They were firm, even nice high shots released. The customer service was top notch all around, they obviously place a priority on providing customer service here. Nice GPS and complementary bottled water provided on the carts. Ample water stations on the course. Definitely recommended.

Aviara is one of my top 3 favorite golf courses anywhere. Conditions are always excellent and customer service is absolutely the best. Played here in a tournament today and the service was top notch... Continue »

Aviara is one of my top 3 favorite golf courses anywhere. Conditions are always excellent and customer service is absolutely the best. Played here in a tournament today and the service was top notch as always. Condition wise, the greens were in perfect shape except for two (3 & 16) which had recently been sanded. Greens are large with several subtle breaks They roll true and easily hold approach shots.

Fairways are excellent. Extremely lush and a absolute joy to hit from. You feel like you're walking on a sponge when walking on the fairways, yet they still manage to offer good roll out.

Tee boxes are level, lush and just short of perfect. Sand in the bunkers is top notch rating at a 9.75.

The layout is super fun. Numerous elevation changes throughout with a couple handful of water features added in as well. There are a few waterfall's off of rocks into the lakes below that are just pure beauty. The course didn't have as many flowers planted today as usual but a few of the holes and the most spectacular trees with purple leaves.

Aviara has three of the most beautiful par 3's anywhere. They involve waterfalls and ponds in front of the greens.

There's a reason the LPGA has a tournament here every year, the course is absolutely spectacular. A must play in my book.

Played here yesterday (5/10) after work, taking advantage of their early "discounted" green fees that start at 1:30pm. As always, Aviara does everything right and I happened to play on a perfect weath... Continue »

Played here yesterday (5/10) after work, taking advantage of their early "discounted" green fees that start at 1:30pm. As always, Aviara does everything right and I happened to play on a perfect weather day for golf; never over 70 degrees with limited sun and very mild wind. The course was still in championship form except for a few greens that had been sanded, though it did NOT affect putts and play. Pace was a very casual 4.5 with the group in front out of sight most of the day. Overall, it was an excellent day out there. On to the review...

Tee-boxes: Overall good, though I do remember one or two holes (including the last par 3 on the course) where the slope of the area where our tee box was placed was moderately downhill on an already severe downhill hole. Other than that, lots of level ground to drive the tee into, soft terrain available, and lots of tee box options for players of all skill level.

Fairways: Nearly perfect. I only found one divot and it was still better cared for than many regular fairways I have played recently. I felt the fairways offered good turf to play from, adequate roll, and a challenge with the undulation and slope.

Rough: THICK! There were areas where the traditional rough was just as bad as Torrey. I nearly lost a ball that I saw land in the thick stuff. Texture was sticky and provided enough grip in the grass to grab your club and deviate your ball.

Sand: I was only in one bunker all day thankfully and it had adequate amount of sand. The sand itself wasn't the bleach white stuff you see on television, but just a step below and had great texture to allow for good shot shaping. Bunkers here are plentiful.

Greens: Excellent condition and wicked. Speeds varied from unfair to medium pace, and everything in between. Condition-wise as mentioned, two holes had been sanded but it did not affect play. Other than that, some of the green complexes here are borderline insane; there were more than a few 50+ ft putts and the undulation could really mess with your perception. A great challenge that makes you respect the LPGA ladies even more when they play here.

ETC: Everything about this place screams first class. The clubhouse and practice facilities are more than adequate. The staff was extremely friendly (especially the starter Joe). Carts have the best type of GPS, come equipped with two water bottles, towels, and USB ports; all a plus! The starter had divot tools, markers, and even sunscreen...it's those little touches that let you pay what they charge here and drive off not feeling so financially poor after. The layout is fantastic and the groundskeepers here do a marvelous job aesthetically manicuring it all. If you can take advantage of a good twilight deal I would seriously recommend coming out.

Played 4/11 for bro's b-day. Played the blues, here's the deets:

Elite tee to green, period.

Layout is stunning and creative, does have fair share of rolling fairway mounds and hilly lies.

R... Continue »

Played 4/11 for bro's b-day. Played the blues, here's the deets:

Elite tee to green, period.

Layout is stunning and creative, does have fair share of rolling fairway mounds and hilly lies.

Rough was RUUUUUUUUUUFFFFF. Leftover thickness from LPGA was BRUTALLY TOUGH. Should be cutting lower soon according to staff.

Greens were mostly great, with exception of string in the that had been mini punched and sanded, a little disappointing but it was minimal for sure.

Sand? Think Bahamas and bring some beach activity gear, too gorgeous not to stay in them.

Overall....ELITE. ELITE ELITE. But also PUNISHING because of the leftover rough from Kia Classic. It's not about the LENGTH, it's about the THICKNESS!! Brutal. Takes a lot of practice to play from that mess. STAY OUT!!

Final say: I played solid to great first five holes and bogeyed them all. It's a pro style track.