Played 10/16/23 Played in a industry tournament. 12 pm shot gun. The round took 5.5 hrs
The course was in pristine shape. I've played the course a handful of times over the years and I have neve see... Continue »

Played 10/16/23 Played in a industry tournament. 12 pm shot gun. The round took 5.5 hrs
The course was in pristine shape. I've played the course a handful of times over the years and I have neve seen it this good. The fairways were lush, emerald green and perfect. Ball sat perfectly like on a tee. In the past the greens have always been on the hard, fast & thin side. On this day they were lush and soft. Balls stopped where you landed them. Ran great with a medium quick pace. Was not in any traps, but they looked to be in great shape. Very steep rake rate here now, so hard to justify for most, including me. But, It was in as good of shape as any of the high end Palm Springs courses. If you have the resources it is in stunning shape.

played fri 9/8, 10:40 tee time, 5 hr rd. Been at least 15 years since i've played here, and don't remember it being so fun. Hot day with not much of a breeze. Very nice, challenging layout, lots of... Continue »

played fri 9/8, 10:40 tee time, 5 hr rd. Been at least 15 years since i've played here, and don't remember it being so fun. Hot day with not much of a breeze. Very nice, challenging layout, lots of elevation changes. good mix of blind shots, up and down holes, forced carries, hazards... Lots of great shot quality opportunities. Greens were decent, soft, a little bumpy, ran about an 11. Beverage cart came around a few times. Bunkers perfect. Overall in really good shape. Had a great time.

Day 1 of the San Diego golf outing had me at Maderas battling it out with Long4par. We tee’d off at around 11:30 under cloudy, cool and misty conditions. We encountered light rain throughout the da... Continue »

Day 1 of the San Diego golf outing had me at Maderas battling it out with Long4par. We tee’d off at around 11:30 under cloudy, cool and misty conditions. We encountered light rain throughout the day but it wasn’t too bad.

Course conditions were right what you’d expect for a track of this caliber. Check in was effortless and pleasant from the back drop where they load up your bag on a cart to the pro shop. Range is on natural grass which is included with the green fee.

Greens were in nice shape rolling at a medium to medium fast pace. They were slower than normal for here which I imagine was due to rain yesterday and today so the probably haven’t mowed and rolled them in a couple of days.

Fairways were lush with great coverage throughout the entire course. The rough was non existent. In fact the “rough” was thinner than the fairway at times. Tee boxes were all level with ample coverage. I was only in one green side bunker and it had excellent top not fluffy sand. I was in a couple of fairway bunkers and they too had high quality sand.

I thoroughly enjoy this hilly layout with some unique holes. It has some scorable holes and some tough ones. But the main objective is to keep it between the lines as even a slight miss hit can run off into the penalty area.

I Highly recommend Maderas. Even if I did drive 7 hours just go hand over the TBC to Long4par!

Played Maderas for the first time this last week. Went in with big expectations and have to say I came away a little disappointed (by the design). Staff at every turn were excellent, as were the fac... Continue »

Played Maderas for the first time this last week. Went in with big expectations and have to say I came away a little disappointed (by the design). Staff at every turn were excellent, as were the facilities with a large mat range, two putting greens, and two exceptional chipping greens. Conditions were for the most part excellent as well with a few exceptions. Tees were basically perfect. Fairways were winter thin and brown but playable. Rough was dependent on where on the course you were but mainly non-existent. Wasn't in any bunkers, but the practice ones were great with a nice compact layer of sand. The greens were so tricky and I must say I really did love them. Probably rolled a 10 with a few divots here or there never affecting line. I would hate to play here in the summer when they are baked out...things could probably get ugly quick. The thing that disappointed me however was the design itself, especially the front nine. I felt that certain holes were just far too narrow especially when you consider there is little to no rough. Also seemed to be a repetition of short par-4s that were not quite short enough to drive and so it became repetition to hit driving iron into the fairway making it a bit boring at times. I came away thoroughly enjoying my day but wondering if I'd really make the near 2-hour drive ever again. Definitely still recommended though.

Round one of three in San Diego last weekend.
Overall the best conditioned course and a gem of a track built in 1999
Greens were excellent.
Fairways green edge to edge with tight lies good roll out... Continue »

Round one of three in San Diego last weekend.
Overall the best conditioned course and a gem of a track built in 1999
Greens were excellent.
Fairways green edge to edge with tight lies good roll out.
The rough was dormant and brown giving the eye a nice contrast like the desert courses to the west. Played with a member who said it was up and held my poor shots. In the summer conditions he said the balls would roll into off into the natural areas. Almost impossible to play from even if you find it in most circumstances.
Facility top notch and friendly staff made our visit using the troon card a pleasure. Many multi-million dollar homes in among the hills and hilltops.
A great place to visit.

Except for a few tee boxes that were a little beat up, everything is in excellent condition. Greens were outstanding. Pace of play was 4 hours.

Except for a few tee boxes that were a little beat up, everything is in excellent condition. Greens were outstanding. Pace of play was 4 hours.

Made the long drive down to Maderas for the first time ever this weekend to meet up with Alex326 and finally play this much anticipated gem I'd heard so much about over the years. In short, the course... Continue »

Made the long drive down to Maderas for the first time ever this weekend to meet up with Alex326 and finally play this much anticipated gem I'd heard so much about over the years. In short, the course absolutely did not disappoint.

It's a tremendous layout with beautiful views, significant elevations, narrow landing areas and a ton of natural and unnatural hazards that simply require your very best golf. And yet, despite all those challenges, it always retains its fun factor and is incredibly fair if you hit the required shot depending on the hole. It's quite simply a superb experience from a layout perspective.

Conditions probably looked better to me than they did for Alex who's used to playing Spyglass every other week, but as he mentioned in his review, lies were still mostly perfect all day despite the course not being super green per se. It only looked slightly faded to me after an intense summer in the North San Diego mountains, but played quite nicely from both the fairways and the fair, yet ample rough. The bunkers I managed to avoid all day with the exception of hole 14, but the sand was nice and sufficient. Tee boxes were in good shape from the white tee boxes we opted to play on this particular day.

Greens were really, really good. Very fast, very challenging and a real treat. I was hot early with the flat stick but the law of averages came back with a vengeance on the back nine and I realized quickly that I needed to worry much more about keeping them close than sinking them (with varying results over 18 holes). They do still hold shots well despite the speed, but it's all about reading the slopes and angles and getting the speed right. Really fun though.

As far as the intangibles, this place takes care of it all. You have very helpful and accommodating staff all over the property, we had a marshall that not only did his job well, but did it in a pleasant manner, GPS-ready carts that were very nice, and frequent cart service that supplied everything we needed throughout the afternoon. No complaints here.

I'm so very thankful to Alex for setting this up and I would come back to this gem again and again in the future. So if you want to know if it was worth driving down two hours, playing for 4-5 hours and then driving home, the answer is simple: Absolutely.

Started off my So Cal trip with a round at the scenic and always tough, Maderas. I was joined by my good buddy Roarksown1 for an extremely enjoyable afternoon. I’ve always played Maderas in mid sum... Continue »

Started off my So Cal trip with a round at the scenic and always tough, Maderas. I was joined by my good buddy Roarksown1 for an extremely enjoyable afternoon. I’ve always played Maderas in mid summer so this was my first venture on the course during fall conditions.

I’m not sure if the fairways are starting to go dormant or if they were a little brown from the summer heat. Either way it was just an aesthetics issue as they still presented a great hitting surface off of lush grass.

Greens were smooth and wicked as ever. They rolled smooth at a respectable medium fast pace. The practice green seemed to roll faster than the actual greens which were on par with the last couple of greens (Dragonfly and Hunter Ranch) this week. Greens at Maderas have numerous breaks, but as tough as they are, the breaks are predictable.

Tee boxes were level with good coverage throughout. Bunkers had ample sand. Rough was moderate in that the ball would sit down somewhat, but you could generally get a club on it. The rough is needed to help keep stray balls from going into hazard areas. Almost all holes have some sort of danger zone on one or both sides of the fairway.

Layout is super fun with numerous elevation changes, water hazards and forced carries throughout the entire track. Carts have GPS and staff is very friendly. POP was slow due to a slow group in front of us. Hats off to the marshal who actually did his job and after warning them twice forced them to skip a hole. This helped the pace tremendously on the back nine.

Maderas is scenic and tough but definitely worth playing.

Greens have healed nicely from the recent aeration. They are overseeding the tee boxes on the par 3s and the par 5 18th. All of the par 3’s (and no 18) are playing from either the red or (in the case ... Continue »

Greens have healed nicely from the recent aeration. They are overseeding the tee boxes on the par 3s and the par 5 18th. All of the par 3’s (and no 18) are playing from either the red or (in the case of 18) the white tee box. Course conditions are very good.