Played Pala Mesa early on 9/22. Conditions out here are probably as good or better than I have ever seen it out here. Fairways are great, thick and plush, but play slow and soft. Greens have good cove... Continue »

Played Pala Mesa early on 9/22. Conditions out here are probably as good or better than I have ever seen it out here. Fairways are great, thick and plush, but play slow and soft. Greens have good coverage and are very soft. Rough can be painfully thick just off the fairway.

The only negatives - lots of ball marks on the soft greens. And the bunkers, while the amount of sand was good, were really unraked and quite a mess. We were 2nd off in the AM, and maybe the grounds crew hadn't gotten to the bunkers yet. But I didn't see anyone working sand traps. Luckily I had good lies in the two I was in, but it could have been in footprints easily. Still, it does not stop Pala Mesa from getting a high recommendation.

Early morning 3.5 hour round on a well conditioned course. Staff is always friendly. Practice facilities are well maintained and large enough. The carts are very nice with accurate gps and bluetoot... Continue »

Early morning 3.5 hour round on a well conditioned course. Staff is always friendly. Practice facilities are well maintained and large enough. The carts are very nice with accurate gps and bluetooth. The tee boxes all had great coverage but many of the tees were set on sloped ground. The rough is thick enough to locate a ball in but advancing it was slightly difficult. The fairways were all cut down shorter than I've ever seen before but still provided good lies. There was quite a bit of water being put down on the entire course which made for limited roll and mud balls. The fairways here are fairly narrow and accuracy is prime. The traps all have real nice sand but some were damp and in need on raking. Hitting a shot from them was not too difficult. The greens all had really nice coverage and looked great. Putting on them was another story. The greens were a little damp and held shots well. The speed was inconsistent from green to green and there WERE numerous ball marks on every hole that had not been repaired. There were so many marks that fixing those in your line got old after a few holes. Most greens here are very small and protected by bunkers. The weekday senior rates are reasonable and freeway access is easy.

Mid morning 3.75 hour round on a perfect weather day. The staff is friendly and informative. The restaurant is being renovated then the old pro shop will see new life and it needs it! The carts are... Continue »

Mid morning 3.75 hour round on a perfect weather day. The staff is friendly and informative. The restaurant is being renovated then the old pro shop will see new life and it needs it! The carts are great with good GPS and speakers with outlets for devices. The driving range and practice green are in great condition. We started on the tenth tee as evidently there was a water main break on the front nine that needed repaired earlier in the morning. The tee boxes had good coverage and all but a couple were level. The rough here rivals TCI in thickness and length. The rough is long, thick and mostly Kikuyu. If you were able to find your ball in it there was little chance you were going to advance it very far. Fairways from start to finish had nice green grass cut at the perfect height for good lies. The traps were all full of really great sand but probably hadn't been raked in a couple days? The greens were always really nice here but are extremely nice now. The greens held a good shot well with roll out if you came in low. There are many subtle breaks on these small greens and that paired with the speed made for some frustration in our group. The narrower fairways on several holes have some slope to them which adds to the difficulty of the course. There are a couple water features but they do not come into play during the round. They do offer a senior weekday rate which is reasonable in comparison to nearby facilities. The location is directly off of the 15 freeway for easy access. Definitely worth a round.

Played Pala Mesa on 9/30. I don't remember seeing Pala Casino branding here before, but it is there now, so apparently the course may be owned by Pala Casino now. Likely a good development based on wh... Continue »

Played Pala Mesa on 9/30. I don't remember seeing Pala Casino branding here before, but it is there now, so apparently the course may be owned by Pala Casino now. Likely a good development based on what we've seen at other courses that get Casino support.

Greens are really nice. Very soft though. But roll very well.

Everything else is pretty good here. Fairways are good, with a rough spot here and there. Sand was plentiful, although there were quite a bit of unraked areas ( we were first off, so this was late day golfers not raking).

Really enjoyable course. Hit it straight though (I wasn't).

After finding another GN Hot Deal, I headed back to Pala Mesa 3 weeks after my prior review.

Last time, I commented on the near excellent conditions all around - with some minor reservations on the... Continue »

After finding another GN Hot Deal, I headed back to Pala Mesa 3 weeks after my prior review.

Last time, I commented on the near excellent conditions all around - with some minor reservations on the greens. 3 weeks later, I have no more reservations on the greens. They were really nice this time, and any prior observations of "competing grass types" were very minimal this time. They do have one green with some challenges (#8 I think), but outside of that, they were great.

Highly recommended.

Out early on 4/24. Had a 7:10 time, but pulled up at 6:45 and checked in. Nobody was on #1 tee, and the started said go. So off I went. Played through 1 single ahead, and finished in just over 2 hrs. ... Continue »

Out early on 4/24. Had a 7:10 time, but pulled up at 6:45 and checked in. Nobody was on #1 tee, and the started said go. So off I went. Played through 1 single ahead, and finished in just over 2 hrs. Been a while since I've had a solo round.

I have not been to Pala Mesa in 5 years. I must say I am impressed. Course conditions were really good. Fairways, rough, sand were all fantastic. Tee boxes were very good.

The greens were in good shape and rolled really well. A couple of the greens had some challenges, and you can see a mixture of grasses on the greens might be an issue later, but right now they are rolling great.

Big thumbs up to Pala Mesa for a job well done, I look forward to coming out again.

Early am round in a little over four hours with newbie Brit who joined us. The staff is friendly and relaxed. The practice facilities are adequate for the course which is now owned by the Pala Casin... Continue »

Early am round in a little over four hours with newbie Brit who joined us. The staff is friendly and relaxed. The practice facilities are adequate for the course which is now owned by the Pala Casino. One would think they would be putting a little money into it with the rates they are now charging? The carts are good with gps (which is not very accurate) and comfortable. The tee boxes had good coverage but several are not level. The rough is medium to thick THICK in sections throughout the round. It can very difficult to locate your balls in it but you will find others that were left there early. The fairways were all in good condition with a mix of grasses but generally nice lies. Hitting from the fairways was nice enough. The traps were definitely the highlight of the round. Most all traps had a good amount of damp fluffy sand which was great but if you weren't used to hitting from it could be difficult. The greens were NOT in the best of shape. Many of them resembled a quilt with patches of different colored grass. The speed was extremely quick but without a fair line due to the patches and slope on many of the greens was discouraging. Shots into the greens did hold well but the bumpiness and speed nearly made some an automatic two putt for our group. Even the really good putters were frustrated. The freeway noise and narrower fairways make for a challenge during the round. The rack rates are out of line for the area with other offerings giving you a better experience. Not able to recommend but it was nice to get out to play here again.

Played here today with a 10:20 TeeOff.com "Deal" time for $65 after 20% promo code savings. Checked in, rolled a few putts, and then talked to the starter a few minutes before 10:00. He said those fan... Continue »

Played here today with a 10:20 TeeOff.com "Deal" time for $65 after 20% promo code savings. Checked in, rolled a few putts, and then talked to the starter a few minutes before 10:00. He said those fantastic words of "You can go off now by yourself if you want." Weirdly, the front nine was mostly empty and even taking my time, I finished the front in 80 minutes. Then there was a threesome on the 10th tee who invited me to join them. Back nine as a foursome was obviously a bit slower, but not bad. Total POP three and a half hours.

Conditions are pretty good. Greens are slick, fast, and medium firmness. They are very patchy looking but it doesn't really affect putts except on a few holes when the patchiness equates to thin spots. (The 8th green was the worst I saw of this.) Fairways have mostly good coverage but it seemed they weren't mowed today. Definitely longer than I would expect, but not to the point of being penal. Rough was a little patchier but mostly good coverage, and not too deep. I was only in one bunker and it was thin and wet. (It was a fairway bunker, so maybe the greenside bunkers are better.) Tee boxes had decent coverage but many are lumpy. Overall conditions are pretty good.

The Shark GPS in the carts reminded me of the Seinfeld episode when his manager keeps warning him of all these little details to prevent him from "freaking out," but then she drives him crazy with all her warnings. No complaints otherwise. Recommended at the rate I paid, especially seeing it got me home in time to watch the end of the Waste Management and all of the Super Bowl.

Played Pala Mesa on a cool Thursday morning with Michelle and was paired with another couple Tim and Carla from the Yosemite area. I played blues and was a little over 6200 yards with 126 slope while... Continue »

Played Pala Mesa on a cool Thursday morning with Michelle and was paired with another couple Tim and Carla from the Yosemite area. I played blues and was a little over 6200 yards with 126 slope while the girls and Tim played the white/gold combo. We found out it was cart path only for the entire course which made things a little slower but I didn’t have anywhere to be so it was all good. The fairways as you would imagine without carts driving all all over it are very nice condition but if you stray the rough is a little longer because it hasn’t been cut yet. Greens are very nice with little to no ball marks even though they held shots very well, I think I only fixed 2 other ball marks besides mine. It had rained the day before and there still some water in the bunkers and some where it had dried but still a little muddy so we agreed to drop outside of bunkers. I did play a plugged lie out of one just to see if I could hit the shot and I was lucky to get it somewhere on the green. Because of cart path only our pace was 4:40 so still a little slow but ok. Course was a little narrow in some places but nothing too bad and it had a nice selection of left to right and right to left holes. The rate was 55.00 so not bad, but we had a great day and the weather warmed up nicely and it was a good day. We said our goodbye’s and went to a BBQ place not far from the course to cap off a very nice day. Recommended if in the area..