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..

Saturday morning tee time. Check in and first tee well organized and timely. CPO on front nine and four holes on the back this really slowed things down. Course is old style course with very mature tr... Continue »

Saturday morning tee time. Check in and first tee well organized and timely. CPO on front nine and four holes on the back this really slowed things down. Course is old style course with very mature trees and OB on most holes. Fairways and rough had good coverage though the rough was a little spotty. Tee boxes were uneven and had to hunt for a flat spot. Bunkers were well groomed and had adequate sand. Greens were the best part with plenty of speed and breaks that can cause you to roll off the green. Picture perfect day and well worth the money

First and last time I’ll play this course. Course were good and a little challenging. Greens were on the slower side fairways could be better with no rough. Traps had good sand. Pace of play was painf... Continue »

First and last time I’ll play this course. Course were good and a little challenging. Greens were on the slower side fairways could be better with no rough. Traps had good sand. Pace of play was painfully slow. No marshal although when I spoke to the pro shop afterwards they said they had a marshal. Cart person only on weekends. Resort and course look a little beaten down

Early Monday morning round in under four hours. The staff has always been very good over the years here and is still great. The carts now have good gps and bluetooth speakers but be sure you get one... Continue »

Early Monday morning round in under four hours. The staff has always been very good over the years here and is still great. The carts now have good gps and bluetooth speakers but be sure you get one with power steering. The tee boxes were all a little thin but mostly level. The rough was fairly thick in a few places but short enough you could find your ball. The majority of turf here seems to be kikuyu now but is tight enough for good lies. The fairways have good coverage with the kikuyu grass green and thick. The traps were all in excellent shape but many of them need lots of sand and most were damp to wet. The greens were in great shape also with very few ball marks and were extremely fast for so early in the day. I used to play this course a few times a year and will say it's almost in the best shape I've seen it in the past thirty years. The racks rates are higher than I believe they should be , but with how busy the resort and course are you don't have an option except to pay.

Played on a Friday around 11. Course is in nice shape. Tee boxes were good with all level and little divot damage, a few bare spots but not hard to find a spot to tee it up. Fairways nice and had g... Continue »

Played on a Friday around 11. Course is in nice shape. Tee boxes were good with all level and little divot damage, a few bare spots but not hard to find a spot to tee it up. Fairways nice and had great coverage, rough was thick in spots but playable. Bunkers had sand in them but they were clumpy and hard to get a good lie and NO ONE RAKES them. Greens were fast and firm and a little bumpy which made the downhill putts very challenging. Customer service great from check in to the snack bar. Saw the cart girl at least 3 times. Good time to play Pala.

Played Pala Mesa on Wednesday, December 30 for my last round of 2020. Not to ruin the review but I wish I would have stayed in South OC that day.

We had a 7:45 am tee time that ended up being push... Continue »

Played Pala Mesa on Wednesday, December 30 for my last round of 2020. Not to ruin the review but I wish I would have stayed in South OC that day.

We had a 7:45 am tee time that ended up being pushed to an 8:15 am modified shotgun due to a slight frost delay (common for this time of the year out there). We were notified of the slight delay upon arrival and given our starting hole assignment after check-in.

The COURSE: Not much was mowed or maintained that morning due to the frost. I would have thought they would have at least put the mowers on the greens once the frost lifted before we all went out but that didn't happen. The TEE BOXES (5/10) were spotty and several were not level. The FAIRWAYS (3/10) were patchy and extremely inconsistent. There were also a ton of unfilled divots which is sad and part of the problem with golfers these days. We need golfers to take more pride in filling divots and fixing ball marks. The ROUGH (5/10) was lush in certain areas but inconsistent majority of the time. The BUNKERS (6/10) that were playable were freshly raked and consistent throughout the course. The reason I didn't score the bunkers higher is because several of the bunkers were unplayable (still puddled up from Monday's rain and some were under construction). None of these bunkers were mark G.U.R. so we made the decision to take relief in our match if we felt the bunker was unplayable. The GREENS (6/10) were in decent shape for not having been mowed or rolled that morning. If you were above the hole, you had your work cut out for you. Several ball marks and bumps on the greens even in the early morning.

The NEGATIVES: The value of the green fee isn't great (based on what their charging and the current shape of the course). The biggest negative was the the mishandling of the tee sheet. They modified shotgunned everyone up until about 8:15-8:30 am. However, they did not modify shotgun any of the midday/afternoon tee times once the morning groups made the turn from #18 to #1. After playing holes 3-18, we made the drive back across the parking lot to #1 and find about 30-40 people gather around the first tee. Amongst all the people, we recognized the group that we had been following all morning was talking with the starter. Long story short, we find out that we are now 6 deep on the #1 tee because they are letting the afternoon tee times go out in between the morning groups that were making the turn to finish their remaining holes. We were 6 DEEP!!!!! We waited about 45 minutes before we tee'd off on #1 to finish our last two holes. Had our match not have been tied, we would have left after playing the 16 holes. Regardless, the way the golf shop handled the frost delay and then didn't communicate that we'd have a wait after #18 was inexcusable. We played our first 16 holes in 3:40 and played the last 2 holes in 1:25 (includes the 45 minute wait to tee off on #1).

CONCLUSION: Fun day on the course regardless of the miscommunication and mishandling of the tee sheet. I spoke with the head pro after the round and he apologized for the miscommunication and the debacle on the first tee. I was led to believe that this is how they normally handle frost delays at Pala Mesa, which is odd. I work in a golf shop as an asst. and we've done some creative things but never anything like that. The head pro offered us a rain check at the end of the conservation and said he hoped to earn our business back. Not sure I'll give them another try yet but it was a very nice gesture for him to do that.

I get that were in a pandemic and the golf industry is busier than ever but I believe the course is charging about $10-12 too much per round due to the condition of the course. However, my buddy got charged $15 less than the rest of us. We're not sure how that happened but it's okay, I won his green fee savings plus a bit more in our match.