This review is for the BACK NINE ONLY!

Well after completing the front nine things changed about the fairways. They went from very nice and over seeded to absolute garbage. You were better off hit... Continue »

This review is for the BACK NINE ONLY!

Well after completing the front nine things changed about the fairways. They went from very nice and over seeded to absolute garbage. You were better off hitting the rough for better lies. I The fairways were thin had bare spots and just not fun to play on. Even with lift clean and place it was tough to find a nice lie in most areas. I am not sure if they could not afford to over seed both 9's or what. It was definitely a let down after the front nine. The layout is still fun and the course has character but just be warned.

I'd still play here but my expectations will be low.

This Review is for the FRONT NINE ONLY! Please check the other review for the back nine. Rat-Patrol and I ventured out to Bernardo Heights Saturday to play a GK match. The weather had been miserable... Continue »

This Review is for the FRONT NINE ONLY! Please check the other review for the back nine. Rat-Patrol and I ventured out to Bernardo Heights Saturday to play a GK match. The weather had been miserable all morning but when we got the the rain had stopped. Course was soggy but the fairways on the front nice looked to have been over seeded and were a delight to play from. All the same grass and great cushion. Please read my next review about the back nine fairways as they are a different story. Rough was nasty in areas which made us club up to get out. Sand was wet but of the 3 I was in 2 had plenty of sand 1 was a little thinner. Tee boxes were decent but looked to have not moved in a few days. After paying Rat saw a calendar that said they punched 2 weeks ago. The guy in the pro shop said they still looked bad and that they had to put more sand down. Well Jim and I decided to play anyways because it was $25. Well the greens looked like they were punched yesterday. Lots of holes and I didn't see any of the sand they said the put down it made for a tough day putting. Overall its a fun track that is not overly difficult and if in the area its not a bad place to play.

Date: 6/7/2019

POP: 3:30 (Played Back 9 twice)
Weather: Sunny/Mid 70's
Time: 1:28pm


Note: The front 9 is closed for an extended maintenance project so 18 holes is played through looping t... Continue »

Date: 6/7/2019

POP: 3:30 (Played Back 9 twice)
Weather: Sunny/Mid 70's
Time: 1:28pm


Note: The front 9 is closed for an extended maintenance project so 18 holes is played through looping the front playing to two different pins on each green.

Service and Amenities:
Being a country club the services and amenities are definitely top notch. Staff is always super friendly and the course has nice practice facilities to warm up.

Greens:
Greens were recently punched (appears to be about 1.5 weeks ago from the amount of recovery) and were sandy. Since they were punched they rolled slow and bumpy but were definitely still playable.

Fairways:
The fairways were firm and well maintained. They provided very nice rollout and good lies for iron shots. No bare spots observed. Fairways have a lot of elevation change but it isn't too tricky. Some blind tee shots, so if you have never played here before the tee shots can be super intimidating. Houses line the course on some holes but do not come into play unless shots are very errant.

Bunkers:
Bunkers were well maintained with fine/course sand mixture. They were uniform all throughout the course and that includes the practice facilities.

Tee Boxes:
Flat and lush. Very Level and well maintained. No excess divots or bare spots with the exceptions of the par 3's since they are getting a ton of play due to the back 9 looping.

Rough:
About 1.5" long and somewhat thick. Not too tough to get a club through at all and tended to produce more fliers than anything.

Overall:
This is a fun course with a decent layout and I will definitely be back!

The surroundings, clubhouse and layout are the only positives I can say about this course. Course is in terrible shape. Thin to no grass in fairways and no one seems to fill in divots. No rough so yo... Continue »

The surroundings, clubhouse and layout are the only positives I can say about this course. Course is in terrible shape. Thin to no grass in fairways and no one seems to fill in divots. No rough so your ball may roll into to bushes or out of bounds. Greens were bumpy and many had unrepaired divots. Sand traps were the only area of the course that were maintained. I would hate to be a member here if this is the conditions they're paying for, although membership could fill in divots and fix ball marks on greens - just a suggestion

As Andrew said, "I liked it better the second time" and I did. The layout and variety of holes keeps your interest, not overly difficult, but fun. Some challenge and some spots to look good. The cours... Continue »

As Andrew said, "I liked it better the second time" and I did. The layout and variety of holes keeps your interest, not overly difficult, but fun. Some challenge and some spots to look good. The course looks better defined by the turf reduction project (wood chips). The greens seemed in better condition as did the whole course (but of course I won my GK match so I am looking through rose colored glasses, but the conditions were very good). I played once before with Shaunstorm and the place seemed kinda empty, it was quite busy today but POP was still OK, front in 2 hours, back in 2.5 with some wait time behind a group of elderly folks. I usually don't feel quite at home in a country club or "high-end" course environment (and don't get doing reviews for C.C.'s as they aren't open for play, unless someone is looking for a club to join?), but both times I played here I felt very comfortable, no stuffy stuff here. If you can get on out here most definitely do so.

Late to the review party for our GK Cup round at 11:20am on a sunny breezy Sunday 4/24/16 at BHCC. Thanks to AndrewZ28 for setting us up at this private club for our match. My immediate impression was... Continue »

Late to the review party for our GK Cup round at 11:20am on a sunny breezy Sunday 4/24/16 at BHCC. Thanks to AndrewZ28 for setting us up at this private club for our match. My immediate impression was as Andrew and Itslikeimsayin said previously - very similar in terrain and hole setup as Carmel Mountain Ranch, which I think is a good design and use of the land. Clubhouse up top and the two nines play down and then back up as loops back to the top. I don't think the terrain here is as steep as at CMR, but many similar characteristics.

I agree with all aspects of the previous two reviews. My difficulty was that most of the uphill holes are dogleg right, which doesn't fit my ball flight well, so I struggled on those parts of the course. I was also disappointed with turf conditions on the green margins and on the runups to the many perched greens - the tight/bare turf and scattered bare/clumpy spots (I think I found them all!!) made controlling chips and pitches difficult. But greens, sand, and tees were great. Rough was so short it was almost preferable to some of the tight fairway lies we had. Something else I noticed, which the club CAN control, was flag placement. They use the red/white/blue system for placement on the greens - today all 4 of the par 5s were blue flags, and since 3 of the 4 par 5s play downhill to the green, you played the same hole (as it turned out, in the same direction) 3 times, with 2 having lakes front left and one having a severely narrow opening @ ~100 yards. So some imagination by the club is in order, getting out of the normal flag "rotation." Also, 3 of the 4 par 3s were white flags.

The club was very welcoming and there was definitely a very relaxed atmosphere. I was a little surprised that the course and club were so uncrowded on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Most of what I assume were the members I saw were older. Also, unusually, I saw a couple of women carrying their own bags on the course. And not college kids, either. No judgement, just unusual.

If you get an opportunity to play here, I recommend the course for layout and good conditions.

Played Bernardo Heights with rudyclub, itslikeimsayin and DConnally this past Sunday. The weather was absolutely perfect and made for a great day.

Bernardo Heights is one of a few courses in San D... Continue »

Played Bernardo Heights with rudyclub, itslikeimsayin and DConnally this past Sunday. The weather was absolutely perfect and made for a great day.

Bernardo Heights is one of a few courses in San Diego that all seem to be built around the same time (early to mid 80s) and share a lot of similarities (see Shadowridge CC). That being said, I enjoyed this course a lot the second time playing it. While there are few "wow" holes, I feel that all 18 really provide a fun golfing experience and definitely hold your interest.

The service was really good and we played at a pretty decent pace. I think this is basically what you expect at a private club.

I thought the conditions of the course had some high and some low points. I really, really liked the greens. They held shots but were firm, making for some thinking and tricky situations. They definitely rolled true and pretty good speed, which is much better than lightning quick considering my shaky putter. I never had a ball wobble or bounce, which says a lot. There did seem to be quite a bit of GUR in the fairways and I definitely wouldn't describe them as lush. That being said, I never once had a bad lie and saw no problem playing off them (when I actually hit one).

I hit 2-3 bunkers and the sand was fantastic. With the slopes and trickiness of the green complexes, having the ability to play out of greenside bunkers is a must and they had just the right amount of quality sand. Super bonus in my book.

The one area that I thought needed work was the uniformity of the rough around the greens. Now, if you read my past reviews I pretty much give the rough a pass everywhere because it's called "rough" for a reason, however I found quite a bit of hardpan around the greens mixed with thicker stuff and that just made for some funky shots. I do get what I deserve on bad shots and maybe it's the fact that I hit bad shots in those situations that left a bad taste in my mouth, but that's the only area that stood out to me.

All in all, I really enjoyed the Bernardo Heights CC experience. I could definitely be cool playing here regularly as my home course. I think the practice facilities are really solid, the people were great and the course was interesting enough and in good enough shape to keep you satisfied.

Played my GK Cup match out here today vs. rudyclub alongside AndrewZ28 & dconnally. We had an 11:20 tee time and started right on time. Great practice facility with an all grass range, two putting gre... Continue »

Played my GK Cup match out here today vs. rudyclub alongside AndrewZ28 & dconnally. We had an 11:20 tee time and started right on time. Great practice facility with an all grass range, two putting greens and a chipping green.

Conditions were quite good. Andrew said the greens were punched about four weeks ago but I saw no evidence of that. They rolled smoothly for the most part and ran about medium to medium fast speed. My approach shots made ball marks early in the round but as we got later in the day, the greens seemed to firm up some and shots didn't really make a mark on the greens. As a result, well-struck full shots still released a bit when they hit the green. All in all, greens were very nice. Fairways were good, despite large parts of some back nine greens were painted as GUR, although I didn't see much differentiation from those areas and the other areas. The rough varied in length, type of grass and condition, making things interesting. No complaints on the tee boxes. Sand was plentiful in the bunkers I was in.

Layout-wise and aesthetically, this course reminded me a lot of nearby Carmel Mountain Ranch, especially seeing they've both done turf reduction efforts. There are lots of elevation changes throughout the layout. Three of the four par 5s are really fun, "get-able" holes. Overall not especially memorable, but a solid course with a good variety of holes. I posted 19 photos from today here: https://goo.gl/YVp8bd

Played in the SCGA event Saturday, SixPez did an excellent job in his review of this course,although, I did find the fairways to be in rather poor conditions, especially for a private club, drought co... Continue »

Played in the SCGA event Saturday, SixPez did an excellent job in his review of this course,although, I did find the fairways to be in rather poor conditions, especially for a private club, drought conditions taken into consideration, typical Robinson design, a few memorable holes, GK'ers should look into playing these SCGA member events, good opportunity to play some private courses, not cheap, but...especially San Diego CC later this year, the short game area alone is worth the price of admission, stay healthy. play well, CGG...