This was the main reason I was in Oceanside yesterday. I actually booked the round through GolfZing, which was quite a pain. For their private courses, you go through the whole booking process online,... Continue »

This was the main reason I was in Oceanside yesterday. I actually booked the round through GolfZing, which was quite a pain. For their private courses, you go through the whole booking process online, but no tee time is guaranteed and most dates listed aren't actually available. I finally got a hold of someone working there and just asked him to tell me any course that had a Saturday availability. El Camino was it. $95 way, way, way overpriced for this course, and I suspect most of the others they represent are too. Oh well.

I had a 12:41 tee time, but was there early and the guy in the pro shop was very helpful. He set me up with a threesome of members and we teed off a little after noon. They were great guys who told me a lot about the course—helped make the experience more enjoyable. It was busy out, but the pace was decent at about 4 hours.

Condition-wise, the course was not much better than a decent muni right now. Tee boxes, fairways and rough are kikuyu. The cuts are clear and defined, but there are still a number of thin and yellow patches. The rough was pretty consistent throughout, though, cut low so not much penalty. Tee boxes good. Bunkers good. Greens pretty good. Very soft, which is helpful because you want to fly the green as much as you can here. A bit bumpy in places and rolling at medium speeds. Not nearly as fast as normal according to the members.

This is an okay course. The design isn't anything too amazing, but it's a solid test. The landing areas seem somewhat wide, but the fairway cuts are relatively narrow and many holes slope slightly from left to right. Trees come into play much more often than you think and OB is in play on one side of most holes in this residential area, so the challenge is more than it seems. Most greens have a left to right slope, too. Other than a chance to play something "new" and normally private, there are so many better public options in the area that I'd rather play than El Camino—especially considering the price I paid.