rstang06 and I played here yesterday (6/28) with fellow GKers Bsparks/Tobster. Had a coupon for all day same day replay. Had a 12:20 tee time, but they got us out a little earlier at 12:10; sunny - ... Continue »

rstang06 and I played here yesterday (6/28) with fellow GKers Bsparks/Tobster. Had a coupon for all day same day replay. Had a 12:20 tee time, but they got us out a little earlier at 12:10; sunny - Breezy conditions. Course was STACKED all day. Check in by Pro Shop very professional and courteous. Nice Newer looking carts (no GPS; has a cooler though), course very well marked with distance markers. Bunkers (I didn't have to hit out of any) but they looked as though they just had new fluffy sand put in them. One or two I saw had suffered from a little too much water that had pooled in the deepest pocket of them; and aside from lack of raking...they were very nice overall. Tee boxes were in good shape (some of the red tee boxes were unlevel and awkward to settle in for a comfortable address of your ball). Fairways were in decent condition for the Summer and rolled out quite a way. Tight lies, and some still showing signs of a not so recent aeration (as well as a couple of the greens). Rough was a bear to get out of and easily hid your ball if you hit/rolled into them. 3-5" of Kukulia grass. A LOT of mushy areas where its obvious they are watering the rough (lush); some standing water where sprinklers systems may have been broken and continuously leaking water. Approach to the greens were kakulia as well, so another one of those courses you had to hit to the green...anything short and it was like velcro grabbing your ball. Greens were very receptive. Soft and held shots pretty well. However, playing mid-day (and then we went out for another 9 holes after a bite to eat), were quite bumpy. Not severely ball marked; but certainly unrepaired marks that got our attention to fix. Tobster came within about a foot to a foot and a half of winning a brand new VW Beetle on a promo hole for Sweet Tea Vodka - Par 3. It was AWESOME...we all were cheering the ball to go into the hole. WOW!!! Those that made the green were rewarded with a FREE round of golf; so Yes, we'll be going back. (Tobster and rstang06 (aka fastwilie), made the green. Okay... back to the greens....balls rolled bumpalong to the hole and then broke to the left or right due to the volcano effect around the holes from all the tread/wear of the morning rounds. Was very frustrating. Very misleading greens. Even the slightest miss resulted in a major make-up 2nd or 3rd to the cup. Slow somewhat bumpy rolls up hill, and fast down slopes sometimes off the green entirely. Sigh! One Par 3 on the back 9 was insane. Rock/dirt bank to the right (and the green was a little dogleg to the right), so if you hit too far right, you could end up bouncing across and down the steep bank to the left of the par 3 fairway. Tricky shot in the wind. Pace of play was very nice. We only had a wait on one Par 3 all day. Strange layout as this course weaves in out through houses; so you don't want to go astray on this course or you'll be trading insurance info for sure. Cart Girl made it to us twice; and was very pleasant. Practice facilities are wonderful. Nice chipping green/putting green, and grass driving range. Pro shop very well stocked and they had some really great deals. 19th Hole clubhouse beautiful with scrumptious although more high-end menu/small portioned meals. (delicious Mahi Mahi fish n chips!) Overall great experience at this course. Wind does play a major factor when playing; especially in the mid-day/afternoon. all in this golfin gals opinion. Give it a go and enjoy!?

Played 6/28 at 12:20pm with Tobster, Cricket and Fast Willie. Odd mix of conditions this day.

Fairways were pretty decent except for one hole on the back 9 that has really seen better days.

Roug... Continue »

Played 6/28 at 12:20pm with Tobster, Cricket and Fast Willie. Odd mix of conditions this day.

Fairways were pretty decent except for one hole on the back 9 that has really seen better days.

Rough - just thick, long and brutal...most of the balls would just sit down in it and it was challenging to get the club face on the ball.

Bunkers - not bad, not great, but you could get your ball out with little trouble.

Greens - well, they LOOKED good at first glace, but they were bumpy as all get out. I would say that putts did NOT roll true and they presented challenges all day to our 4some.

Winds were up a little bit in the afternoon and it added a little more challenge to the round.

All in all, for the price we paid, it was a good value, we finished up 18, had a decent sit down early dinner...then played another 9 holes. I like this course..for me it is a good test and I will use every club in the bag during the round.

on the Par 3 #11, they were doing a little contest for just a few $, Tobi and Willie won a free round of golf and Tobster came within 18 inches of winning a new VW.

I have played this course in the past, and will say that the new ownership has made nice progress. The fairways were in okay condition with quite a bit of kikuyu everywhere. The greens have recently... Continue »

I have played this course in the past, and will say that the new ownership has made nice progress. The fairways were in okay condition with quite a bit of kikuyu everywhere. The greens have recently been plugged and are still bumpy and slow. In the past these greens would not hold at all, that has changed. The traps have been improved and many trees trimmed or removed. The pace of play was not bad for a Sunday either. I would give the greens a couple more weeks before they are in good shape. I hope the owners will be able to keep the course this green over the next several months.

Played Today (3/15) with 10:52am Tee time. Now wife and I were seeing the negative reviews lately so we went down there with expectations low. WOW......the course has clearly improved since the last r... Continue »

Played Today (3/15) with 10:52am Tee time. Now wife and I were seeing the negative reviews lately so we went down there with expectations low. WOW......the course has clearly improved since the last reviews were posted. We had a BLAST.....nice warm up practice area, good and friendly service. Carts were good...plenty of juice, cooler and integrated club head cleaner..... Course was in really good playable condition.....no complaints at all really. Faireways were nice ...mostly lush, some thin areas but every spot was playable. I cannot really say I even noticed divots out there...funny, but this place attracts a mature and respectful golf crowd. Rough was cut low and didn't impede your swing too much at all. Greens were in very nice shape...not too fast...maybe a 9 - 9.5 speed...... btw - after your round, stay for a cold beverage and some food...the trio of crab cakes are freak'n yummy as heck. we will certainly put this course in our rotation and look forward to getting back there and playing REAL soon. If you are avoiding this placed because the reviews - you are missing out on a very nice affordable round of golf.

This course is a total mess. I have no idea what it was like before, but we played it on Sunday, Jan 26, and our foursome honestly felt it was in the worst shape of any course we had seen in years. Do... Continue »

This course is a total mess. I have no idea what it was like before, but we played it on Sunday, Jan 26, and our foursome honestly felt it was in the worst shape of any course we had seen in years. Don't be misled by any other reports, this place is a shambles. Greens were the worst greens possible, given that they had a green color.....bumpy? An understatement. On a 15 foot putt, I could almost count 20 different bumps, causing the ball to veer--no, bounce--off line, then back on, then off, and the bad news? The same thing happened on 5 footers. Areas around the greens had sections of " new " sod which were in such bad shape I wondered how they could justify even bringing the sod from another section of the course. Sections of the fairways were so torn up and mangled it is hard to figure if they've ever had grass on them. Other sections, countless, all over the course, had huge " ground under repair " stakes around them. Other sections of the fairways, if I can call them fairways, were bare, bare, bare. The guys in our foursome who talked us into playing said they had " discounts " from one of the web sites, but it still cost us $48.00 each. This course was in worse condition than an untreated executive course which recieves no care at all. How did this happen? Go elsewhere, go anywhere, but don't encourage these people to draw any more of our hard earned money. They did drive around the course and give out suckers, but after I had seen the course I felt it was appropriate to call us suckers for falling for the discount. I am starting to get the impression the best way to get a sense of the quality of the course is to watch who else is playing it. This was a good example, retirees dominated the place today. We will not return, ever, no matter what anyone says. There are so many great courses to play in Southern California, why give money to places like this?

Been a while since I was at this course, it was Lake San Marcos back then and private, but going down hill fast. Restructuring has done it some good and it seems to be coming back nicely. Layout is ... Continue »

Been a while since I was at this course, it was Lake San Marcos back then and private, but going down hill fast. Restructuring has done it some good and it seems to be coming back nicely. Layout is good, mature, trees, doglegs, etc. Greens were in fairly good shape, putted pretty smooth but didn't hold shots very well. Fairways were mostly dormant but still were playable. Teeboxes were decent, fairly level and green. Bunkers seemed fine, I wasn't in any but raked one for my buddy, seemed soft with no rocks. POP wasn't that great, almost 5 hours, the place was real busy and mostly retirees who are in no hurry. Had a 15$deal from renewing my SCGA membership through GolfMart so price was awesome. That's a pretty sweet deal through golfmart and Roger Dunn, you get a dzn bridgestones, a bunch of killer coupons and your SCGA membership for 89$.

All in All I recommend getting back out to this course, especially if you get out paying less than 30$-40$.

First time I played here in over a year and was impressed with the improvements made by the new owner. The most improved are the greens, they are soft, smooth and fast. The fairway are thin to medium ... Continue »

First time I played here in over a year and was impressed with the improvements made by the new owner. The most improved are the greens, they are soft, smooth and fast. The fairway are thin to medium body and firm. Sand traps good. Rough is in good condition, 1-2" high. Great customer service. Place was very busy so I guess the improvements are paying off. POP was at 4 hours 15 minutes (we played at 8:30). They also accepted the GK coupon, two for $58

Totally respect the efforts done here in the last two years. Very professional outside and inside staff. Front nine is fine, back nine is awesome with many fun and challenging golf holes. This was the... Continue »

Totally respect the efforts done here in the last two years. Very professional outside and inside staff. Front nine is fine, back nine is awesome with many fun and challenging golf holes. This was the old Lake San Marcos Country Club that is now St Mark Country Club. Fantastic golf value, greens are the best asset of the course (VERY GOOD)..

I recommend St. Mark CC.

Me and a buddy played here in the afternoon on Friday, September 28. We teed off at 2:15 with a $34 GN rate and finished at 6. Not a bad pace of play for a course right in the middle of a busy golf ... Continue »

Me and a buddy played here in the afternoon on Friday, September 28. We teed off at 2:15 with a $34 GN rate and finished at 6. Not a bad pace of play for a course right in the middle of a busy golf area, on a beautiful day, where a lot of people (at least that I know), dig out of work early to tee it up.

Here's the GOOD: The new ownership has made DRASTIC, POSITIVE improvements to the course. I'm pretty sure the last time I played here was about six months ago (didn't check my previous review) and it felt like a completely different golf course to me. The greens were excellent. They were firm, fast, rolled true, and held shots. Even playing at the end of the day you didn't get many ball or spike marks, which is an anomaly. Truly, the greens are arguably the best in the area.

The fairways were great. I'm not talking tour quality, but of the four I hit (don't judge my driving skills), I had perfect lies. And when I drove the (BRAND NEW) carts from one side of rough to the other, the short stuff looked great.

The tees still need some work. I had no problem finding good lies on the par 3s but I did notice that enough of the holes had teeing ground that was uneven enough to be noticeable. But really, I hardly care about this unless it is REALLY bad. This doesn't qualify.

The rough was rough. Aptly named. If you hit it where I did, you shouldn't expect the ball to be sitting up on a tee, or even a perfectly manicured tuft of grass. If you want to complain about the "rough", hit it straighter.

FINALLY, the layout. ST. Mark's does nothing to blow you away. You will not see the ocean, hit over canyons, watch your ball sail through dramatic mountain backdrops, or have the ubiquitous Ted Robinson-railroad tie/three-tiered green/manufactured waterfall signature hole to snap pictures of or rave about here. What you will have is a course that is straight forward but subtly tricky. For example, you think you hit a good shot but your angle to a green is guarded by a large, overhanging tree, or a green that looks accessible is built just so that it slopes away and makes it hard to hold. All really good attributes in my mind.

IN CONCLUSION, I was extremely hesitant to play this course again after the last round here. Speaking candidly, it sucked. But this was a different golf course. It's easy to get to, in great shape, challenging but fair, and interesting enough where I could be a regular here and feel that I had a home course that forced me to become a good golfer.

Definitely a course to add to the rotation or give a shot.