Got the chance to play recently with a buddy who is a new member. Course has recently changed owners and now has a new name, “La Valle country club”. Course is still 3 nines, north, south and east.
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Got the chance to play recently with a buddy who is a new member. Course has recently changed owners and now has a new name, “La Valle country club”. Course is still 3 nines, north, south and east.

North is currently closed for major maintenance. Played the south and east. First time playing the east course for me. Overall course is in great condition. The south course gets lots of play and shows it but the east was in great shape.

Tee boxes mostly level and good shape on both nines. Fairways on south were a little beat up with lots of divots, east was much better. Rough was enough to make you think about your shots. I was in “a lot” of green side bunkers today and they were all in great shape. Greens were good on south but lots of ball marks. Greens on east were much better. Played in under 4 hours which was nice. Overall a fun course with new carts and great conditions. Hopefully Johnny can get another outing there!

Played in the combined GolfMoose/GK outing at Morgan Run Resort on 9/20/21, teeing off with the shotgun start at 10am on a beautiful clear, sunny day with light winds. There were several groups of GKe... Continue »

Played in the combined GolfMoose/GK outing at Morgan Run Resort on 9/20/21, teeing off with the shotgun start at 10am on a beautiful clear, sunny day with light winds. There were several groups of GKers in the event and I didn’t meet any new people, as the setup contributed to a show up/play/leave type of day. Minimal effort by the resort to welcome players, engage participants, extend services, or generate future interest.

Morgan Run is a flat, walkable course set in a broad floodplain; the layout/setting reminded me of some of the older Palm Springs-area resort courses. Overall the layout and surrounds are scenic, with some large older homes set along the margins and higher up on the river escarpment.

Played with Gary, Perry, and Sal, a great group. We were able to commiserate with each other on the sticky rough, steep-faced bunkers, and many putts sliding by the hole. Greens were generally moist and lush, with consistent speed and good coverage; only a couple of random greens were more dry/firm and had thinner coverage. There are plenty of bunkers fronting these greens, with good sand that is usually damp in the bottom. Many greens had soft, wet conditions in the front run-up to the putting surface, not conductive to running the ball on during approach.

Rough was sticky and ate up any roll. Mounding along some holes and areas around green entries had longer, juicy rough – we “found” several balls on these mounds just by stepping on balls other golfers were unable to find. No GPS or book; only difficult-to-see fairway plates and some path markings, so bring your own yardage tools.

The 1-hcp hole (on the North 9) is a brute – >400 yards, an elevated plateau green; heavy rough in a swale area in front of the green; a very narrow ‘ramp’ entry that doesn’t really let you run the ball on; and a deep, sloping green. Easily the toughest hole on the 18 we played. (The East course greens had been sanded and that 9 was closed.)

Plenty of waiting after the first few holes, with the stack-up on the South #6 tee the worst, for whatever reason. POP just over 5 hours.

Great company, pleasant conditions and surrounds, an old-style course without any really interesting holes. Recommended, but not a destination play.

Played with Nick & John in the GolfMoose/GK outing on 9/21/21. Nick nailed it on the conditions and the terrible pace, and Sal was right in that this did not feel like an outing in the sense that you ... Continue »

Played with Nick & John in the GolfMoose/GK outing on 9/21/21. Nick nailed it on the conditions and the terrible pace, and Sal was right in that this did not feel like an outing in the sense that you did not get much attention from the Morgan Run staff. Not a good sell of their hosting capabilities. But Moose got us a good price, so I suspect other outings here are more expensive and the service goes along with that. I will say though, after playing the South and East 9s previously, the North 9 is the star of the show. Lots of character, interesting holes, great conditions. The South is also very good, just not as scenic. The East was closed for needed fall maintenance. Now that I have seen all 27 holes, I really like the course and I suspect it is a nice option at a level below many high dollar clubs in the near area. Worth a visit if you have a chance. Great to see several GKers that I had not seen in a long time!

9/20 GK/Golf Moose outing playing with David Sal and Perry quite enjoyable company fortunately as it was POP 515. Course is older with mature trees parkland feel and mostly flat. Layout seems similar... Continue »

9/20 GK/Golf Moose outing playing with David Sal and Perry quite enjoyable company fortunately as it was POP 515. Course is older with mature trees parkland feel and mostly flat. Layout seems similar to many older north county courses. Fairways were mostly in good condition with just a couple that had issues. Lies were good overall. Rough was penal cut between 2-5 inches and was grabby both impeding roll and often difficult to cleanly advance. Most tees ok with a couple that are due for a makeover. Played out of 2 bunkers and found them quite good. Greens played better than they looked as many had un or poorly repaired ball marks with left over brown spots. Speed medium fast and even with the spots mostly smooth. Green complexness are large often with significant slope often influenced by the prevailing topography with a pull toward the south and west. We played the white tees South /North 6200 yds which seemed to play longer as fairways did not give a lot of roll and the rough gave none. Carts are basic. Range used mats. Large chipping area with bunkers and large putting green. Staff was friendly but unlike resort courses there was no help with bags. $65 for the outing was very fair and would definitely do it again.

Played in the big Golf Moose/GK outing on Monday 9/20 alongside Perry, DConn and Gary O. Nick covered all the basics on condition and I couldn't find anything I didn't agree with 100%, outside of the ... Continue »

Played in the big Golf Moose/GK outing on Monday 9/20 alongside Perry, DConn and Gary O. Nick covered all the basics on condition and I couldn't find anything I didn't agree with 100%, outside of the following:

*Tees were a tad more chewed up from what I remembered. Understandably on some par 3's but some par 4's also had turf issues.
*I thought the greens ran a bit faster than medium fast as our group had plenty of feather touch putts that still ran well past the hole.

Notes from my perspective:
This outing could have really showcased how Morgan Run stands out in regards to running a golf outing of this size, but it actually did the opposite. I rolled in and saw no one at the bag drop, I found my way to the registration area and thankfully Johnny was taking lead with the GK people, but that was only a certain percentage of the people here this day. The restaurant was swamped with people looking for breakfast options and the staff was clearly overwhelmed as the poor worker was running around trying to get to all the cranky hordes of folk surrounding the bar bombarding her with orders. The facilities don't seem equipped to handle this much commotion either as the range was poorly organized to accommodate all. The ice situation was funny as no one except a fellow GK member alerted me to the random cooler with ice off to the side somewhere. The food options were limited on the pre-order papers in the cart, but no one said anything about us not getting the wraps until AFTER the round until we made our way back towards the clubhouse restaurant 70% of the way into our round. By this point after breaking down the logistical nightmare of what that would look like with Perry, we decided to skip it. A lot of area for improvement. As for the course, it was great to play, nice to see green fairways and smooth greens. Pace was absolutely atrocious (after getting an email expecting a 4-4.5 hour round) and I am sure there were too many teams period, far too much slow play from almost every group, and lots of pressure from just about every group behind.

Rode the Blues (6614/71.0/125) on the North/South Combo in the GM/GK Plays. Played with Sparky14 and John, nice group to play with. Sunny, around 80 with a 1-2 club wind most of the round. Dreadful PO... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6614/71.0/125) on the North/South Combo in the GM/GK Plays. Played with Sparky14 and John, nice group to play with. Sunny, around 80 with a 1-2 club wind most of the round. Dreadful POP, 5H, 15M. There were frequently 2, if not 3 groups waiting to tee off on all the tees by the back 9. No Marshall and other than John on the closest to the pin hole, we never saw anyone from GM after the event started. Tees mostly lush, level and nice to play from. Minimal divot damage. Most of the fairways were lush and immaculate. A few were poor with large bare areas. Kikuyu rough was thick and punitive. Usually 3"+ and difficult to advance longer clubs out of. Traps were excellent. Nice fine sand and very well maintained. Greens rolled great. Medium fast and firm, everything released. Course has 27 holes, East 9 currently closed for fall maintenance. Customer Service was excellent, everyone around the clubhouse was attentive and the cart gal was around numerous times. Nice clubhouse and restaurant/bar. Numerous putting green and short game practice areas around the clubhouse and grass range. Liked the layout, tree lined fairways that were mostly ample in width framed by numerous fairway bunkers on most holes. Several creeks and lakes with little elevation changes. Overall, fun course in very nice condition. Recommended.

Played 8-23-21 afternoon with Chuck, John, and Matt on the South/East rotation, getting around the course in a little over 4 hours at a leisurely pace. Tee boxes on the South were in really nice shape... Continue »

Played 8-23-21 afternoon with Chuck, John, and Matt on the South/East rotation, getting around the course in a little over 4 hours at a leisurely pace. Tee boxes on the South were in really nice shape, level, lush and cut tight. Tee boxes on the East were not in as good of shape with some bare spots on some and a few being a little un-level. Fairways on the South were in really great shape, almost like hitting off of astro turf. Fairways on the East were in decent shape with some bare and thin spots here and there. Rough on both courses was pretty consistent, between 3-5 inches and thick. Was not in any bunkers, but playing partners said they were mostly in good condition. Greens on the South were rolling medium pace, smooth and semi-soft. Greens on the East rolled about the same but a little bumpy. Overall South side was in really good condition, while the East side needs some work.

Out with GK Gurus reviewing Morgan Run Resort before the coming Golf Moose/GK Golf Event on Monday, 9/20.

We were anticipating reviewing the North/South combo as that is their current best 18 hole... Continue »

Out with GK Gurus reviewing Morgan Run Resort before the coming Golf Moose/GK Golf Event on Monday, 9/20.

We were anticipating reviewing the North/South combo as that is their current best 18 holes and the one being used for the golf event on 9/20. However every Monday the superintendent closes one of the three nines for dedicated maintenance and this week it happened to be the North nine. So we ended up playing the South/East combo which was also a treat. I toured the North nine after my round and found the layout to be very interesting in as fantastic condition as the South nine. Would love to go back to play the North nine.

First time here, teed it up at 2:30pm on the South/East with GKers FirstFlightFX-101, rgm2525 and lotrgolfer48. Great time! Straight forward traditional design with a total SoCal feel/vibe. Beautiful Southern California ocean climate, hazy sunshine, low 70’s, little bit of wind, perfect. Lots of palm trees. The resort clubhouse is small with a low key relaxed atmosphere. The practice chipping/short game area is huge. Fun circular practice putting green. Friendly staff. Felt very comfortable for a first experience. Liked that.

We teed off the South nine first and I very much enjoyed it. Mostly wide bermunda fairways in immaculate condition. Some water hazards to contend with. All greens well-guarded by fronting bunkers sloping back to front. Fun undulating poa greens rolling smooth, med/fast and holding shots. Rough was lush kikuyu and penalizing. 3 to 4 inches and defined the fairways well putting a premium on a straight tee shots. Bunkers all contained high quality med/soft sand and were well groomed. All the bunkers were very full with small lips so it was easy to escape them provided I didn’t get a fried egg lie. Tee boxes were mostly lush with some thin areas at times. But all level and with no issues playing.

The East nine was a great layout as well which I thought was more difficult than the South due to less wide fairways and at times more severely undulating greens. The East nine was somewhat a different story regarding playing conditions as it is clearly struggling with its bermunda base in the fairways with many bare areas. However most of the time you're going find your ball on a lush bermunda lie in the fairways as there was at least 75% coverage. Come the Fall starting 9/13 – 10/8 Morgan Run will close the East nine to overseed the fairways with winter rye. So expect October – April the East nine fairways to be in great shape. They don't close the South and North nines for overseeding and let the bermunda turf go dormant. Greens on the East nine had the same speed and bite as the South nine. However they had more ball mark damage and consequently less smooth. Bunkers on the East nine were in same condition as the South nine. Tee boxes were mostly lush with a little more thin areas on the East nine compared to the South nine. Overall the East nine was in very good condition.

I would rate the South a 9 out of 10. East a 7 out of 10. North (based on my tour not playing) 9 out of 10.

Check out the photos I just posted!

Highly Recommended!

Had a good time here with the Guru group and a match with JGK to boot. Thanks Johnny. I like this type of layout, a semi-parkland style, with decent spacing between adjacent fairways. While not really... Continue »

Had a good time here with the Guru group and a match with JGK to boot. Thanks Johnny. I like this type of layout, a semi-parkland style, with decent spacing between adjacent fairways. While not really considered tree lined, there's usually a carefully placed tree, or stands of trees, to challenge you when encountered. There's about 3 water holes on the East nine, and maybe one on the South nine. However, there's lots of use of tasteful lowland marsh/scub(no man's land) boundaries beyond the rough...balls go in, but they never come out.
The blue tees were level and trim, easy to choose a spot to tee it up.
The South nine fairway's were a treat to begin on, as they were plush and healthy bermuda. Fairways like these, are what I envision the tour pro's are used to. The East nine, while I was beginning to find more fairways by then, wasn't as plush in various areas.
The rough, from the first cut to the deepest, was gradual and needed, to help put the brakes on. It was pretty deep and penal the farther you are from the fairway. This is ok in my book since there aren't that many trees, and, it could keep you from rolling into the lowland boundaries.
The fairway traps are more shallow and slightly firmer than the greenside traps, but both have top notch sand and density. It's not uncommon for me to find greenside traps, just like I did on the East #8 par 3. But, it is uncommon for them to end up as a nice fried egg lie, that I actually recovered from. I love it.
The greens seemed to roll medium-fast for me and were mostly smooth. I liked them, even though I had quite a few 3 putts. I should have arrived earlier that day for more putting practice(all me, not the greens).
A few holes, not many, were mostly CPO, no problem, as it helps the course heal. Customer service was good. The weather was great. Too bad I won't be able to take another crack at Morgan Run with GK in mid September, because I'd like to. Reccomended.