What a difference a week makes . . . after reading the GK Guru reviews from last week I was looking forward to getting back up there. I have always liked the layout as it is a real challenge in many s... Continue »

What a difference a week makes . . . after reading the GK Guru reviews from last week I was looking forward to getting back up there. I have always liked the layout as it is a real challenge in many spots. Well, conditions weren't exactly, (with apologies to Andrew) "best I've ever seen them". The greens (and the guy at the front desk told D-Con they would be a bit slower than last week after the Member/Guest tournament so we were warned) were overall pretty slow and I saw a few putts get bounced off line. The fairways were dry and hard, but mostly were fine to hit from as long as your ball avoided the aeration holes. Rough was rough, spotty and inconsistent. I had a few "how am I going to hit this" lies. Puffs of grass, hard pan, sandy areas, rough. Bunkers were ok, mostly groomed dark colored sandy dirt, but playable. On hole #5, the short par 3 the reeds have been allowed to grow so tall you can't see the green from the tee box at all, just the top of the flag. Not an overly hot day but the water stations were empty. POP 6 hrs, never waited and had to let some elderly ladies play through. Clubhouse is nice? I really like this course and hope I'm not being overly picky due to the anticipation of thinking the course was in great shape and finding it dry and hard with slow bumpy greens. maybe they just hadn't watered since last week? . . . and I will throw out the disclaimer that I played pretty well, especially playing from the Blues and won my GK Cup match so these aren't just sour grapes, just disappointed ones. I still strongly recommend this course as a great place to play, usually an all around great golf experience from the clubhouse to the warm-up areas, course, customer service, etc. Just look for a deal and don't expect resort conditions.

Tee'd it up with the GK Guru group on 5/19 on a gorgeous day in Fallbrook. The Golf Club of California has always been one of my favorite layouts in the county but there had always been some struggles... Continue »

Tee'd it up with the GK Guru group on 5/19 on a gorgeous day in Fallbrook. The Golf Club of California has always been one of my favorite layouts in the county but there had always been some struggles when it came to the conditions that just took off some of the luster.

That could not have been farther from the truth this time around as I thought the conditions were the best I've ever played them. Fairways, although firm and fast, provided great lies all day. I was in one bunker and the sand was great. Seemed like everyone in the group who ended up in one did alright. Tees were solid with good coverage and never had an issue with finding a good spot to tee it up. I thought the rough was kind of the typical SoCal drought-era rough with it typical pretty short and easy to hit from, but sparse in spots, which is fine. Definitely not penal in the "lush" sort of way.

The highlight for me were the greens. I thought they were darn near perfect. They held great, ran true (although the kept breaking away from the hole, which was weird) and semi-fast. I was really impressed.

Service out there was cool and it's such a good environment to play in. I really can't say enough about the layout as you get such a variety of holes. You should absolutely throw this one in the rotation or make it a must play right now. I love this course and will be going back soon.

Teed it up Friday with 6 other GK Review Guru’s at The Golf Club of CA. Great time!

This layout body slams me, every time, yet I love it. You have to be accurate off the tee, long off the tee, work... Continue »

Teed it up Friday with 6 other GK Review Guru’s at The Golf Club of CA. Great time!

This layout body slams me, every time, yet I love it. You have to be accurate off the tee, long off the tee, work the ball left or right off the tee, be able to play uphill, downhill and side hill approaches, not get intimidated by forced carries over hazards, bring a sand game and putt well. It’s an interesting great test of golf. No two holes alike.

It’s a country club atmosphere at the facility with large fancy clubhouse and patio. The service is excellent. Good pace of play.

As far as playing conditions, the course continues to improve to what I would deem very good/great shape. Greens on Friday were running smooth, some inconsistencies with speed and mostly firm. Pleasure to play. The fairways which used to be a sore spot, are getting softer with continued routine aeration. This had no effect on the play of them as they were light green, firm and provided good lies all day long. The rough was cut down, sporadically lush or thin. The bunkers were in excellent shape with quality sand, which is very important as sand comes into play on all holes. I foresee this course continuing to improve its playing conditions.

I posted a lot of photos so please check them out. Looking very forward to my next round at The Golf Club of CA.

Enjoyed a nice day yesterday with the GK Gurus. This was only my third time playing this course, and I find myself appreciating the layout more with each visit. There are a number of great holes here ... Continue »

Enjoyed a nice day yesterday with the GK Gurus. This was only my third time playing this course, and I find myself appreciating the layout more with each visit. There are a number of great holes here and it's a fun and challenging track.

Not much to add to the other reviews about conditions. A little dry and firm out there from tee to green, with kind of a semi-dormant light color throughout. However, pretty good playability and I personally enjoyed the lengthy extra roll-outs when playing the blue tees. Tight lies, but still good turf to hit from on fairways. Rough more hit and miss with coverage, but generally not much of a factor. Bunkers had good sand. Greens soft and receptive and rolling at medium speeds.

Thanks to Johnny and the course for setting up the Guru deal. We had a blast out there on a nice day!

Played 5/19/17 with the GK guru dudes. Another great day with with the GK group. Played with Johnny & Andrew. Lots of laughs.
I thought the course is in very good shape. Haven't played here in a coup... Continue »

Played 5/19/17 with the GK guru dudes. Another great day with with the GK group. Played with Johnny & Andrew. Lots of laughs.
I thought the course is in very good shape. Haven't played here in a couple years and really thought the course has improved a lot. Fairways have filled in more then they used to be, and even though many are cut very tight, still presented decent lies. A little dry and firm underneath and they had very good roll. Which was nice on some of the longer holes. Especially that beast of par 5 that is all up hill!
Greens were very good to great. Receptive and ran really smooth at a very good pace of medium fast. Although a couple seemed slower ?
Rough was a mixed bag, but very playable. Traps in very good shape.
I've always loved the layout of this course. No holes alike and are challenging, but still fun to play.
The course is in the best condition that I have every played it.

Played out here in the GK Review Guru outing today with sixpez, gary00 and sparky14. Teed off around 10:10 and POP was pretty good, 4:20 total. Hot, sunny day with a breeze that seemed to build throug... Continue »

Played out here in the GK Review Guru outing today with sixpez, gary00 and sparky14. Teed off around 10:10 and POP was pretty good, 4:20 total. Hot, sunny day with a breeze that seemed to build throughout the round.

Course is in good condition, playing better than it looks (although it doesn't look bad, just a tad on the dry/scruffy side in spots). I agree with Gary that the greens were hard to read. Our group didn't make any putts, but it wasn't the fault of the course. The greens are in good/great condition, smooth and running medium-fast. They accepted full shots quite well. Fairways are firm and fast and in good condition. They don't look super lush, but they play great. Like Gary said, very tight lies in spots. The rough was a little spottier with occasional bare spots and/or clumpy grass, but good for the most part as well. The bunkers were full of sand and excellent, some of the best I've played recently. Blue tee boxes were all good.

Always a fun course and even better when playing it with GK'ers!

Played with fellow Gurus Gary, Keith and Mark on 5/19 and had a fun day. GC of Cal has long been one of my favorite San Diego tracks, but I had not been here in some 18 months. Glad to say the course ... Continue »

Played with fellow Gurus Gary, Keith and Mark on 5/19 and had a fun day. GC of Cal has long been one of my favorite San Diego tracks, but I had not been here in some 18 months. Glad to say the course is doing quite well.

Following up on Gary's review below: Greens are very smooth and very green. Great condition. However, again a course must have cut the holes smaller than normal as our foursome made 1 putt over 10 feet all day, and that one was 10'6". Fairways are good, still a bit thin and hard for my preference, but these are better than most that I have seen lately. Rough is a bit hit and miss, but you shouldn't hit it there anyway.

The course layout is challenging, with some elevation changes. Really not a bad hole on the course.

Ample practice facilities. If I lived closer, I'd give serious consideration to joining.

Still one of my SoCal favorites.

5/19 on a warm and sunny am becoming a little breezy after a few holes playing with Steve Mark and Kieth fellow gurus and a great group to spend 420 chasing that little ball. Course was primed to hos... Continue »

5/19 on a warm and sunny am becoming a little breezy after a few holes playing with Steve Mark and Kieth fellow gurus and a great group to spend 420 chasing that little ball. Course was primed to host their member/guest tourney. Fairways are mowed tight--still pretty green but areas are somewhat on the thin side--requiring a more precise strike--not my strong suit--lies were ok and the tight cut gave extra roll--so a fair trade off. Rough cut down to 1 to 1 1/2 inches long enough to slow the ball but not too penal for shots. Tees level with good cover. Bunkers well groomed with deep ample sand-- very playable.
Greens were in really good shape smooth rolling medium fast to fast and consistent through the course. I certainly could not blame the conditions for my poor performance today--just could not read the slope resulting in being 3-4 feet long or 1-6 inches short--my best chance to avoid a 3 putt was to chip in which I was only able to do once.
Felt really welcome by the friendly staff--cart service came around quite frequently.
Grass driving range with chipping and bunker area--large putting green with speeds being quite similar to on course conditions.
This is one of my favorite tracks scenic rural setting with good variety of holes offering a challenging and entertaining golf experience.--The next 2 months should be optimal for play--there are some special offers available so check it out.

Played the Blues (6502/72.0/132) with GK Guru's Gary & Bob. We teed off just after 7 am amid dew in brisk conditions and ended around 11:30 in bright sunshine. Absolutely beautiful day to play golf wi... Continue »

Played the Blues (6502/72.0/132) with GK Guru's Gary & Bob. We teed off just after 7 am amid dew in brisk conditions and ended around 11:30 in bright sunshine. Absolutely beautiful day to play golf with great playing partners. Really like the course layout that features rolling hills with few flat holes. Even though many holes are surrounded by homes up on the surrounding hills, none are close and do not really come into play or offer a distraction. The tees were well maintained and generally lush. Level with most divots already properly maintained. The fairways had been recently aerated and were more thin than lush but still had good coverage throughout. Quite playable. The rough was about 50/50 lush/thin and had good coverage. Both the fairways and rough look like they are on the upswing. The sand traps were well maintained bordering on excellent. Generous amount of good quality medium texture, dark brown sand. The Poa annua greens are probably 85-90% recovered from their recent maintenance. They putted medium speed and were bumpy at times, but still decent overall. Firm but held well struck irons well. This course would be a beast to walk as numerous tees are a long ways from the last green. No GPS on the carts, but the sprinklers were well marked. There are holes where you can grip it n rip it here, but there are others where conservative is the prudent play. Almost every hole is surrounded by lost ball bushes or ESA areas, so straying even a little can add penalties in bunches. The customer service was excellent from everyone encountered. No drink cart out on the course, but they have a beautiful clubhouse and places on the course you can call and order food/drink for the turn or after the round. Really nice touch was that they printed me a certificate to commemorate the hole in one I had on #16 last time I played here. Enjoyed the experience, definitely recommended.