Played the Blacks (6818/73.0/130) as a 2some with Dana in 3 1/2 H 1st out on a GN "Hot Deal". The weather was clear, in the 70's and calm.

The tees are lush, immaculately maintained. All the par 3... Continue »

Played the Blacks (6818/73.0/130) as a 2some with Dana in 3 1/2 H 1st out on a GN "Hot Deal". The weather was clear, in the 70's and calm.

The tees are lush, immaculately maintained. All the par 3 tee divots had been recently sanded/filled.

The fairways were nice overall, recently punched but did not affect play. Fairly lush, firm, mowed down, with a few GUR areas.

The rough around the fairway is mostly lush and in spots lost ball thick/tall. Farther off the fairway is mostly hardpan with patches of lost ball rough.

The traps were nicely maintained with good quality sand.

The greens are probably 95% recovered from their recent aeration. Firm, smooth and medium speed. A usual challenge here is the amount of players who do not fix ball marks. Even a few weeks out of aeration, we were fixing 6-10 a hole and barely making a dent.

Excellent course to walk, very flat. The customer service is always good here. No frills pro shop is in a trailer, minimal food available onsite. NO GPS on carts, usually no drink cart. Excellent grass driving range complete with a good chipping and sand practice area that they have expanded to include a separate chipping area off to the side of the chipping green. Huge putting green that is usually very comparable to the course. Exceptional value, especially for the conditions.

Little late on this review(by my standards), walked the blacks on an EZlinks special for 20 bucks (chose not to take the cart as usual) Saturday 3/12/2016 1:06pm with my buddy Rick from church. We wer... Continue »

Little late on this review(by my standards), walked the blacks on an EZlinks special for 20 bucks (chose not to take the cart as usual) Saturday 3/12/2016 1:06pm with my buddy Rick from church. We were joined by two nice singles on a nice day for golf with the wind picking up some on the back nine. I will first say before I forget Olivas has some of the nicest staff around(Michelle, Logan) and the pro at Olivas are extremely friendly. We were out a little early and finished in 4 hours 30 minutes behind an extremely slow foursome that were at least a hole and half behind for most of the day. Still for a Saturday not to bad. Great practice facilities and they had their grass range open which was nice. The course is in good shape. Tees level -semi lush, some divots on the par 3's but in great shape on the par 4's and 5's--rated an 8/10. The fairways were in better shape this time around than my last round here. Some of the summer turf is coming to the surface. Not really to many hardpan lies, would call it semi-lush still providing some nice roll--rated 7/10. Some of the native stuff has really grown up due to some of the recent rains. We are talking US Open stuff just off some fairways as when the course first opened--rated 8/10. There was some standing water lakes(lol) just left of the par 5 14th around 100 yds away and in some other places on the course--place must have been soaked--although still not enough rain to dent the dry lakes between 11 and 12 and 13-16. The greens were in very good shape rolling medium speed maybe a 10 on the stimp holding shots like darts. Very little ballmarks---I think they improved since my last visit--rated 8/10. Was not in any bunkers but they looked raked in great shape like their usual white marble self. In the afternoon the wind can make 6,8, 12 and 13 interesting. Some of the online deals make this well-maintained course very hard to pass up--a great course to walk--for sure recommended--one of the better deals in the County if you can get a good deal online.

Got out today at about 7:00 a.m. When I arrived the starter said I could go right out. I joined a twosome and we finished in about 3 hours, 10 minutes. Good thing, because as we finished 18 it started... Continue »

Got out today at about 7:00 a.m. When I arrived the starter said I could go right out. I joined a twosome and we finished in about 3 hours, 10 minutes. Good thing, because as we finished 18 it started to rain. Course conditions were great overall. The tees were nice and level without a lot of divots. Fairways and rough were very consistent hole to hole and I almost always had a good lie. Unfortunately, there were a lot of unfilled divots throughout the course. The greens were freshly mowed and rolled medium-fast. It was slightly damp and some long putts picked up a small amount of debris (sand, grass), but mostly not a problem. I did fix many ball marks on nearly every green. The groups ahead were fast, but they were not fixing ball marks. This was my first time back here since last July and I really liked the wide fairways and large greens, lol. Too bad my putting was rather poor today. I will be back.

Played 3-10-16 early morning as a twosome using a deal I got from the course for $59 for two including cart. For there only being three groups in front of us(two threesomes and a twosome) it took 4 ho... Continue »

Played 3-10-16 early morning as a twosome using a deal I got from the course for $59 for two including cart. For there only being three groups in front of us(two threesomes and a twosome) it took 4 hours to play waiting on every hole. Tee boxes were in descent shape but a little thin. Fairways were winter nice with a lot of divots and some bare spots and brown areas but not that many. Rough is pretty low and not much of a factor. Found one greenside sandtrap that had nice fluffy sand. Greens were in pretty good shape rolling medium speed and pretty smooth. Course is still a little wet from the weekend rains. Overall course is not in as good of shape as I have seen it in, but it is still winter, and this course usually comes around real nice in the spring.

Played here on Tuesday 3/1/16. Had a day off work and saw a Teeoff.com deal for $21 with 20 % off so I played the course for about $18. Thanks! Olivas Links is a really nice track! I partnered up wi... Continue »

Played here on Tuesday 3/1/16. Had a day off work and saw a Teeoff.com deal for $21 with 20 % off so I played the course for about $18. Thanks! Olivas Links is a really nice track! I partnered up with a threesome Bob, Ray and Paul. My deal came with a cart but I walked and they rode carts. Great guys to golf with and Bob really helped with course knowledge, as this was my first time here. We teed off on time @ 7:16 and finished at 11:16. 4 hour pop great! The course was in excellent shape, with green fairways and well maintained greens with very few pitch marks. Green speed was medium, definitely not fast but not too slow. I was fortunate to avoid the bunkers here so I can't comment on them. There are some native areas that force a carry or layup, a few of them looked like they may have had water in them at one time but not anymore. From most tees (we played the blue tees) the course seemed wide open with generous landing areas. There are a few holes that do require a bit more accuracy. The overall layout was very enjoyable with a nice mixture of distances and directions. I live 65 miles away in Los Angeles but I will definitely be returning to Olivas Links!

Walked the black tees late this morning 2/22/2016 teeing off at 11am on a EZlinks promo special for $18.49 catching a friendly 3 ball on number 3 tee. POP was 5 hours today behind a stacked tee sheet ... Continue »

Walked the black tees late this morning 2/22/2016 teeing off at 11am on a EZlinks promo special for $18.49 catching a friendly 3 ball on number 3 tee. POP was 5 hours today behind a stacked tee sheet and early men's club players? Beautiful day today 10 mph breeze with temps in the low 70's. The course is in good shape with semi-lush fairways that still are giving a ton of roll at this time. In a couple of months maybe with some more rain and watering I am sure they will be the lush Olivas fairways that we come to love late spring/early summer. Tee boxes were level and in good shape. They have the 8th black tee box closed for re-seeding. 17th black tee box also looked sanded but I played off it anyway with a tee with no damage. Was not in any greenside or fairway bunkers but they looked to be in great shape. Rough lining the fairways and greenside looked to be healthy maybe 1-2 inches. Terrific layout with a nice cool ocean breeze today. Staff is always friendly, great practice area and reasonable prices make this course a no brainer in the spring and summer months--recommended.

Played Olivas today 2/8/2016 from the black tees in 3 hrs and 45 minutes joining a 3-ball. The Santa Ana winds were hilarious today---we had 1, 2, 6 and 12-14 with the wind at our back. I had driver 7... Continue »

Played Olivas today 2/8/2016 from the black tees in 3 hrs and 45 minutes joining a 3-ball. The Santa Ana winds were hilarious today---we had 1, 2, 6 and 12-14 with the wind at our back. I had driver 7 iron into #2 to tell you how hard it was blowing today. I actually think the Santa Ana's make this course just a bit easier although the upwind holes today from the blacks were challenging. The greens are very nice rolling medium speed without that many ball marks. I have seen them faster and smoother but I thought they were in very good shape 7.5/10. The fairways have enough padding--mostly dormant with some green grass here and there. 6.5/10. The sand is in great shape---marble white bunkers raked nicely 8/10. Tees fairly level and in decent shape--few divots on the 3 pars--tee on 17 black and blue tees being re-sodded and closed. Rough fairly low and spongy in places just off of the fairways. Great staff, great prices--mild temps--even though it was blowing it was a warm wind today and very pleasant. Recommended.

Played Olivas Links Sunday morning, Jan. 10, at 8:36. About 58 degrees and 4 mph wind. Went out as a threesome with my buddy and a very nice gentleman we were paired with. POP was right around 4 hrs... Continue »

Played Olivas Links Sunday morning, Jan. 10, at 8:36. About 58 degrees and 4 mph wind. Went out as a threesome with my buddy and a very nice gentleman we were paired with. POP was right around 4 hrs. for the three of us walking. Excellent. Overall, Olivas is in great shape. My buddy Max had never played there before, and he loved it. He's already planning his next round there.

The tee boxes are pretty level, with the exception of the first hole...there was a hole directly in between the blue tees. Strange, but no big deal. The fairways are dormant, but still have great coverage and the ball sits up nicely. The fairways are also painted green. It looks great. Max had no idea they were painted until I told him. Adds great contrast to the dormant rough. If you play one ball for the entire round you'll notice a bit of the paint transferring to the ball. The rough is a bit splotchy right now, not surprising in the winter. Can be a mixed bag of lies. The greens are always the highlight at Olivas. They were damp from the rain, but running around 9.5-10. Very receptive and rolled true. I did notice this time that a couple of greens are struggling a bit. No doubt due to being winter. Nothing that was of major concern, just not quite what they are in the summer. The course is playing really well right now, and it didn't seem that crowded. I highly recommend it.

Played Olivas Links yesterday with the office closed for the holidays. I have to say that the first impressions, from phoning in to book my tee time (they wanted so much information I thought they wer... Continue »

Played Olivas Links yesterday with the office closed for the holidays. I have to say that the first impressions, from phoning in to book my tee time (they wanted so much information I thought they were going to run a background check) to arriving and seeing that the clubhouse is a trailer, had me worried. However, beginning with the very nice and knowledgeable starter, E.J., I really enjoyed playing here. I should mention that my opinion of the course itself is undoubtedly influenced by the fact that this course suits my game very well (I'm subject to the occasional big miss off the tee, but am otherwise a fairly steady player), and that I shot my first under-par round in 5 or 6 years (good way to end the year!). I played from the black tees (6800-ish). The tee boxes, fairways, and rough are beginning to go dormant, but everything is in good condition and playing off the brown stuff is no problem at all. I noticed that two holes (1, and I think, 9) had some muddy spots from the little bit of rain we got earlier this week and they were marked off as GUR, just as they should be. The greens were medium speed, and had minimal ball marks. You have to hit em pretty firm up hill, but with the large and tiered greens, there were still down-hillers that were scary and/or near impossible to settle it close. Lastly, I would avoid Wednesdays around 10:00a. They have a "senior skins game" that plays at that time and these guys appear to be in their 50s and 60s, and are okay players. The downside is that at least one of them thought that his status as a regular and the fact that he can shoot 82 from the blues meant he could cuss out the older gentlemen - in town from Oregon - I was paired with for slow play (which was really just one hole that our group struggled on - we were back in line and waited from the next hole all the way through). I told him where he could take his attitude, but I'd rather not have to deal with self-appointed course rangers.