I am so torn with this course. I love the challenge of the back 9 and for me #6. You really have to play well here to score. I am really disappointed though with the fairways. For a new course I expec... Continue »

I am so torn with this course. I love the challenge of the back 9 and for me #6. You really have to play well here to score. I am really disappointed though with the fairways. For a new course I expect some grass on the fairways. Hard pan gets you a little more distance but you should not have to expect to pick the ball clean on most fairway shots no matter what skill level you are. Yes you can and I do adjust cause I know the course but I would hope that the management can look into improving the condition of the fairways( actually growing some grass on them). There are also some areas just short of the green that are hardpan and can be tough to chip from a tight lie.

So lets talk about the positives. The greens are in absolute perfect shape after they punched and sanded them about 5 weeks ago. The tee boxes are very nice and level which is great. The sand in the bunkers while thick in some spots is great quality sand. The design of the course is very cool. Two out of the 4 par 5's are into the wind and 3 shot holes. There a couple short par 4's and a couple long ones also. The way the wind blows you can really work on your game with some heavy upwind and downwind holes. Two of the back 9 holes you can lay up on off of the tee(11 and 15) if you wish. #13, #16 are very tough holes as is #6 when the wind is blowing. The staff are very friendly in the pro shop. Great putting green and chipping area and nice grass range.

Definitely one of my favorite courses. Pro Shop & starters are exemplary. The layout is links style and has many holes that are tough from the tips for most golfers, especially when the prevailing win... Continue »

Definitely one of my favorite courses. Pro Shop & starters are exemplary. The layout is links style and has many holes that are tough from the tips for most golfers, especially when the prevailing winds are in force. I find many more greens than most courses are true 3 club greens, meaning say a 6 iron for a front pin, 5 iron for a middle pin and 4 iron for a back pin. Greens are true and firm and are some of the best I have played on. The course has been reopened for about 6 months and while there are still a couple of fairways that need attention, it has improved each visit and they are making an effort to get everything plush. Tees and fairways overall are good to excellent. The rough was long and extremely punitive (think US Open) in many areas when it first opened. Perhaps because of the lack of rain for months, it has thinned out & is now hardly a factor in places where it was a lost ball several months ago. Overall, one of the better values around in my opinion.

Out 8am October 7th. Second time played since the renovation and not nearly as entertaining as back in July. Wind blew 10-20mph most of the day and hoped that would make the round an enjoyable challen... Continue »

Out 8am October 7th. Second time played since the renovation and not nearly as entertaining as back in July. Wind blew 10-20mph most of the day and hoped that would make the round an enjoyable challenge.
- would stay away from Olivas until the overseed/heavy sanding around the greens settles in. The heavy sanding around the greens acted like a sand trap. Difficult to play a links type course when bump and runs stop on the fringe and then play like a bunker. If we make it out there again soon [unlikely] I will check those conditions.
- The fairways and greens are still aerating.
- My playing partner commented on #14- hey didn’t we already play this hole? No. Really looks like the last par 5 on the front side…. – this echoes a comment on a previous post – some of the holes really did begin to look sort of similar after only the second time out there…
- We finished in just over 4 ½ hours but waited on almost every shot on the back side. Same as previous posts- many marshals running around, but no real action. The group in front of us was not keeping up and we were on their tails most of the day…literally getting to the tee boxes on them…
Again would strongly suggest checking the fringe conditions before booking a tee time. Not certain how often the GKer will need to do this sort of maintenance but it will impact how the course plays a lot. Also, the marshals are very friendly but will not push along pace of play.

Great new course. Very Flat. Windy in the afternoons. Excellent greens. Many options around the greens, chip, pitch, putt, utility club, etc. Some fairways still growing in. Must know when to leave dr... Continue »

Great new course. Very Flat. Windy in the afternoons. Excellent greens. Many options around the greens, chip, pitch, putt, utility club, etc. Some fairways still growing in. Must know when to leave driver in the bag on some holes. Add 4-5 strokes when the ocean breeze starts a blowin'.

Excellent course, great value. The renovation was done very well. Has made a so-so course a very good course. Once you get on the greens your work begins.

Excellent course, great value. The renovation was done very well. Has made a so-so course a very good course. Once you get on the greens your work begins.

I played Olivas Links on Sunday, Sept. 2nd. I typically play on Saturday mornings at River Ridge with my regular group, but since my wife was entertaining her friends on Sunday I decided to try to wa... Continue »

I played Olivas Links on Sunday, Sept. 2nd. I typically play on Saturday mornings at River Ridge with my regular group, but since my wife was entertaining her friends on Sunday I decided to try to walk on at Olivas. I arrived at 10:30 am and to my surprise was able to get to the first tee at 10:45, great job starter. The greens are really great, however, typical of new greens they do not hold any approach shots (gee, maybe that's why all the yardage markers are to the front of the green and not the center). The course is very interesting, and on many holes it is hard to pick a target off the tee. Some holes have OB on the right and water on the left. Many tee shots bounce severly to the right or left even though initially landing in the center of the fairway. The summer weather could not have been better as temps were in the high 70s.

Now for the bad. I took 5.5 hours to play 18 holes. Now I know that in LA on weekends that may not sound bad, but in Ventura anything over 4.5 is just plain awful. Worse yet, the marshals never did anything to any of the groups causing the problems with one or more holes open in front of them. Management needs to learn how to deal wit the public when there is slow play. When my group got to the fourth tee, we were the fourth group standing on the tee. One of our players droped out at that point, and later I heard that he received a refund. I continued to paly because I had heard so many good things about the course. Later, after the 13th hole, the other twosome I played with also called it quits so I ended up playing the last five holes on my own. Most of the holes had two and three groups on each tee and I waited on every shot to the green.

The fairways are quite bare so if you're not accustomed to hitting on thin lies you will have a real problem on this course. The course also requires controlled tee shots. Big hitters using the bomb an gouge method off the tee will have a bad day, assuming they can find any of their tee shots. There is lots of algae in the water hazards. Isn't there some concern regarding West Nile Virus?

I only saw the beverage cart twice on the first 10 holes. After that, the cart was MIA. The management is very nice and pleasant, but they do need to learn how to manage a public course so that everyone has a good day.

I enjoyed the course, but with the competition in the area, I am not sure that I will play here in the future, despite those great greens. Maybe when the staff becomes more experienced I will give it another shot. I played well, shot a 79 with a birdie on the 18th hole so I do have some good memories of my experience.

Yes, this is really me, Cheeseburger. I have not been captured by aliens and nobody taken over my brain. I know, I know...I've been known to rip into golf courses all over Southern Calornia for a va... Continue »

Yes, this is really me, Cheeseburger. I have not been captured by aliens and nobody taken over my brain. I know, I know...I've been known to rip into golf courses all over Southern Calornia for a variety of reasons. I've been downright nasty when things are not in good shape or if the staff sucks. I've jumped all over courss for slow-play, ground-under-repair issues and poa-infested greens.

I can find the good, the bad, and the ugly at every course I've played...and my posts on here go back to 2002.

All that being said (are you ready?)...here is my review of Olivas Links:

I LOVE THIS GOLF COURSE!! I WILL BE BACK!!

Played O.L. for the first time today. Drove all the way up from Pasadena to Ventura because it was going to be over 100+ at home and out at Goose Creek...so - we booked a time on-line yesterday (terrific on-line system from the course web-site)...our time was 11:56 A.M.

I am the first one to scream bloody-murder at slow play! It took us three-hours to play the front!!

BUT GUESS WHAT??? I DIDN'T CARE!! The course was SO NICE...the weather was so perfect (if I hadn't been playing golf, it was cool enough to require a jacket!!)

We waited on every shot. So what??? It was so beautiful and there was a nice breeze....

I thought the course was well laid-out...I thing the conditions were near-perfect...even the areas of ground-under-repair were being worked on and you could see that progress was being made...

The greens...were beyond terrific. They were 'Angeles National' good. They were 'Robinson Ranch' good. They were hard...and didn't hold shots very well...(it's almost true links-style bump-and-run golf - can be frustrating until you get used to it)...but they were awesome to putt on!!

All 18 of the greens were FAST...true, beautiful to look at, tricky... they rolled so nice...by far the nicest greens I've played on all year.

The fairways were not what I would call 'lush' - but - there was a links-y loamy kind of sand below the surface that made taking divots and getting down into the ball possible.

We played the blue-tees...plenty of golf-course for everybody...with whites and blacks and teal-tees as well. It's not a very tough course...but it's fun.

Again...I loved it.

O.K. O.K. So the five-hour round was a bit long...but three-hours-on-the-front-two-on-the-back was really more indicative of the fact that the course was just packed today because of the nice weather.

There's a couple of par-three bottlenecks on the front side...but guess what??? They had MARSHALLS (yes, plural not a typo) at the tight-spots to keep things moving.

All of the staff were pleasant....they all wear matching shirts...there is a real professional air to everything...

Oh...except for the "double-wide-trailer" pro-shop. They really could use a club house.

I loved the tee-signs....rustic...on the ends of barrels.

I cannot say enough good things about Olivas Links.

Even the practice range is top-notch.

My personal rating: Probably an 8.75

Got to play this course on the August 16th for the first time. Really went out there to get out of the bloody August heat! I have to say I found it both interesting an challenging. It's a whole differ... Continue »

Got to play this course on the August 16th for the first time. Really went out there to get out of the bloody August heat! I have to say I found it both interesting an challenging. It's a whole different mindset in playing a links "style" course and it takes some getting used to. Conditions were quite good. Greens were awsome! I love I nice fast true green and I wasn't dissapointed. The fairways had some bare spots but not anything that I would consider GUR. Bunkers had sand in them! No, I'm not joking actual sand! (OK, I play some mediocre courses and I'm used to hitting out of dirt) The rough can be quite rough. the wispier grass you can hit out of but get yourself in that tall kikuyu and you will regret it.

The reason I noted the links "style" course is that I don't feel it stays true to being a links course throughout. Many of the greens did not afford you a true bump and run opportunity. Many were very heavily guarded and when you can't really stick on the firm greens it becomes an issue. Greens were a little small for a links course as well. The first few holes played pretty slow for us and there was a serious back up at the first tee. We were delayed by almost a half hour...on a week day.

All in all I had a great time. The weather was great, the course was beautifull (stick some rusted out farm equipment between holes and I'm a happy man), folks were nice and the price was right. No clubhouse (yet) and no snack bar, although they did have a very attentive cart lady. No GPS but very nicey marked on the sprinkler heads.

One other thing, if you're not going to have GPS, or the course lay outprinted on the score cards, then you really should have yardage books available for purchase. I feel that would have helped me out a bunch on several of the less conventional holes.

Great Course, Great Staff! I played this course for the first time on 8/14/07. I loved the layout. The holes were challenging, but fair. The staff was very nice. A marshall even helped us look fo... Continue »

Great Course, Great Staff! I played this course for the first time on 8/14/07. I loved the layout. The holes were challenging, but fair. The staff was very nice. A marshall even helped us look for a ball on one hole! It's very flat (links style) and very windy. However, it's a nice change from all of the target golf courses in the area. Plus it was 20 degrees cooler than Thousand Oaks. Greens are challenging and in good shape. Some of the fairways were a little shot, but they'll get better. The only real negative I would say was that there is no course layout to be found. On a few holes, you have to guess where the green is and hope you're right. I also think it plays easier that its rating. I will definitely add this to my regular rotation.