Tee Time---2pm 4/13/2015 playing with my buddy Pedro and a nice twosome. Tees: Blue Weather: Starting out very breezy on 1st 4-5 holes of front nine, wind calmed nicely on the back..high of 80 degre... Continue »

Tee Time---2pm 4/13/2015 playing with my buddy Pedro and a nice twosome. Tees: Blue Weather: Starting out very breezy on 1st 4-5 holes of front nine, wind calmed nicely on the back..high of 80 degrees. POP: Walking as a foursome in 4 hours and 20 minutes. Price: Standard Twilight walking rate $25.00 Greens: 8/10---I thought they were very nice. On downwind holes you need to spin the ball. Otherwise holding all shots nicely. Rolling probably close to a 10 on the stimp. The greens are so undulated here they can't legally stimp them I believe. Putting pure with no real bounces. Most of the greens have completely gone to poa. Fringes 8/10---softer than I can remember--saw 2 balls on number 2 hit on the fringe and just stop? The fringes though are mowed down and in very good shape. Tees 8.5/10--They are in great shape--they are super lush, cut perfectly and most tees are all level, very few divots and only on par 3 boxes Rough --hard to rate. The greenside rough I would rate a 9/10 as it is thick and lush. Rough around the fairways is mowed down lower and in decent shape. Fairways 6.5/10--Little disappointed that they are dry, thinner and hardpan. I can't imagine how expensive water is and getting them into lush shape is probably unrealistic with the drought. There were some big drives in our group. Bunkers N/A--Was not in any. Layout 8.5/10---Just love the layout and challenge rustic provides. You get such a peaceful feeling--at least I do looking around the mountains and beauty surrounding you. No cars, homes or anything to bother you--how golf should be. Walkability---This is a long course and a good workout to walk-fairly flat.---There are long walks from 9 green to 10 tee---12 green to 13 tee and 17 green to 18 tee...Only real hill you have to climb is 15 green up to 16 tee which could be dangerous. I would call this a medium tough course to walk just due to the length. Recommended

Got matched up with 2 nice guys (both named Steve) who were playing the tips, so I joined them. First time I have played the tips here in almost 7 years. Walked the blacks (7044/73.4/133) in 4.5 hours... Continue »

Got matched up with 2 nice guys (both named Steve) who were playing the tips, so I joined them. First time I have played the tips here in almost 7 years. Walked the blacks (7044/73.4/133) in 4.5 hours on their $25 twilight rate. The weather was beautiful, low 70's, mostly sunny and fairly calm conditions by Rustic standards. The tees are in very good shape. Lush and well maintained with only some fresh divots on the par 3's. The fairways had good coverage but are more thin than lush, which produced some long drives. The rough was in good shape by Rustic standards, good coverage and mowed down around the fairways, lush and deep around numerous greens. However, I personally would rather see the rough around the fairways higher here. Being thin and mowed down around the fairways brings the many mandatory penalty stroked environmental areas MUCH more in play when you can land in the edge of a fairway and 2 bounces later are in the ESA. In my opinion, minimal rough here makes this course play tougher, not easier. The traps were very well maintained, medium brownish sand. All the greenside and waste bunkers had been recently raked. The waste bunkers are blue tipped and the local rule allows you to ground your club. They also have many rocks of varying sizes mixed in, so you need to inspect the area around your ball in the bunkers here. The aprons here are always mowed close, very firm and well maintained. If you have never played this course, you may have never seen aprons that are 20 yards wide in many places. They putt better than the greens on numerous courses I have played. You can easily have some "putts" of well over 100' on this course, so better have your lag putting or bump & run chipping "A" games to score here. Very difficult for most players to use lofted clubs off the aprons here because they are mowed so close & are FIRM. I have watched numerous low handicap players try flop shots that just don't work well here on these aprons. Much better to stay low to the ground on this course in my opinion on your chips when you have alot of apron to go over if you are already on the firm, closely cut apron. It just seems/looks odd to be using a putter 30-40 yards from the hole. Creativity is rewarded here, I have used 6 different clubs in the same round to chip with on this course depending on how much apron you have to deal with and how much slope their is to go over or around. The big, undulating greens are now almost totally poa annua. They were firm and putted medium fast, downhill putts were VERY quick. The customer service was excellent. 3rd straight weekday twilight round that they had me on the 1st tee within 30 minutes of driving into the parking lot. There are numerous water stations on the course, Rustic is an excellent value to play twilight during the week.

Played 4-2-15 second out joining another walking twosome for $26 using the birdie card. Played in 3:45 after the slow foursome in carts let us through on 7. Tees are in great shape, level and lush. Fa... Continue »

Played 4-2-15 second out joining another walking twosome for $26 using the birdie card. Played in 3:45 after the slow foursome in carts let us through on 7. Tees are in great shape, level and lush. Fairways are very nice with great lies and a lot of roll. Rough is still rustic rough with not knowing what your'e going to get in fairway rough, and pretty lush and long around the greens. Didn't go in a bunker ,but the looked nice and groomed. The poa has taken over much of the greens and not sure if they know how to take care of them yet, second out and they were already flowering which made for some inconsistent speed, and the putts wobbling a little bit. Love the layout of this course, hope to see them get the greens back to fast and smooth.

The weather was good, low 70's, breezy conditions. Walked the blues (6624/71.6/128) in 4h on their $25 twilight rate. Was matched up with 2 nice guys for an enjoyable afternoon round. The tees are i... Continue »

The weather was good, low 70's, breezy conditions. Walked the blues (6624/71.6/128) in 4h on their $25 twilight rate. Was matched up with 2 nice guys for an enjoyable afternoon round. The tees are in as good a shape as I have ever seen them @ Rustic. Lush and well maintained with only some fresh divots on the par 3's. The fairways had good coverage but were still a little thin, which produced some long drives. The rough was in good shape by Rustic standards, good coverage and mowed down around the fairways, lush and deep around numerous greens. However, the rough being thin and mowed down around the fairways is actually a BAD thing here, because it brings the many mandatory penalty stroked environmental areas much more in play when it is 2 bounces off the fairway to a penalty stroke with little to stop it. The traps were also in the best shape I have ever seen them @ Rustic. Well maintained, all the greenside and waste bunkers had been recently raked. The aprons here are always mowed close and well maintained. They putt better than the greens on some courses I have played. The big, undulating greens are now almost totally poa annua. They were firm and putted medium quick, downhill putts could be treacherous. The customer service was excellent, they had me on the 1st tee within 20 minutes of arriving. There are numerous water stations on the course and we saw the drink cart once on the front. Rustic is an excellent value to play twilight during the week. today reminded me of the days a decade ago when GDR23 & I would come out and practically have the course to ourselves. We were a hole behind the 2some in front of us, and the 2some behind us was a hole behind us, so the POP was very relaxed.

Walked the blues (6624/71.6/128) in 4h, 50m on their $25 twilight rate. Was matched up with 3 nice guys for an enjoyable, even if LONG round for twilight during the week. POP was an issue because the ... Continue »

Walked the blues (6624/71.6/128) in 4h, 50m on their $25 twilight rate. Was matched up with 3 nice guys for an enjoyable, even if LONG round for twilight during the week. POP was an issue because the 4some 2 groups in front of us was over 2 holes behind by the 12th tee. Groups behind us were skipping 2 holes so they could finish. The tees were in excellent shape, lush and well maintained with only some fresh divots on the par 3's. The fairways had good coverage but were still a little thin, which produced some long drives. The rough was in good shape by Rustic standards, good coverage and mowed down around the fairways, lush and deep around numerous greens. The traps were well maintained, even many of the waste bunkers had been recently raked. The aprons here are always mowed close and well maintained. They putt better than the greens on some courses I have played. The big, undulating greens are now almost totally poa annua. They were medium quick and firm, but were getting tougher and tougher to putt as the poa bloomed later in the day. I never remember putts fish tailing back/forth here like this in the past. Still good to very good, but no longer great like they used to be 5-7 years ago. The customer service was good, they had me out within 30 minutes of arriving. There are numerous water stations on the course and we saw the drink cart once on the front. Still an excellent value, just higher priced and more crowded than it used to be before a bunch of golf magazines put Rustic in their top 100 public courses.

Played March 14, 2015
Walked on as a single on Saturday and had my choice of tee off times.
There was a slight breeze which was welcomed. The course was in good shape and the pace of play was decen... Continue »

Played March 14, 2015
Walked on as a single on Saturday and had my choice of tee off times.
There was a slight breeze which was welcomed. The course was in good shape and the pace of play was decent.
It is a links style course which is not my favorite. You have to know the general rule which is the greens break to the gate.....
If you play to this and hit bump and runs into the greens your fine. Dont try throwing anything over a wedge into the greens, there is no hold.
Down hill puts are fast and break. Uphill (back up the canyon) are deceivingly slow.
Fariways are wide and forgiving especially if you play the correct tee boxes for your game.
All and all a nice links layout.
Windy day (often) will add lots of strokes to the round....

I don't think I have ever written a 9 hole review so here goes...out today last minute at 1pm for twilight at my home course---after making putt after putt and playing well rain started coming down HA... Continue »

I don't think I have ever written a 9 hole review so here goes...out today last minute at 1pm for twilight at my home course---after making putt after putt and playing well rain started coming down HARD on #8 tee---had the rain gear, umbrella, towel did not matter soaked walking up #9 in a downpour---staff was nice enough to give me a rain check for 9 holes after I waited for 30 minutes or so with no let up...conditions on the front were very darn good. Greens were in beautiful shape rolling nice with no ballmarks present and holding shots beautiful, fairways coming in nice and full after overnight rains---they are not lush but are becoming more full, tee boxes were in very good shape, cut fairly all level and flat. Could see that they are growing the rough up nice and thick around the greenside complexes. Rustic is in good shape for you die hard Rustic fans. Will be back soon.

It rained. Only rained hard enough to affect holes 11-15. Pace of Play was excellent. perhaps because of the weather. With that being said, this course is in fantastic condition for this time of yea... Continue »

It rained. Only rained hard enough to affect holes 11-15. Pace of Play was excellent. perhaps because of the weather. With that being said, this course is in fantastic condition for this time of year. The little bit of rain that we have received these past few weeks has really made the course green. The fairways are very receptive and imo not dormant. The rough was pretty deep in most areas. because of the rain, the greens held approach shots pretty decent considering the links style greens. the greens were still rolling true and fast despite the rain. most of the balls marks on the greens were on the second part of the green and were never a factor while putting (as this course tends to be pretty quick on the greens, most people play short and let the ball roll which are where most of the ball marks are, however they do a good job of repairing most of them). paid 89.00 with cart and medium bucket of balls. carts have pretty reliable GPS system. Do not go off score card distances as the last few times I have played here they are not accurate. It would be handy to have a Bushnell or some type of GPS system to confirm/compare with golf cart GPS, however course is sufficiently marked

Havent played golf since christmas day because we are in the middle of volleyball season at UCSB. We had an off day this weekend and I took full advantage of it. Played Rustic 2/16/15.

Teed off at ... Continue »

Havent played golf since christmas day because we are in the middle of volleyball season at UCSB. We had an off day this weekend and I took full advantage of it. Played Rustic 2/16/15.

Teed off at 12:30 and played in just under 5 hours which was reasonable given teeing off on a Sunday that late. Course conditions were fantastic. To my surprise, the fairways were very green, firm and fast. The Greens were awesome, very quick towards the canyon. Much slower towards the club house (if playing front nine). It is amazing how much the direction of the grain affects the speed of the greens. The greens putt true and were pretty smooth.

You must tailor you game to the firm and fast conditions. Approach shots will certainly release unless you are hitting a wedge, which still may release a bit given how firm the greens were. Overall, I really enjoyed Rustic as I always do. Back nine is much more challenging than the front! Enjoy