Feels like it's time to update conditions at Rustic. Got out yesterday as a walking single along with 3 others, all walking. Just an absolutely perfect day. The sun was out, it wasn't hot, the wind wa... Continue »

Feels like it's time to update conditions at Rustic. Got out yesterday as a walking single along with 3 others, all walking. Just an absolutely perfect day. The sun was out, it wasn't hot, the wind was probably in the 5-10mph range. Greens are definitely back to rolling fast again, but on the firmer side. The dormant fairways have sprung back to life and are looking gorgeously green with generous roll out on tee shots again. Tee boxes are in great shape, rough is thick and lush in places, especially the collars around the bunkers where you're basically left to simply take a hack to get back into play. Didn't hit a bunker (close tho!) but the sand looks pretty hard for what it's worth. POP yesterday was probably the best I've ever experienced it, about 4.5 with no waiting at all and no one behind our group for at least 1.5 holes. Might have been an Easter thing! So glad to finally have gotten some decent weather and taken advantage of the course looking so good. definitely get back out there if you haven't played it in a while. hope it's a sign of come for some wonderful spring golf ahead!

Played here today with a 12:30 tee time booked a few weeks ahead of time at their premium rate for times booked 2+ weeks ahead. That was the first twilight time at $54 and then I paid $16 more at chec... Continue »

Played here today with a 12:30 tee time booked a few weeks ahead of time at their premium rate for times booked 2+ weeks ahead. That was the first twilight time at $54 and then I paid $16 more at check-in for a cart, despite the course playing as Cart Path Only today. (I would prefer to walk here but I'm having an issue with my foot when I walk courses lately.) No takers on my Meet & Play, so I got paired with a twosome and another single, a fun group. For Rustic playing CPO on a weekend, pace was surprisingly decent at just about 4:45 total. There were a couple annoying instances with CPO where the GPS mapping is poorly done and it would lock up my cart thinking I was off the path when I wasn't.

There are signs posted all over the place that Ventura County is installing a reclaimed water line through the golf course property and it sounds like they are at the county's mercy on it and have no control over it. It says they'll try to minimize disruption of golf, but ultimately it's out of their hands. There were big tractors parked between 10 green and 11 tee and a sign behind 10 tee saying the black and blue tees for 11 were closed, but I think that only applies when the workers are present. The tee markers were out so I played from the normal blue tee box.

Conditions are mixed and wintry. Greens are smooth, medium speed and quite accepting of full shots. My playing partners said all the recent rain has the greens much slower than they were a few weeks ago. The rain also has the large collars around the greens playing too soft. I thought I hit a perfect shot into 18 landing about 10 yards short of the green and it just grabbed and stopped right there. Fairways are dormant and some have little sprouts of green grass in clusters, giving them a bit of an unkempt appearance. They play pretty good, though, offering mostly tight lies. Not a whole lot of rough to speak of except around the greens. Bunkers were decent but several had no rakes for some reason (these weren't waste bunkers). Blue tee boxes were mixed; some had lots of divots and others were pretty good.

Overall it was another glorious day at Rustic. (I almost holed out from around 240 yards on 16, where my downhill 3-wood into the wind approach shot stopped about 12 inches from the cup. That was fun.)

P.S. Had the "Oink" Burger in the snack shop before the round. Really tasty!

had a post storm round sun 2/26, definitely wasn't expecting the course to be in top shape considering the downpour we'd gotten lately but was surprised to find that with the exception of many bunkers... Continue »

had a post storm round sun 2/26, definitely wasn't expecting the course to be in top shape considering the downpour we'd gotten lately but was surprised to find that with the exception of many bunkers which turned into actual water hazards, the course drained nicely. Fairways are winter conditions, a few more divots out there than i'd seen in the past, but generally in good shape. even with all the rain it didn't affect rollout too much, and i was surprised to not find it very muddy at all. greens were probably most affected as they were very soft and a little spongy which made it hard to judge speeds as it seemed to vary by hole. tee boxes were in mostly good and lush condition. enjoyed walking the hanse tees on a overcast day with a chilly breeze. surprised it was a 5 hour round because there was minimal waiting, pace was actually good so i'd recommend walking so you're not just waiting on every shot. Even when the course isn't in the best shape it's still a ton of fun.

So after T R I went to Rustic Canyon. Got right out with a great group. Course is in winter condition (fairways brown) but they give a great roll out. Until the wind comes up, which it did when we hit... Continue »

So after T R I went to Rustic Canyon. Got right out with a great group. Course is in winter condition (fairways brown) but they give a great roll out. Until the wind comes up, which it did when we hit the back 9. Great downwind, difficult into it. Tee boxes all fine. Traps playable. Greens played fast and gave one a run for their money all round. Great customer service in the shop. Sr rate $45with card.

Walked the blues yesterday 12/26/2022 teeing off around 10:35am joined by a nice threesome of guys from Orange County area who were very fun to play with. Our POP was 4 hrs 45 minutes on a packed day ... Continue »

Walked the blues yesterday 12/26/2022 teeing off around 10:35am joined by a nice threesome of guys from Orange County area who were very fun to play with. Our POP was 4 hrs 45 minutes on a packed day for golf and perfect weather 75 degrees some clouds with mixed sunshine and not a breath of wind. Fairways are firming up and producing more run out like the course is designed for. Even 16 and 18 fairways which are historically lusher had some nice rollout. Need to compress irons even more this time of year at Rustic. Visually they are more brown than lush but still provide adequate playing conditions. Rated 6.5/10 Greens are fantastic. Rolling smooth and firm but still not as fast as I am used to on this course. Holding high Irons nicely. Rated 8/10. Tees are beautiful, lush and level and in good shape. Rated 8/10. Was in bunker just in front of 1 green that had a nice soft base underneath and easy to splash out of. Rated 7/10 Greenside rough is still in its lush stellar 9/10 shape. Fairway rough can vary from lush, to thin to hardpan depending on the hole and area. Fringes are firming up some but are still soft in many places. I commend the course as they have done a great job in fixing many problem areas on every hole in the fringe area other than front left side of #13. Today was an epic weather day at Rustic. The three guys I was playing with had never played Rustic and can't wait to come back. Highly recommended

Walked the blues on a beautiful colder crisp late morning yesterday Monday 12/12/22. Joined by my buddy Matt and a very nice twosome teeing off around 1145am and finishing around 430pm for a 4hr 45 m... Continue »

Walked the blues on a beautiful colder crisp late morning yesterday Monday 12/12/22. Joined by my buddy Matt and a very nice twosome teeing off around 1145am and finishing around 430pm for a 4hr 45 minute POP. Weather was around 54 degrees with little tono wind. Course drained well from the rains. Little to no roll on drives but the greens were receptive and not to many unplayable spots considering the downpour of rains we received Sat and Sunday evening.

Greens were in great shape. Rolling medium speed, soft on high approaches and still firm on chips. Rated 8/10

Fairways were lush for December standards especially 16 and 18 Fairways. A pleasure to hit off of. Rated 8/10

Tees were recently reseeded and are in very nice shape, Rated 8.5/10

Fringes were soft, wet and lush. Rated 7.5/10

Was in greenside bunkers on 3 and 15 that were more firm than soft but no issues with sand quality despite the heavy rains. Looks like all greenside bunkers and waste bunkers were raked and in good shape Rated 7.5/10

Rustic has it all length, good conditions, super fun layout, challenging short games areas, peace and quiet. Can get lost in solitude looking around on the back nine on 13 green looking at the beautiful open areas surrounding the course.

Highly recommended

Walked the blues this morning 11/14/22 at 1130am with my buddy Matt joined by two nice singles. Pace of play 4 hrs 10 minutes with a 5-10mph wind under sunny skies around 67 degrees. The greens are ... Continue »

Walked the blues this morning 11/14/22 at 1130am with my buddy Matt joined by two nice singles. Pace of play 4 hrs 10 minutes with a 5-10mph wind under sunny skies around 67 degrees. The greens are quick and heading into winter firmness especially on downhillers. The recent maintenance done weeks ago has healed nicely. They are holding shots with spin or higher trajectory irons very nicely. Rated 7.5/10 Fairways are transitioning from lush to semi lush/firm with more roll out. Still nice surfaces to hit from and creeping ever closer to a true links style firmness which is how the course is meant to be played. Rated 7/10. Tees nice and level and lush and in good shape. Rated 8/10. Greenside rough awesome 9/10. Fairway rough in the 6.5/10 shape. Was not in any bunkers but they looked firmer and raked nicely. Rustic has some waste bunkers scattered throughout the course notated by blue stakes. They are losing portions of the fringe areas on the front of 13 and 15. I'm sure the course will be returfing those areas soon. Rustic's back nine as the sun is setting is epic. Course is in good shape and firming up for the winter. Highly recommended

Played 11-1-22 early morning for $49 walking, joining a threesome and finishing in about 4 hours and 15 minutes with some waiting. Tee boxes were mostly level with thin coverage and some bare spots. F... Continue »

Played 11-1-22 early morning for $49 walking, joining a threesome and finishing in about 4 hours and 15 minutes with some waiting. Tee boxes were mostly level with thin coverage and some bare spots. Fairways were mostly green with some thin brown areas, decent rollout and okay lies. Typical rough, lush around greens and thinner along fairways. The big aprons around the greens were not in good shape, a lot of bare spots, with some of them being punched and sanded. Was in one greenside bunker that was a little thin but still playable. Greens are still healing from whenever they were punched, playing soft, rolling medium pace and bumpy. Course is in just okay shape but still playable.

It's not often I leave Rustic Canyon disappointed, but today I did. I had a 2:00 tee time which is the first twilight time available. Checked in and opted to ride ($60 with cart) and headed to the tee... Continue »

It's not often I leave Rustic Canyon disappointed, but today I did. I had a 2:00 tee time which is the first twilight time available. Checked in and opted to ride ($60 with cart) and headed to the tee a couple minutes late. It soon became obvious that the course was moving much slower than normal. We encountered big backups on 3, 6, and 7, then again on 10 and 11, and worst of all on 14 tee, where two groups in front were still on the tee when we finished 13. After we finished 10, it was clear that the problem was whoever was currently on 15, because all of 16 and all of 17 were wide open with no one playing either hole. One of my playing partners called the pro shop at one point and they were no help, saying the marshall went home a couple hours earlier. Total POP was a few minutes over 5 hours, and I didn't even finish. After the rest of my group bailed out after playing 17 in near darkness, I tried to play 18. I hit and found my drive, but never found my next shot and then my cart got a notice that it must be turned in. Very frustrating to not finish and have the course take no action to keep slow groups from logjamming everyone behind them.

Conditions are okay, having deteriorated a bit since I was here 3-4 weeks ago. Greens are mostly good, but my group got some bumpy putts today and late in the day they were a little wobbly. They accept full shots well and run around medium speed. Fairways are mostly good but are starting to get lots of browned out areas. Another factor that probably contributed to slow play was the fact that holes 3, 5, 14, 16, and 18 were all "cart path only" for at least part of the fairway, if not the entire hole. Rough was the usual – very green lush around the greens and thinner and less consistent everywhere else. Blue tee boxes were decent, many are missing one or more of the blocks, and the black tees are even worse where some holes had no markers at all. (I assume golfers are stealing these wood blocks that seem to be stamped or "branded" with Rustic Canyon as souvenirs.) I was only in one official bunker and it had nice sand but looked neglected. I was also in a couple waste bunkers which were hard packed and difficult to play from.

On the upside, it was a gorgeous day. It's just too bad the course didn't take more proactive measures to keep POP tolerable. I know it can be slow out here on weekend afternoons, but this was the worst I've ever seen.