Walked the golds tees teeing off this afternoon 12/27/2023 at 12:10pm with my buddy Bmanmp Billy under cloudy cool conditions around 60 degrees with about a one club wind. We were joined by a local fr... Continue »

Walked the golds tees teeing off this afternoon 12/27/2023 at 12:10pm with my buddy Bmanmp Billy under cloudy cool conditions around 60 degrees with about a one club wind. We were joined by a local friendly couple from Santa Barbara. Total POP was 4 hrs 45 minutes.

Greens were in their normal quick shape where you needed to be putting or chipping below the hole. They were receptive on iron shots and putting pure. Rated 8/10

Fairways were mostly lush, wet in some spots due to the recent rains and in the 7.5 to 8 range.

Tees mostly all level, lush and in good shape 8/10

Was in one greenside bunker left of 4 green that was raked in good shape. Rated 7.5/10

Rough was lush, wet in spots and in good thick shape just off the fairways. Rough between 8 and 15 and 15 and 16 was mowed down to keep POP moving.

Highly recommend this track. Great layout, challenging, great customer service, amazing views.

Walked the golds today 10/10/23 with my buddy Mark under beautiful weather mid 70s with a club wind. Teed off at 1:30pm behind a college tourney and finished just shy of 5 hours. Great friendly pro sh... Continue »

Walked the golds today 10/10/23 with my buddy Mark under beautiful weather mid 70s with a club wind. Teed off at 1:30pm behind a college tourney and finished just shy of 5 hours. Great friendly pro shop staff, cart girl and cart barn staff. Greens were in awesome shape rolling around a 12 on the stimp. Very quick where you needed to be below the hole and have great touch on anything downhill or sidehill putting today. You could even be embarrassed/humbled like I was on hole 2 today knocking an uphill birdie putt 20 feet beyond the cup. Greens were holding irons nicely considering how quick they were when putting and chipping. Rated 8.5/10. Fairways were in very good shape. Mostly all lush and great lies. Giving some roll. Just a pleasure to hit irons off of. Rated 8/10 Rough in between holes 15/16, left of 7,13 and 14 has been cut and makes playability better and improves POP. Regular cut rough just off the fairways was uniform, green and lush and in good shape. Rated 8/10. Tees were super lush. Some tees were not level but you could always find a level spot if you hunted for it. Rated 7.5/10 Was not in any bunkers but they looked well stocked. Great layout and views. The rains earlier in the year have really helped make this place lush even this late in the year. Looking forward to many more rounds out here. Highly recommended.

Walked the golds this afternoon 8/7/23 with my buddy Mark. 75 degrees with about a 10mph wind. Perfect conditions. We were joined by a couple guys who had never played here before. Course was packed ... Continue »

Walked the golds this afternoon 8/7/23 with my buddy Mark. 75 degrees with about a 10mph wind. Perfect conditions. We were joined by a couple guys who had never played here before. Course was packed and our POP was around 5 hrs. Vern in the proshop is very friendly as well as the cart gal who made multiple rounds. There have been some slight changes since my last round out here around 9 weeks ago. Biggest change was they mowed down the rough between 15/16 as well as right of 17 and just left of 14 which improves pace of play and playability/fun factor. Also caught a couple mud balls in the fairways where I literally got 1 yd of roll. Speaking of the fairways they were very good in the 8/10 range mostly lush, wet in some sections and good lies throughout. The greens were quicker putting and our group thought slower/grabby on chips uphill. Can't be above the pin putting is the common theme here. Rated 8/10. The tee boxes were the star of the show coming in at a 9/10 rating super lush and level and in great shape. Rough just off the fairways was green, mostly medium to thick texture for length and in good shape. Rated 8/10 Was not in any bunkers but playing partner described them as hardpan wet bunkers which is disappointing for how much they charge here. Still one of my favorite socal layouts. Challenging, great ocean holes, great conditions besides the bunkers. Highly recommended.

Played Sunday 7/30 , 10:20 tee time; 5 hr round (because my group was slow, but not me ;) ) warm day with a cooling breeze. Wind a good 1-2.5 clubs most of the round. Greens are really fast, and I ... Continue »

Played Sunday 7/30 , 10:20 tee time; 5 hr round (because my group was slow, but not me ;) ) warm day with a cooling breeze. Wind a good 1-2.5 clubs most of the round. Greens are really fast, and I was not prepared for that. I think they are grainy too, which always messes with me. I say they are running a solid 12-13, mostly true and firm. I haven't played here in maybe 20 years, so I was excited to play... and it's much better than I remember. I thought it was going to be cool ocean holes and then mediocre inland holes... but the entire routing was really fun and interesting. I'd say some of the greens are borderline unfair with the speed, slope and pin placement: actually, #11 is not fair at all. Too sloped and too fast. when you have a 4 ft uphill putt, leave it an inch short and it rolls back to your feet... yeah, not fair. And there wasn't a great place for the pin, not with that speed, and with the wind blowing downhill. Cart girl came around a bunch. Course in great shape overall, but here were a lot of unfilled divots. Overall, I'd love to play here again.

The next round of the week for me and a fun group of GKers + SCGC FB Group players was at Sandpiper GC Friday 6/23. An awesome GK Plays with just about perfect weather on an iconic golf course in supe... Continue »

The next round of the week for me and a fun group of GKers + SCGC FB Group players was at Sandpiper GC Friday 6/23. An awesome GK Plays with just about perfect weather on an iconic golf course in super shape. Tons of ocean views, good times and lots of incredible goodies from Linksoul, Golf Moose and OnCore Golf Balls. I’ll be doing a full recap of the event over the weekend here on GK and on some of our Social Media platforms. If you’re thinking about spending the big bucks to play Sandpiper GC, now is the time, book a tee time before 1:00pm to beat the traffic coming up the 101, get there early, enjoy the practice areas with ocean views, grab a bite to eat on the patio and take in the experience. So much fun with GKers mpisarski01, ironfish433 and evomo23. Highly Recommended.

Joined the GK crew last Friday out at Sandpiper. Picture perfect day Sunny, 71°, 10-15mph winds and top notch conditions. We were first group out and never caught up to the groups in front and finish ... Continue »

Joined the GK crew last Friday out at Sandpiper. Picture perfect day Sunny, 71°, 10-15mph winds and top notch conditions. We were first group out and never caught up to the groups in front and finish our round in 4hr 15min.

This is the 3rd time I have been to sandpiper and I must say the course was in the best shape I have seen it. The rain definitely helped the grounds crew this year as all of the grass was just perfect. Fairways were cut short and provided great roll as well as still having great cushion to hit from. Rough was a bit penal being around 3+ inches and usually required an extra club. Fescue/Straw grass was very long but they must flatten it every few days as most of it is laid down. Very difficult to play from and you better have strong wrists. Sand traps were lacking good sand but not the worst. Greens were vicious on Friday, Firm and fast and if you were above or side of hole good luck. I really like fast greens so I was happy to putt on these greens.

Sandpiper is a very scenic course with ocean views on every hole as well as the par 3 11 playing down to the beach. If you are a golf photographer this place is like Disneyland for pictures. Staff was rather friendly and the grill was decent although a tad on the pricey side.

Walked the golds Tuesday 5/30/23 with my buddy Mark teeing off just before 2:30pm under cold and windy conditions with a beautiful 4 hr pace of play playing through a foursome on 3 tee. Not much has ... Continue »

Walked the golds Tuesday 5/30/23 with my buddy Mark teeing off just before 2:30pm under cold and windy conditions with a beautiful 4 hr pace of play playing through a foursome on 3 tee. Not much has changed from my review here a month ago other than the fairways are in even nicer shape now than they were a month ago. Not putting to much stock into the greens today as they had a very minor punch and were top sanded so they were slower than the normal 11.5 stimp, easier to hold shots on today. The tees, fairways and rough are all close to the 9 out of 10 category and the greens in a week or so will be there as well. Was in one greenside bunker on 10 that had brownish clay like sand that was a pleasure to hit from. We had a great round despite the weather. 6700 in the cold wind with no roll felt more like 6900 yds. The conditions right now are off the hook nice. One of the best post round views at sunset on the patio with a natural grass greenside amphitheater of tee shots on the par 3 18th hole. Very friendly staff in the proshop. Feel real lucky to have this course only an hour away. Recommended.

Walked the golds at Piper one of my favorite tracks Monday afternoon 4/24/23 joined by my buddy Mark teeing off at 2pm finishing in 4 hrs 20 minutes under partly cloudy skies with the temp around 62 d... Continue »

Walked the golds at Piper one of my favorite tracks Monday afternoon 4/24/23 joined by my buddy Mark teeing off at 2pm finishing in 4 hrs 20 minutes under partly cloudy skies with the temp around 62 degrees. We flew around as a twosome for the first 9 holes and then caught a mini tournament on the 10th tee that played at a decent pace on the back nine. All staff encountered were super friendly including Vern in the proshop. All grass range is a plus. Very sloped beautiful putting green that you can pitch on and a great patio/restaurant overlooking the Pacific. The conditions here at this time are in good to very good condition. The greens are quick, putting true and in great shape. Like most courses but especially here you must be putting or chipping below the pins. Anything downhill here takes great touch to get close. I thought the greens held shots well which is a perfect combination. Rated 8.5/10 maybe closer to 9/10. Fairways were mostly all lush, carpet 9/10 range. Great shape. They had the mowers cutting some of the rough down just barely off the fairways. Anything past the 1st cut of rough/cart paths has up to waist high rough and really puts some teeth into this course. While some might not like it I love it not only visually but makes the course even tougher. Rough rating 9/10 Was in greenside bunker on 11 that had just enough sand and was raked to a firmer base on top. Rated 7/10 The tees were lush but several of them could use some leveling. Not to hard though to move a couple feet over and find a level stance. Rated 7/10 This course to me has it all. Some elevation changes, fast challenging greens, unbelievable views, great layout. Highly recommended.

Played 2-13-23 on a wonderful afternoon with Gary, John, and Mark, getting around the course in 4 hours and 45 minutes with no waiting. Tee boxes were in really good shape, all of them level and cut t... Continue »

Played 2-13-23 on a wonderful afternoon with Gary, John, and Mark, getting around the course in 4 hours and 45 minutes with no waiting. Tee boxes were in really good shape, all of them level and cut tight with very minimal divot damage on par threes. Fairways were in great shape with some minor thin and wet spots, decent roll out with the ball sitting up nicely. Primary rough was about 2 inches and in real good condition, outside that you are in the thick Fescue with most likely a lost ball. Was in a couple of greenside bunkers that had a good layer of nice white sand, real nice to hit from. Greens had a small punch that didn't effect the roll much, they were rolling true at medium/fast pace and playing semi-soft. Overall course is in really good shape, best I have seen it in in a while, wall to wall green with great ocean views.