Played on 01/25/15. The wind was really blowing and it effected shots in the air, but not the lower shots or chips. Greens putted true and held shots fairly well. The fairways and rough were in good ... Continue »

Played on 01/25/15. The wind was really blowing and it effected shots in the air, but not the lower shots or chips. Greens putted true and held shots fairly well. The fairways and rough were in good condition considering the drought. Played out of a couple of bunkers and one was in decent shape with fluffy sand under the ball, the other trap was a little hard for my liking, but not terribly bad. Some of the tee boxes were beat up with divots, but you could find a place to hit from. Overall a good time was had and I plan on heading back with a different group in the near future.

Played Simi Hills on Friday, Nov 28. Got out with some friends at 7:32 am. POP was around 4:15. Marshals are always patrolling to keep things moving. The course is in great shape right now. The g... Continue »

Played Simi Hills on Friday, Nov 28. Got out with some friends at 7:32 am. POP was around 4:15. Marshals are always patrolling to keep things moving. The course is in great shape right now. The greeens, as always, are fabulous. Running a solid 10-10.5 on the stimp. Rolled true and smooth. The fairways and rough were pretty lush, considering the water shortages. Only one tee box did I find myself saying "gee, this isn't great, is it?" Overall, I was very impressed. Once again, Simi Hills shines through. Definitely recommend.

I Played Simi Hills Monday June 16th and Monday June 23rd with my buddy Pedro7170 walking from the blue tees. Our round on June 16th was just after there City Championships. The course both Monday's w... Continue »

I Played Simi Hills Monday June 16th and Monday June 23rd with my buddy Pedro7170 walking from the blue tees. Our round on June 16th was just after there City Championships. The course both Monday's was in the best shape that I have seen Simi Hills. Ample green lush fairways that produced nice lies but still provided roll out. Greens were in very nice shape with little to no ball marks and probably rolling towards a 10 on the stimp. Several tees seemed more level to me these two rounds than prior rounds where you might struggle to find a level teeing ground. The sand bunkers were decent with just enough sand in them. Their rates are decent to walk during the week but I would recommend on this course in the summer to get out early as it can get hot here as well as crowded. Glad I got a couple rounds in here for a change. The layout is a par 71 so you are minus a par 5. Couple cool strategic driving holes on the back nine....always enjoyed the back nine here. Hole #5 is cool if you like to draw the ball---you can almost reach the green with a bomb of a drive....would recommend this course as of right now.

Played last Sat & Sun - May 31 - June 1, in the Simi City Championship. This tourney prob is the best run muni tourney in all of SoCal. Course conditions last week were excellent from tee to green. ... Continue »

Played last Sat & Sun - May 31 - June 1, in the Simi City Championship. This tourney prob is the best run muni tourney in all of SoCal. Course conditions last week were excellent from tee to green. Greens were smooth, quick and receptive. This is a fun course, easy to walk, and the back 9 is a really peaceful walk. The staff here is nice and accommodating, and the tourney staff is excellent. Plenty of snacks, water, and marshals. Round 1 pace of play was 4hrs, 10min, and Round 2 was 4 hrs on the button. Range balls were new as well. Thanks to the Simi Hills staff for a nice weekend.

First review in awhile for me-surprised that no one has reviewed Simi since November.

Anyway, always enjoy coming here for a good but fair test of my game. Considering how hot it has been this who... Continue »

First review in awhile for me-surprised that no one has reviewed Simi since November.

Anyway, always enjoy coming here for a good but fair test of my game. Considering how hot it has been this whole year pretty much (but ESPECIALLY today at 101) the course is in really good shape. They are spot watering any yellowing areas. It makes for some damp areas & possibly annoying if your ball rolls up to them or sits next to a hose but I didn't mind that. Also appreciated the constant maintenance of the water coolers every 3 holes or so. Saw the cart girl a couple times as well as a guy changing out the coolers often.

As for the course, like I said, it is in very good shape all things considered. Tee boxes are all level & lush with divot problems only on par 3s really (to be expected).

Fairways are in decent conditions. Maybe a hair too long since my tee shots didn't get as much roll as normal today. Again understandable though due to the heat.

Rough is in decent shape. Anywhere near the fairways is good & anywhere further away is brown & possibly dirt which I am OK with.

Fringe areas were really nice, though they had different types of grass infiltrating them & into the greens. Greens were a mix of different grasses but they rolled OK. Bumpy often & firm due to the hot conditions.

Bunkers were the worst part of the course. Some had standing water in them early in the day & by mid-day they had all become hard & crusty. A few were decent to play out of.

Overall for $37 walking during primetime (including a small bucket of range balls) is better than I expected. Just try to bring your own food & drinks because those are ridiculously overpriced.

Played Simi Hills at 8:52 Saturday morning 11/9/13. $55 rate incl cart. POP was 4:05 (shocking for a Saturday morning primetime). Never waited more than a minute to hit a shot.

The greens were almo... Continue »

Played Simi Hills at 8:52 Saturday morning 11/9/13. $55 rate incl cart. POP was 4:05 (shocking for a Saturday morning primetime). Never waited more than a minute to hit a shot.

The greens were almost perfect. Very quick for LA Muni standards. No problems with them all day. And I actually saw a marshall driving around three different times and he passed the time raking traps. It showed. Bunkers were very good. I was in three.

The negatives were clearly related to the season. Some serious brown spots around the fairways. And many of the green spots were wet from overwatering. That said, after a couple holes, we all decided to play preferred lies and never worried about it again. Flew around and enjoyed it.

If you're a mid handicapper, this place isn't "easy" because you need to be on the correct side of the green to make birdies, but if you have it that day you'll put up a score. Kind of like Knollwood in terms of good breaks from hills wooded areas that funnel balls back in play.

Walked on here yesterday morning. Needed to get out early, but when I showed up around 6:30 the place was already pretty busy. However, they ended up putting me with the first group out and we cruised... Continue »

Walked on here yesterday morning. Needed to get out early, but when I showed up around 6:30 the place was already pretty busy. However, they ended up putting me with the first group out and we cruised around in a little over 3 hours as the lead foursome. Price $60 with cart.

The course was in OK overall shape, highlighted by the greens. There are some minor remnants of recent punching, but they have recovered beautifully. Soft/receptive and rolling smooth at quick speeds. The fairways pretty patchy with a lot of thin areas and mushy spots early in the morning, but I mostly had pretty good lies. Rough very spotty. I was in one bunker and it had good sand. Some tee boxes were recently aerated, but never had a problem finding a flat spot to tee it up.

This course has some nice character and is in a nice little setting through the foothills. I enjoyed the course and the regulars I played with. Conditions not too great, but average for a muni-level course this time of year I'd say and good greens definitely help make up for any other shortcomings.

Got a Facebook message Friday from an old high school teammate about a Taft High golf team reunion, not just my class but a bunch going from the late 80’s. I decided to blow off a bunch weekend work a... Continue »

Got a Facebook message Friday from an old high school teammate about a Taft High golf team reunion, not just my class but a bunch going from the late 80’s. I decided to blow off a bunch weekend work and go for it. We played Simi Hills Golf Course, teeing off around 7:45am and finished in 4 1/2 hours. The course was not crowded and after playing it I can see why. Since t8fish’s review, three weeks ago, it appears the fairways and rough have gotten more dry as there were many thin and at times large sections of bare/hard pan areas present. It was concerning to me because typically a bermunda grass course shines at this time of year. As for the greens, they were likely identical to how t8fish played them. Medium-fast, a little bumpy, soft and sort of sponging. These are poa greens and I think we were very fortunate to play them in the morning because come the afternoon my guess is depressions made by foot traffic would impact the surface making them more bumpy. The sand traps were mostly firm, thin at times yet generally well kept. The tee boxes, we played the black, were lush, mostly level and in good shape. (I love the new back tee on 8 making it a monster 220 par 3 to a small green) I will give Simi Hills some credit although, for $42 walking $55 with a cart on a weekend it’s still not a bad value. The layout is more interesting IMHO then nearby Knollwood, Elkins Ranch, Los Robles Greens and any of the city run courses. It’s a layout you can walk plus it’s got some very challenging par 3’s. Overall, if it was not for a special occasion, I would have drove up to Ventura/Oxnard or played in Moorpark since the conditions of those courses are much better at this time. For any of my old high school teammates and others I met Saturday,thanks again, had a super time!

Got out this morning at 9 am at the request of a friend from the SF Valley along with his brother and a single. The choice had been between here and DeBell, and since I hadn't been out here in a numbe... Continue »

Got out this morning at 9 am at the request of a friend from the SF Valley along with his brother and a single. The choice had been between here and DeBell, and since I hadn't been out here in a number of years I was curious to give it a revisit. The weather was pretty warm, but not the scorcher that we might have anticipated and there was a pleasant breeze blowing to keep it reasonable. Overall, the course was in good shape. Tee boxes were generally nice and level and coverage was good. The fairways were a bit more of a mixed bag. They rolled well and provided a nice hitting surface for the most part, but there were definitely thin and even some hard pan areas distributed around. Not a deal breaker in my book, but depending on your attitude about how pristine you want your fairways, it's worth having the heads up. I did some bunker time and they were on the firm side vs. hard, and certainly playable. Definitely not fluffy, but I was OK with them and I attributed any bad results to pilot error. Greens were nice—medium fast, and tracked well with a reasonably firm surface that produced surprisingly spongey pitch marks. Rough was a mixed bag of anything from wood chips to hard pan to good grass coverage that wasn't overly penal. The course has a steep section in the middle of the front nine, but is generally walkable if the weather allows. It's also a good mix of relatively straight forward holes and those in which being able to position your ball in the fairway on certain lines or otherwise play a little target golf are definitely an advantage. Local knowledge is needed on a few holes to know where you need to hit it. Pace was comfortable at around 4.5 hours. As munis go, I think it's pretty decent condition overall, with a more-interesting-than-average layout. Nice little golf shop and a comfortable, shaded patio outside the snack shop for hanging out after the round. Good times.