Played 6-6-24 early morning walking as a single and finishing in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Tee boxes were level with good coverage, and minimal divot damage on par threes. Fairways were very nice,... Continue »

Played 6-6-24 early morning walking as a single and finishing in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Tee boxes were level with good coverage, and minimal divot damage on par threes. Fairways were very nice, green and lush, with good lies and decent roll out. Rough was very manageable along fairways and around greens, playing 1-2 inches with the ball sitting up. Was in one greenside bunker that was well groomed with nice white sand. Greens were rolling medium pace and smooth, and holding shots with semi- soft greens. Nice course with a fun layout. Highly recommend playing.

First off, I love this beautiful challenging course. Been playing there more often recently but some of the decisions by the management have left me cold.
For two scheduled tournaments they pulled so... Continue »

First off, I love this beautiful challenging course. Been playing there more often recently but some of the decisions by the management have left me cold.
For two scheduled tournaments they pulled some weird stunts;
1. They cancelled one a week before and said they overbooked the course and made us play the following week right after a qualifying women's round that was extremely slow.
2. When we showed up for our tee times the course sad we were pushed back 45 minutes with no valid or justifiable reason. Basically they gave away our tee times to whoever.
These scenarios are unacceptable but the course doesn't really care. That's today's golf courses! I'll think twice before returning to this great course.

Walked the oranges Monday 4/22/2024 with my buddy Matt under a cold, misty/foggy 60 degree day with up to 2 clubs wind at times. Very weird weather for Ojai. Joined by a very nice twosome Tyrell and P... Continue »

Walked the oranges Monday 4/22/2024 with my buddy Matt under a cold, misty/foggy 60 degree day with up to 2 clubs wind at times. Very weird weather for Ojai. Joined by a very nice twosome Tyrell and Paul. Our POP was horrendous at 5 hrs 20 minutes behind a packed tee sheet but our group enjoyed the round immensely even waiting sometimes 10/15 minutes per tee box at times. Super friendly staff at Soule Park. Couple notes before I get into the conditions. They are redoing the back tee on 2 as well as resodding the landing area just over the gorge. Nice touch! They also have the entire tee box on 10 closed where they are completely leveling and resodding all 5 tees. Current teeing grounds on hole 10 are down below the hill. Can't wait to see the new box there. The greens were in very good shape coming out of maintenance last month. Pin positions can be tough on these huge Gil hanse greens. Rolling medium pace, holding shots well and chipping very firm. Rated 8/10 Biggest change we saw was the rough around the Fairways and greens is thick! 4 inches plus in most sections, wet and grabby. Puts more premium on hitting Fairways and greens here. Rated 8/10 All tee boxes we played were level and lush and in good shape. Rated 8/10 Fairways are in really nice shape and a pleasure to hit from. Rated 8.5/10 Was in front greenside bunker on 14 that was well stocked with sand. The bunkers here are really penal at Soule. Rated 8/10 Highly recommend this track. Conditions will only improve with the warmer weather coming up.

Walked the Orange tees this morning 2/3/2024 going off around 25 minutes late around 11:35am with a packed golf course with a morning tournament this morning and many golfers trying to beat the rain w... Continue »

Walked the Orange tees this morning 2/3/2024 going off around 25 minutes late around 11:35am with a packed golf course with a morning tournament this morning and many golfers trying to beat the rain which we accomplished today. Total pace of play was 5 hrs 20 minutes but our group didn't mind. Joined by my buddy Mack who rode and we joined a nice couple from Marina Del Rey under cloudy skies with temps in the low 50s and no wind. Fairways were damp, wet and in good shape especially for winter and the amount of rain that Ojai received on Thursday. Little bit concerned with upcoming forecast up here as there supposed to get around 9 inches this week starting tonight. Fairways 17 and 18 for the first couple hundred yds which is out of play are soaked. The rest of the Fairways lush and playable. Rated 7/10. Come spring/summer these are some of the best Fairways in the county. Greens were rolling medium speed, holding shots very nicely. Soft surfaces. Lots of undulations on these complexes and you can have some pretty long laggers here. Rated 7/10 Tees were level, lush and in good shape. Golfers doing a great job of putting sand on all the par 3 box divots. Tee rating 7.5/10 Rough was lush just right off the fairways and around some of the green complexes. Rated 7/10 Not in any bunkers but buddy described them having an adequate amount of nice beach sand in them. Would highly recommend this track but would give it some time to dry out from the forecasted rain this week.

Walked the Orange tees this afternoon 9/25 1st twilight group out joined by 3 singles. Perfect weather around 80 degrees for a high and about 1 club of wind. One of the singles left on hole 9 and we ... Continue »

Walked the Orange tees this afternoon 9/25 1st twilight group out joined by 3 singles. Perfect weather around 80 degrees for a high and about 1 club of wind. One of the singles left on hole 9 and we finished with a nice pace of play just over 4 hrs. Very friendly staff in the proshop as usual. Fairways were in very good shape. Mainly all lush, ball sitting up perfectly. Uniform and cut perfectly. Rated 8.5/10 Greens were in good shape. Medium speed, holding irons very nicely. Soft on approach shots. Our group fixed our ballmarks and at least an extra 3 per hole. Wish everyone would fix their own. They have huge aprons here that were in good shape. Rated 7.5/10 Most tees were level and all tees were lush and in good shape. Rated 7.5/10 'Was in Fairway bunker on 4 and greenside bunker on 4 as well that had perfectly raked nice texture sand. Rated 8/10 Rough was lush just off the Fairways and in good shape. Stray further than the rough and could be whispy, deep stuff or hardpan areas. Rated 8/10. For 28 bucks walking twilight during the week it's the best bargain in the county. Highly recommended

I played here on Friday, 9/15/23, tee time at 11:50 am. $57 riding. Our overall experience was good, but the greens were beat up. Ball marks on every green; big ones. Most were fresh but some were ob... Continue »

I played here on Friday, 9/15/23, tee time at 11:50 am. $57 riding. Our overall experience was good, but the greens were beat up. Ball marks on every green; big ones. Most were fresh but some were obviously days, if not weeks, old. I fixed dozens of fresh ones; some of them were mine, others were obviously from the groups ahead this morning. Aside from that, the greens were rolling at a good, medium fast pace. We did purchase beers and hot dogs at the turn; $18 for two each.

It was a slow day as well as there were many groups ahead of us on a beautiful day. We had to wait on only a couple of holes as we just paced ourselves to not push too much.

We played the Avocado Tees (par 72, 6159 yds.) and they were fine. Hole 10 was setting up for an event, so all tees were moved up to the edge of the hillside near One Tee. That was an intimidating shot over the edge of the pond to a back right pin.

The rest of the course was in great condition. Fairways and the primary rough were good. Balls seemed to sit up in the turf and that was a benefit. Outside the primary rough is some really nasty native areas you don't want any part of.

Bunkers were nicely raked and there was plenty of good, light brown sand.

Aside from the ball mark issue, this was a good day of play. I'm sure it was an anomaly because I have never seen so many ball marks here. I hope to not see that many in the future because I will be back.

One week later and still thinking about the all the fun we had at GK Plays Soule Park. Thank you so much everyone that came out. Its been challenging booking outings with the high demand and prices. B... Continue »

One week later and still thinking about the all the fun we had at GK Plays Soule Park. Thank you so much everyone that came out. Its been challenging booking outings with the high demand and prices. But expect more to be posted for 2023 albeit on shorter notice. And please try to attend. Can’t tell you how good it feels when I see GKers in person.

This was our second GK Plays teaming up with Matt Brooks and the Facebook Southern California Golf Community. We also had some players from the Golf Moose / Greenskeeper.org Private Events attend as well. Loving all these new opportunities to meet fellow golfers and build more friendships.

From an organizer’s perspective, I have mixed thoughts about my experience with Soule Park GC. The golf course and playing experience were fantastic. I’ve posted some pictures and other GKer reviews already posted cover playing conditions well. From my view, the tournaments services regarding our weekend reverse shotgun were surprisingly lacking. To begin with golf carts were stagged but despite me providing names in advance, Soule Park GC did not have names on the golf carts which made finding their carts and remembering what cart they were assigned confusing. Our on-course contests markers were not prepared with Hole #’s and when asked if a member of their staff could retrieve our on-course contest markers I was informed contest marker placements/retrieval are not the responsibility of their staff (first time I've heard that). No problem I’ll assign certain specific groups to place the contest markers and others to pick them up. Challenging although if you have run a shotgun event in that expecting groups to remember to place and pick them up. Sure enough, at the end the event we had some contest markers stranded out there on some holes. Afterwards being required to set up our post group gathering outside on the hot patio instead of inside the air-conditioned restaurant was very frustrating at the time but as I thought through it driving home, I understood. The restaurant serves the community, not just the golf course, and has an ambiance it needs to maintain. In future I’ll investigate reserving a banquet room if the weather is projected to be very uncomfortable.

But when I add pros and cons up, the pros have it big time for Soule Park GC and our event. The staff was friendly, gorgeous fun layout/views, excellent shape and good price. Saturday 8:00am does not get more Prime Time than that. Yes, we comin back for another GK Plays in 2024. "We Comin"

First time to Soule Park for the GK SCGC event last weekend. I had some high expectations for this course as their Social Media team does a great job promoting plus a lot of GK'ers rave about the cour... Continue »

First time to Soule Park for the GK SCGC event last weekend. I had some high expectations for this course as their Social Media team does a great job promoting plus a lot of GK'ers rave about the course.

I would say the course met or exceeded my expectations on every level. Started by checking in with the pro shop to grab a few range balls. Its a pretty small range with decent mats and a good amount of target to hit at. I had about 30 minuets before the shotgun and went inside the restaurant for a Breakfast burrito. I was a little disappointed in it especially for $11 they did have a full breakfast menu so maybe next time. Rolled a few on the putting green which was identical to what we found on the course so that was a plus. Carts were lined up but didn't have names on them so it was a bit confusing. The carts were basic with a usb charging port and the cushions were crushed so you felt every bump on the course. They will need to be replaced soon. This course is easily walkable though.

As for the conditions it was very visually pleasing from tee to green. Tee boxes were mostly good but a few were a little un level and had some divot issues. That would be my only complaint for conditions. Fairways were cut short and provided great roll and surprisingly a great cushion under the ball to play from. Rough was medium in length and wasn't too difficult to get out of but be careful driving you cart through it as there is a lot of bumps that you might not see. Greenside Sand traps had plentiful soft brown sand and was easy to play from. Greens are by far the highlight of the course. Smooth and quick but also receptive of most shots. There are some real subtle breaks on the greens that make it hard to read and down hill puts you need to be very careful.

I really enjoyed playing here and if it wasn't a 2hr drive (3 on the way back) from OC I would play here often. Ojai Valley Inn is right next door but Soule park is in just as good if not better shape for half the price. The only difference between the 2 in OVI has some more elevation changes. I highly recommend playing here.

Fantastic first-time visit to Soule Park this past Saturday for the GK event. Mattias and I drove up from LA at around 6am, arriving at 6:20 with plenty of time to stretch out and warm up. Had a great... Continue »

Fantastic first-time visit to Soule Park this past Saturday for the GK event. Mattias and I drove up from LA at around 6am, arriving at 6:20 with plenty of time to stretch out and warm up. Had a great time all day paired up with the aforementioned Swede and Wendy and Andrew - super company in a beautiful setting! After the round we gathered to see some familiar faces and revel in the gorgeousness of another great location with terrific people. Soule Park the golf course is an absolute treat and absolutely blew away my expectations. The topography and surroundings are just plain epic. It's a stunning tract of land they plotted out for this place and course routing and holes are all quite fun and keep you very engaged throughout the round. Each and every hole feels different and has its own unique set of challenges. It's just plain fun. Course conditions were really, really nice. The green complexes have Gil Hanse's signature all over them. If you've played at Rustic Canyon before, then you'll have a good idea what to expect at Soule Park, but they still have their own character here. They roll very nicely and at a nice, steady pace as well. You're going to have to really think your way through every two-putt at this place. Fairways were in really great shape - green and lush on every hole, and the rough was generally playable with a few thick areas that caused some consternation. There are plenty of areas to lose balls here though and lots of OB spots that really require your best game. But again, it's super fun throughout. The bunkers were in nice shape as well with a darker layer of sand on top but they played quite nicely. We played from the orange set of tees and I found all of them flat, level and well-maintained with the one exception of a sloping tee box on the 8th hole. All the rest were just fantastic. Is it a long drive up to Ojai? Yeah, pretty much but it was worth every $7 per gallon to get here. I understand that normal greens fees here are rarely over $100 so you really are going to get a lot of bang for your buck here. I was a little surprised that there was no cart service out on the course on a Saturday morning, but there is a little restaurant conveniently at the turn, however it's not specifically set up for players on the course and you may have to wait a bit. It would sure be nice if there's not cart service to have a dedicated window for quick service - and if there is one and I missed it, my apologies. I really can't wait to get back to this course and try my luck again with a far better round. And if you've never been, you're letting yourself down by not checking it out asap.