Played twilight today (4/6/2008). Fairways were in good shape. The fairways were lush with new grass and well manicured at least from the last time our group played out there. The greens were very slo... Continue »

Played twilight today (4/6/2008). Fairways were in good shape. The fairways were lush with new grass and well manicured at least from the last time our group played out there. The greens were very slow from what I remember but were in OK to good shape overall(some ball marks). The wind was up today on the front nine. This course can be challenging from the tips but fair..and does reward good shots. Some tough par 3's I feel. Staff was nice and pace of play was good considering we were following a junior golf tourney event. Will be back for sure and hopefully the greens will be improved a tad.

I only had time to play front nine. And agree most of the reviews, the fairways need some TLC. The fairway lies were reasonable, no extreme hardpan. Ahh...but the greens were in excellent conditionwe... Continue »

I only had time to play front nine. And agree most of the reviews, the fairways need some TLC. The fairway lies were reasonable, no extreme hardpan. Ahh...but the greens were in excellent conditionwere not talking off the scale of the stimp meter, but smooth and challenging in regards to the undulations and plateaus. Ball position is key...being on the short side very penalizing....I will definately return and hope the spring brings better fairways...

Davis: I do like the layout of the course. And the greens are superb. It appears that they spent a good deal of money upgrading the greens but did nothing to the fairways. This is fine for a muni. In ... Continue »

Davis: I do like the layout of the course. And the greens are superb. It appears that they spent a good deal of money upgrading the greens but did nothing to the fairways. This is fine for a muni. In fact, the greens are far better than any municipal course I've played. However, the fairways are poor, very comparable to most munis. It seems like the greens don't belong with the rest of the course, or vice versa. All of this is fine. You could view this as a better than average muni, but to compare it to a country club setting is a big stretch. If the rest of the course was made comparable to the greens, then I would agree that this is a gem of a course. Just my opinon.

mdames,


This time of year alot of the courses fw's are thin due to overseeding, thatching, etc. The grass at Rustic is not the same type as at Soule. The course is a gem due to the design chang... Continue »

mdames,


This time of year alot of the courses fw's are thin due to overseeding, thatching, etc. The grass at Rustic is not the same type as at Soule. The course is a gem due to the design change, conditions aside. They can easily be improved. A design cannot without significant cost. The course was in very good shape in early summer and that is to be expected. Not picking on you, but it amazes me how alot of golfers cannot see the forest through the trees per se. No one likes to play a course in bad shape, but I've seen much, much worse than this place and I know it's because of the time of year we are in. With the exception of Rustic, the design of Sterling Hills and Angeles National are not as good as new Soule. The conditions should be looked at completely seperately from the design. Give it another try in Spring and then decide.

I played the course on Sunday, 12/30/07. The weather was perfect. However, it took nearly 5.5 hours to finish. I'm not sure why others are calling this a gem, or comparing it to a country club. I admi... Continue »

I played the course on Sunday, 12/30/07. The weather was perfect. However, it took nearly 5.5 hours to finish. I'm not sure why others are calling this a gem, or comparing it to a country club. I admit that the setting is beautiful. Lots of trees, mountains, and blue sky. The greens are superb. However, the fairways are awful - all of them. For the most part they are dead grass and weeds, many bare areas to be found. The conditions on the fairways cannot compare to any of the courses I usually play; Sterling Hills, Angeles National, Rustic Canyon, etc... Granted, these courses are a bit more expensive, but the difference is like night and day.

As far as the condition of the fairways is concerned, Soule Park is like a typical muni I find in the San Fernando Valley - not good. I did enjoy the layout and scenery. Since this is a long drive for me, I won't be back. If the fairway conditions were as good as the greens, I would definitely be back.

Played 12/29 for the 4th time this year. Gil Hanse has done a tremendous job redoing the course and has made this course an absolute gem. Unfortunately , some very recent changes were made by ownershi... Continue »

Played 12/29 for the 4th time this year. Gil Hanse has done a tremendous job redoing the course and has made this course an absolute gem. Unfortunately , some very recent changes were made by ownership to accomodate some golfers that don't understand what the design intent was with some of the bunkers, such as #4,#6,#9 and #10. The beautiful cross bunker on 4 was ruined by chopping it in half. The bunker was supposed to challenge the longer player who wanted to go for the better angle and carry this bunker to do so. There was a safety alley to the left but I guess there are some golfers that are just either too dumb or not even good enough to follow this simple route. A bad example of changing this great hole to accomodate a small group of players.

Then the small bunker in the middle on 6 was filled in ruining the overall design of the hole. This hole was somewhat a copy of the 12th at St Andrews where the player who chose to layup would still have to be careful about where to place the tee shot while the long player would be enticed to go for the green.

Then the front left front bunker was "pulled back" on 9.


Then the center bunker fronting the green on 10 was removed to give the "weaker" player an "opening" to run the ball onto the green. This seems odd considering that this is rough where the bunker used to be!


Despite these illadvised changes, Soule Park is fantastic. I just hope that there are no more changes to the great work that Hanse and his crew have done to the course. Shame, shame shame on the people that complained about these wonderfully designed holes and shame even more on the ownership for even doing them.

Out December 2nd with club tourney. First time played, never played before the renovation. Course is a gem. All aspects are as good as can be found outside a country club or public course charging 4x$... Continue »

Out December 2nd with club tourney. First time played, never played before the renovation. Course is a gem. All aspects are as good as can be found outside a country club or public course charging 4x$. Heard it best described as a canyon course; the other twosome in our group had played it often before the renovation and felt SP has been toughen up. I would imagine with Ojai heat the course will deteriorate in the summertime. Right now, the course is in terrific shape. There are some great playing tips to be found on site here- my input: all golf courses offer something different but some are more special than others. Soule Park is something special and absolutely worth the effort to get there.

Conditions are very good. Pace of play was slow today. Some of the traps have been softened for ease of play. Always a nice course to play.

Conditions are very good. Pace of play was slow today. Some of the traps have been softened for ease of play. Always a nice course to play.

Pro Shop staff was excellent. Course was renovated a few years back and is tougher and longer than the "old" Soule was. Afternoon winds and fatigue make holes 14-17 seem like Amen corner from the tips... Continue »

Pro Shop staff was excellent. Course was renovated a few years back and is tougher and longer than the "old" Soule was. Afternoon winds and fatigue make holes 14-17 seem like Amen corner from the tips.....Start with a 475 yd. par 4 usually into the wind, then a 240 yd. par three, followed y a 450ish yd. par 4 and finally an uphill 400 yd. par 4 with a green that is as sloped as any you will ever play.

I find these greens to be medium fast and true, firm and in better shape than most. Worth a trip to Ojai.