Greens in solid shape heading into the summer. A bit on the moist, spongy side so large ball marks. Inconsistent speeds ... » More

Greens in solid shape heading into the summer. A bit on the moist, spongy side so large ball marks. Inconsistent speeds but still running around 10.5. Fairways have plenty of grass coverage but bermuda has taken over again and getting bird nest divots which are hard on the wrists. Rough is nasty as ball sinks to bottom. Sand traps are raked better but inconsistency in sand depth means you either hit the liner or never reach bottom. Green surrounds are tough because of slopes and chipping into/away from direction grass is growing.

Teed off around noon. POP exactly 4 hours. Cart girls and snack shop keep golfers hydrated and marshalls maintain pace of play.
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From 7/3


Soule Park was again solid! Love this course every time!


Again had the pleasure o... » More

From 7/3


Soule Park was again solid! Love this course every time!


Again had the pleasure of playing SP! It was an awesome day! Great weather and conditions all around today with a bit of 10 mph wind late on the back nine. I note the following:


Tee Boxes: Level and green, no damage. Condition very good.


Fairways: Green, lush, and defined from rough. Grabby with limited rollout. Condition very good.


Greens: Green, medium-fast in speed, on the medium to firm side, and tricky to read at times. Speed about a 11. Condition very good.


Sand: Maintained with heavy consistency. Condition very good.


Rough: Maintained and defined, about 3 – 5 inches. Condition very good.


Waste Areas: Maintained with overgrown nature that offered little to no recovery potential. Condition very good.


Driving Range: Very nice driving range! You are hitting off matts into an incredible mountain backdrop. This range was as good as it gets for the location and ran out at over 300 yards. I noted classic yellow range balls that flew well and were in good condition. Love the Driving Range experience here!


Practice Areas: Chipping area present was nice but compact. Conditions was above average. Practice putting green was ample and consistent in speed with the course's greens. Conditions was also above average.


POP: 5 hours – wait was encountered on 6 holes on the front nine and on one hole on the back nine. It was a busy day.


Other: Noted a nice golf shop, high grade. Service received was excellent!


Restaurant: Zaidi's Restaurant was epic! This is one of the best golf course restaurants you can ever eat at! The food here is top of the line and a must to enjoy when playing SP! A post round meal here makes for the perfect day!


This is a great golf course without a doubt, that requires a solid golf game to score. I loved this track and hope to be able to play it again in the future. Again Fully Endorsed!
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From 7/1


Played Encino again, she is the old reliable call!


Got to Encino Golf Course for a fun T... » More

From 7/1


Played Encino again, she is the old reliable call!


Got to Encino Golf Course for a fun T-Tuesday afternoon round of golf.


The course was in reasonable to good condition for a high traffic muni. However, it was showing some signs from the recent heat wave, as fairway grass in some areas was yellowing and becoming inconsistent. Pace of play was around 4.25 hours. I note the following conditions:


Tee Boxes: Not too good but not brutal. Could use more leveling in some tees.


Fairways: Green and defined from rough. Condition average for a Muni.


Greens: Green, slow to medium in speed, with softness. Speed about a 9ish. Condition average for a Muni.


Sand: Bunkers were OK in some areas, and other in other areas were not maintained and hard packed. Condition average for a Muni.


Rough: maintained and defined, about 3 – 5 inches. Condition average for a Muni.


Again enjoyed this course! The design is flat but strong if playing from the tips. This course is a another go-to that I always enjoy playing. Food was again good at their restaurant!
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From 6/30

Aviara was so beautiful! Hands down a joy to play in this amazing botanical garden of a golf course!... » More

From 6/30

Aviara was so beautiful! Hands down a joy to play in this amazing botanical garden of a golf course!


Played a very fun round of golf at this amazing course. This a great course layout designed by Arnie with strategic challenges and scenic views. The layout is fun and challenging. The layout and design are an A+. This is a great course for an advanced golfer, yet playable for mid-level golfers.


Aviara is a fun Player's Course that is a reasonable test of golf with wind speeds that exceeded 10 mph in the afternoon. Aviara is well-designed into the natural areas surrounding and places premium on accuracy off the tee and into greens. The course features clear definition between its mid-sized fairways and rough areas, well placed bunkering on fairways and proximate to greens, along with strategic water hazards on a couple of holes, with medium-fast greens.


The course layout is rated a 4.7 out of 5, conditions are rated a 4.5 out of 5. I note the following:


Tee Boxes: Lush and in very nice condition.


Fairways: Lush and in very nice condition.


Greens: Well maintained and medium in speed, about a 10.5. Lush and in very nice condition.


Sand: Maintained and soft. Lush and in very nice condition.


Rough: Defined from the fairway and green collared but not too overgrown, about 2 – 4 inches. Very grabby at times. Lush and in very nice condition.


Waste Areas: - Waste areas on various holes did not offer the opportunity of recovery due to their overgrown nature. Lush and in very nice condition.


Driving Range: Very nice driving range with white rangers. Hitting off turf.


Practice Putting Green: multiple greens noted on site, condition above average. Lush and in very nice condition with speed consistent with golf course.


POP: 4.5 hours


The facility included a vey nice restaurant, and pro shop. Service received at both was very good.


Really enjoyed this layout and course. It is now my go to course in SD County! I absolutely loved it! Can't wait for my next opportunity to play Aviara!
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Played today, riding, white tees, $44 at 11:24. There was some kind of mixup at the starter’s desk and we went out as a ... » More

Played today, riding, white tees, $44 at 11:24. There was some kind of mixup at the starter’s desk and we went out as a fivesome. We split up two and three but ended up back as a five because the course was a little backed up. The pace did quicken up on the back nine.

The course was in good condition. Greens were running medium slow; very few ball marks were visible but I fixed what I saw. Fairways and rough were very lush with good lies everywhere. Tees were level and had few, if any, bad areas.

They have some dynamic pricing on their website. As it turns out, one of the guys got the same tee time for $40. At noon it looks like the price goes down to about $36. No senior discount, whatever it says on website what you will pay. Still, not bad for 18 with a cart.
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Drove out to Hesperia yesterday as single about 7:40 with wife along to drive nice cart and call out gps distances. Cour... » More

Drove out to Hesperia yesterday as single about 7:40 with wife along to drive nice cart and call out gps distances. Course is so green couldn’t believe we were in the desert. Heavy watering on first few holes with abundant maintenance ongoing. Longer course had me finding 7 raked traps with damp heavy sand that all played well no footprints! Rough was being mowed about 1” longer than wide well groomed fairways. Watering limited rollout. Greens were nice fast pace early becoming very fast as warming. Bent grass held shots leaving mostly shallow dents with most being previously repaired. Was an enjoyable outing which began slowing the last few holes finishing 3hrs & 20 minutes. Temps low 70s to high 80s without any wind. 35 senior rate recommend if heat not excessive.
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Without question still best price round in Inland Empire. Fairway bunkers just hard pan, green side bunkers almost play... » More

Without question still best price round in Inland Empire. Fairway bunkers just hard pan, green side bunkers almost playable, Rest of course as good as you find at the price. Fairways about 85% playable lies without bump. Greens very good, speed average with uphill slow and down hill fast enough to get away. Very full tee sheets in the morning and 4 and half hour round regular. ;They have just cut rough so play has speeded up a bit and they have started trying to close and take care of a few tee boxes.
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Played 07-02-2025

I’ve been playing Tilden my entire life and wanted to share current conditions of the course ... » More

Played 07-02-2025

I’ve been playing Tilden my entire life and wanted to share current conditions of the course but also further thoughts on the design and operations as well.

Tilden is a truly unique layout unique to itself in the serenity that is Tilden Park. The course is beautifully placed in the redwoods with nothing except the Berkeley Hills as its backdrop. The course has an Parkland feel but with a NorCal flair. One of the most difficult courses you can walk on par with Presidio and maybe only bested by Lake Chabot.

The course is in dire need of a renovation as well as new management who can oversee a renovation of this magnitude and continue to maintain the course sufficiently post renovation. If the course were to be renovated properly with a new drainage system and money invested to modernize the layout and design, Tilden could be one of the best courses in the region if not the state due to its amazing setting. The sad thing is even though management has changed multiple times the investment from the East Bay regional park department most likely won’t come.

On to the course conditions. The Bay Area has been blessed with amazing weather again this year, with foggy mornings and evenings being commonplace across the East Bay. This wouldn’t be a problem if Tilden had proper drainage and a grass type that handled moisture better but due to this much of the fairways and rough was overgrown to the point where they were water logged and muddy. Balls hit in the fairway would hardly roll on some holes due to mud and the greens were very soggy considering the time of year.

Tee Boxes: mostly flat but some were over seeded and others are not large enough to move the blocks around to cycle the growth properly. This ends up in the blocks being moved to the front or back of many tee boxes

Fairways: some holes were dried out and had very little coverage, others had long grass and seemed like they hadn’t been mowed in 1-2 weeks. Strange confusing conditions as many good drives were not rolling out as they should. A few were in good shape as well but overall lacked consistency

Greens: most were soggy and slow but the occasional greens that received more sunlight were significantly quicker. They rolled mostly true and were very receptive to irons and wedges

Rough: lots of patchy spots on some holes, some didn’t have a clear cut between the rough and fairway. Overgrown in some areas and damaged by a mowing staff that doesn’t understand how to properly maintain rough.

Bunkers: had decent wet sand that you could play out of but they clearly hadn’t been raked by the maintenance staff in more than a day or longer.

Pace of play wasn’t terrible as I played 9 holes in 1:45 but due to the layout long waits are common on 3-9, 10-12 and 15-16. This round was in the middle of the week at 6PM so expected it to be faster but course was very busy.

Considering the conditions Tilden would be a great course to work on your game but it is seemingly always crowded so makes it difficult to really sell much about this course except for the scenery and the setting. Until the course gets renovated it will continue to struggle with these issues.

The practice facilities are excellent and probably what keeps this place afloat along with the new restaurant.
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Camarillo Springs is under new ownership and improvements are already being made!
A renovated driving range is under... » More

Camarillo Springs is under new ownership and improvements are already being made!
A renovated driving range is underway, and some tee boxes have been improved.
It needs just about everything maintenance wise except the greens have always been good, and for me that's really the only essential thing. You can play preferred lies if needed for any dirt patches you might encounter.
It was bought by a local farming family, let's support the course, we were lucky this one was saved!
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Played June 26th and I'd say course in better shape then when Alex played in Feb. Tee boxes, fairways and greens all pre... » More

Played June 26th and I'd say course in better shape then when Alex played in Feb. Tee boxes, fairways and greens all pretty good shape, we played blue/white combo. Teed off at 1030, no wind but it got a little breezy on B9 but not horribly windy. Keep in mind if you have not played here the wind can get howling in the afternoon. We waited on many holes but also we were a 2some behind a 2some behind a 4some and the 2 in front of us bailed after 6 holes so while we still waited a bit, I was really surprised to discover we finished in 4hr 10min. The track is links with a few repetitive layouts but still fun to play.

Value always remains a question for me when I play. Is $120 w/cart reasonable for a Thursday? I usually walk but haven't caught up with this friend in a long time so we shared a cart but still $100 for weekday feels a bit steep to me. Full disclosure, I have the Duke's membership for Monterey and NCGA which is an unfair comparison given savings at some great courses. So here I am comparing Poppy Hills, $95 walking to Baylands... it's an unfair compare since Poppy would never be in the same conversation as Baylands but then I just did that :). I would play here again but look for some discounted rate if it exists.
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Course continues to be in decent condition even with most days over 100 recently. Set your own pace most times when I pl... » More

Course continues to be in decent condition even with most days over 100 recently. Set your own pace most times when I play. Tees and fairways well maintained but not nearly as lush as high season. Sand near immaculate. Bermuda rough mowed low with some hardpan spots. Bermuda greens slower than usual. Firm and medium speed. They roll smooth again after May maintenance. Almost no ball marks. Men's lounge nice place to have a meal or get a drink with numerous big screen TV's in a friendly atmosphere. Restaurant good for a golf course. Customer service excellent both inside/outside the club. Practice facilities and the GPS on the carts both excellent. Highly recommended.
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Course in decent condition considering it has been above 100 nearly every day recently. But nothing close to the lush gr... » More

Course in decent condition considering it has been above 100 nearly every day recently. But nothing close to the lush green of high season, it's a dryer brownish-green. Tees lush and well maintained. Fairways now firm and play fast with some brown patches here and there. Rough mostly thin with some hardpan. You actually want it to be thicker to stop balls that otherwise will end up in the cactus w/o it. Sand is excellently maintained. Greens are firm and putt medium speed with few ball marks. Carts have nice GPS. Customer service excellent from almost everyone on the staff. Excellent range and good restaurant on site. Highly recommended.
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