Golf Course Review Angeles National Golf Club Sunland California
Reviewed by: 24hourgolf, Monterey Park
Golf Playing Conditions 7.20 GREAT
Stopped here in the way home. Was told I could go right out. Played in 3 hours.
Fairways are totally dormant, so you get great roll on them. Had no issues with lies, all round. Tee boxes are all clean and level. Sand traps (I was in two) were very playable. As I have said before, no real rough to deal with but plenty of Out of Bounds (OB) in the desert (or environmental area) outside most of the fairways, in addition to some water hazards. Greens were all in great shape and chipped/putted with a lot of speed.
The customer service was great.
The senior rate here is comparable to Coyote Hills and Black Gold, so if you like those two courses, you should find this course to your liking. Will be back in the spring, for sure.
Golf Course Review La Quinta Resort & Club MOUNTAIN La Quinta California
Reviewed by: roarksown1, Playa del Rey
Golf Playing Conditions 7.63 GREAT
Day Two of our annual desert trip landed us out at La Quinta Resort’s Mountain course – a first for me. I’ve always heard a lot of fun things about this course, and while I wasn’t super impressed on the front nine, the back nine was absolutely stunning.
The Review
We were advised before the round that the course had only recently come out of re-seeding and was taking a bit longer to green up, thus leading to the dreaded Cart Path Only situation. And while the front nine looked a little more yellow than green in many parts of the course, the back nine was very lush and just visually spectacular crammed up next to the mountains and their jutting rock walls. Super cool.
Despite the lack of verdant color on the fairways, the lies were still very good throughout the day so there’s no reason to complain there. Some of the rough areas had a super thick hay that made ball finding nigh impossible – avoid at all costs! But the gentler rough next to the fairways was not too penal at all. Sand traps were good all around but not super fluffy green-side, while the tee boxes were all in very good shape (we played the black tees).
Greens were very nice. Well conditioned, rolling about the same as Shadow Ridge the day before, meaning not overly fast (maybe 10 to 10.5) but very true roll and some fun green complexes to navigate, but nothing super tricked out or wacky. As for the layout, lots of big carries and precise, narrow tee shots on certain holes – very few wide open ‘grip it and rip it’ here. The first few holes on the back nine are narrow due to the housing alongside them, but it opens up beautifully later and the course becomes one with the nature surrounding it.
Additional Thoughts
We had frequent cart service which was nice and the POP was excellent up until around the 15th or 16th hole when we caught the group in front of us who had slowed down for some reason, but overall a pretty great and fun round. They say the Dunes course is inferior to the Mountain course here and of course I will like to find out for myself, but so far would seem to be a tough ask for the Dunes course to beat this one. Don’t let the more ‘pedestrian’ front nine lull you into a false sense of normality before you hit the last 4-5 holes that will really blow you away. Fun.
Golf Course Review Industry Hills Golf Club EISENHOWER City Of Industry California
Reviewed by: sngernz, Redondo Beach
On the Ike Sunday with the club, 12/2, after the rain was Cart Path Only (CPO) so Pace of Play (PoP) was 5 hrs. Overseeding is done and the course is green and full. In fact, quite gorgeous in my opinion. Rough was thick and difficult. Have to stay in the fairway when it’s wet or you’re in for a long day. Greens were a soft as expected but still quick and mostly true albeit some late day spike marks. Was in a couple Green-side (GS) bunkers which were well maintained and good quality sand.
The experiment with the Babe will take a while to complete (see thread in Forum Discussions) so I’ll hold comment until I play it next week. All said, it’s safe to come back to the Hill now, even though it’s not cheap.
Golf Course Review Morongo Golf Club Tukwet Canyon CHAMPIONS Beaumont California
Reviewed by: mdames, Northridge
Golf Playing Conditions 7.68 GREAT
Played the Champions Course on Monday 11/26/18 as a twosome. Teed off at 9:30am. Pace of play was a leisurely 3.5 hours. It was a pleasantly cool day in the low to upper 60’s, with a constant light wind around 10 mph, with occasional gusts a little higher than that. Into the wind, your shots were definitely affected, but it wasn’t too bad. I had never played this course until today. I was hoping for very nice conditions.
The Review
Although it was pretty good, the overall course was good, but not great. Tee boxes were fine. The fairways were mostly green, with some thin and bare spots around. The coverage was good, but I was hoping for more lush conditions.
The rough was patchy. Some areas were thick and lush at about 1 – 2 inches. Other areas were hard pan and bare. Most of the green surrounds were fairly lush, and mostly good to hit from. I was in 2 green-side bunkers and 1 fairway bunker. The sand is more dirt like, firm but reasonable to hit from. I had no trouble splashing out onto the green. The greens were firm and medium fast. Downhill they were very fast. The hard greens meant few pitch marks from balls landing on the greens and it was difficult to hold the green on your approach shot unless you hit it high with a good amount of spin. We ended up hitting approach shots short and letting them run up on the greens so they wouldn’t end up at the back or even off the back.
Final Thought
This is a fairly challenging course. Most of the tee shots play to comfortably wide fairways. The greater difficulty for me was the approach shots. Many holes are heavily bunkered, with sloping and elevated greens. Depending on pin placement, 3 putts were definitely in the picture. I enjoyed the round today, but it’s not my favorite course in the Riverside county area.
Golf Course Review Hansen Dam Golf Course Pacoima California
Reviewed by: roarksown1, Playa del Rey
Golf Playing Conditions 5.36 GOOD.
Played at Hansen Dam with two friends and paired up with a single this past Friday. Walked the blue tees with a push cart so I think the total was around $55. Unfortunately they were charging Holiday rates for Thanksgiving even though it was Friday. What can you do?
I found the course to be in pretty good condition but with some questionable pin placements, namely the par 3 4th, where the pin was right in the middle of the most sloped part of the green so every ball would roll back down 20 feet. Utterly stupid PGA Tour type placement on a busy holiday for amateurs. The backup on the hole was three deep because of it.
In terms of conditions, they were mostly good but of course you’re not going to find Augusta out here. Fairways were mostly in good shape but certainly some thin or muddy lies to be found (a day after the rains). Nothing worse than hitting a great drive and finding your ball in a dirt patch in the middle of the fairway. Rough was a mashup of long and short depending on distance from the fairway. Tee boxes were in some rough shape in some spots, especially the 10th which was basically just dirt. Sand looked okay but I never was in it.
Greens were rolling pretty well but there were some dried out areas on the edges. They were not particularly fast but held their lines pretty well despite some bumpiness that Keven alluded to in his last review. I thought they held shots pretty well though onto the green so that was nice. Not a lot of tricked out reads to make at Hansen, either.
Busy Friday but no cart service whatsoever was disappointing, but at least the water fountains throughout the course provided good, clean and cold water. And hopefully they’ve decided to keep the nines in this order and not reverse them again as the current setup is superior to the old one without a doubt.
Golf Course Review McDowell Mountain Golf Club Scottsdale Arizona
Reviewed by: sdscratchorbust, Scottsdale
Golf Playing Conditions 8.00 GREAT
Played super twilight here tonight. The course is in really good shape.
I drive by the view of this course every day on my way home. I haven’t played here since summer but had to get out after seeing how green the course is.
The reseed set extremely well here. Greens rolled well, medium speed, held well.
Sad playing here during a winter evening with the soft conditions. My drives had lost 30 yards of carry versus when I had played here during summer. It definitely made the course more of a shot-makers course from the tips.
I don’t mind the power lines and I always enjoy playing here. Friendly design with some fun holes and enough challenge.
Golf Course Review Links at RiverLakes Ranch Bakersfield California
Reviewed by: bogeymaker, Bakersfield
Golf Playing Conditions 5.87 GOOD
Played 11/21/2018. POP good at 4 hours. All turf condition a little above average.
No bare spots , but some thin areas. Rough was pretty healthy. Fairways cut real low some very tight lies. Most areas a little over watered and soggy/muddy. Greens have improved a lot from my last visit. Still some thin areas and very minor damage. Worst problems are.
the ball marks and spike marks. The wet soft greens only make this worse. Saw several putts hit things and bounce and go offline. Medium speed. Bunkers have improved the couple I was in had sand! If now people would rake the bunkers when done. I wont wait as long for a return visit. Recommended
Golf Course Review Oak Quarry Golf Club Riverside California
Reviewed by: dconnally, Mission Viejo, CA
Golf Course Review 6.50 GOOD
Played Oak Quarry (OQ) with my brother at 8:52am on Friday, 11/23/18, after recovering from Turkey Day. Weather was overcast and cool after the rain on Wednesday night, and overall the course was pretty wet after coming out of over-seeding November 1st. The look is clean and trimmed, but Oak Quarry is not in fighting trim yet as greens are still pretty fuzzy, although with a firm base. They rolled only at medium-slow speed and were bumpy, and the fuzzy grass caused putts to wiggle left and right. Fairway lies were OK but could sit down. Rough ranged from thin to very juicy. Traps were damp, with fairway traps being thin and firm, and green-side having only slightly better material. All traps had lots of small rocks. Tees were OK.
No cart girl, but snack shack was open. The course should put a divot mix refill rack out by the snack shack. Many of the par 3/par 4 tees were set forward one tee box or more (we played Blue), shortening the course card by hundreds of yards.
