Posted on July 7, 2018June 30, 2018 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Papago Golf Course Phoenix Arizona

Papago Golf Course

Phoenix, AZ

Reviewed by: demarv04, Phoenix

I played Papago for my second round of the day on June 29. Rate was $36. They are doing a lot of construction to get the course ready to be the new home of ASU. The practice area is currently closed and the clubhouse is a temporary trailer. I think when they complete the renovations Papago will be a great place to play. The clubhouse looks amazing.

The Review

I thought Papago was the best conditioned course I’ve played this summer from tee to green. Tee boxes were nice as were the greens and fairways. The normal summer bare spots but nothing to really affect play. Greens were receptive and consistent.

The course is on the long side and definitely challenging. Lots of elevated greens and sand traps. Par fives are a nice challenge as are the variety of par 4s. I can’t imagine playing this course from the tips. One par 3 was 250+ yards!!

Final Thoughts

They provide numerous water stations as well as an ice machine you see twice. A small amenity but nice to have especially this time of year.
Papago is a place to play now based on the conditions I had today.

Posted on July 6, 2018June 30, 2018 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review La Purisima Golf Course Lompoc California

La Purisima Golf Course

Lompoc, CA

Reviewed by: GDR23, Thousand Oaks

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La Purisima Golf Course Lompoc California. Hole-18 Approach

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La Purisima Golf Course Lompoc California. Hole-9

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Rode the Blues this morning 6/29/2018 with my buddy RGM2525. Thanks to Ron I played with a Golfmoose coupon which came out to $22.00 a person. Weather was high 50’s tee off warming to low 60’s with just a slight breeze–it was great golf weather. Ron and I saw multiple groups in front of us so we slowed down our pace to not catch them and finished in 3 hrs 50 minutes. Great staff in pro-shop, two putting greens and a nice big range to warm up on.

The Review

The greens were in great shape. Softer and slower than I am used to here but rolling great. No ballmarks. Only #2 green had a minor fungus on it. Rating the greens a 8/10.

The fairways were semi-lush to lush. Green and healthy looking–very few problem areas. Rating 8/10

The tees were lush, mainly level and even the par 3’s looked good with minimal divot damage. Rating 7.5/10

The rough was healthy, lush and a club grabber. It seems like it was not as thick and penal and high as it can be but is still always a factor here. Rated 8/10

Was in one greenside bunker on #9 that was raked and maybe could have used a little more sand. Still easy to get out of. Rated 7/10

Final Thoughts

I love the layout here-could play it 2 times a week. Super challenging, beautiful scenery(we saw multiple deer’s today). Very Recommended.

La Purisima Golf Course Lompoc California GK Coupon

Posted on July 5, 2018June 30, 2018 by Vic Flores

Recent Golf Course Review Black Gold Golf Club Yorba Linda California

Black Gold Golf Club

Yorba Linda, CA

Reviewed by: JohnnyGK, Thousand Oaks

Ran the GK Cup Final last Sunday at Black Gold Golf Club. Teed it up in the final group with lotrgolfer48 and I watching the excitement unfold between AndrewZ28 and Itslikeimsayin. Was great match going extra holes with AndrewZ28 coming out on top. Congrats Andrew!

Current Host of the last 3 GK Cups

Black Gold Golf Club is the only course to have now hosted 3 GK Cup Finals and all of them have been a great experience. It’s a tough yet fair track. You can be a player with a great short game and do very well or a player with good ball striking and very do well. All players need to be accurate off the tee yet not overly dead on or long. All players need to putt well. The layout is very interesting where bombers benefit on the Par 5’s with eagle chances yet be punished significantly on the back nine when off line. It has one of the best finishing holes in Southern California. Demanding par 5 with a water guarded green complex making it an exceptional risk/reward hole. Was a blast seeing the clubhouse patio balcony cheering on the finals group at the end. Super course for competitive golf.

The Review

It’s also a golf course consistently in great shape. Sunday was no exception. Being a Sunday afternoon round on weekend with heavy play the greens were not as smooth and fast as my previous Black Gold rounds but they looked very healthy, were medium/fast and held shots. The fairways were mostly lush kikuyu as was the rough. The rough was hit and miss as far as having a difficult escape or not. I had a couple greenside pitch shots just buried in the kikuyu I had to chop a lob wedge out. Puts a premium on your approach shots for sure. Tee boxes in good shape. Bunkers all containing quality sand and well cared for. Some dry thin areas out there in the fairways and rough but not bad enough to impact play. Again overall great shape.

Thank you Black Gold for hosting our GK Cup 11 championship and everyone that came out for the fun!

Posted on July 4, 2018June 30, 2018 by Vic Flores

Recent Golf Course Review Crossings at Carlsbad Carlsbad California

The Crossings at Carlsbad

Carlsbad, CA

Reviewed by: leef2020, Huntington Beach, CA

Played The Crossings on Thursday, 6/28, teeing off about 1:40pm with larryq2001 on a lovely, mostly sunny and 70s day, mostly calm, with up to a 1-club wind at times. Friendly greeting in the pro shop and by the starter. $40 Crossings Club member rate.

Teeing off as a Twosome, we were then paired up with the Twosome behind us, as the starter sent them up to join us as we teed off. A nice couple, he had a real good scoring day, but they were both a bit pokey. A single played through at the turn, and our POP ended up at just about 4.5hrs.

The Review

Course was in very good overall shape. White tees – all good and level. Fairways rolled out very nicely, and provided good lies. Only issue for me, with a few approach shots landing short of greens, the aprons were over-watered up to 30 feet in front, meaning no extra bounces, leaving plug-n-play, muddy balls, squishy turf and tricky chip shots to front pins.

Rough in a few spots was very dense and grabby, at least a club penal, and in other areas was a more typical choppy coverage, where the ball would sit down, but the grass/shot was a bit more manageable. Was in 3 greenside bunkers, which was good, as I was trying out a newly-modified SW. Sand was pretty decent, mostly a new, fine sand, but with not too much – about 2 inches, to get to the base. Had one ‘fried egg’ lie on the par3 14th.

Seemed that about 1/2 the greens have been re-punched a few days earlier, with slightly smaller holes than a full punch, but not the tiny ones. No sanding was evident, I can’t say that putting was affected too much, but greens were slow putting uphill, and medium-speed overall.

Final Thoughts

Great service after the round by Katie in the bar, with good food, too. A fun round, and it was fun to watch Larry play a very good scoring, and consistent round. I estimate the greens will be fully healed in 7-10 days.

Posted on July 3, 2018June 30, 2018 by Vic Flores

Recent Golf Course Review Glen Ivy Golf Club Glen Ivy California

Glen Ivy Golf Club

Glen Ivy, CA

Reviewed by: mr8656, San Bernardino

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Played Thursday 6/28, first out at 0630. It’s been awhile since I’ve played here but after missing the GK Guru Visit and reading all the positive reviews I decided it was time for a visit. Used a Groupon promotion, 2 player special for $79. My opinion it’s a good deal.

Customer service was outstanding during check in. Only negative was the driving range is closed for upgrades and only a small putting greens is available for a warm up. Played as a twosome with my brother and was paired up with another twosome. Pace of Play (POP) was right at 4 hrs. Men’s Club had a shotgun gun start at 0730 starting at holes 11-18. They were never an issue. Marshall and cart girl made their rounds and even a visit from the pro shop just checking to make sure we had no issue and enjoying our round.

The course was in very good condition from tee box to greens, rough and bunkers very well maintained. Only a few thin lies and brown patches. Nothing that impacted play. No negative conditions. Personally I still like the back nine better. The par 3s are a formidable challenge and don’t forget the picturesque Hole 18.

If you haven’t been there in awhile, maybe it’s worth a visit. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Posted on July 2, 2018June 30, 2018 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review St. Marks Golf Club San Marcos California

St. Mark Golf Club

San Marcos, CA

Reviewed by: demarv04, Phoenix
On vacation in the area and chose to play St. Mark this year based on some recent GK reviews. Paid $45 with tee time and range balls. The practice area is large with plenty of space. Range balls are limited flight.

We were paired up with another player from the area and he was a very friendly and big help around our first time on the course.

The Review

The course was in good shape overall. Tee boxes were consistent with really no bad spots or severe divot damage. Fairways were good with a few bare spots but nothing to make the course unplayable. The greens were a highlight to me being very soft and receptive to shots. I was only in one trap but the sand was nice and a bit on the wet side. I had to adjust to actual sticky rough around the greens as we don’t get too much of that in AZ.

As previous reviewers have said, the course is not going to kill you with length or forced carries. One par 5 was playing close to 600 yards but for the most part all the holes were playable from appropriate tees. Par 3s were of varying length which I enjoy as were the par 4s. Some driver holes some no driver holes. Fun dogleg holes where being able to shape your tee shot helped but wasn’t necessary. The course is mostly wide open with a couple water holes.

Additional Thoughts

The price and fun factor made this course very enjoyable to play and I would recommend it to the GKers who live in the area.

Posted on July 1, 2018June 30, 2018 by Vic Flores

Recent Golf Course Review Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club

Carmel Mountain Ranch CC

San Diego, CA

Reviewed by: lookylookitzadam, San Diego, CA

Played out here on 6/29/18 at 110am as CMR sent me an email to come out and play for free since the course is closing on July 8th, 2018 due to the inability to make profits and rising water costs. Previously I never really cared for this course even though it is only 10 minutes from home, however this time I thoroughly enjoyed myself so I am sad that it is closing.

Greens:

The greens were surprisingly soft and rolling very nicely. I had several plugged shots on the green on Friday which I did not care for. Where ball marks were repair correctly, the greens rolled very true and with a decent speed.

Fairways:

Fairways were so bare that I was easily getting 30-40 yards of roll-out on tee shots. Approach shots from the fairways were also difficult since it was almost like hitting out of a hard-pan waste area in some spots. If there was grass within a club length of a ball in the fairway we all decided to play it as “ground-under-repair” and place it on the grass. (Not official I know, but this was just a fun round).

Bunkers:

Lots of the bunkers looked so hard but the ones I found were all green-side and played nicely. They had about 2″ of sand and were well maintained.

Rough:

There is no rough…literally no rough. In place of rough you get pine straw or crushed rock; this makes for a really horrible sinking feeling when you stripe your tee shot (don’t forget about that extra 40 yards of roll-out) and watch you ball run all the way through the landing area, catches the “rough” and then accelerates way off the fairway.

Course isn’t worth checking out in its final days unless you haven’t played it (check it out, its really interesting layout but lined with houses) or you want to relive some nostalgic moments (but only if your memories come from before all the turf reductions from what I have been told)

Editor’s Note: It’s confirmed that Carmel Ranch will be closing soon. Now is the time to enjoy the course before it goes away for good this coming July 8. Click HERE for the article.

Posted on June 30, 2018June 13, 2018 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Las Sendas Golf Club Mesa Arizona

Las Sendas Golf Club

Mesa, AZ

Reviewed by: sdscratchorbust, Scottsdale
Played here Saturday Morning POP 5 hours. Played a hot deal for $35

The Review

Definitely a poster child course for what you imagine as a Phoenix / Scottsdale desert golf course in the hills. The course is a little dried out as to be expected this time of year. Brown spots in fairways, some dried out area of elevated greens with no cover. The par three tee boxes have a lot of divots. The course is set for aeration next week so these are all standard leading up to a little course TLC.

Aside from the minor blemishes this is a fabulous course. It circles around a couple peaks of a mountain. The par threes here are heavenly. They are all of the shorter variety but are mostly elevated greens into a green cut into the mountain. Some very fun dogleg water holes such as 1 and 18.

The first starts off with the choice of hitting a long iron / hybrid left avoiding the water leaving a 200 yard shot or flying the water to leave a wedge in. The 18th par 5th is very similar. You can lay up left or fly a pond right to leave an iron second shot in.

Many other fun risk reward holes with the choice to layup safely or cut a blind corner over the desert and cacti to leave a wedge in. The course requires strategy and accuracy of the tee if you want to go driver but has generous safe landing areas for a wood/hybrid. The greens are elevated but not overly so. I would say the most challenging aspects is the fairway lies. While this course isn’t overly moundy like a Pete Dye course I noticed I had very few flat lies in the fairway requiring skilled approach shots to shoot well here.

My Thoughts

This is a beautiful demanding course but not brutally hard. Very fun to play I highly recommend it if someone wants to get out of Scottsdale and enjoy a beautiful course. Staff couldn’t be friendlier and they have a great grill and specialize in making from scratch milkshakes which I haven’t seen before.