Posted on March 9, 2019March 4, 2019 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Mission Lakes Country Club Desert Hot Springs California

Mission Lakes Country Club

Golf Course Review Mission Lakes Country Club Desert Hot Springs California

Reviewed by: Nickesquire, Rancho Mirage, CA
Rode the Silvers (6301/70.4/121) with Gary, Elizabeth and Deelane mid-day in 4H:15M. $54 special off their website. The weather was in the low 60’s, partly cloudy and breezy.

My first time playing the Ted Robinson design that featured some nice elevation changes early on the back 9. Six par 3’s, Five par 5’s, unusual for a par 71 layout. The par 3’s even from the next to back set of tees were 182/136/202/185/233/162. Not only demanding overall, but I think I used six different clubs with some playing down and some playing up.

The Review

8.30

The course was in really nice bordering on immaculate condition across the board.

The tees were lush and level. The tees are also huge, with plenty of room to rotate tee markers.

The fairways were lush and played firm and fast.

Best rough I have played out of in years. Uniform, really lush, thick, no bare spots. Looked like a high end lawn.

The sand traps had nice, fine white sand and were very nicely maintained.

Excellent greens, firm and medium fast with few ball marks. Downhill putts were treacherous. I saw the lines very well on these greens.

Final Thoughts

Quick, efficient check-in. No drink cart, no GPS on the basic carts. All grass driving range. The layout will not wow you, but it is a very fun track with scoring opportunities for good shots and enough trouble to catch off line shots to keep things interesting/fair. Constantly up/down hills, rarely a flat hole. Really spread out, would be a beast to walk. Definitely recommended.

Posted on March 8, 2019March 5, 2019 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course Sacramento California

Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course

Golf Course Review Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course Sacramento California

Reviewed by: michaelko, Elk Grove, CA

Played Sunday 3/3, about 1pm. Walked on as a single. We’ve had 2+ days of rain reprieve, and it was pretty nice out, so course more crowded than I expected. I just wanted to go hit balls and putt and chip, as it has been a while and I have a tournament coming up. My course was closed for a private event.

So I head out, paid $17 to walk, (cart path only) and played 5 holes until I hit to wait. Played 6-9 with some waiting. Went 10, then back to 2-5, then walked in.

Standing water would be an understatement. Lots of low lying areas that are literal lakes. With more rain coming in this week, if you care about the conditions, you would need to wait a month after the last rains for those areas to come back. Otherwise, greens are rolling fine.. a bit on the slow end. Most of the fairways are playable, except for the new lakes that you have to avoid.

If you just want a golf experience, it’s not too bad.

Posted on March 7, 2019March 6, 2019 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Goose Creek Golf Club Mira Loma California

Goose Creek Golf Club

Golf Course Review Goose Creek Golf Club Mira Loma California

Reviewed by: chevelle, Norco

Played Tues Feb 26th at 7:30 we usually play earlier but we pushed it back to get warmer weather.

We were a foursome walking and POP was 3:46. Admittedly it was a bit slow for us as we waited on most holes.

This course is always in great shape and today was the same. Desk knows us and are very friendly. I love the layout here, but have to admit the course is easier and more forgiving than others that we play. Still a great walking course and you know you will always have great conditions, and it is only 3 miles from my house.

Editor’s Note: I only wished I lived that close to Goose.!
Also GK Gurus we have a GK Guru Visit Scheduled this March 12, 2019. Interested? Check out our Store. Click HERE. Only Logged-in and Registered GK Gurus may view and purchase a spot to play. Interested in becoming a GK Guru? It’s FREE to all our die-hard Golf Course Reviewers. Click HERE to find out how to become a GK Guru today!

Posted on March 6, 2019February 24, 2019 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Morongo Golf Club Tukwet Canyon LEGENDS Beaumont California

Morongo Golf Club Tukwet Canyon (Legends)

Golf Course Review Morongo Golf Club Tukwet Canyon LEGENDS Beaumont California

Reviewed by: mpisarski01, Costa Mesa
Found a $16 hot deal yesterday so I decided to head out. I knew the possibility of a frost delay was very high and I was right. I showed up 10 minuets before my tee time and the pro shop let me know that there was a delay. When I arrived at the starter, he mentioned that they did not start until 9:30 and that there were 7 groups ahead of me. Four from the shotgun start and three with standard times. After the 4 groups went through the 1st the starter called me over to move me to the first group. I joined a father and son for the very long round. We had to wait on every tee until 15 when the shotgun players finished. POP was 5.5 hours and it was brutal.

Review

Course is in good not great shape at the moment. The fairways and greens were nice but the tee’s and rough were lacking. They had a fair bit of storm damage to some of their cart paths and rough which they have addressed but its going to take some time to fix. I must say the fairways were a mixture of two grasses and had some divot damage that was noticeable on the shorter holes. The greens IMO were fantastic they were soft and held most shots throughout the day. Speed was posted at 10.5 but I think they might have been a touch slower. Pin locations were very tough today and forced you to play safe and attack center green. GPS is a nice touch but on a few hole the Pin location was wrong.

The Final Word

Overall this course is still a must play and deals are easy to find to play here. Even rack rate of $60 is very affordable for the condition of this course.

Posted on March 5, 2019March 4, 2019 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Mt. Woodson Golf Club Ramona California

ALERT: Aeration
Will be aerating the greens 3/11 & 3/12.
* Although Greenskeeper.org researches all alerts before posting, we ask that you please contact the golf course for confirmation.

Mt. Woodson Golf Club

Golf Course Review Mt. Woodson Golf Club Ramona California

Reviewed by: mpisarski01, Costa Mesa
Played our GK match here yesterday just after the rains. Holes 1,8,10,18 were very soggy due to them being the lowest holes on the course, 10 had a new water feature. Despite the sogginess the course was in fantastic shape.

The fairways that were not soggy were lush and green, probably the best I have ever seen here. Greens were soft and ran smooth. On hole 8 they already punched half of the green but it was far enough away from the hole that it did not factor. Sand is probably really nice but it was soaked yesterday, it still was soft enough to escape but very difficult when half had standing water. Rough had been cut shorter than usual and is a little bit of a mixed bag with two types of grass. It made for some clumpy lies.

Overall this course is a must play and offers a variety of different holes and scenic vistas from a majority of the holes.

Posted on March 4, 2019February 24, 2019 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Torrey Pines Golf Course NORTH San Diego California

Torrey Pines Golf Course (North)

Golf Course Review Torrey Pines Golf Course NORTH San Diego California

Reviewed by: weber2323, San Diego, CA
Played a couple of times over the past couple of weeks. Now that the South is under renovation this will be the go to course now. With the renovations to make it easier on the starter they have us going off on 10. So it’s kind of like the Old North. I’m not sure if they will continue this but I would expect this while hole 1 and 2 on the South are shut down. The starter is having to drive out to 3.

The Review

Greens are pretty good. I was surprised with how much rain the amount of roll I was still getting on some relatively short chips I hit. The par 3s show more improperly fixed ball marks but still roll really good. Rolled quite a few by and left myself some come-backer knee-knockers.

Fairways are good too but some divot damage with golfers not filling them in. Maintenance guys have filled in thief fair share.

Rough isn’t that long but man can that ball settle down in some spots making it difficult to even get wedges on them.

Bunkers were a little damp but OK.

Pace was great and on another note several trees have fallen with the rain.

Posted on March 3, 2019February 24, 2019 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Aliante Golf Club North Las Vegas Nevada

Aliante Golf Club

Golf Course Review Aliante Golf Club North Las Vegas Nevada

Reviewed by: rob1563, Las Vegas
Played on Saturday, 2/23; following a few days of snow and freezing weather. 8am tee time which was pushed back to just after 9 due to a frost delay. We were second out and cruised around with a 3:30 Pace of Play (POP). We never saw anyone in front or behind us.

The Review

Course was in decent shape considering the cold weather with rain and snow the last few weeks.

Tee boxes mostly level. There was a little amount of divot damage. But a weird marker placement on the par3 #4, with the markers all the way in the back of the box with a significant uphill lie was my only complaint.

Fairways are close cut; mostly dormant Bermuda. Rough is also dormant Bermuda, but hasn’t been cut. So expect some chances of the ball settling down and some gnarly lies.

Bunkers have seen some improvement — from horrible in the past to average Vegas type sand.

I was expecting some firm, fast frozen greens with lots of roll, but found them receptive and a medium speed.

Parting Thoughts

I think Aliante gets a bad rap due to the residential neighborhood, but the houses are mostly out of play and not as narrow as people make it out to be. I find the course to be fun, only 2 holes really repeat (#6 and #12 have really similar looks), a nice variety of par 3s (from 100 to 200 yards), and a couple of risk/reward par 4s and go for it par 5s. While it’s not a destination course, it’s a nice local course to get out on.

Posted on March 2, 2019February 24, 2019 by Vic Flores

Golf Course Review Maderas Golf Club Poway California

Maderas Golf Club

Golf Course Review Maderas Golf Club Poway California

Reviewed by: sbarajasjr, San Diego
Played here yesterday on a 12:50pm (twilight) tee-time with GK members Jon (jpeairs85) and Nat (molebio). It was a day of highs and lows, highlighted unfortunately by a round that we had to call after 15 holes at nearly 5 hours of play. I’ll rant at the end about that, but course conditions today were great with greens that were some of the finest I have seen outside of Rams Hill.

A more detailed description of those conditions

Tee-boxes: Nearly perfect. Lush, with deep forest green blades of grass immaculately cut. A varied mix of tee box options ensured that 95% of golfers wouldn’t destroy the same set of tees. Level ground that allowed for exact positioning of tee length.

Fairways: Amazing. They weren’t as green as one would hope after a rainy last month, but short of that they were perfect. A good seed/sod mix in every cart and conscientious golfers ensured a minimal amount of divots. The fairways offered a fair amount of roll and every shot seemed to have a great lie.

Rough: Almost not applicable. Anyone who has played this course knows the rough here isn’t what kills your game, its all the barrancas and Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA’s). The rough that does exist isn’t so penal you can’t scramble for bogey.

Bunkers: Was only in one bunker today, but the conditions were excellent. The sand consistency is what you would hope, especially after rain in the last week. Enough sand on the course to keep anyone humble. A good amount of rakes!

Greens: Like I mentioned, this was my first ever 10 on bunkers. They were glowing like emeralds and played with the speed of glass at times. The putting surface was smooth and outside of a few marks that went without fixing, they were perfect. I would come back just for another chance to make putts on them.

Parting Thoughts

This is a Troon facility that sadly felt a bit short of the expectations other courses like Classic Club and Yocha Dehe have established. Employees were helpful and nice, but a lack of marshals and all-around shortage of staff was noticeable. Carts were excellent with comfortable seats, great GPS, and a cooler with plenty of ice and water. Up to this point, all was good.

The real shame here today was the insanely slow pace of play. Frost delay or not (we couldn’t even get a straight answer about this), there is no excuse for a 3 hour front. There was perfect storm of first weekend without rain, slow players, people waiting unnecessarily, and stupidly walking to their balls even as carts were allowed everywhere but on the green! A real shame that some of the best holes we couldn’t ever get to on this day. If you can find a good deal, the course is only going to get better.