The Golf Club of California

Golf Course Review Golf Club of California Fallbrook California

Reviewed by: dconnally, Mission Viejo, CA

Kicked off 2019 at one of my favorites in northern San Diego County.  Used a GN Hot Deal for $33 at 1130 on 1/1/19. I hadn’t played since the La Costa GK outing and was trying out some new swing thoughts.  I was joined with Carlsbad locals Ralph and Chris, and we had a relaxed, enjoyable round in about 4 hours. It was pretty windy when we got started, but the blustery NE wind dropped to almost nothing by the time we reached the back nine, and we had perfect weather coming in.

The Review

The course is in decent shape. Greens were a mixed bag. Some were OK, some had light/dark areas scattered across them, some had large turf patches evident. Most were firm with good coverage, but all were bumpy and rolled at medium speed. With the windy weather there was a lot of small and large debris on all greens, but not too many ball marks.

Fairways are dormant and tight.  You get some good roll-outs downhill, but we also had good strikes rolling back toward us on the uphill holes – frustrating! Many unfilled divots in all the fairways. We liberally used the sand provided on the carts, but the refill rack on #10 tee was populated with empty bottles. There is only scattered use of entry/exit gates for carts onto fairways, and the entry areas being used are badly worn down and bare. Rough was generally cut low and easy to play from, but also wasn’t much of a deterrent for offline shots running on into hazards or other disasters.

There was plenty of sand in all bunkers encountered. Tees were level, and par-3 tees were not too torn up, divot mix provided on some of these. The course has also placed sand bottles on some par-4 tees, but all of these were empty when we came through.

Carts are basic – no GPS, a cooler with just ice. The carts did have a ball washer/club cleaner, which is handy. The driving range is on grass, but the left side of the hitting area is sloping behind a right-handed player. There are few targets; the ball machine was not working. The clock at the range is a nice touch, but it was not adjusted from daylight savings time. No cart girl today, and the snack bar is a drive from the playing route.

Parting Thoughts

I really enjoy the variety in this layout and the opportunity to let the driver rip on many elevated holes. As usual, #s 6 and 17 are beasts – all uphill.  That NE wind on #6 I still had a hybrid to reach the green after 2 solid shots! There’s a lot of trimmed and untrimmed debris lying around waiting to be cleaned up.  The main creek beds are choked with growth and debris, which would improve the aesthetics here but really doesn’t affect play. To decrease maintenance costs, the course is doing some turf conversions, primarily in the areas around tee boxes and leading out to fairways. They’ve replaced turf with crushed rock and the look takes some getting used to, but is effective.

Still recommended.