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.