Santa Barbara Golf Club

Golf Course Review Santa Barbara Golf Club Santa Barbara California

Reviewed by: t8fish, Altadena

Played Saturday morning, 10/26, grouped with two other singles, and teeing off a little before 9:30 at $64 to walk. I hadn’t been out here in a few years and was looking forward to revisiting. On a calm, sunny day, overall conditions were pretty good.

Tees were generally flat and green and no particular issues come to mind. Fairways had good coverage overall that was on the tight side, so good surface with a good amount of roll. There were occasional, scattered, tight, browned-out patches, but I would not characterize them as hard-pan and I think in most cases they provided a decent — if perhaps discolored — hitting surface. Again, I don’t recall any problems playing in the fairways.

The rough mostly had green coverage and usually it was not especially punitive off the fairway unless you got blocked. Bunkers had a thinner, soft, top layer of sand on a firmer base that resisted footprints. I found them generally clean and playable — interestingly, just like Hansen Dam the previous week.

The maintenance alert should be removed. The greens were clean and pretty quick. No sign of aeration. I left a lot of first putts too far past the hole, underestimating the speed more often than not, and many of the greens had undulations to make it more interesting. The exception is the 9th green complex which is getting a complete rebuild, so there was a temporary green short of it.

While not an a particularly long course, I think the yardage on this course is misleading and it plays longer and a bit more challenging than the numbers would suggest. Partially because two very short par 3’s are offset by a number of good length par 4’s, and partially because some of the medium and shorter par 4’s are made more interesting and challenging due to hills and altitude changes. A bit pricey as a muni, but about 1/3 the cost of Sandpiper. And while it doesn’t have the ocean views, it is in SB and the view of the mountains coming up the 18th makes it a pretty nice finish. I scored like crap, but had a good time and recommend it.