Elkins Ranch Golf Course

Golf Course Review Elkins Ranch Golf Course Fillmore California

Reviewed by: sbarajasjr, San Diego
Played my semi-final GK Match against Kassper7 yesterday (7/8) for my very first visit to Elkins, walking away impressed and saddened, not at losing my match rather that this gem of a course is going away soon. All the descriptions of it are apt; tucked away in a nice setting, conditions stellar for what equates to a “muni”style track, and prices here being more than fair. Loved everything about this course because I kept my expectations low out of fear that it would be packed, hot, and in poor shape….it simply wasn’t the case to my surprise.

The Review

Tee boxes: Overall good but I remember a handful of holes in which the blue tees (played by our group) were a bit beat up. Some un-level ground and with walkers unable to fill divots made, the par 3 tees had their share of holes by the afternoon.

Fairways: Great shape with a healthy green color. This course won’t be shutting down and letting conditions deteriorate, that’s for sure. Better fairways here than RiverRidge played a few weeks ago. Good decent roll and only one bad lie all day that was no fault of the course superintendent.

Rough: More penal than it appears. Area under trees that line the fairways can get quite shaggy, enough to make me layup/punch out quite a bit. It won’t appear so visually, but there is a premium to staying in the fairway here.

Sand: In two green-side bunkers and there was inconsistent amount of sand; one had almost none, the other had some. Neither of the bunkers had great sand type, and only after getting to place my shot back after repairing a footprint did I get a shot at making it out.

Greens: Excellent greens here. They rolled slower than I thought, but very pure in my opinion. Left plenty of putts short, but if I was guessing the line right, the contours and undulation can’t be THAT hard to figure out. Some very large greens, others much smaller…all were in great shape.

ETC: Bare bone amenities (though from the looks of things this was probably the case even before it was decided they would close in September). Paid at the window on north side of clubhouse. Saw no cart attendant and no sort of food/drink availability anywhere. Carts available, but you can walk the course (back nine far hillier than front). Pace today was just under 4.5 hours, even as it seems we had an older twosome right behind us the entire round, minimal waiting if any in front.

Parting Thought

Layout is fun with some shades of Santa Anita/Diamond Bar on the front and CrossCreek/Woods Valley in some areas of the back. A fun track that will be sorely missed.

Elkins Ranch Golf Course

Golf Course Review Elkins Ranch Golf Course Fillmore California

Reviewed by: kviser, Saugus, CA
I played here again today. What a difference; sadly, the course is back to its somewhat good-to-mediocre standard. Too bad, it was really nice that last time here in mid March. The starter said they are about 50% staff, so no way will they be able to keep on double cutting greens or keep such a high level of maintenance. Folks showed up with masks, but nobody was required to wear one as everyone was basically more than 6 feet apart.

That said, it was all walking due to C19. This is definitely a course to walk, although the back nine has a little climbing from Hole 12 tee to 17 tee. Thankfully, they were doing a back nine start; my guess, most likely for that reason alone. Get the bigger climbs done before heading to the relatively flatter front nine.

The Review

Greens were decent. A little slow in the morning, but not really getting much quicker as the day progressed. They were definitely slower than usual. Maybe, if I had to guess, around an 8 or 9.

Fairways and rough were as green as can be. The fairways had great coverage and had a thick mat of turf in almost all areas of the course. The rough was somewhat penal. It was deep enough to lose site of your ball in some areas until you were upon it.

Bunkers were okay, considering there are no rakes. I did see a guy driving the sand pro around and some bunkers were nicely groomed. I hit into the bunker On Hole 13; it was groomed but was wet and hard.

We played the white tees; mostly they were directly in front of the blues on the same tee box. They were level for the most part and the ones that were not level were not overly so.

the Bottom-line

Overall, I think we paid a little too much. It was $50 to walk at 7:10 a.m. Unfortunately, the only times I could find the day before was on TeeOff.com. The course had nothing available and the phone system put me on hold for 15 minutes when I called the them on Thursday. On a more positive note, the beverage cart came around a few times and the nice, young lady was friendly and seemed to enjoy being out there. I might come back, but there are other options around now.