Reviewed by: tksss32, L.A.
Played Monday 6/11 at about 0830. Course was open and we played the front 9 in about 2 hours, the back 9 got backed up and we played in total in about 4:40.
The Review
Golf Playing Conditions 6.05 GOOD
Tee boxes were nice and above average. Good coverage without much divot damage and mostly flat lies.
Fairways were in good shape with good lies.
I was not in any greenside sand, but I did find myself in a fairway bunker. No complaints. My playing partner did complain of a firm lie in a greenside bunker.
Rough varies from thick and lush to moderate/fluffy.
Greens are nearly fully recovered from aeration. Practice green still shows the most from the aeration, but I had no complaints as the greens rolled pretty true with slightly faster than medium speed.
Recommended at this time.
Los Amigos Golf Course Downey California Eat & Play GK Coupon
ALERT: Aeration
Will be aerating the greens Firecliff Course with medium size solid tines 6/16 – 6/21, reopening 6/22 and then again 7/16 – 7/19, reopening 7/20.
* Although Greenskeeper.org researches all alerts before posting, we ask that you please contact the golf course for confirmation.
Rode the Purple tees (6676/72.1/136) in 3.5H twilight. The weather was clear, fairly calm and around 105.
The Review
Golf Playing Conditions 8.59 GREAT
Picturesque emerald green layout with a generous amount of white sand, nativescape and water to keep players on their toes. From tee to green, the course was in excellent condition. The greens are transitioning back to Bermuda and were more spotty than the rest of the course.
The tees were excellent, level, lush with few divots.
The fairways are lush, firm and really nice to play from.
The rough is lush and mowed down. Good for POP, not penal and nice to chip from.
The greenside traps had good quality white sand and were well maintained. The waste bunkers are firm and much more hit/miss.
The Bermuda greens were just okay. Firm, fairly smooth and medium speed. They are about to be aerated and they look like they need it.
Additional Observations
Customer Service exceptional from when you drop your clubs off out front to when you pick them up out front. Cart gal out making the rounds. All grass driving range is included and above average. Good GPS on carts. Plenty of ice/water stations on the course. One of my favorite Palm Springs area public layouts, highly recommended.
Desert Willow Golf Resort Palm Desert California GK CouponDesert Willow Golf Resort Palm Desert California GK Coupon
Reviewed by: mr8656, San Bernardino
6 June 2018
0730 tee time
Playing Conditions 7.08 Great
First time of what I hope will be many more times playing at this very enjoyable venue. When making a good detailed review I feel the entire experience should be rated. First to mention, this is not my neighborhood track. It’s about a 60 mile drive but I have an good friend who lives in the community, like right on the 5th fairway, so I like to take turns and making the trip here and makes the round more enjoyable. We played as a weekday Twosome since he’s retired and I’m wishing I was, and the guys in our regular group are still grinding it out in the mines.
I arrived at about 0645 got checked in. Check in guy was very friendly and knew my buddy by name. $43 regular rate with complimentary use of the practice facility. All grass driving range with markers clearly defining the yardage. Large cups and ice machine available to load up with water. This is the Palm Springs area, it’s gonna get warmer as the day get longer. It was about 78* when we teed off and got up to 90* when we finished, POP was about 3:45. After a 20 minute warm-up we were heading out to the first tee.
The Course Review
Right away you feel the comfort of the course. I’m not going to say the course was overly difficult. The tee boxes were very well maintained as was the entire course. Fairway a little wet from the morning soaking, rough for the most part was not overly penalizing, the back 9 did seem a little thicker. The greens were mostly flat with gental breaks, medium soft and with good roll. Pin placements allowed enough room to make good approach shots. The bunkers are large with good fill. The front was a little heavy but the back was fluffier and more accommodating. My one lost ball found one of the numerous water hazards. I think the statigic placement of the bunkers and water hazard is what made the course more enjoyable to play. The fairways are generous and my first thought was to just grip and rip but after a second look I made better choices with my club selection. I also liked the the overall design. Short, medium and long at all the pars.
We finished our round in time to see the breakfast menu in the 19th hole, but I still opted for a couple of pulled pork sliders with a side of fresh fruit. There was indoor and patio seating available. We opted for an indoor table by the window with a great view of holes 9 and 18. The selections were plentiful and reasonably priced.
Parting Thoughts
In conclusion, I had a very enjoyable round at a new track and hope to return, weather permitting, real soon. Thanks to my buddy Duane for the invite and extending hospitality.
Visually, growth in the native areas has blocked the view of landing areas on a few holes – so course knowledge will help. I recommend a yardage book if you are not familiar with the course as several holes are difficult to see where the proper line should be.
GI appears to be one of the few SoCal courses actually putting money into the course. Things are better than I remember from a decade ago. Even in June, when the hot season is in full bloom in Corona, the greens are green, plush and soft. Fairways and rough are good, but you can see the start of the heat effects as things are getting crusty. Sand was good, but again the top level is getting baked by the heat.
I enjoyed the course more than I have in the past. Lots of elevation changes, so many holes play much shorter than their posted yardages. If you get the ball in play, there are birdies to be made, and even more birdie putts that will lip out at the last second. Dang it.
Played Thursday, 6/7 at 3:07pm with 3 others. POP was a very good 4hrs, 10mins with mild waits on the first 5 holes, then waiting only on each par3 the rest of the way.
The Review
Though the course is overall very good condition, the white tee boxes were easily the ‘worst’ part of the course. Unlevel lies on 7 of 18 holes, with the worst bumpy and mounded areas on the par3s – 5th, 8th and 13th. The par3 15th was level.
Fairways were mostly good, cut a little long, but provided decent roll and lies. Was very happy to see that after 20+ years they have finally made significant progress on the ‘new’ fairways for the new holes #s 14, 16 and 17. They have clearly added a significant amount of white sand in their efforts to improve the condition of these fairways. 14 is nearly perfect. 16 is at least 75% better coverage in the landing area and 17 is probably 40% better. Glad to see it.
Rough was penal, about 2-3 inches. Was in two greenside bunkers, #8 had white sand and #15 had brown sand. Other than lack of raking in one, the sand in both was good quality and depth.
Greens are totally recovered from their punching and were mostly smooth and firm. Did not hold shots easily, providing 15-30 feet of roll-out for the group on well-struck shots. Putted medium-speed and was tough for all in the group to hole 6 to 10-footers, as the grain / subtle breaks were tough to read. And, I missed a 2-footer that looked straight, but missed by 3 inches! (sigh).
Additional Thoughts
This is a great course to walk, mostly a flat course. Particularly since the cart fees for a single rider is $18. Twilight starts at 1:30pm and Super-twilight at 5:30pm these days, which does provide a decent deal on greens fees when walking.
Got out on time yesterday at 1:07, 3-some and a single joined us. This was my first time out at Big Rec, and I have mixed feelings about it. It very much reminded me of La Mirada but with bigger greens and shorter par 3s.
Conditions were decent. The tee boxes had good coverage but were very firm in spots; hard to get a tee down in there. The fairways were a highlight, with very nice lies down the middle and thinning out a bit towards the edges. The rough was the typical muni mixed bag of shallow, deep, lush and bare lies. No comment on the sand, I did not visit the beach this time around. Lastly, the greens lacked consistency. Some still showed signs of aeration, some were smooth, some bumpy, some fast, some slow…you see where I’m going here. I’d rate the course much higher if the greens were uniform (or at least closer to it).
All in all it was a fun day and I enjoyed the layout. Probably won’t go back for a while, but if someone called me up to play it I wouldn’t say no.
Los Amigos Golf Course Downey California Eat & Play GK Coupon
Reviewed by: RDDenn, Redondo Beach
Played here in a tournament starting at 9:00 am. POP was interesting – we were on a 4 to 4 1/2 hour pace for most of the day, just about the best pace I have seen at a county course. And then not. The last four or five holes were done very slowly so we came in at around 5 hours.
The review
Golf Playing Conditions 6.10 GOOD
The course was in good shape. They had put quite a bit of water on it because of the hot weather and it played pretty long for this course (although we played the whites so not that long). I don’t recall being in any sand but it looked pretty good from seeing others hit out of it. The rough was hit and miss. There is some gnarly stuff at odd spots (like in the drainage area in front of the 10th tee where we spent several minutes looking for my gopher ball tee shot (only to find it in the middle of the fairway at the 150 marker after I had gone back and re-hit)) including a two foot square area on the edge of the 4th fairway where I thought I had caught a lucky break (Not) after shanking into the trees and having it bounce back toward our fairway. Other areas of the rough were moderate to not a factor. There are some drier areas in the fairways but overall it was a good hitting surface.
The greens were simply outstanding. Quite quick. Fast. The guy I was riding with had a great ball striking day and shot an 81 with six three putts. You could not be above the hole and hope to score well. The greens have some slopes in different directions too, not all back to front like you see on some courses, so it was difficult for those of us that have not played here in a while to know where below the hole was located.
Additional Thoughts
The service was generally good. The ladies at the starter desk were extremely helpful and efficient (they had carts set aside with our club name on them for the tourney) and the cart (young) lady was very nice and we saw her several times. The snack stand they have behind the 10th tee was closed requiring a walk to the café because you cannot drive a cart up to it. They did not have any hot dogs ready (at noon!), the cook went and got them from the cooler, and I found out mine was cold in the middle as I was walking to the 10th tee. That is my only complaint, other than the shanks, from a nice day at the course. I’ll be back.
Santa Anita Golf Course Arcadia California Senior GK Coupon
Reviewed by: bnr1986, east coast
Came out afternoon of 6/10 for a free birthday round. Walked the blacks with my trusty dog with me and my wife tagged along too as it was my birthday. Been a long time since I had played Victoria Lakes and its black tees. It’s as challenging as I recalled. A good test of golf, you use all 14 clubs over the course of the round.
The Review
Playing Conditions 7.32 GREAT
Some of the black tee boxes were in poor shape, but I’ve found that throughout Southern California. Greens were great. Fairways fair and the rough thick. Traps were consistent though I was only in 1 or 2 all day.
Pace of Play (POP) could have been better but then again we teed off right around noon on a Sunday. Nevertheless, I felt the group in front of us was a bit slow and unaware of those behind them especially late in the round.
I forgot how hard of a walk this course is, especially the back 9. I was wiped after.
Despite being far from Hollywood, the ride wasn’t too bad without traffic. Next time I come out this ways I may give myself a break and play the blues, though the course doesn’t play all too long because of how firm and fast it plays. However, if you miss the fairway it can play very long from the tips. The greens are the best feature of this course, fast but not too firm and they roll true. You can play a variety of short shots around the greens which is fun too.
Additional Thoughts
Even for the rack rate, this is one of the better values related to challenge and conditions in greater LA area. I think the layout is good, a bit bland, so not as strong as Rustic Canyon or Olivas Links in my eyes. Then again those were done by Hanse and Forrest Richardson respectively, so River Ridge is still a great place for a Birthday round.
River Ridge Golf Club Oxnard California GK Coupon & Golf Tee Time Special
ALERT: Aeration
