Congratulations to Monarch Beach Golf Links for Winner of 2018 Best Playing Conditions for Orange County.

Congratulations to all the great golf courses out there that won Best Playing Conditions for their Region.  Haven’t thought of playing there?  Consider this a wake up call and give their golf course a try.

Monarch Beach Golf Links 2018 Winner Best Playing Conditions for Orange County

Greenskeeper.Org presents the winner for 2018 Best Playing Conditions in Orange County to Monarch Beach Golf Links.

We’ve waited all year for the results, and the results are in.  Greenskeeper.org proudly presents it’s Best Playing Conditions Awards for 2018.

Not to be confused with our other award “Worth the Green Fee,” “Best Playing Conditions” is awarded to golf courses open to the public listed on Greenskeeper.org that stand out above the rest with our site users.  These golf courses distinguish themselves by providing consistent, exceptional playing conditions.

The job of the superintendent is the life blood of the golf course industry and most important contributing factor to enjoying a golf experience.  A golf course is a living, breathing organism whose health is constantly in flux.  It takes enormous dedication, resources and expertise by a superintendent and their staff to provide excellent turf conditions.

Greenskeeper.org’s registered trademark and creed, “Know Before You Go”®, centers on communicating these current playing conditions. The rating system used on Greenskeeper.org is in part created by superintendents.  Greenskeeper.org views it’s Best Playing Conditions Awards as it’s highest honors.

Want to treat yourself to some choice conditions?  Want and experience you can remember?  Consider playing at one of these great golf courses in your area.

Click HERE for our previous article:  “Best Playing Conditions for 2017.”

Monarch Beach Golf Links

roarksown1
Posted: 11/29/18 12:39a
Member Since: Jan 6, 2013
From: Playa del Rey

Got to take some work colleagues out for a nice round of golf and, since I had never played Monarch Beach, thought it would be a great option. I was not wrong.

Before we get to the price:value portion of the review, let’s talk about some of the great things that were on offer here. First of all, the property around the course is pretty spectacular. Yes, there’s the ocean hole that everyone sees rather exclusively, but there are some really beautiful other sections of the course, including the view looking up the hill on number 11, or any of the other pretty lakes and landscapes. I found the course to be so much more than the signature hole, but that was pretty awesome too (and felt good to par it).

I found the front nine layout to be somewhat more, for lack of a better word, gimmicky, than the back nine, which I ultimately preferred (despite the ocean hole). There were still some fun holes for sure, but I just preferred the back for some reason. Lots of elevations, plenty of water and OB danger. I lost a lot of balls today. You just can’t be wayward or the punishment will present itself.

The Review

Course conditions were very good overall with some slight nitpicking required. Greens were running about 11.5 according to the staff. I somehow did very well with them with only 27 putts all day so for me they seemed to hold shots great, follow their lines obediently and remain consistent in terms of speed and conditioning on all 18. That was great.

Fairways were mostly in great shape but there were a few thin or Ground Under Repair (GUR) areas to be found, most likely from recent rains perhaps, or could be over watering. But a thin or dirt area was definitely on the cards if you missed fairways with any venom, so that’s a bit of a knock. I also found the bunkers to be mostly all in great, fluffy shape, but one or two seemed to be just a level before the non-sand elements of the traps so you could see some cloth or something peeking out from the ground. Rough was perfect in some areas and deadly in others … varied by hole. And the tee boxes (we played the orange tees) were all perfect.

Pretty slow group in front of us made slower by the challenging layout and easy opportunity to lose balls. Still, we finished in around 4.5 hours I think so no complaining there. No cart service but we did have one of the staff drive by and give us apples and water. The same offerings were available at the 10th tee.

Final Thoughts

All this being said, this is a very cool, very high-end course. But it’s well over $200 and that I feel is, despite all of the amazing things this course has to offer, slightly over the line. This is easily a $150 course with no hesitation. With some course knowledge now, I would absolutely love to come back here soon and get back some of those lost shots, but I’ll certainly be looking for the teeoff.com deal to be available. However, if you have the means, go play this course and just have some fun. But don’t be fooled by the advertisements that only highlight the ocean hole because the rest of this course combined is much more memorable than that one, albeit great hole.