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JUST IN: GreensKeeper.org Announces BEST PLAYING CONDITIONS AWARDS 2021

Winners Best Playing Conditions for 2021 from GreensKeeper.org

Best Playing Conditions 2022 GreensKeeper.orgPost Covid-19, It’s finally back! Greenskeeper.org presents it’s Best Golf Playing Conditions Awards for 2021.

Not to be confused with “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 at providing consistently the best greens, fairways, rough, tee boxes and bunkers around.

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

How Awards Winners Are Determined

Golf Course reviews and ratings submitted by our 76,000+ Greenskeeper.org community are tabulated over 12 months. Winners are determined for each area.

We divide awards into 10 Regions or Sections —  San Diego County, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Inland Empire, Santa Barbara County, Palm Springs Region, and Ventura County with Regional Winners for Southern Nevada, Southern California, Central California, and Northern California.

We provide the list below in no particular order.  This is done on purpose.  Any golf course that provides outstanding conditions in their region should not overshadow other golf courses simply because of their location.  For most avid golfers, the playing experience is what matters.  Knowing where to play in your area is important.

Greenskeeper.Org Awarded For the Good of the Game Award 2017 by the CGCOA
Greenskeeper.Org Awarded For the Good of the Game Award 2017 by the CGCOA

Editor’s Note:  Johnny GK and Greenskeeper.Org has been recognized by the California Golf Course Owners Association as Good for the Game of Golf in 2017.  It proves that both golfers and golf course operators understand the benefit of working with Greenskeeper.Org.  We are the RESOURCE where avid golfers come to make their decision where to play their next round.  “Know Before You Go”® with Greenskeeper.Org.  You’ll be glad you did.

 

And Now our Winners for Best Playing Conditions for 2019 (in no particular order). . .

Click on images below to visit their Golf Course Home Page on Greenskeeper.Org.

Maderas Golf Club Best Playing Conditions in San Diego County 2021 Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Winner Best Plaing Conditions Ventura County 2021
Santa Barbara Golf Club Winner Santa Barbara County 2021 Pelican Hill Golf Club Winner Best Playing Conditions 2021
Soboba Springs Golf Course Winner Inland Empire Best Playing Conditions 2021 Trump National Golf Club Winner Best Playing Conditions Los Angeles County 2021
Quail Lodge & Golf Club Winner Best Playing Conditions Central California 2021 Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort Winner Best Playing Conditions Southern Nevada 2021
Half Moon Bay Golf Links Winner Best Playing Conditions Northern California 2021 Desert Willow Golf Resort Winner Best Playing Conditions Southern California 2021
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Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course

Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

ALERT: Aeration
Will be aerating the greens 3/9 & 3/10.
* Although Greenskeeper.org researches all alerts before posting, we ask that you please contact the golf course for confirmation.

Reviewed by: roarksown1, Playa del Rey
I’ve been wanting to play the two Ojai courses for years now, and finally got the chance to scratch one itch this past weekend by visiting the fantastic Ojai Valley Inn course on Saturday. I got a deal through GolfMoose which was easy to set up and no problem at check-in.

I was paired with another single for our 8am tee time playing from the Blues. I’m happy to report that playing partner just signed up for GK and wrote his first review on this same course just now – great playing with you Sean! Neither of us had played here before but we had both watched some of the great videos the course put together to learn more about the layout and strategies to play each hole. And if you’ve never been here before, they definitely come in handy!

The Golf Course Review

Golf Playing Conditions 8.45 GREAT
Golf Playing Conditions 8.45 GREAT

The front nine at OVI is quite varied terrain with lots of blind shots and a real premium on accuracy and correct distances to put yourself in any decent position for your approach shots. The par 3s are tight and super target-oriented, while the longer holes have designated landing areas and some barranca to clear on some of them either at the tee or on approach.

The back nine is a much more traditional layout with some elevations, but it’s much more forgiving than the front nine and gives you a chance to catch your breath ahead of the stunning 16th and 17th holes before a nice closing hole on 18 – if it wasn’t shortened for an event that particular day. But as Sean wrote in his review – the par 3 16th is one of the most dramatic and beautiful tee shots you’ll ever play, and it was an awesome feeling making par there.

My Take

In terms of course conditions in this rustic setting, it was far better than anticipated. The greens were absolutely spectacular. They rolled fast and true and held shots well. Nothing too gimmicky about them at all, which also holds true for the course layout, which was a concern pre-round. No, it’s just a classic design that lets you feel the history as you move through the canyons and across the bridges and check out all the grandeur of the surrounding mountains. It’s really a stunner.

Fairways were in very good shape with only the limited amount of thin areas. The rough was pretty significant but did not wreak too much havoc with shots played out of it. Tee boxes were mostly in good shape with some wear and tear, and I was in around six or seven bunkers but never had any issues getting out of the sand. It was not the white, fluffy stuff, but perfectly playable and suited to this course’s more rustic style.

Staff was incredibly helpful and on top of things. There is a significant distance between where you park and the starter/golf shop, but they will come pick you up when you park and shuttle you back. The range is also pretty easy to navigate and is ample for your needs. They do give you a bag of balls with your greens fee to warm up.

Parting Thoughts

So what else is there to say? I love this place and really can’t wait to get back up here and play another round with more course knowledge and hopefully a not-so-sore back this time around. Ojai Valley Inn is a destination course without a doubt and a true treat to play.

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2019 Best Playing Conditions for Ventura County — Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course

BPC-Ojai Valley Inn Golf Club - Best Playing Conditions - 2019
Best Playing Conditions Award 2019 by GreensKeeper.org
Best Playing Conditions Award 2019 by GreensKeeper.org

This year GreensKeeper.org awards Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Best Playing Conditions 2019 for Ventura County.

Not to be confused with “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 at providing consistently the best greens, fairways, rough, tee boxes and bunkers around.

The job of the superintendent is the life blood of the golf course 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.

The rating system used on Greenskeeper.org is in part created by superintendents.  GreensKeeper.org’s trademark and creed, “Know Before You Go”®, centers on communicating these current playing conditions.

How Awards Winners Are Determined

Golf Course reviews and ratings submitted by our 78,000+ Greenskeeper.org community are tabulated over 12 months. Winners are determined for each area.

We divide awards into 11 sections —  Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Palm Springs Area, San Diego County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, Southern California, Central California, Northern California and Southern Nevada.

[su_row class=””] [su_column size=”1/2″ center=”no” class=””]Editor’s Note:  Johnny GK and Greenskeeper.Org has been recognized by the California Golf Course Owners Association as Good for the Game of Golf in 2017.  Shows you that both golfers and golf course operators understand the benefit of working with Greenskeeper.Org.  We are the RESOURCE where avid and casual golfers come to make their decision where to play their next round.  “Know Before You Go”® with Greenskeeper.Org.  You’ll be glad you did.  [/su_column] [su_column size=”1/2″ center=”no” class=””]

Greenskeeper.Org Awarded For the Good of the Game Award 2017 by the CGCOA
Greenskeeper.Org Awarded For the Good of the Game Award 2017 by the CGCOA

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Recent #GolfCourseReview

sbarajasjr
Posted: 10/22/19 12:54p
Member Since: Dec 11, 2009
From: San Diego
Played here 10/20 with my girlfriend’s father on a GolfNow Hot Deal for ~$75 on what was originally a 12:50PM tee time. The review of the actual course is as follows:

Tee boxes

Golf Playing Conditions 7.48 GREAT
Golf Playing Conditions 7.48 GREAT

The weakest part of the course today and that’s really not saying much as they were fairly playable, sans a couple of holes that were more than beat up. I imagine with this course being so short that the blue tee boxes get a massive amount of play and the latter tee times will always suffer. Outside of those that were mangled a bit, the rest had enough land to try and find good footing.

Fairways

Good shape. They were still green and had good coverage. I didn’t find a single bad lie all day and the carts had a good amount of mix available so golfers must have been on it today. Roll was also more than fair since we played on a day where the sun baked the fairway turf quite a bit.

Rough

Pretty penal on certain holes. It was never Torrey length, but it had teeth. The natural landscape of the land certainly was more penal than the rough but you still had to be careful no to spray your drives.

Bunkers

Was in a handful today and they had enough sand (not pear white nor beach sand, something in between). People seemed to rake up and leave them in good shape, which would mean my bad sand play today was all on me.

Greens

The highlight of the round. They were green, fast, and had some tricky breaks to them. I distinctly remember the breaks on hole 8 really got me even when they didn’t look at all complicated. A few ball marks left unrepaired by those ahead of us, but what can you do other than fix them.

GreensKeeper.org Awards Best Playing Conditions 2019
GreensKeeper.org Awards Best Playing Conditions 2019
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Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course

Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

ALERT: Aeration
Will be aerating the greens 8/19 & 8/20.
* Although Greenskeeper.org researches all alerts before posting, we ask that you please contact the golf course for confirmation.

Reviewed by: uscdodger32, Los Angeles
Played 8/6 with Mr. Kich in the afternoon after our morning at Soule Park. Found a great deal online and ended up paying $69 for one of the first twilight times. This was my first time out here, as the higher rack rate and distance made other courses in the area more attractive.

The Review

Golf Playing Conditions 7.89 GREAT
Golf Playing Conditions 7.89 GREAT

Greens were in great shape, save for quite a bit of unrepaired ball marks. Considering how small some of these greens are, it was a bit surprising. However, they putted very smooth and true, and definitely ran faster as the afternoon sun dried them out.

Fairways were incredibly lush and provided great lies to hit from all day. Rough was really thick in spots. It made club selection and line off the tee critical.

Tees were lush, level, and well placed. I found a couple to be pointing to a less than ideal line, but that might have just been in my head.

I was in a number of sand traps and found the sand to be consistent “beachy” sand that provided a fair test to play out of.

POP on a hot weekday afternoon was great and well under 4 hours. A group of guys who seemed more interested in the beer cart were more than happy to let us play through on the front nine and we were pretty much by ourselves the rest of the round. Customer Service was excellent, from Dave on the phone and in the pro-shop, to the starter who let us out a little early, the plentiful water jugs on the course were great on a summer afternoon.

Final Thoughts

OVI was in outstanding shape, provided a good test of golf, allowed multiple shots, and definitely required a good amount of course management. I still don’t know if I’d pay the rack rate, especially with Soule just down the road (and Olivas, River Ridge, and Rustic not too far away), but deals aren’t too difficult to come by, especially if you’re able to play during the week or in the afternoon.

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Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course

Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

ALERT: Aeration
Will be aerating the greens 8/19 & 8/20.
* Although Greenskeeper.org researches all alerts before posting, we ask that you please contact the golf course for confirmation.

Reviewed by: joshuajcyoo, Los Angeles
I had heard a bunch of great things about this course from different sources, so going into the course I had relatively high expectations for the course, and having played the course I can say that those expectations were met.

Golf Playing Conditions 7.95 GREAT
Golf Playing Conditions 7.95 GREAT

The layout is very compact, with holes being really close to one another, but it’s a very interesting design, taking full advantage of the land that resort had to work with. There are a lot of elevation changes on the course due to the hilly terrain, and the course is also not that long, as I found myself using wedges on a lot of approach shots. The course really amazes with its closing stretch, holes 15-18, where the layout opens up.

Conditions wise, the course matches the price that’s being charged. The fairways were lush and green with no bare spots in sight, the rough was really tame and not too difficult to hit out of, the sand levels in the bunkers were great, and the greens, although a little bit on the slower side, were rolling very smoothly.

All in all, it’s a really fun, shorter course that’s poses just enough challenge for being a resort course. We happened to get the twilight rate, which made this course a steal, but even for regular pricing, it’s a course that anyone in the area should definitely play.

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Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course

Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

Reviewed by: GDR23, Thousand Oaks
Played today 5/28/2019 at the Inn. I can see why this used to be a former Senior PGA tour stop. When you drive in the grounds you feel special. Hallowed grounds knowing that Trevino, Palmer, etc hit tee shots here. This is a shot makers course that is both scenic, fun and challenging.

Golf Course Conditions 7.97 GREAT
Golf Course Conditions 7.97 GREAT

The conditions were just terrific.

The greens were rolling medium paced, pure and held all shots that were high or had spin coming in on them. I rarely find greens where I am not fixing an extra ball mark or two. Green complexes range from a couple small ones to some big complexes with some swales and undulation. Love the greens here. Rated 8.5/10

The fairways and rough are just in fantastic shape. Fairways had perfect green lies and rough was semi-penal but still easy to hit out of. Green-side rough looked to be mowed down. I remember playing here years ago where you did not want to be in the green-side rough. Rating for fairways and rough was close to a 9/10.

Tees were level for the most part, I saw some divot damage on the par 3’s–tee rating 8/10,

Was not in any bunkers but they looked firmer.

Don’t let the shorter front nine fool you–once you get to number 14 you really start playing some golf on 16, 17 and 18.

My only gripe today was they did not have the back tee box open on number 18 which I think is one of the tougher tee shots on the course. I also think its the best shot on the course.

The staff here treated me like gold, awesome place to take the wife for lunch as well.

Can’t recommend this place enough. Great course!

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WINNER Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course #BestPlayingConditions 2018 – Ventura County

Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Best Playing Conditions 2018 - Ventura County

Congratulations to Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Winner of 2018 Best Playing Conditions for Ventura 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.

Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course 2018 Winner Best Playing Conditions for Ventura County

Greenskeeper.Org presents the winner for 2018 Best Playing Conditions in Ventura to Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course.

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.”

Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course

Burcham5
Posted: 01/03/19 9:31p
Member Since: Aug 25, 2018
From: Valencia

Golf Playing Conditions 8.08 GREAT
Golf Playing Conditions 8.08 GREAT

Took the hour drive to Ojai.

Today’s conditions definitely made up for yesterday at Knollwood. Today was absolutely perfect. Yesterday we almost died from hypothermia, today high 60’s with no wind.  Pace of Play (POP) a little over 4 hours only because we caught the foursome of millennials that started 4 holes ahead of us. On a side note, if you are a beginner the blue tees aren’t for you and there are others on the planet, not just you.

Back to the review, course was fantastic. Staff is top notch, best I’ve had in awhile. Course was in great shape, tee boxes level, fairways lush, sand great and greens were perfect. I would highly recommend this course and I will definitely be back. The Ventura, Santa Barbara area is really underrated as far as golf is concerned. It really is worth a golf trip if you aren’t local. Rustic Canyon, Moorpark CC, Olivas Links, Glenn Annie and Ojai are spectacular courses that won’t break the bank.

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Ojai Valley Inn & Spa Golf Course Hole 17 Tee Ojai, CA
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa Golf Course Hole 17 Tee Ojai, CA

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Ojai Valley Inn & Spa Golf Course Hole 6 Ojai, CA
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa Golf Course Hole 6 Ojai, CA

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Recent Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course

Golf Course Review Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course Ojai California

Reviewed by: Burcham5, Valencia
Took the hour drive to Ojai. Today’s conditions definitely made up for yesterday at Knollwood.

Golf Playing Conditions 8.08 GREAT
Golf Playing Conditions 8.08 GREAT

Today was absolutely perfect. Yesterday we almost died from hypothermia, today high 60’s with no wind. Pace of Play (POP) a little over 4 hours only because we caught the foursome of millennials that started 4 holes ahead of us. On a side note, if you are a beginner the blue tees aren’t for you and there are others on the planet, not just you.

Back to the review, course was fantastic. Staff is top notch, best I’ve had in awhile. Course was in great shape, tee boxes level, fairways lush, sand great and greens were perfect. I would highly recommend this course and I will definitely be back. The Ventura, Santa Barbara area is really underrated as far as golf is concerned. It really is worth a golf trip if you aren’t local. Rustic Canyon, Moorpark CC, Olivas Links, Glenn Annie and Ojai are spectacular courses that won’t break the bank.