I generally organize golf outings for 4 to 12 golfers weekly and we are always looking for something new in any area of So. California. Horse Thief Co... » More

I generally organize golf outings for 4 to 12 golfers weekly and we are always looking for something new in any area of So. California. Horse Thief Country Club is in Kern County and since Kern County includes Bakersfield one would think that it is located in central California, but the course is in the Tehachapi mountain range which is the dividing line between the two counties of Los Angeles and Kern and it is less than an hour from Lancaster when exiting Backus Rd from State Freeway 14. I initially looked up Horsethief from their website and their pictures of the course made it very presentable and interesting. I followed it up with looking up the course on Greenskeeper and read the opinions of other golfers. It didn't look very promising, so I called the clubhouse and I told them they were getting failing marks from the opinion polls and they convinced me that we would enjoy ourselves, but the greens had been punched around April 28-29 and we went in knowing that there would still be some bumpy and slower greens, but the greens should be on their way to healing themselves. We went out to the course on May 15 and had a 10:56 tee time. We got there early and were off about 10:30 and had finished playing 18 holes by 1:40. Our first observation was the setting of the course upon arrival. It was tranquil, peaceful, with rolling hills that were covered with natural oak trees. We were pleased. The setting and course layout are under-rated and that is the high point of the course. The course is tucked away in a small valley intermittently lined with bungalows to luxury homes in this farming and equestrian community. We did learn that the course had been under ill repair the prior years and it has taken considerable time to recover from all the damage and lack of maintenance from prior years. The course grass was mixed and inconsistent in the fairways and rough. Scattered crab grass, saint augstine, rye and mixed low cut weeds. Patches or bare spots were discovered everywhere including the tee boxes and some of the greens had dry or dead grass areas. I was the told the greens are being watered twice daily and they were spongy. We played from the back tees and there are no excuses for having bare, dead or rodent holes on the tee boxes. It was obvious the back tees were played less often and also reflected less maintenance. Other minor observations were made with broken down maintenance equipment laying in the rough, like on hole 9 where it was obvious a mower was broken down and grass had grown up around it telling us it had been there a while. Overall, however, the course is challenging and the constant maintenance appears to be the biggest hurdle. There are two things that I look for specifically on any course and they are manicured greens and level manicured tee boxes. This is followed by fairways that are cut to a reasonable length and no dirt areas in the cut fairway areas. If you hit into the rough than you likely deserve the penalty for getting out. The irrigation system likely needs to be updated, because we found several fairways with above ground sprinklers connected to hoses that watered dry areas that were not being watered by the underground system. I think the course is making progress in getting the course back to a players course, but the lack of funds may be a hinderance. In another 2-4 weeks the greens should have improved tremendously, but they still need work on those tee boxes. Overall, I would rate this course fun to play with the natural boulders presenting challenging shots. I think one needs to ask themselves, "would I come back" and the answer is an undeniable, YES. The fees were reasonable at $32 on a weekday that included a cart. $27 for seniors over 60 - but in my opinion they should lower the senior rate to 55. Have great time and hittem straight!
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