Played the Wilson course Saturday 4-21-18. Its a crying shame what has happened to this course. Such a great layout bu... » More

Played the Wilson course Saturday 4-21-18. Its a crying shame what has happened to this course. Such a great layout but in just TERRIBLE condition. Apparently they had a gopher village attack at the course two summers ago but what is taking so long to recover? Whoever is taking care of the course is doing a terrible job. Too bad, was always a treat to play the Wilson and Harding courses...
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This was my late afternoon stop today. Showed up a little after 4:00 and was teeing off by myself a few minutes later. $... » More

This was my late afternoon stop today. Showed up a little after 4:00 and was teeing off by myself a few minutes later. $20 for 9* holes with a cart. The course was actually pretty busy, so I just relaxed and enjoyed a 2-hour round. My cart died on the 7th hole, but the guy came out pretty quickly and brought me a fresh one. It actually worked out well because he said I could keep playing if I wanted, and it allowed me to go back and play the two *alternate back nine holes.

It's kind of interesting here as the 7th and 16th holes split off in different directions from the same basic teeing area. The 7th is a par-5 and the 16th is a par-4. They go around a hilltop with split tees for the 8th and 17th holes playing way downhill to the same green. The 8th is a long par-3 (260 with a massive drop-off tee to green) and then the 17th is a dogleg right par-4 coming around from the other side of the hill. Otherwise, the rest of the holes just have slightly different teeing areas for front and back nine play. Kind of a neat quirk of this old muni course.

The course was in decent condition. Tee boxes a bit shaggy, but okay enough with the ball teed up. Fairways pretty solid. Rough somewhat hit or miss, getting worse the further you stray from any of the fairway cuts. The greens were great and maybe the best I've encountered on this trip so far. One hole (the 4th) had a big damaged spot on the green that they are had marked off as GUR, but otherwise the greens were excellent, receptive and rolling well at medium-quick speeds.

Nothing too exciting here and the 7/16/8/17 hole arrangement is by far the most interesting part of the course layout (these 4 are easily the best holes). Solid 9(11)-hole muni track with some local history and a very friendly vibe.
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Had the rare and wonderful opportunity to play The Preserve Golf Club this morning. Something magical happened and the N... » More

Had the rare and wonderful opportunity to play The Preserve Golf Club this morning. Something magical happened and the NCGA was able to arrange a member outing. $395 was a steep price, but you pay what you have to in order to get onto a super-exclusive course like this. It was regular group tee times starting at 8:00 and we were in the first group out. This is a course you don't mind taking your time to play, plus there was a lot of ball searching in the native rough areas. Overall, we took about 4:20 to finish.

I'll get to the conditions in a bit, but everything about this place is cool. First, you find the entry gate on a small road just behind Quail Lodge. Then, you drive about 20 minutes up a winding two-lane road to get to the actual course/clubhouse. Big, beautiful clubhouse with excellent facilities. We each had our own guest lockers and pretty much full access to the clubhouse amenities.

The course is nestled in the Santa Lucia Preserve in the Carmel Valley and the course was designed by Tom Fazio and others with a lot of environmental restrictions. So it really is integrated with the beautiful natural setting. The course is fun and quite challenging, especially on and around the greens. Just gorgeous, scenic, peaceful, etc. etc. etc. Probably goes into my personal Top 10 immediately, but time will tell after I am able to digest further.

The conditions were nice as expected. I wouldn't say "immaculate" but at a high level you would expect from this kind of club. Tee boxes were fairly recently aerated, but level and never had a problem finding a good spot to tee it up. Fairways firm, tight and fast. Primary rough thick and lush with just enough depth to make you work. Outer edges went from ankle deep to knee deep and it was 50/50 if you'd find your ball. Bunkers with pure, soft white sand and perfectly manicured. The greens were firm, yet receptive because they had been aerated on April 3. Still dotted and a little bumpy, but they rolled them as tight as they could. They ran at fairly quick speeds and you didn't want to be above the hole or near any of the steep false fronts. I can only imagine how fast they normally are and probably will be again in another couple weeks. I could still only rate the greens a 6 based on today while rest of the elements were all 8s, 9s and Q 10s. Admittedly, I was a little bummed that they had aerated so recently and we were not informed ahead of time. It wouldn't have prevented me from playing this once-in-a-lifetime course, but I would have came in with properly tempered expectations. In the end, this was only a small blemish on an otherwise amazing experience.
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Rode the Blues this afternoon 4/23/2018 with my buddy Mack, Brian and Ricki. Paid $20.49 on a teeoff 10% off deal time. ... » More

Rode the Blues this afternoon 4/23/2018 with my buddy Mack, Brian and Ricki. Paid $20.49 on a teeoff 10% off deal time. Let out a little early around 1:45pm. POP was 3 hrs 30 minutes not really waiting on any shots and not really being pushed by anyone. Weather was nice scoring weather--hardly any wind, very overcast(Scotland style) with temps in the high 50's-low 60's. Very nice staff at check-in, great practice facilities.

Course was in better shape than the last time I played here. The fairways are growing in nicely--would not call them super lush yet like they are in the summer here but there are more lush lies than thin lies. Rated 7/10.

The greens have healed almost completely from their punching they did here last month. Would maybe give them another week to completely heal and be rolled. They held irons like darts and would describe them as very soft. Some minimal bounce on putts but not to bad. Rating 7/10.

The tees were mostly all level and lush and in good shape. Rating 7.5/10.

Was in greenside bunker on #6 that had perfectly raked thicker beach sand that was easy to hit out of. Rating 8/10.

The rough lining the fairways is in good shape and fairly lush in most spots. Rating 7.5/10

Some of the large apron and fringe areas around the greens contained some mud and semi-wet spots in the low lying areas which make putter the play.

Overall course is gearing up and looking good for its peak summer conditions.

Recommended.
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Gk Cup match vs Andrew with GKers Matt and Tim coming out to keep things civil. The course was in very playable shape, b... » More

Gk Cup match vs Andrew with GKers Matt and Tim coming out to keep things civil. The course was in very playable shape, but nothing was outstanding. 3 weeks after maintenance and the place is recovering well with the greens a bit slow and bumpy still. Everything else seemed fine and just needs some water . . . run out on these fairways is not always a good thing!
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Wish I could be more positive but the fact of the matter this is a goat pasture. Lots of potentail and management indic... » More

Wish I could be more positive but the fact of the matter this is a goat pasture. Lots of potentail and management indicated they were putting money into the course.The staff was great, new golf carts with GPS. The greens were rock hard but puttable its links golf. My compalint your in the middle of the faireay and looked like a dirt road. Undertstand links is firm and dry but this is plain dirt. Hopefully they can save this tract and bring it back to what it was. For the price pretty hard to beat was $20 for twobacksides they were sanding the greens. Just come with an open mind or you will be really dissapointed.
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Played Oceanside Sunday morning after not being let on base to play marine memorial due to a new policy as of April. 42 ... » More

Played Oceanside Sunday morning after not being let on base to play marine memorial due to a new policy as of April. 42 bucks with cart got us right out as walk on at 8am. Greens were bumpy still from punching, some were a lot closer to being good than others but overall not bad. The green with the worst aeration holes is actually he first hole so we were happy it improved from there. I like how they took out a lot of rough here and make it a drought resistant area around the edges, adds some character. Fairways were pretty solid. Rough was patchy. Bunker sand was great. Would definitely come back again, not a bad course, need a little bit of course knowledge off the tee though. Greens should be good in May.
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4/23 using golf moose $49 2some voucher POP right at 4 hours a little slow for a Monday 800 am tee time. Fairways remai... » More

4/23 using golf moose $49 2some voucher POP right at 4 hours a little slow for a Monday 800 am tee time. Fairways remain in mostly winter condition mostly thin and in some areas on the back 9 quite firm--ok for iron shots but really tight for fairway metals. Not much rough along fairways but some thick patches here and there closer to the greens and on some slopes.
Tees also thin with some bare areas that did not affect play.
Bunkers recently groomed nice deep rather course sand that rewarded well executed swings.
Greens have recovered nicely from maintenance but were not quite smooth yet--rolling at medium speed.
Staff is friendly and easy going.
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Played the course the morning of the 21st with my monthly golf buddy. We were joined by GK Member TMoney88. Had an 8:5... » More

Played the course the morning of the 21st with my monthly golf buddy. We were joined by GK Member TMoney88. Had an 8:50 tee time and purchased a voucher for round and replay for $89 on Underpar. The course is worth that, but I wouldn't pay rack rate or much more than I did when deals can be found.

This was my first time playing the course and there is not much to add to Tommy's review, as I agree with his assessment. I really like the layout of the course and the feel of the resort. Very laid back atmosphere which I appreciate. Food in the pub was good, but felt could have been better for the price. That has to do with the location though.

Definitely not a course that you can play the first time and expect to score well you need to know where to be off the tee. Something needs to be done with the 7th hole though. Maybe trim some of the trees that infringe on the approach or widen the fairway landing area. There just isn't much room in the fairway off the tee to hit and have a shot at the green.

Other than 7 the only other negative would be the group two in front of us for the replay was playing some sort of scramble and the best player couldn't hit it more than 100 yards and when we asked the starter to get out on the back first were told with an emphatic "NO". This was after waiting and hour eating lunch and while on the first tee for 30 minutes waiting for the group in front of us to be able to play, and seeing nobody come up 9 while we waited. I should have just gone out there. I am sure nobody would have noticed so we went back to one and just jumped up to 5 and played from there through 12 for the replay before deciding to call it a day.

If in the area and you get the chance I highly recommend playing here and will come back, when a deal can be had.
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I had not played Montebello for some time so was excited about returning. While I did not expect perfect conditions, I ... » More

I had not played Montebello for some time so was excited about returning. While I did not expect perfect conditions, I have to admit I was greatly disappointed in the overall condition of the course. It wasn't just that the greens were bumpy, they were as slow as any I've played in a long time. Fairways were spotty with only a 50/50 chance of getting a decent lie, rough and tee boxes were not great, but were OK. However the greenside bunkers were horrible. When I say there was no sand in them, I mean zero, nothing, nada. There was no chance of getting that nice "woosh". in fact anything other than "picking" the ball out wasn't going to work.

We were the third group out and played in about 3 hours 15 minutes. Not bad! Customer service was excellent, but $32 to walk for this course is too much $$. It will be a while before I return.
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Played today on the Mega Monday special. POP was right on 4 hours, but did not seem that way, it seemed shorter? Course ... » More

Played today on the Mega Monday special. POP was right on 4 hours, but did not seem that way, it seemed shorter? Course is in great condition. Absolutely no issues with the course. Tee boxes fine; sand traps good; fairways were excellent all round; rough was deep and penal; greens just wonderful. Customer service was excellent at all levels. IMO, $60 for prime time on a Monday, is a great deal for these courses.
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Everything is almost completely green after recent rains and perfect temps.
Many of the bunkers have new sand that i... » More

Everything is almost completely green after recent rains and perfect temps.
Many of the bunkers have new sand that is very playable.
Greens were a little beat up from a morning tournament, but are typically very good to excellent.
Some of the native grass is still being unnecessarily watered (sprinklers were on in early evening) and pace slows accordingly due to lost ball searches.
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