Rode the Blues (6348/71.3/130) with 24hourgolf in 4H early morning using UP. Calm, overcast and chilly made for a long c... » More

Rode the Blues (6348/71.3/130) with 24hourgolf in 4H early morning using UP. Calm, overcast and chilly made for a long course. Matched up with Sebastian and Diego, 7th and 5th graders respectively. Coming from a family of golf professionals, they both had beautiful swings. The 5th grader had not hit his growth spurt yet and played the red tees. I honestly would have thought the 7th grader was a college golfer just watching from afar. He was consistently 275 in the middle with a killer short game and shot a -2 70 from the Blues?!?!?!

Schmidy/Curley design that is a solid, challenging layout. Not an overly tight layout, but you cannot miss most fairways here by much without bringing penalty strokes (lost ball bushes & native overgrowth) into play. A couple of risk/reward par 4's that longer hitters can have a go at the green.

The tees were at best okay. Most of the par 4/5 tees had good coverage and were decent. Most of the par 3 tees were in mediocre to poor condition with lots of divots.

The fairways were patchy with good coverage, about 50/50 thin/lush.

The rough was lush, thick and penal, especially when wet early in the round.

The sand traps were well raked. However, damp and hard packed with inconsistent depths is challenging to play out of on hard/fast greens.

The large green complexes were nicely designed with mounds, slopes and contours to challenge you whether you were on or off the greens. The poa annua greens were quick. Medium fast to fast speed and firm. Slightly better condition overall than the Legends greens IMO.

This would be a very challenging course to walk, numerous tees were a hike from the last green. The carts have nice GPS. All grass range is a plus. The customer service was excellent from everyone, no drink cart today. Recommended if you get a deal, but I would not pay rack rate for these conditions.
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Rode the Blues (6394/71.0/127) mid day with 24hourgolf using UP. 3H, 45M POP in overcast, breezy sometimes drizzling con... » More

Rode the Blues (6394/71.0/127) mid day with 24hourgolf using UP. 3H, 45M POP in overcast, breezy sometimes drizzling conditions in the 50's.

Schmidt/Curley design that has a good mixture of shorter. risk reward holes and longer holes. Overall this is a challenging layout that is a fun course to play. I slightly prefer Legends over the sister Champions layout. The large green complexes here are well designed with mounds, slopes and contours to challenge you whether you were on or off the greens.

The tees were mediocre. Most of the par 4/5 tees were okay and had good coverage. Most of the par 3 tees were not in good shape at all with large areas that had divots galore or were basically GUR where they were attempting to fix old divots.

The fairways were patchy, a mixture of thin/lush and there were alot of old divots.

The rough was mostly lush and thick. On the occasions when the ball settled down, it was whack a short iron out and get it back in play time.

The sand traps looked well manicured. However, the sand depth and quality was usually substandard. Most were more hard packed and had some rocks in them. That makes large, green side bunkers playing to firm quick greens almost impossible.

The poa annua greens did not look good at all, but putted much better than they looked. Firm and started out medium fast but had slowed to medium speed because of the drizzle later in the round. Too many ball marks to be considered good, even nice high irons rolled out.

This would be a very challenging course to walk, numerous tees were a hike from the last green. Not an overly tight layout, but you cannot miss most fairways here by much without bringing penalty strokes (lost ball bushes & native overgrowth) into play. The carts have nice GPS. The customer service was excellent from everyone, but no drink cart today. All grass range. Recommended if you get a deal, nice layout but currently in mediocre playing condition.
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I just copied the same review from Champions. Other than the greens being bigger on the Legends course and some great Pa... » More

I just copied the same review from Champions. Other than the greens being bigger on the Legends course and some great Par 3's. The conditions were the same, IMO. POP was better, as no one was on the course, due to weather conditions. 3.5 H POP.
Played today on the Undepar $50 All Day Special, with Nickesquire. POP was 3h 50 under cold, cloudy skies (what is going on? It was 80 yesterday). Friendly check in in Pro shop and with starter. Found all customer service to be excellent at all levels. Speaking for myself, I found the course conditions less than "par". While the course is green, the fairways are spotty and you will find a mixture of different lies. Also, not much roll in them either. The tee boxes, while tee friendly, did not look good at all. The rough was about an inch high and punishable. Traps are big, deep and while looking good, are not very playable (hard packed and just hard to get the club under the ball). Greens are very strange? They looked like brown linoleum and speckled green paint? I have never seen greens look like this? Yet they putted fine and had plenty of speed (go figure).
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Played today on the Undepar $50 All Day Special with Nickesquire. POP was 3h 50 under cold, cloudy skies (what is going ... » More

Played today on the Undepar $50 All Day Special with Nickesquire. POP was 3h 50 under cold, cloudy skies (what is going on? It was 80 yesterday). Friendly check in in Pro shop and with starter. Found all customer service to be excellent at all levels. Speaking for myself, I found the course conditions less than "par". While the course is green, the fairways are spotty and you will find a mixture of different lies. Also, not much roll in them either. The tee boxes, while tee friendly, did not look good at all. The rough was about an inch high and punishable. Traps are big, deep and while looking good, are not very playable (hard packed and just hard to get the club under the ball). Greens are very strange? They looked like brown linoleum and speckled with green paint (I think my Grandmother had this floor). I have never seen greens look like this? Yet they putted fine and had plenty of speed (go figure). The best par of the day, was when we let two young players go through us and then joined them on the back 9? Diego was a seventh grader who drove the ball about 290 and his brother Sebastian a fifth grader only hit it 200? A pleasure to watch and two of the nicest young men you would ever meet. Diego wants to go to ASU or FL St. I will be watching in the years to come.
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Love this course. Big greens leading to some challenging putts. Nice variety of holes. Good course conditions.

Always a pleasure to play. Course is generally in good condition and has a nice variety of holes and challenges.

I always enjoy playing this course because the staff is very accommodating, the senior rate is a very reasonable, and th... » More

I always enjoy playing this course because the staff is very accommodating, the senior rate is a very reasonable, and the course generally is in good condition, plus it's just a fun track.

Greens were the best part of the course by far. The rolled well and were much quicker than expected. No issues with the fairways from the recent rain, both bunkers I found had lots of well manicured sand. A few of the tee boxes were a bit beat up, but nothing too severe.

Dos Lagos provides a pleasant challenge with several real birdie holes, but also enough of a test so as to keep one's interest
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I took a friend out to Ridge Creek for his first Links style course experience and his first time playing Ridge Creek. ... » More

I took a friend out to Ridge Creek for his first Links style course experience and his first time playing Ridge Creek. Overall conditions aren't bad at all but they are a bit under the normal RC high standards. Greens were somewhere between a low 7 and high 8 depending on the pin placement. Greens at Ridge Creek are usually soft and receptive to well struck shots (as was the case today). The down side of this is the greens can quickly get riddled with pitch marks.

Some of the greens where the pin was placed in a valley were starting to show some heavy use and in need of aeration and sanding. Others that had the hole on a high peak of the green had little in the way of pitch marks. If Ridge Creek as already done their greens then it might be a long summer. If the maintenance is still to come then the greens will be in phenomenal shape soon as they weren't in that bad of condition today.

Fairways are a mixture of brown dormant grass and nice lush(ish) green grass. Some areas were a little thin but overall still a nice area to hit from if in the fairway.

The two sand traps I was in today both had fairly nice dirt. Predictable to hit out of for sure. Tee boxes were the weak link of the course. Several were torn up bad and just full of divots. Others were a bit lumpy. Still it was one of the best driving days off the tee in a month or two so obviously the tee boxes weren't that bad!

No cart service out but they did have water coolers out every couple of holes. POP was right at 4 hours. We were in the middle of the prime time tee times so we did have to wait here in there as well as have people pushing us.

Here's the thing about Ridge Creek. It's all about keeping it out of the tall nasty rough. get a couple of lost balls in the rough and you can fall behind pace real quick. Conversely if the group in front has a few bad tee shots and you keep it straight then you're the one pushing the pace. Basically you have to accept that at Ridge Creek POP is going to have the accordion effect. You'll be behind pace at some point and standing around waiting on the group in front at some point.

Overall, Ridge Creek is a solid track worth playing when in the Central Valley. I'm sure I'll play it once or twice more before the official GK outing there in June.
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Rode the Blacks (6720/72.1/127) with Jack, Dick and Toni in 4H using UP. 1 pm shotgun start. The weather was windy, clea... » More

Rode the Blacks (6720/72.1/127) with Jack, Dick and Toni in 4H using UP. 1 pm shotgun start. The weather was windy, clear and approaching 90. Warmest day out here in months.

Santa Rosa has mostly generous landing areas. Nice combination of shorter risk/reward/strategic holes and longer holes. It would be a good choice for players of all skill levels. Definitely not a course to walk, many tees are a long way from the last green.

The tees were lush, level and very nicely maintained.

The fairways were lush and very nice to play from.

The rough was lush/thick. Tall enough that finding balls was challenging. Since the ball usually sat down, you often had to be closeby to see it.

The sand traps were nicely maintained with thick, good quality sand.

The greens had very small punches that did not really affect putting. Medium speed and smooth/consistent/firm.

The customer service was very good as usual here. Nice, all grass driving range. No GPS on the basic carts. The layout is beginning to dry out, not quite as lush as when I played here last week, but still highly recommended.
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Rode the Blacks (6669/71.9/128) with John, Jim and Peggy in 4H early morning using UP. The weather was clear, calm and i... » More

Rode the Blacks (6669/71.9/128) with John, Jim and Peggy in 4H early morning using UP. The weather was clear, calm and in the low 80's when we finished just before noon.

Generous landing areas and a reasonable difficulty factor would make this course a good choice for players of all skill levels. Some forced carries and water comes into play on many holes, but not for the more forward tees. Would be a difficult course to walk, many tees are a long way from the last green. No GPS on the basic carts.

The tees were lush and very well maintained.

The fairways are lush and were being slice cut today, which affected their playability short-term.

The rough is super lush and punitive. Thick and deep enough to make the ball sit down.

The sand traps were nicely maintained with thick, good quality sand.

The large greens putted nice, medium speed and are firm.

The customer service was excellent from everyone encountered. No drink cart today. Reasonably priced restaurant onsite that was super busy. No driving range, you have to go 1/2 mile down the street where the sister Santa Rosa course has a nice, all grass driving range. Definitely recommended.
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Meh, for the first time ever after playing Maderas, meh, let me explain. After all the rain this year and with all the o... » More

Meh, for the first time ever after playing Maderas, meh, let me explain. After all the rain this year and with all the other courses I have played on the last few months being ultra green and plush, today Maderas was not. Granted that they are about to close for a couple days to punch the greens (and possibly oversees?) Coverage was thin EVERYWHERE, with brown everywhere besides the putting green and the hill left of the 16th green.
Tees: thin, a couple overly crowned
Fairways: thin, running HARD, decent for full shots but made partial shots and pitches tricky
Rough: nonexistent, if your ball wasn't headed in the right direction there was nothing to stop or even slow it down
Bunkers: very nice, best part of the course
Greens: good, slow, way slower than they looked, accepted well struck shots but repelled anything less. The approach areas and areas around the greens were extremely thin making chips and pitches impossible for me, lots of Texas wedges and hybrids from around the greens
POP: about 4 hours never waited we just took our time
Customer service: top notch like always, they aim to please
Overall: I got a great deal on GN, $60, today Maderas was a $60 course, a nice one with great amenities, fun layout and excellent customer service, but the actual turf and playing areas weren't spectacular . . . you'd have thought we were still suffering from a drought!
I will definitely return well after the upcoming work to the course, return in hopes of finding green grass!
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Round two of the Indian Wells trip was the second 18 of the day at Terra Lago, this time on the South Course. After fini... » More

Round two of the Indian Wells trip was the second 18 of the day at Terra Lago, this time on the South Course. After finishing on the North, I had a really good sandwich for lunch in the clubhouse, then went out to the starter and got paired up with a threesome within about 10 or 15 minutes. Conditions were very much the same to me on the South as the North, very good greens, fairways, and tees, with decent rough as well. I don't think I found any bunkers on the North in the morning, but I do remember finding a fairway bunker (I believe it was the 16th hole) on the South that was in very good shape, not thin and not heavy and very pleasant to play out of. I enjoyed my round on the South, but I think I like the North little bit better. I know this is predominately due to pace, which is always going to be slower in the afternoon. It took around 4:40 to play 18, with a fair bit of waiting on many holes. I'll chalk some of that up to the wind as well, which had picked up a bit in the afternoon. Still a very pleasant round, and I bet if I had played this one in the morning, I might feel a bit differently.
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