Played on Thursday, 5/25 as part of the GK Guru Course Review. Many thanks for my memorable playing partners, Walnutgolf... » More

Played on Thursday, 5/25 as part of the GK Guru Course Review. Many thanks for my memorable playing partners, Walnutgolf, Zgolfingan and itslikeimsaying. Thank you, Johnny for setting this up.

If you never played this Arthur Hills deep rolling terrain gem before, I strongly suggest that you preview/print GK Playing Tips on this website. It will be extremely valuable on club selection and guidance to ball placement from the tees. We played from the Blue Tees, measuring 6,312 yds, with a 133 Slope, Par 71. Pace of play was 4:12.

The course is located about 7 miles west from Temecula Old Towne. Easy access from I-15. Beautiful rolling terrain with some holes bordering grapes being grown for a local winery. Only 2 water holes but deep ravines and constant elevation changes. A few quirky holes on the Back 9 (#14, #16, #18) will test your shot placements and club selections. You won't always hit driver or even 3W on some Par 4's.

The Bent/Poa mixed greens were putting moderately fast, stimping around 8.8. Certainly faster when above the hole. Most greens were multi-tiered and undulating. Ball placement is critical to low scoring success. The greens were firm, with very few ball marks. Tip: If you laser a 150 yds shot to the flag, allow for about 5-8 ft of roll except when hitting downhill approaches.

Fairways, tee and roughs are Bermuda/Poa annua mix. Turf coverage was good to very good. There are 5 multiple tees placements per hole. Tees were generally leveled, the exception being the Blue tee on the Par 3, 17th.

All of the Par 4's and Par 5's fairways were striped (mowed) for stunning visual effects. I loved the attention to this detail. The course was drying out quickly from the constant wind. Some turf wilting noticed holes with slopes and exposed sun areas. The closely mowed turf allow the ball to sit up nicely on most holes. Some unfilled divots seen in high traffic landing areas.

The sand traps offer good target visuals. However, the brown sand was very compacted and not visually pleasing. The course could certainly benefit from edging and removing Bermuda runners creeping into the bunkers.

The course has the making of being a very nice track. I was impressed with the staff professionalism extended from the Pro Shop, Starter and Cart Beverage Girl (who came by about every hour). The aged Yamaha golf cart fleet could use an upgrade. Our cart came with a ripped driver seat and no windshield. No cart's GPS, though yardages are found on sprinkler heads. The day's pin placements sheets were displayed inside the carts. Two sand bottles per cart. No cooler or club/ball washers.

Now that I have played the course, I want to play it again. GK has a great coupon rate for 2. Please take advantage of it!

Note: I had no cell coverage from the parking lot to the 10th tee. Difficult to call the spouse of my arrival and ending of round.
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What a difference a week makes . . . after reading the GK Guru reviews from last week I was looking forward to getting b... » More

What a difference a week makes . . . after reading the GK Guru reviews from last week I was looking forward to getting back up there. I have always liked the layout as it is a real challenge in many spots. Well, conditions weren't exactly, (with apologies to Andrew) "best I've ever seen them". The greens (and the guy at the front desk told D-Con they would be a bit slower than last week after the Member/Guest tournament so we were warned) were overall pretty slow and I saw a few putts get bounced off line. The fairways were dry and hard, but mostly were fine to hit from as long as your ball avoided the aeration holes. Rough was rough, spotty and inconsistent. I had a few "how am I going to hit this" lies. Puffs of grass, hard pan, sandy areas, rough. Bunkers were ok, mostly groomed dark colored sandy dirt, but playable. On hole #5, the short par 3 the reeds have been allowed to grow so tall you can't see the green from the tee box at all, just the top of the flag. Not an overly hot day but the water stations were empty. Clubhouse is nice?
I really like this course and hope I'm not being overly picky due to the anticipation of thinking the course was in great shape and finding it dry and hard with slow bumpy greens. maybe they just hadn't watered since last week?
. . . and I will throw out the disclaimer that I played pretty well, especially playing from the Blues and won my GK Cup match so these aren't just sour grapes, just disappointed ones.

I still strongly recommend this course as a great place to play, usually an all around great golf experience from the clubhouse to the warm-up areas, course, customer service, etc. Just look for a deal and don't expect resort conditions.
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Have played several times prior but this review is based on today's play. Played today with Acesfull and Abbacat. We fin... » More

Have played several times prior but this review is based on today's play. Played today with Acesfull and Abbacat. We finished in under 4 hours, I wish that was the case every time. Perfect weather with company to match. I made my own combo tees and played between the orange and red tees as the red tees are too long and the orange tees are too short. Tee boxes were in excellent conditions and were very level. Fairways were great, few divots but they were filled. Greens were medium to slow and no bumps or divots. They rolled really nice. Sand traps were nice and easy to get out of. Sand felt like the sand at the beach. There is a cart girl that comes around with drinks and snacks. The restaurant/snack bar at the turn has excellent food. I think this is one of the nicest LA City courses and worth the play!!
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Typical William P. Bell course. Very traditional much like Brookside in Pasadena. Wide fairways and multi tier greens. F... » More

Typical William P. Bell course. Very traditional much like Brookside in Pasadena. Wide fairways and multi tier greens. Fairways are tree lined, but you can still work your way through them. Some of the greens are well bunkered and some very tight pin positions make getting close to the flag a challenge. Course was built back in the 1940's so very mature trees where some of them come into play on your approach shots to the greens so positioning is important. Easy course to walk and enjoyable. This was a private course, but was sold about 2 months ago and turned public.
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I played here last Friday after work; me and a buddy teeing off at around 3:50 p.m. I paid $17 to ride, he paid $6 on th... » More

I played here last Friday after work; me and a buddy teeing off at around 3:50 p.m. I paid $17 to ride, he paid $6 on their monthly Players Club. The course continues to be in fine shape. They have really stepped up the maintenance on the course. In the past there was all kinds of litter from the many trees all over the place, but now it looks like they regularly rake it all up. Tee to green there is good amounts of grass growing, without the drought stressed look that has been so prevalent over the last few years at many courses. The greens ran medium fast, smooth, and it looks like most of them were edged (something that few municipal courses seem to have time or resources to do). There was some hydraulic fluid damage on nine green. Tees were mostly level and had good coverage. A few were well divotized as this is mostly par-3's. Sand looked nice, although I was not in any bunkers. The pace of play was a bit slow, but it was the beginning of a holiday weekend so there were a lot of players. We finished this par 60 course in 3 hours, 45 minutes.
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Played a very nice round today with Teagal and Abbacat. Course is in very nice condition going to the summer with lushne... » More

Played a very nice round today with Teagal and Abbacat. Course is in very nice condition going to the summer with lushness all around and very few areas of any issue. Greens medium slow but in good shape with almost no divots anywhere. Two boxes level and nice, fairways good lush, good as well. Rough just a little longer. Sand always nice here. Definitely the nicest of any of the LA city courses that I've played on a consistent basis. Jordan?? (From Minnesota) at the pro shop super nice. The guys here now are so much better than the grumpy old guys that used to be here. Good practice facilities and a very nice round with no delays today. Really a nice, enjoyable day of golf. Perfect weather, light breeze. Friendly cart girl ran into on 14 and 16. The nice thing about this course is it doesn't use yardage as the challenging factor like most of the LA City course is too. It's nicely laid out and while no holes are particularly memorable they all have their own little challenges with the greens smaller and approaches can at times be tough.
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I'm on a quest this year to go back to all of the courses from my early playing days 4-5 years ago and break 100 on each... » More

I'm on a quest this year to go back to all of the courses from my early playing days 4-5 years ago and break 100 on each where I failed to do that. Today was that day at Skylinks, so Kassper7 and I hit the sticks with an 8am tee time, walking for $60, and paired with a very nice Lithuanian-American father and son duo.

I honestly did not remember much about Skylinks from my first visit but will certainly have a much better memory of it now after playing a far superior round and really enjoying the course in a much more sophisticated manner. It's actually in very nice condition right now and well worth that walking rate.

Greens are just a delight to play on and, with the exception of few little ball marks here and there, were very good surfaces to putt from, rolled very true, were fun and tricky, and also held well-struck shots very well. Really nice. The fairways have great coverage as well with barely any bad lies all day, unless after a poor tee shot I found myself under any of the many trees where the surfaces got rather thin and/or mulchy. Rough was in nice shape as well, easy to hit from mostly.

Tee boxes were great - flat, level, lush and easy to get your tee into every time. If there was a 'low' point it was the bunkers, but they weren't at all bad. Easily playable, just not the super fluffy kind you love at top courses. But again, just nit-picking here.

The layout is much more fun than I remember the first time, but I will always find the first hole rather 'meh.' It's a 200 yard layup before the lake guarding the green and personally I just don't find it ideal with a cold start. But again, that's just me. The rest of the course is very challenging, and they certainly don't making reaching the par 5s in two easy with all of the bunkers guarding those second shots - layups are the name of the game here.

All in all a very fun round and happy to report that Skylinks is now OFF the 'need to break 100' list ... unfortunately there are still quite a few more that need fixin'!
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Played a round at KCC on Saturday with three friends and had a really fun time despite a few little hiccups along the wa... » More

Played a round at KCC on Saturday with three friends and had a really fun time despite a few little hiccups along the way, mostly in terms of early POP and some thin areas around the course, but nothing too awful.

If you play Knollwood often, you just need to know that a six-hour round is almost always a distinct possibility. It was looking like that for our group as well and we waited on every hole and then had a big pile-up at the fifth tee box. Luckily though, it seemed to ease up a bit on the back nine and we finished in just over five hours. Not great, but certainly not as bad as it looked early. The very slow snack shop/diner at the turn does little to get things moving.

As far as the course conditions, not too bad. I found the greens to be in nice shape overall and there are definitely a few tricky ones to work with around the course. They hold shots well and for the most part roll quite true. Likely the highlight of the course conditions.

There are definitely some thin areas to navigate around KCC, but overall the coverage is okay. As the last reviewer noted, it seems to thin out around the greens which can make those little chips quite tricky. Sand is usually in fantastic shape at Knollwood but the bunkers were a little less fluffy than their usual selves. Tee boxes were a mixed bag - some great, some kind of beat up. Pick your poison.

I played the blue tees which is a nice challenge at Knollwood. Not super long per se, but it definitely makes you work the right lines around this rather narrow, but at times quite beautiful track. The views from the tee box on #4 and #16 are very cool indeed. In summary, if you're not super pressed for time, Knollwood is a good choice right now for a fun round. And yes, still the toughest opening hole in SoCal!
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Played the Blacks (6651/71.2/122) twilight in 4.5H. The weather was in the 70's, bright, sunny and breezy. Matched up wi... » More

Played the Blacks (6651/71.2/122) twilight in 4.5H. The weather was in the 70's, bright, sunny and breezy. Matched up with with Josea, Tyler and Steve, excellent group to play with!

Tyler was maybe 9 years old and played the red tees on par 3's and teed off from the 250 yard marker on the other holes. Quite impressive, his dad Steve, a former college FB player who could bomb it had taught him all aspects of the game well. It was awesome to see them interact and Tyler answer questions about what he was trying to accomplish on a particular shot. He had a birdie and a couple of pars playing this way, which I found to be an excellent way to train a junior golfer on how to play on a real course. Josea was a college golfer who has aspirations of going pro, he had an birdie, eagle, birdie stretch mid round and managed the course expertly having never seen it before.

Stepped out of my comfort zone and played the black tees for the 1st time here. Six holes account for almost all of the 219 yard difference in the Blacks and the Blues. You start adding 30+ yards to 1/3 of the holes and it completely changes the complexion of those holes.

SH is a fun, 35-36 par 71 layout with lakes coming into play on holes 4, 5, 14, 15 & 18. Plenty of mature trees and rollings hills and to also keep things interesting. Challenging course to walk, constantly up/down rolling hills on the front 9, the back 9 is flatter.

The tees were fairly lush with few unfixed divots.

The Kikuyu fairways were mostly lush, well maintained & had good coverage.

The Kikuyu rough was semi lush and mowed down fairly close near the fairways. The farther away from the fairways it gets thinner and there is more hardpan and wood chips in some turf reduction areas.

The sand traps were nicely maintained with a decent amount of medium to large grain brown sand.

The greens were very receptive to holding approach shots. They putted medium fast and were smooth/consistent from green to green.

The customer service was good, quick efficient check in. Second round in a row here I was hitting my 1st tee shot almost exactly when my tee time was. No marshall here, but the drink cart out and around several times today. Nice snack shop on the turn with excellent burgers. Medium difficulty course in above average condition @ good prices. For a city course, tough to beat.
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Although this is a country club the course and facility is equal to an average muni. Come for the scenery not so much fo... » More

Although this is a country club the course and facility is equal to an average muni. Come for the scenery not so much for the golf. Fairways are a mix of every type of grass. Rough is being taken over by clover. Traps have no sand to beach type sand. Several tee boxes are sloped or uneven. Greens were punched over a month ago and have not healed. Very bumpy and slow. Tule river runs through the course and beautiful wood carvings throughout. Look for deals, bring food and drink as they have no cart person.
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Played here for first time, Saturday 5/27/17.

Landed here after finding a $45 Saturday 745am tee time online. Cal... » More

Played here for first time, Saturday 5/27/17.

Landed here after finding a $45 Saturday 745am tee time online. Called Pro Shop to be sure everything was in order as I was surprised to find such a reasonable price. They assured me course conditions were great, and they were right.

Conditions were excellent. Tee boxes level with very good coverage.

Fairways, while just a bit firm and thin, were also very good. Good coverage and green throughout.

Greens were also excellent. Very smooth, rolling beautifully. Minimal ball mark damage, and a well defined fringe / first cut, surrounded by a very nicely manicured and lush 2nd cut. Most greens are receptive and relatively flat. There are a couple tiered greens, #12 has a huge bowl on lower right which made for a very gettable pin location.

Layout is unspectacular but well done and great views of mountains throughout. Very wide fairways (widest landing areas, in some cases, that I can recall of any course in the area.) Greens are well protected with bunkers, and the last 3, a par 4, 3, and then a good risk / reward par 5, are perhaps the toughest on the course. Challenging finish.

Not a lot of traffic on the course. Very nice and large restaurant with a lot of outdoor seating, which was pretty full when we arrived. Appears to be a popular spot with the locals. Has a classic '50's vibe throughout.

One negative was lack of driving range. Only a handful of hitting stations, off of a very hard surface, into a net. However, nice chipping a putting areas.

Enjoyed the round, feels like a course which can yield a good score.
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Walked on to play super-twilight at 4pm on Friday, 5/26/17. I wanted to get in some swings prior to my GK Cup 10 match o... » More

Walked on to play super-twilight at 4pm on Friday, 5/26/17. I wanted to get in some swings prior to my GK Cup 10 match on Sunday. The putting green was empty, and the tee uncrowded, so the starter got me out early with a local single at 3:30 - nice. Weather was partly cloudy and breezy and we moved along OK until we ran into a loud foursome playing music and bending elbows and being all over the course – staggered in at 7:35, in just over 4 hours.

As previous reviews noted, everything is in great shape except the greens, which got slammed a few weeks ago after a fertilizer mixture error was followed by hot drier weather, and they burned up. The course is working to bring them back - all greens had scattered thin/bare areas, some more than others. Greens on holes 6, 8, and 15 had to be resodded, and are much softer; some of the others are very firm. Those in better condition are being left “furrier” to make sure they don’t regress, so speeds are only medium fast. We saw lots of old and new ballmarks.

Fairways were firm and gave good lies and rollouts, but we saw many unfilled divots. Rough was cut short and very playable, then you got to the ESA! Traps were all very good quality – except for the many unraked areas. Tees were mostly OK, but many were sloping; there was divot damage on many non par-3s, which was strange.

The course is using an entry/exit gate system to minimize cart damage along fairway margins. There’s a good GPS in the carts, but hole locations shown today varied from “just off” to “way off” – we learned quickly to check with your own tools. You see many signs along the ESA areas warning you against going in and to be aware of rattlesnakes. This was the first time I’d seen the sign (along the regional park on hole #2) to be aware of possible mountain lions!

I enjoy this layout. Recommended – just be ready to be patient with the greens for a while.
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