This is a bit overdue as I also played in the GolfMoose/GK outing a week ago Monday. The course was in great condition and I really enjoyed my round here, despite loosing three points in my GK Cup match with mpisarski. There's not much to add to the previous review as everything was pretty much covered. Pace of play was good enough for an event of this type. The greens rolled slower than I had anticipated. Fast enough, but they could trick it out with a tighter cut; best not to do that on a public play day.

The course is definitely tricky enough with some knowledge of the landing areas. Poor tee shots will be certain death to your score. Knowing where to lay up is equally important.


The tees could have been mowed as they were on the shaggy side. The snack bar was not prepared for business during the round as they had one employee and service was slow.

All in all, it was a great day with lots of beautiful sunshine and great company.

Many thanks to The Oaks Club Valencia, JohnnyGK, Golf Moose, and Vivid Golf.

From 4/29/24

The Oaks at Valencia is a well-designed golf course that offers a variety of golf holes that are fun, interesting, and challenging. The course is built onto a scenic mountainside that features views of localized mountains and housing. This gorgeous course features large mature trees, strategic bunkering throughout, large waste areas, and several elevation changes. Be ready to hit up and down hills when playing here!


The Oaks places premium on accuracy off the tee as you are hitting into narrow to mid-sized fairways, and into small to medium greens from the fairway or on par 3s. The course defends itself with specified landing areas off the tee, well positioned bunkers, medium length rough, and fast sloped greens. There were a few doglegs and some blind shots with significant elevation changes. This course always requires the execution of quality golf shots, as being offline here introduces difficulty to achieve recovery, as there are hazards or OB on every hole. The course played slightly longer than its yardage, and fairways provided limited to medium roll out on drives and approaches with wind speeds between 10 mph to 20 mph on this day.


The course is very well maintained and in overall very good condition. The course layout is rated a 4.1 out of 5, conditions are rated a 4.4 out of 5.

I note that 16 of 18 holes are rated 4.4 or better for layout, however, the two par 5s on the back nine are a bit interesting in a not so good way due to odd elevation changes, blind shot requirements to odd landing areas that include unconventional green locations. This would be OK for one par 5, but not for both par 5s on the back nine. These two holes are the primary reason the layout rating is down to a 4.1. Thank goodness the remainder of the course is pretty awesome!


I note the following:

Tee Boxes: Level and green, no damage. Condition very good.

Fairways: Green, lush, and defined from rough. Grabby with limited rollout. Condition very good.

Greens: Green, medium-fast in speed, on the medium to firm side, and tricky to read at times. Speed about a 11. Condition very good.

Sand: Maintained with heavy consistency. Condition above average.

Rough: Maintained and defined, about 3 – 5 inches. Condition very good.

Waste Areas: Maintained with overgrown nature that offered little to no recovery potential. Condition very good.

Driving Range: Incredible driving range! You are hitting off an artificial turf surface down into a valley with an incredible mountain backdrop. This range was as good as it gets for the location and ran out at over 320 yards. I noted classic yellow range balls that flew well and were in very good condition. Love the Driving Range experience here!

Practice Area: Chipping area present was very nice, and the large putting green was in great shape and perfectly set. Conditions excellent on both. Speed of the practice putting green was consistent with the course's greens.

POP: 4.75 hours – very limited wait was encountered. We paced ourselves accordingly.

Other: Noted a nice golf shop, high grade.


This is a great golf course without a doubt, that requires a solid golf game to score. I loved this track and hope to be able to play it again in the future. Fully Endorsed!

Thank you Johnny and GreensKeeper.org, Golf Moose, and Vivid Golf for this Awesome Outing!

Ok so first time playing here so I don’t have a baseline to see if this is better than normal, but it’s in great shape except for one thing. 90% of the bunkers are terrible. The ones that aren’t small lakes look like they’ve never seen a rake. POP was terrible in my opinion. Played on a Monday and waited on every shot. 5 hours is way too long for this course. Never saw a Marshall the whole day.

Ok now for the good stuff,
Tee boxes pretty level, but grass was thin at times.

Fairways were in great shape and lush. Didn’t see any drown spots or severe divot damage some spots were a little soft.

Greens looked and rolled great with very few divot damage and they rolled very fast (which I prefer). Hole 13 though needs something done, if the pin is left of center and you are above the hole it will not stay on the green. Just a bit unfair.

Rough was good, they were mowing it while we were playing, so I can image it’s deeper on the weekends but was still playable.

Overall nice track with elevation changes and if the wind picks up it can get tricky. If you’re a long hitter some hole will play a little short but putting in play is a must as the oaks trees and doglegs place a premium on putting the ball on the proper side of the fairway. All in all I’ll be back and would recommend this course for golfers of most skill levels.

Weekend round with Mattias at Rec Park and found the course to be in pretty good shape overall. The weather was not as nice as hoped for but luckily the course conditions were good enough to overcome that.

We had a 1:20pm tee time and played from the blue tees. Ordered online with carts late but we both walked and were happy with the starter who gave us the walking rate and didn't lock us in to the cart rate - well done. Driving range is pretty odd but functional. Very old mats and balls.

Fairways were in good shape with the occasional thin areas out and about. The rough was not thick enough to be penal but there are a few areas to get in trouble here. Bunkers were pretty thin and didn't look too great, while the tee boxes were mostly okay - flat and level. Greens were running very inconsistently from hole to hole but in good shape in terms of coverage. There are few tricky greens here but most are pretty manageable. Lines and shots held pretty well but again, inconsistent speeds made them more difficult than they should be.

We had cart service come around a few times which was great, but the POP started off amazing as we never waited on a single hole until the par 4 6th where everything came to a grinding halt and we were two groups behind. This lasted throughout much of the rest of the round which was disappointing after such a nice start. Ultimately we played in just under five hours.

Rec Park is certainly the most 'Muni' of all the Long Beach courses but it's still fun on its day and I would give it a recommendation right now.

Green and getting greener. All good.
Had over 1.5" rain the day before and there was only one low spot with casual water.
All sun Sunday. 43 degree start to 60's little wind.
Rough cut low but damp and penal. Fairways offered roll play it down everywhere.
Greens recently verticut and rolling smooth medium pace. Easy to lag putt.
Burrito and beverages at the turn was tasty. $13 good value.
Fyi they will charge for the empty seat if a rider wants solo use. And on busiest of days they would run out of carts for those checking-in before the first groups play 18 if everyone wanted singles.

Played today @8am, I was happy to hear that it had recently re-opened so was wanting to get out before the crowds started booking. Nice POP with no just had to wait on tee for 5 mins for the threesome to clear but after that was smooth sailing. As others have said, price is a little steep for a 9 hole but I’d play again just not rush to go back. They kept 8 original holes from the course and I had to figure out which hole was which for yardage since no golf app has the new layout

Based on an old layout where the front 9 (first tee) was along the hotel. From there I was able to track it. So for those that are wanting to play and still waiting for apps to be updated. Here’s the layout and you can use the yardage from “The Grint” app.

New Old
#1 #17
#2 #18
#3 #1
#4 #15
#5 #14
#6 #2
#7 #13
#8 #12
#9(new hole not existent in old course)cut trees down and uses 11th hole green. It’s a par 3 so go based on yardage sign.

Overall not bad but like I said if I wanted to play a quick round on a good layout I’d come back but not rushing.

First review now that TopGolf took over. Too far away for me to usually play, but I had to take my daughter to a book convention in Santa Monica, so I had a few hours and tried out the new Lakes at El Segundo, adjacent to the new TopGolf. TopGolf owns it, and the entire complex has been redone to match TopGolf.

I will say, it far exceeded my expectations. It is a small Par 3 course with 10 holes. The longest hole plays 150, and most are in the 80-110 range.

I expected that due to the location, the course would get tons of play, and also lots of beginners. True and true. It was packed, and probably half of the players I saw had not likely been to a course more than a couple of times.

What I didn't expect was a course in great condition. Greens were great. Rolled very smooth, a hair on the slow side. And shockingly, they were not covered in ballmarks. Even though all these 100 yard holes probably get pounded daily, I would only find 3 or 4 marks to fix on each green.

Not much to say about fairways and rough for a Par 3 course, but everything else was fine. Bunkers looked nice, but I didn't get in any.

Although we were 20 minutes late starting, the marshall quickly saw a slow group on #2 and talked them into playing a scramble to move it along. And that worked, things moved great after that, and we were done in 1:20.

TopGolf itself looks fun - not really my thing though. TLAES though is a fun way to practice your wedge game and putting. Really nice putting green and chipping area as well.

I played 5/3 with a 2:30 start, the day after 24hourgolf so I'm just going to add a couple of comments to his review. Pretty much in agreement with his take, the only exception being the greens. A day can make a difference and since he played AM and I played PM, I think the better part of two days did. I didn't find the greens soft. And while they can get quicker here, they were running at what I consider a nice reasonably quick pace. I assume the pace will be increasing with time. Bottom line, the course is in nice shape right now.

A side note on service: it's consistently good here — pleasant and well organized. When I was paying up with Julius, I asked for a hand cart and he threw it in at no cost. Seems like a small thing but I appreciated the unexpected gesture and felt appreciated as a customer.

Played today May 3 for the courses' grand reopening. Kinda expensive to play, but the conditions are EXCELLENT right now. The tee boxes are nice and flat with nice grass, fairways and 2nd cut are perfect, bunkers have nice soft sand and the greens rolled slow, but true. PAR 35, Blues 3100, Whites 2900 and Reds 2600 yards. Our 4some teed off at 2:30 and finished at 4:15.

This was the last course we played for our golf group outing. Rack rate was $125 but given a discount because tee boxes were being aerated. It was a windy day when we played.

This course has a lot of up and down elevation. Some target golf as some fairways had some cervices that separated the fairways. Greens were in good condition and did hold shots when landed properly. Fairways were nice and lush and rough was cut higher but not penalizing. The greenside bunkers were compacted red sand. Cart GPS was very hard to read as it had a very small screen and only read distance to pin.

Overall I would rate this course at a $75 rack rate not $125. Staff were very friendly. For those who play the Inland Empire, I would compare this course to the likes of Hidden Valley.

This was course #2 in our golf group outing in the St. George area. It had the best scenery, especially through the back nine. Course conditions it came in #2 behind Black Desert. Rack rate was $125.

The course is a links style course with wide open fairways and nice greens. Tall thick grass beyond the rough made it difficult to find your ball if you landed there. Greens did not hold your shots and were fast. Most of us landed short and rolled it up to the green. Course was nice and green throughout. Greenside bunkers contained slightly compacted white sand but still easy to hit out off. Carts had GPS showing distances to all shots. Hole#16 Par 5 tees were moved up due to construction reducing it to only 380 yards.

Staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. Restaurant and clubhouse were very nice and served good food.

Played 3 courses in the St. George area with a large group outing this week. We were charged a $280 green fee, which was an increase of $30 from January. We were provided bag tags with our names engraved, free food from the taco truck, free unlimited refreshments and a forecaddie (tips not included in rack rate). Free range balls in the great practice area. Course has plans to go private and for resorts guests only in the future.

The course is in pristine condition. From the tees, fairways, roughs, traps and greens. You can literally putt from the fairway to the green. Landed in some green side bunkers which contained fluffy white sand. The layout of the course was challenging but not difficult. However, if you hit your ball into the lava rock area, consider it lost. Also, we had to play with 22 mph gusts. Carts are equipped GPS that provide a short narrative of hole layout. The forecaddie was very helpful with where to hit on the course and how to align your putts. He earned a great tip from each player in our foursome. We saw the cart girl 3 times during our round providing the free snacks and refreshments. All the staff members we encountered were very friendly and professional.

Unfortunately, there are some cons to this course at this time. The course is in the middle of a construction zone as they are rapidly building a resort and homes around the course. So, there was a lot of dust clouds with all the trucks driving around the area. Our bags became dusted with dirt. There is no clubhouse and the proshop/checkin is situated in a small trailer. The taco truck staff were not that friendly and appeared to be disgruntled when you placed an order. The truck left the course way before we all finished, and players will have to share the truck with all the construction workers which created long lines. No food at the turn since you do not go by the taco truck, so you will have to settle with potato chips and candy for refreshments. No alcohol but they do allow you to bring your own.

My overall review is that at this time it is pricey for all the construction noise, flying dust and food situation. Maybe closer to the $200 level right now. Will I play it again in the future? Yes, but maybe once the construction is completed.