Pleasantly surprised this morning when our foursome teed-off at #1 very close to our scheduled time AND we didn't have any extended waiting at any of the following tees. Perhaps the overcast and mist/drizzle discouraged walk-ons from playing today. Most of the tees are moved forward this weekend and the greens are nearly recovered from aeration, though some are still producing bumpy rolls.

Played on 4/17. Take in a round here every few months. It's a pleasant course with consistent conditions. Wide fairways lined with mature trees. Not much elevation change, though there are some sidehill lies if you wander outside the fairway on a few holes. Short rough, so you never lose a ball. The greens are recovering from aeration. Bumpy rolls and sandy. It'll be back to normal soon.

Played on Saturday, 3/18, with a dawn start. Fast play. Front nine tees were at the back of the box and back nine were moved forward. The conditions were the usual for this muni, nothing special, but good enough for a weekly fix. Finished in four hours.

Played on Saturday, 3/12. Started just about on-time at 6:30 a.m. and finished in 4 hours, walking the round. Had to wait for a few minutes on every Par 3 but that was OK as I played with my regular group of friends and the lull gave us time to shoot the bull. This was my second time playing CW in the past 6 months and I found it a good, quick bargain ($33 to walk) round. The greens are firm/hard so they're deceivingly faster than they look...even with a recent sanding. The fairways were fine with short to medium length rough. Sure, some of the tee boxes were kind of beaten up and the bunkers were far from fluffy, but it's a muni and you get what you pay for. Right? One other thing my buddies and I noticed was the friendliness of the other groups around us. Good people, regular folks, who enjoy the game and respect others who do. I may not play Chester Washington all the time but I will choose to play it again in the future.

Played on a crystal clear morning and started on-time at 7:00 a.m. The starter was friendly and helped us out by rearranging our courses for us -- starting on the River and finishing on the Pine. We'd never played here before and were pleasantly surprised. The tee boxes were in good shape, the vast majority were level and relatively divot-free. The fairways were in good shape too. I don't remember any bare spots but there were a few muddy areas where drainage looks to be an issue. The rough was just short enough to keep you from losing an errant drive. The greens were firm and pretty fast. Approaches and chips had a tendency to run more often than check, which can create challenges because some of the greens are small. We were a walking foursome and finished the front in about 2 hours, with virtually no waiting. But on the back, we caught up with the groups ahead of us -- a walking twosome immediately ahead and two fivesomes in carts ahead of them. We waited on each of the final 4 holes due to very slow play by the 2 riding fives, even though a Marshal was alongside them. It took 3 hours to finish the back (and we didn't take a break at the turn). Despite the slow play on the back, we enjoyed the round, and with weekend rate of only $33 fee to walk...I know we'll be back again.

Played last Sunday, March 14. The first tee was running about 20 mins late by mid-morning, but what a beautiful day to be out playing golf! The course is in fine shape. Though some of the tee boxes aren't level, none showed signs of excessive wear and tear. The fairways had consistently good cover and, as usual, the rough is trimmed to the point that it's sometimes hard to tell if you're inside or outside the edge of the fairway -- which can happen fairly often on the back where slanted fairways are more the norm than the exception. After drying out from the rainstorms of a few weeks ago, the greens have regained their speed and their deceptive twists and turns. My group left the 18th green shaking our heads after barely surviving a putting nightmare. Was surprised by the lack of ballmarks on the greens, it's always an unexpected pleasure to see public course players fixing their marks and being considerate of others! The only drawback was the pace of play. We finished our round in a near glacial 5.5 hours. If you have the time to spare, you should consider playing Los Verdes.

Played 1/24. Pre-sunrise tee and 38* air temperature made for a challenging morning. While this course weathered the recent rains fairly well, signs of the storms were visible in a few spots -- a fallen tree blocked the cart path on #4 and there was standing water in a few bunkers. The fairways were dry and playable, which was good, because the rough and lots of fallen leaves made it difficult to find errant drives. The greens were in great shape, holding approach shots well with forgiving slower speed. The tee boxes were OK, no worse than other public courses. We played on a discount email coupon from AGC...not sure that I'd play this course again if I had to pay the full rack rate.

Walked-on on Sunday morning. Courteous service from the starter and and a friendly greeting from the marshall at the first tee. Was lucky to be paired-up with three really great guys -- all Thousand Oaks residents who play the course regularly. Local knowledge isn't a really huge advantage here, but there are a few holes where their familiarity with lies and hazards came in handy. They said the back nine is more challenging than the front...and they were right. Overall, the greens were in good shape with the majority rolling smooth and consistently faster than most muni courses. Although the greens were holding well, some of the greens slant pretty radically, causing misplaced shots to roll off the green -- sometimes back into the fairway. That's where local knowledge is very handy. Most fairways look like they're going dormant and there are some thin lies, but for this time of year, it's fine. The tee boxes are showing some wear and tear, but none were terrible. We played at a good pace, with brief pauses on the Par 3 tees and few other holes waiting for the group ahead of us to clear the green or hit their second shots. Still, none of these pauses were troublesome...and although we had to hit a few provisionals along the way, the group behind us wasn't breathing down our neck. We finished in about four hours. I'd definitely go back to play Los Robles again.

Played early on 12/31. Courteous, friendly service from the Starter as well as the Marshall at #1. The fairways have gone dormant for the most part but the lies are still adequate. Overseeded tee boxes are green, lush, and in good condition. the greens and aprons were also overseeded and are in great shape -- rolling true at medium speed. It rained the day before we played, which made the greens forgiving on chips and almost sticky with a wedge. The pace of play was terrific, virtually no waiting on any tee or fairway, even though we were a three-some. We took our time and still finished in exactly four hours. Our group had a really great experience at Olivas Links and we will be back again -- if the drive from the South Bay were shorter, we'd play here a lot.

Walked on as a non-resident single on Wednesday, 12/23. Got on the list at 5:30 a.m. and was playing by 7:00 as scheduled. The starter was friendly and efficient. Overall, the course ws in great shape, considering the volume of rounds played daily and the time of year. The tee boxes were fine, though several are not level. Fairway conditions are pretty good and the short rough is very forgiving. Despite the unrepaired ball marks, the greens were good -- holding well and rolling smooth with consistent speed. With groups limited to four players, the pace of play was great. We finished earlier than I expected, in just four hours.

Played on the afternoon of Tuesday, 9/29. We were running late and arrived in the parking lot just 20 minutes before our 2pm tee, but it wasn't a problem because the course was quiet. Checked-in with the starter, paid $40 (thanks to the 50% discount coupon on Greenskeeper), loaded-up the carts, and teed it up on #1...right on time. Course conditions were great. Can't recall an uneven tee box and there were very few that had excessive divots. Fairway coverage was lush throughout and the rough was relatively short and manageable. There's a variety of terrain, with some forced carries (ravines and/or water) and narrow tree-lined shots from the tees. Some holes have the same challenges for second shots or sharp 90* doglegs. Club selection and accuracy are important on several holes - poor choices or errant hits can cost you strokes, balls, or force you to make blind approach shots over mature trees. There are plenty of yardage markers along the fairway. The greens rolled true and were quick but not fast. Plenty of tiered greens and undulation to keep the putting fun. The bunkers were dry and hard-packed - a little bit of additional sand would be nice. With no one behind us and an efficient four-some ahead of us, we weren't rushed and didn't have to wait on more than one or two of the Par 3s. We finished in a leisurely four hours.

As a muni player, I appreciated the conditions of this CC that is open for limited public play. The amenities included in the daily fee (cart, range balls and bottled water coolers along the course) are nice. There were a few things that bugged us, which isn't unusual at any course, but I'll mention them here to help you have a more enjoyable experience if you play here. First, there's no map on the score card and no GPS in the carts, so a first-time player without local knowledge can have a challenging time choosing some targets from the tee. We were in a hurry to tee-off, so I'm not sure if a map or yardage book was available in the pro shop. You may want to ask. Second, if water is your preferred beverage, you're taken care of all along the way, but during our late afternoon weekday round there wasn't any snack/beverage cart service on the course. Finally, if you plan to grab a quick sandwich at the turn, be sure to call-in your order per the sign near the 9th tee. Sandwiches are made to order in the clubhouse kitchen and can take a little while if you stop on the way to the 10th tee and don't order ahead. It helped that the staff was friendly and helpful, even packing our beers in an iced bag to keep them cool in the cart.

All in all, I'd say it was well worth the drive and definitely worth the fee to play here.

Played Skylinks on Sunday (9/20). Arrived in parking lot around 2:45 p.m. -- playing solo with no reservation -- and was teeing it up all alone at #1 by 3:00. The starter was friendly and honest, warning that I might not be able to finish 18 before dusk with a three-some already on the course a few holes ahead of me, but she was wrong. I holed-out on #18 by 6:30 p.m. after WALKING the round. Majority of the tee boxes were in good shape with a few showing a lot of divots. Fairway conditions were consistent with pretty lush coverage but the after-effects of some aeration were visible. The greens were also suffering from aeration. I heard that they punched 50% of each green about a week ago. Areas without aeration/sanding rolled smooth. No idea when they plan to finish the job on the remaining 50% of each green. You may want to ask the starter if you call for a reservation over the next few weeks.