I finally made it out to TPC Stonebrea and it took a Golfmoose outing to do it. Like others in the area the course sits way up on the hillside east of Hayward in a very nice gated community as you would expect for an elite CC of this nature. The views from the top of the course were awesome, and I could only imagine what dinner at night is like from the clubhouse. The pro shop is fairly small with just enough items to fill your souvenir bag/closet with an item or two.

Range (for us) was off mats with traditional yellow range balls. Carts had GPS and a cooler. What the course doesn’t have are any marking on the tees to tell you what hole you’re on. Nor where there any trash cans out on the course/ tee boxes. I imagine that was due to wildlife?

They had recently aerated the greens about 2-3 weeks ago and some had healed quicker than others. Within a week to 10 days all should be good to go. As of today, most were a bit slow (but not nearly as bad as Poppy Ridge) and then you’d find a typical medium-fast paced green. Greens are on the larger side with multiple tiers or at least all having a double tier. Because of the pronounced undulations and the slope of the hillside, most greens were easy to read, but some seemed to break against logic.

Fairways were nice and lush. Nothing spectacular but certainly above average. Fairways are fairly wide open but there are some dog legs and twists and turns to them that keep you honest. No real trees to get you into trouble but definitely some steep hillside (lateral hazards) that will steal a ball or two from you if you get wild off the tee or chose the wrong line.

Bunkers were a little thin. Playable but not the fluffy soft sand you’d expect from a course of this nature.

Overall it was a very fun and challenging course. With all of the elevation changes and some long transfers, I doubt you’d want to walk this course. Especially in the heat. It was worth the price tag and I’d play it again for sure.

Met up with Nor Cal GK’ers MKo and DeepSea14 yesterday for a little Nor Cal Birdie Battle, Peter coming off a hot streak in July with a string of birdies, me with new sticks and Mike fresh off a 5 birdie round. This is my second time playing Poppy Ridge and we played the same 2 nines (Zinfandel and Cabernet) as we did last time

Overall the course was in decent shape and very playable. Fun layout, that sits in the hills so naturally it has a ton of elevation changes. Unlike Bay View, Poppy Ridge traverses the hillside vertically so there’s no nasty side roll once you find the fairway which are normal in landing size.

Like the others mentioned. Greens were very painfully slow. Bunkers were a bit thin but manageable. The layout (and great company) supersedes the defects in the playing conditions.

As for the NC BCB. Ko started it off early on hole 2. I wrestled it away from him on the par 5 Fifth hole. We both had inside 10’ for birdie on #8 but neither converted. Mike then missed a great opportunity for birdie on the 12th hole after stuffing a wedge inside 4’. I too missed a good opportunity on the 17th hole with a tee shot about 9’ above the hole. It all came down to the par 5 18th. Both were in the fairway off the tee with Ko in a perfect spot to go for the green in two. I was just outside the comfort zone and played smart hitting to 60 yards out. Ko’s second shot was about 10 yards short of the green where he promptly chipped it and tapped the flagstick settling 2” away. I hit a poor third shot and then chipped to 2’ but had to hand back the Nor Cal Birdie King his chain!

A great time was had by all and we are searching our calendars for a rematch. Likely at Yocha Dehe!

Checked off another new course in the area yesterday afternoon when I played Wente Vineyards. I’ve heard a lot about this place so I was eager to see if it lived up to its billing. First off, I’ll address getting there. Plan your tee time accordingly to traffic. What should have taken me 25 minutes took just under an hour due to Friday traffic. Lessened learned on that one.

As far as the layout, this course is awesome. Plenty of grip it and rip holes with elevation changes and wide landing areas to build up the confidence, but then there are some short par 4’s that require precision off the tee with an iron. It also has a good mixture of par 3’s. As far as layout it concerned it checked all the boxes. The switch back climb from the 9th green to the 10th tee box which was reminiscent of Alpe D’Huez was fun in a cart but all but guarantees that you can’t walk this course (and still enjoy it).

Condition wise the course was fine. Somewhere between above average and top notch. Greens rolled smooth at a medium + pace. Greens were pretty docile as far as challenge goes. Most were single tier with modest slope. Or maybe my putter was just that good (27 putts total). Fairways were excellent, Nice and lush with great coverage throughout. Tee boxes and sand traps were ok. Nothing spectacular but nothing to complain about.

Customer service - Sucked. I gave it 2 stars for customer service and that was due to the bag attendant being great. The pro shop on the other hand was horrible. They were put out by the fact that I needed change (so I could tip the bag attendant) and looked down at me because I didn’t know the exact time of my tee time. I guess it’s too much trouble to look at the computer. Anyway, for that reason alone, I opted not to buy a shirt in the pro shop.

For layout and conditions, the track is worth playing. For price and customer service, I’d skip it. Not sure if I’ll ever play it again, but if I do it’ll likely be because a friend has invited me.

Joined a couple buddies from the valley who wanted to get out of the heat. We had an 8AM tee time and no issue with avoiding the heat. Couldn’t see the greens from 100-150+ yards out due to the low fog. The course remains in fantastic shape all around. Greens were a bit slower than normal at first but still rolled at a nice medium + pace and then sped up to the traditional medium fast pace. Greens are always on the firm side here so getting approach shots to stick can be tricky. Greens rolled true throughout the large multi tier complexes.

Fairways are excellent as well. They are lush and green throughout with not a dead/thin/brown area to be found on the course. Fairways aren’t quite the same carpet like experience as with Pebble or Quail but they are easily an 9 on the rating scale.

Tee boxes were level and lush as well. Of the three greenside bunkers I was in, two were excellent and one was average. All playable without a doubt. POP was just at 4 hours and we probably could have made that a little less but we waited longer than usual in the fog for the group ahead to clear. When it did we were almost a full hole behind and finished about a 1/2 hole back.

As we have mentioned before, Poppy Hills is a solid track that is fun, picturesque, has challenging greens and has all around good conditions. Well worth the entry price. They also appear to be letting carts on the fairway on a regular basis now.

Played yesterday morning with Eli1488 and my buddy Bob. We had a 7am tee time and were the 3rd group out. Course continues to impress me with the conditions of the fairways. The are over the top excellent. The greens rolled a bit slower than normal. They still rolled smooth at a medium-fast pace but they were a bit slower than at other times here. In fact, if I had one complaint about Spanish Bay (other than the severe undulating greens) would be the pace of the greens. They seem to change week in and week out from moderate to wicked fast.

I was in a few bunkers and noticed that a couple were a bit thin with the sand. On hole 14 they have a couple bunkers under repair with piles of new sand ready to go. Hopefully they are upgrading all of the bunkers so they will have perfect fluffy white sand throughout. As of now, they are all playable but not top notch Pebble Beach quality.

POP was about 4:15 which for an early morning was a bit on the slow side but the waiting wasn’t too bad. We never saw the sun the entire round which is normal for the peninsula this time of year. No wind to speak of so that was a decent trade off.

Checked off another new course in the area. Played Bay View this morning with a7AM tee time to beat the heat. A buddy from San Jose joined me an it was his fist time playing as well. Check in was great as the gentleman in the pro shop was awesome. Super friendly and helpful. I grabbed a small bucket of balls (extra) and hit the range. This might have been the strangest part of the entire set up. Range is off of mats, which is no big deal. It’s irons only (not a problem for a warm up) and is super narrow (odd but ok) with a large lake running down the left side of the narrow landing area. The must teach scuba diving at in the afternoon to retrieve all the balls.

On to the layout. The entire course is on a hillside similar Callipe Preserve and Spring Valley. The difference with Bay View is that most holes traverse the hillside horizontally so the fairway has some serious slope making your landing area tiny. I will say that I didn’t lose a ball all day so it is possible to navigate around the course. The layout has a good variety of holes with less than driver off the tee and dog legs left/right. There are also a few water hazards on the course. If you told me the same person designed both Bay Hill and Callipe Preserve, I wouldn’t be surprised.

As far as conditions go, it wasn’t too bad. Greens were very nice. They rolled smooth at a medium pace initially then sped up as the sun warmed things up. Greens have some tuff slope to them but they are predictable.

Fairways were decent for the most part. Overall they had good coverage but there were a number of thin and dead areas throughout the course. Rough was consistent throughout. Only about 1’ tall and not very penal.

Most tee boxes were level, though a couple had a bit of unevenness to them. Sand traps had good quality sand in them.

Conditions weren’t as nice as Callipe Preserve but they were good enough for the $50 w/ cart early bird special. They also do a senior special (Tue, Wed, Thur) prime time for $55 with range balls and a drink.

I’m pretty sure I’ll play here again.

Quick review. The Tournament Course will undergo aeration on August 7-8
The Valley Course will undergo aeration on August 21-22

Played yesterday afternoon. Wind was up which was actually nice as it kept temps down a bit. Summer heat is showing as the fairways now have a few brown areas. Not bad overall. Just a few here and there. Greens are excellent unrated them an 8 but really they could be a 9.

Sand traps have nice sand in them but sadly no one here ever takes the traps.

Wanting to check out a never played before course while up in Fremont, I decided on Callippe Preserve. This course sits a couple miles off Hwy 689 between Sunol and PLeasanton. Course is tucked up in the foothills that was mainly dry hills. The two kids in the pro shop were excellent and the starter was OK. I joined to local retiree’s who guided me around this fun but tricky layout. The course has a ton of elevation changes throughout and a number of forced carries over barranca. It has a good mixture of holes that require strategy off the tee.

Greens had some serious undulations to them. They rolled true but at a slow pace. Greens also held approach shots very well. Fairways were also nice and lush for the must part. There were a few thin brown areas but not that many. Overall the fairways were very nice.

Rough wasn’t too penal. Just enough to hold up your ball from rolling into the barranca. Tee boxes and bunkers were of good quality. POP was slow (almost 5 hours) which is apparently the norm for this place. Overall it was a fun course and I’ll definitely play it again.

After the weather canceled two attempts to play here in March and April, we finally got out and played Spyglass yesterday afternoon. As expected the course is in perfect condition tee to green. After watching a bit of the Women’s US Open down the road, I headed to the range. To my surprise we were hitting off the grass. This is a rarity at the Spyglass range. Due to the Pebble range being closed off the range was packed. I even ran into a GK’er who was preparing for a tournament at Spanish Bay.

Onto the course, and it played perfectly. Greens were smooth as glass (and rolled at about the same speed). Greens held approach shots well and though at first glance, they look docile, they can be wickedly tough with sneaky big breaks. My go to caddie (Mitch ) was playing with us and even he had trouble with matching up the speed to the break.

Fairways were like carpet. A nice lush emerald green carpet. And none of that factory second junk. There wasn’t a blemish to be found on the entire course. Rough was also lush and consistent throughout. Rough seemed to be a bit more manageable than usual. But not easy by any means.

Tee boxes were level, lush and divot free. Top golf wishes they had hitting mats this good.
If I had to give the course a ding, it would be the sand traps. All were beyond good, just some were a tad thin (nitpicking here). POP was just over 5 hours yet as one of my friend (who was playing it for the first time) said, it went by too fast. At courses like this, you just don’t mind a 5 hour round. We never saw the sun all day, but it wasn’t too cold. About a 1 club wind the majority of the day was all. Expected for an afternoon round here.

An enjoyable (but strenuous) walk with some of the most magnificent golf anywhere. Obviously, highly recommended.

Where to begin…. Yes, I still thoroughly enjoy the layout of this course. However, conditions are dwindling fast. Not sure if the course is in a state of transition due to the housing construction and turf transition or if they are focusing in on the bigger money (the housing development) instead of the course.

Greens are still firm and fast and roll true for the most part. There are some greens that have some disease on the edges but for the most part they kept the pins away from those areas.

Fairways aren’t too bad. It’s just there isn’t much of them (fairways) They have ripped up half of the course both the fairways and the immediate areas surrounding the fairways. There is about 10’ of rough which is thick enough to stop the ball if hits it. However if you miss the rough your ball will sail off to no mans land.

Most tee boxes were ok but 1 or 2 were dirt. Construction for the housing is in full force. Bottom line is this place is changing at rapid pace. The question is will it be for the better….

Played Del Monte this morning with a 9:30 tee time. Course is in excellent shape all around right now. They are getting ready for the Monterey City amateur tournament in a week or two so they have the course in prime condition. Greens were fantastic all around. As mentioned before, the greens are smaller in size with most being single tier with a traditional back for from slope. Greens remain slick downhill and manageable uphill. The greens rolled super smooth all day long.

Fairways rivaled that of the the big three in PB! They were that good. Very lush, extremely green and offered a perfect hitting surface as well as some roll out. As I mentioned in Feb. there is actually some rough at Del Monte now. Not too penal but definitely enough to get your attention and to stop extra roll out. Not sure if it was my imagination but the actual fairways seem to have been grown in on a few holes. Might be for the upcoming tournament or it could have been my imagination.

Tee boxes were great as well. All were level with very little divot damage. Sand boxes were good quality with a couple being a bit thin. There was a women’s group tournament out early so POP seemed slow as we waited on every shot but it was actually just over 4 hours so not too bad in reality. It was actually a bit of relief as I was walking and the other three were riding in carts so it allowed me to casually stroll to my ball.

Customer service is more of a home cooked meal feel than a stuffy high end restaurant, in that it’s casual, relaxed and you’re made to feel welcomed.

The diner next to the pro shop is now open again after being closed for the remodel for some time. The course does have a few peeks at the ocean (if the fog clears) but you come to this place for the conditions and the old school parkland style layout.

You wouldn’t fly across the country to come play here but you want a course with great all around conditions to open up your peninsula golf outing then Del Monte fits the bill.

The last stop of the San Diego leg of my So Cal trip landed me at Twin Oaks. This was my first time playing here. I had a bit of heads up on the layout and conditions from Long4Par. It was a fun layout with decent enough conditions. The layout sets on a hillside so there are some elevation changes throughout but nothing severe. Just enough to keep it from being flat and boring. There are a few water hazards on the course to add to the aesthetics and challenge. I liked the placement of the water in the fairways on 15. It’s a shirt Par 4 with the water in the preferred landing area so it makes you choose your club off the tee wisely

As far as the greens go they were in real nice shape. In fact they may have been the best of the trip. Greens rolls smooth at a faster pace than the other courses played. Greens were also soft and receptive to hold approach shots. Half the greens were single tiered with little slope and the others were double tiered making it crucial to be below the hole or at least on the correct level

Fairways were very soggy. There were also som GUR on the fairways throughout the course. Overall the fairways were average to a bit below average muni shape.

Tee boxes were level with good coverage Grass was a bit shaggy on the tee boxes but not an issue at all on holes with driver and really didn’t interfere with iron shots.

Overall it was a pleasant experience that I wouldn’t hesitate to play again.