Trying to get caught up on reviews. Played Dragonfly on Monday 5/8 as well as back in March. The course is improved quite a bit from the horrible March condition but it isn’t quite back to normal Dragonfly above average shape.

Greens weren’t bad as most were fairly smooth and rolling at a nice medium fast pace. Fairways in March were really beat up. They have improved significantly and though they might not look pristine, they prevent a very decent hitting surface. Tee boxes were ok. Nothing to complain about and nothing to brag about. Bunkers are so much better now than in last years. No issues at all.

POP was a bit slow but then my buddy struggled on the back nine so we lost pace as it was.

Not worth a trip but worth playing if in the area

Finally made it back out to Ridge Creek after about a 6-7 month hiatus. I almost forgot how much fun (and tough) this course is. We got it on a perfect sunny 72 degree day that made it a pleasant walk. The course is still transitioning from winter dormant to its lush summer green so the fairways still have a lot of brown to them but they present a great lush hitting surface as well as offer plenty of roll out.

Greens were receptive to approach shots and rolled true at a medium pace. RC usually aerates their greens in June so the greens are starting to show signs of heavy use in regards to pitch marks. Greens at Ridge Creek are nice and large and at first appearance appear docile but they present plenty of challenges in regards to breaks.

It looks like they have completed all of the bunker restoration. The sand is a very grainy almost small pebbles, but it’s deep enough to easily get a club under and it’s consistent.

Tee boxes were fine. RC has some very wide tee markers so you can usually find a good level spot that’s divot free.

Many of us have mentioned it before and I’ll say it an again. Keep it between the lines off the tee and the course is for the taking (2 birdies on the back nine) Stray off line and you will be adding those OnCores’s to auto ship! Theirs is a “first cut” of rough which is only about an inch tall. After that it 2’ tall weeds. I shot 11 strokes better on the back just by finding fairways.

Bottom line good track, good conditions and good times Restaurant is also worth eating at.

Played in the GolfMoose outing on Monday 4/17/23, teeing it up with JohnnyGK and RGM2525
This was my first time playing this course and I enjoyed the layout a lot. As the name suggests, it sits on a hill and just about every shot has some sort of elevation gain/loss to it. Some fun and creative dog legs in conjunction with the elevation changes makes for an exciting and challenging experience. Not only are all 18 holes different and unique but they are different and unique to every other course anywhere. Yet, They didn’t seem gimmicky

Conditions wise I’ll admit that whereas they were certainly acceptable, they were a tad below country club level. No issues with the greens as they rolled fast and true. Greens were a tad firm but nothing major. Fairways were average. A bit thin with some sporty coverage here and there. Again, nothing that hindered play and shots but not the carpet fairways of elite CC’s.
Tee boxes were level with good coverage Sand traps were ok. Some were thin to little dirt others very playable. It was a shotgun outing and POP was the usual 5 hours.

Weather was overcast and chilly. We never did see the sun. Course was certainly worth the price of admission and I’d play it again for sure.

Played yesterday afternoon walking as a twosome with RGM2525. This is a great course that will eat your lunch as soon as you blink! The course is set on a hillside so you have several off cambered lies to add to the challenge. Every hole is unique so you never get the “been there played that” feeling. It certainly helps to have a seasoned veteran with you who knows the course inside and out.

Conditions were very nice. Greens rolled excellent at the perfect medium fast pace. A couple greens were a tad slower than expected but they rolled true every time.

Fairways were nice and lush with good coverage throughout. No issues with all the rain as this course drains extremely well being built on a hill and having a good sand base. Most tee boxes were flat with good coverage but one of the par 3 tee boxes was heavily riddled with old divots. But that might have been the hole i birdied so I can’t complain! I was in a couple of bunkers and the green side traps had great sand.

Course is a challenging layout for sure but definitely fun to play. It’s a great walk but again it’s a hilly terrain so you have to be in decent shape to walk it.

Definitely worth a drive and play

Being that Kern River was one of the few courses open during the pandemic, I wanted to show some support and played here during the weekend on my Bakersfield trip. It was also a good course for my buddy who hadn’t played since September as Kern River is forgiving off the tee with its parkland setting. Aesthetically, the track is set on a gentle hillside so it’s not completely flat and it offers several views of the Kern River reservoir lake which was busy during the perfect low 70’s weekend day.

Course is in decent muni like condition. Pretty much what you would expect from a course at this price point. Greens rolled true albeit at a medium-slow pace. Most greens are two tiered so they are manageable (2 birdies on the day) if on the correct tier but difficult (three, 3 putts) if on the wrong level. Also, they had a “masters” tournament in the morning and had some nasty pin locations

Fairways were average. Decent enough but nothing to brag about. The pleasant surprise were the sand traps. They were in excellent condition with nice light fluffy sand. Bunkers are where most courses in the price point fail but Kern River excels.

My main issue with this place is the par 70 rating for a course that plays 6350 yards from the whites. There are 4 par fours that are around or over 450 yards and three par 3’s over 200 yards including one that was 225 uphill playing into the wind. That’s PGA stuff not double digit handicap (or worse beginner) yardage

Other than that it’s an enjoyable experience.

After seeing the review by T8fish, I decided to stop and play hunter ranch on the way home yesterday. Wow! What a difference five weeks makes. Course is in excellent shape right now. Greens rolled true as always at a nice fast (compared to the Bakersfield courses) pace. The fairways are voted most improved! The are just shy of a 9 rating. Fairways are lush and deep green throughout sans a few areas (on the entire course) here and there. Bunkers rivaled that of Pebble. The only area still in need of improvement are the tee boxes. Other than that the course is in fantastic condition.

Definitely back on the highly recommended list!

After it took four years convince Roarksown1 to come up in January last year to play Spanish Bay and Spyglass Hill, we tentatively set a play date for Pebble in January 2023. As everyone knows the weather did not cooperate at all this year. I was able to secure a tee time on April Fools day and the hardest part was convincing everyone (caddie included) that it wasn’t a joke. We actually had a tee time. Weather was perfect. Sunny, Low 60’s, and very little wind

Driving range was on the mats which I assume was due to previous weather as it’s too early to keep people off the grass for the Women’s US Open I called on my go to
Caddie, Mitch to do the heavy lifting and carrying my bag and Robs. Mitch has the perfect blend of technical skills (green reading, etiquette , ball spotting, etc) and personality. It’s why he’s my go to caddie.

Course conditions were spot on. Yes the greens had been aerated about 5 days earlier but we knew that going into the round. Still, they rolled surprisingly fast and fairly true, with the exception of a few bumps here and there.

Fairways were somewhere between a 9.5 and a 10. Super lush and green throughout. Fairways did not show any signs of the 32” of rain we’ve had this year. And yes the sink hole has been repaired

Bunkers: I was in a lot of sand traps throughout the day and they were all top notch. All had great white fluffy sand.

Tee boxes were also super. Level and lush with no signs of divots
Rough is being grown in and up but as of now it’s still manageable. That will change as we get closer to the LPGA tournament on July.

I played absolutely horrible but still had a great time. My only complaint was that it was just a bit too cold to put the top down on the way in!

I once heard a saying that the definition of perfect isn’t that everything goes right but that everything goes right given the circumstances. If that’s the case then it was a perfect day. After having lunch at the Tap Room and paying all my outstanding debts ( most of which I got back the next day at Poppy Hills) I put the top down and drove home with a huge smile. It’s that type of course.

This course has a fun layout with several water hazards in play. There is a variety of hole shapes to keep things interesting as well. Course is flat but far from boring. Overall conditions are average. Greens roll fairly true at a medium pace.

Fairways still have a number of thin areas throughout the entire course. Fairways had enough coverage to present a decent hitting surface but that’s about it

Tee boxes were all in good condition with only the short par 3’s being heavily riddled with divots.

Bunkers remain hard pan dirt. Great customer service and POP was on the slow side I attribute it to a nice sunny day and everyone was trying to get their “weekend” golf in. Can’t blame them. The track isn’t worth a special journey to Bakersfield for but certainly worthy of a play if in the area

I joined Roarksown1 at Poppy Hills on 4/2 for a little match play (does this count for GK cup?) and a chance to get some of my money back that I lost the previous day at Pebble Beach. I’ve been trying to play here more often as it really is a solid course in both design and conditions. Whereas prices have gone up and services have dwindled, Poppy Hills is still a great option for Monterey Peninsula golf.

Fairways present more of a tight lies compared to the big three, but they are still lush throughout and present a nice hitting surface Fairways offer a generous amount of roll out even when wet.

Bunkers and tee boxes were just short of perfect 10’s. Greens were above average, rolling at a medium fast pace. Greens were a bit softer than some of the previous times I’ve played here.

Poppy Hills is a fun and challenging layout with some scenic peaks at the bay through the trees.
POP always seems to be slow here and this time was no exception we were the 3rd or 4th group out and it still took 5 hour

Played here a few times in the last few weeks. Given the winter we’ve had this course is in excellent shape. Conditions are very similar to my last review with the main difference being the greens are more receptive to approach shots. They still roll true at a medium fast pace. I will say we encountered a few more unrepaired divots on Tuesday. We tee’d off at 7am so they were obviously from the afternoon players the previous day. Same goes for the unraked bunkers that maintenance hadn’t gotten to yet.

Also. Weeds outside the rough are TALL. As in 3’-5’ tall. Luckily the rough is thick enough to stop any rolling ball.

Rest of the course is in great shape.

Played Hunter Ranch on Tuesday mid morning. In short, this is the worst I’ve ever seen this course. The winter storms have taken their toll. First, let’s address the good. Had breakfast in the restaurant before the round and it was excellent. Customer service in the pro shop is now worlds better than it was a few years ago. The layout at Hunter is still super fun with a variety of hole shapes, elevation changes and even a couple of water hazards.

As far as conditions go. The greens were about the only thing worth playing. Greens were in great shape. They rolled smooth at a nice medium-fast pace that picked up in speed as the day progressed. Greens held well struck approach shots without any issues and there were only a few unrepaired pitch marks.

From there it digressed to the fairways. Very thin, patchy and a mixture of dead areas and soggy areas. By far the worse I’ve seen it since playing here a number of years ago. Hopefully once this new storm passes, the course will dry out and start to come around back to normal. What was surprising was the conditions of the tee boxes. Almost all were chewed up and unlevel. Not sure what the issue was but it was pretty bad. They did completely re-sod the first tee box which should be open in a few weeks per staff.

I noticed a lot of GUR with new seed down on several areas around the greens, so staff is obviously addressing the issue of the poor conditions which I attribute to the brutal winter we are experiencing. POP wasn’t an issue. Course was pretty quiet, we caught a two some at around the 14th hole and had some minimal waiting but still finished in 3:30.

I’ll definitely play here again, just not for a while.

Played Poppy Hills yesterday morning with a 9:20 AM tee time. Weather was absolutely perfect with sunny skies, low 60 temps and little to no wind. Course is in its usual great shape from tee to green. Range was off mats and a small bucket of balls now costs $10. That’s really the only downside to this course. Greens rolled very smooth at a nice medium-fast pace. Green complexes are very large but they have several undulations so getting on the right tier is critical. The nice thing about the greens at Poppy is that the undulations are spread out over the big greens so unlike Blackhorse where you have multiple breaks in one putt, you usually just have one or maybe two breaks to negotiate depending on how far away you are.

The other thing is the greens have a brownish tint to them. Doesn’t effect the ball at all, just more of an aesthetics thing. Fairways on the other hand were excellent. Very lush and green throughout. They offered a good combination of roll out and lush hitting surface.

Tee boxes were all level with great coverage and divot free. I had a streak of 4 holes where I was in a greenside bunker. All had high quality fluffy sand. Rough was manageable in some areas and deep and penal in others. There are a lot of holes that border gulch’s and the rough is deep in those areas to help stop wayward balls.

Even though the course is built on a hill, it is pretty easy to walk. Most of the holes traverse the hillside and the transfers are pretty short (except from 9 to 10 and maybe 8 to 9). There were a couple of beginners in our group so we were the slow group often a full hole behind the group in front of us. Yet only once did the group behind us have to wait on us as they were often a half hole + behind. So I guess it all worked out.

Poppy Hills is a another gem of a golf course in the 93953 area code. It’s overlooked by some and a main staple for others. Either way, it deserves the accolades.