Thanks everyone that came out to our GK Plays Omni La Costa Resort outing on Saturday. I posted a recap on the GK Events page. Some mixed feelings about the experience. Obviously the playing conditions were not up to Omni La Costa Resort standards which was very surprising. I later find out they had issues with the water pump a week before that prevented watering for almost 5 days. Hence why the golf course was abnormally so dry. I do my best to time these outings when golf courses are in great shape. In every prior GK Plays at Omni La Costa Resort that was the case.

On the flip side, as an outing organizer the staff did a great job preparing and staging our event. I really appreciated that they were willing to delay our start to wait for others to join due to the heavy traffic on the South 5. I like the extra touches they do with golf cart signage and scorecards. Staff is great to correspond with prior and during the outing.

We played the Champions Course and despite conditions not as good as expected I still had a great time. It’s a layout I always find challenging and loaded with fun shots. And teeing it with fellow GKers makes it even better. I expect the conditions to improve rapidly and might play another round there in August to see.

After play, although I was not pleased with not enough tables set up by the Vue restaurant staff and not allowing us to use more tables due to current reservations, I was ecstatic about the good times we had giving out Linksoul and Golf Moose gear. And how cool of Golf Moose to also give out polos in addition to their gift cards. In all fairness it was a Saturday night at a packed resort so I get them needing tables to accommodate guests.

Overall, fun outing, and I will be returning to do another. Likely an early morning outing to beat traffic.

Got an invite Friday to play on a scramble team at Mountaingate CC. Hard to pass up considering I’ve always wanted to play it.

Teed it up yesterday at 8:00am, finished in 4 hours, played the North/Lakes combo. Was a cool damp morning for July in SoCal. The golf course is primarily Kikuyu grass so you got next to no roll with your drives. It’s a narrow hilly course with most of fairways playing up hill. This made a 6000 yard course from the blue tees play more like a 6500 yard course.

I really enjoyed the layout and was happy I was hitting my driver long and straight. We used most of my drives. Had our group been struggling off the tee it would have been a long day. This is very demanding golf course off the tee. But the rest in no picnic either. Most of your approach shots are to small elevated greens decently guarded by bunkers and kikuyu rough. Once on the greens they present two tiers and some tricky putts.

Playing conditions of the golf course were overall great. Mostly lush fairways, tees and rough. Rough thankfully recently trimmed although there is some deep stuff greenside. Bunkers all quality sand, groomed, in great shape. Greens mostly smooth, mostly fast and holding shots.

If you get a chance to play this golf course go for it. I’ve read mixed reviews about the South nine, so hopefully you get to play the same North/Lake combo I did.

btw - fun looking at the jammed pack 405 freeway while enjoying a round of golf ;)

Thank you everyone that came out to Reflection Bay for our GK Plays Sunday.

What a treat that was for all of us and especially me. Love seeing you all enjoy yourselves.

Golf course was in excellent conditions. As overall green and lush as I’ve ever played it. Bunker all groomed with high quality sand. Tee boxes lush and great shape. Rough challenging, lush and tough. That bermunda grass is only going to get longer as the heat picks up so it puts a tremendous price on accuracy from tee to green. Greens running smooth, holding shots and medium speed. When you have bent grass greens like they do you have to keep them a little long in the summer.

The more I play this layout, the more I like it. Most of the time I’ve played it from the black tees, this time from the white tees and it’s so cool how different it plays from the tee boxes as such. Big premium on tee shot accuracy. I was hitting fantastic long accurate tee shots on the front nine and shot 1 over (I don’t keep score but hard not to know it when you are playing that well). Back nine my driver got little loose and played around bogey golf. That's quick this golf course can hook you up or bite you. Beautiful green complexes and scenery. Check out the photos I just posted.

Great time playing with rgm2525, Jerry64 and robrey85. Joking around all day.

I posted some photos of golf course here and some of the outing in the GK Events page. I’m also making posts about the outing on Greenskeeper.org Facebook and Instagram pages.

On last thing. The service and amenities are stellar. If you ever want to do an outing in Vegas better consider Reflection Bay Golf Club. Just love this place.

Highly Recommended.

Second round of the day 6/27 was at Mt. Woodson Golf Club with more GK’ers!

This is one of my favorite golf courses yet only 5700 yards … however don’t take it for granted as it is a 133 slope. Fantastic scenery of the surrounding region perched up and carved into the mountain. Great layout that defines the way target golf should be. So many beautiful holes that dare you to hit driver but best to leave it in the bag (unless you’re nuts like me). Of course there is “The Bridge” e-ticket Disneyland ride from hole 2 to 3. Then you get to the tee box of hole 3 and it’s the Hunted House ride. Man that’s one intimating shot.

Such a fun track. Was glad to be playing with Alex326 to see his reactions to playing the golf course for the first time.

Conditions are great! Greens rolling smooth, medium speed and really holding shots. Fairways lush, yet not wet with excellent bermunda to hit off. Rough, deep bermunda for the most part. Super tough shots await you if you miss the green. However better to be in the rough than bushes or bunkers! Bunkers greenside had quality mostly soft sand. In the fairways quality mostly firm sand. You don't want to find any bunkers because they are all deep. Tee boxes are small and not much hitting ground so some divot damage to found but surprisingly not as much as you might expect considering many par 4's are short and best to hit a hybrid or long iron on off the tee.

Nice little bar and grill. Excellent on course service.

Got fresh photos to post next week.

Highly Recommend!

Great time out at Eagle Glen Golf Club with fellow GK’ers Thursday. Teed up early morning, 6:10am start (finished in under 4 hours), was June gloom most of the day but cleared up for the last few holes. I love the layout and get excited to play it in Spring/Summer especially when the fairways turn green. They have a type of bermunda turf in the fairways that craves warm weather to flourish. It’s been an oddly cold Spring/Early Summer so it took much longer than normal for the fairways to pop green. I know they have been doing extra work with the fairways over the last few years such as aerating them and giving them more water. From reading reviews there is an improvement. They are green now and they will be improving as the Summer goes on. However at this time the fairways are mostly firm and thin. Eagle Glen Golf Club does have very good greens (firm, mostly smooth, medium speed) and good all other conditions, combined with an excellent clubhouse, service and food. It’s a great golf experience I highly recommend. If you play Monday – Wednesday check out the rocking GK Coupon deal posted.

I’m going to post some updated photos next week.

A year ago in June I played Glen Ivy Golf Club for the first time. One year later was my second round and the place has got even better. The new owner has been there for over 2 years now and I highly recommend you go check out the place. Besides the golf course being in great shape, the new driving range is fantastic as well as clubhouse/restaurant renovations. They even added a huge modern banquet room to host weddings, events and big golf tournaments.

Teed it up with GK’ers weber, dconnally and Andrew1 at 6:40am. Played in under 4 hours. Fun time!

Greens in excellent shape, smooth, holding shots, medium/fast and with a beautiful green consistent color. You could throw darts at those pins all day. And the way they were set up yesterday you needed to. They had the front and back pins on the edges guarded by bunkers or on some challenging tiers.

Fairways, beautiful, lush, groomed, providing decent roll out, just a pleasure to play.

Rough, mostly lush, not too long but dense around the greens. Ball always sat down a little, especially greenside making all pitch shots challenging. Also if you came up short on your approach shot to the green no way the ball was going to release on.

Bunkers, a little damp, a little firm but overall in good shape.

Tee Boxes, in good shape however there is not a lot a tee grounds for the four sets and the white or blue tees by far get played the most. So those tees had some divot damage and some needed to be leveled better. The back tees looked fantastic (might play those next time).

Check out the photos I just posted.

Highly Recommended.

Going to reiterate most of my review from last week when I played here with exception that it was in even better shape. Conditions simply are vastly improved from the previous ownership. This golf course is now in great shape. Especially the greens and fairways (you heard right, the fairways). Only blemish is the bunkers sand yet not terrible and certainly playable.

Played with GK’ers GDR23, rgm2525 and abbacat on Monday 6/17 teeing off at 10:40am. Wendy played the forward tees while Gary, Ron and I played the tips. This is a very challenging Par 71, measuring over 6800 yards from the black tees. I enjoyed stepping back for a change but next time out going to play the blues tees there. I posted photos from my rounds 6/11 and 6/17 so you can see the layout. It’s got it all with a great variety of holes. Greens are tricky, undulating and shaped so the pins can be tucked away. They are all well-guarded green complexes. Tee shots are very demanding requiring shaping the ball around big trees at times and avoiding some hazards. Approach shots are mostly to elevated greens making this layout even longer. However there is nothing unfair about it and it’s a blast to play.

After the round Gary had to take off to get back to the Golf Development Complex for lesson but Ron, Wendy and I had a bite to eat that comes with your round. Nice selection on the lunch menu which come with chips. Good grub.

Highly recommended especially with the GK Coupon deal.

The last couple years many golfers have passed on playing Sterling Hills despite it's great layout due to poor playing conditions (me included) … I am very happy to report not only are those days gone due to new ownership but the golf course is currently in very good shape. So much so, I’m making it my home course.

Had a blast out there Tuesday 6/11 and only see turf improvements continuing. It’s a closer drive for me than the Ventura/Oxnard courses from Thousand Oaks plus better weather. I think anyone coming over the 101 Camarillo grade to tee it up should be consider playing it. They got great deals which include cart and a quality lunch entrée for less than most standard green fees in the region. This place is a steal.

Greens are in excellent shape. Smooth, medium/fast and holding shots. Fairways provide great lies with only occasional bare spots which most bare spots have been re-sodded, rough is mostly lush, tee boxes in good shape and bunkers not great but certainly playable with mostly firm sand (they are planning on doing some greenside bunker improvements with new sand). During August/September the fairways will struggle due to some of the cool climate turf they are phasing out but in general all other aspects of the golf course should be better.

We’ll be launching a GK Coupon weekday deal soon so be on the lookout for that. I’ll be posting some GK Meet & Play posts when I can sneak out other than my planned rounds.

Check out the photos I posted. Hope to get some rounds in with many GK’ers here.

Thanks everyone for coming out to GK Plays Ridge Creek Dinuba outing. Just a great day. I posted the outing results, some photos and also golf course photos here.

I thought the golf course and staff did an outstanding job with our outing. Carts ready to go with correct names, markers and signage all customized, super friendly professional staff and great service/food after play. As an organizer this place is perfect for an outing. Excellent driving range/practice areas. Both hole 1 and hole 9 next to clubhouse/practice putting to stage properly. Tent area for large outing and excellent restaurant for small outing. I really liked that the restaurant Three Finger Jack's is open to 8:00pm on a Sunday. I definitely want to do another outing here next year.

Regarding the golf course conditions, great but not as great as some of my prior visits. As Alex326 stated in his review we’ve become accustomed to their very high standards. I normally play here annually in late July so maybe in June the course is not as lush due to less watering. It’s a bermunda turf course so the hotter it gets, the more they water and the more lush it gets. Greens in great shape as usual holding shots, putting smooth and moderately fast. Lots of repaired ball marks but keyword, repaired, so they did not impact putting. Rough, oh boy, don’t miss the fairway because this time around it may have been the longest I’ve seen. I lost 4 balls in the rough yesterday. Bunkers, they need to clean-up better and the sand turned more often to elevate the compaction. There are a lot of bunkers so I think this would be great improvement. Tee boxes, in great shape, lush and tight.

The layout is a super fun design with large undulating greens. It’s mostly a links style course and plays long. Ball striking is very important to score. The fairways are wide but miss big and pay a huge price in the super long rough or in a brutal deep faced bunker. There are some monster long holes and some short holes. The golf course is grossly underrated from a rating & slope standpoint. It will eat you up if you are not striking the ball well, period.

Love this track and can’t wait to get back out there.

Thanks everyone that came out to GK Plays Desert Willow Golf Resort!

I just posted a short recap on the GK Events page.

I played the Firecliff course back in early April when it was predominantly peak season rye grass course. Place was immaculate. Saturday the golf course was predominantly a bermunda turf course almost fully transitioned and it was in fantastic shape. Greens more firm and faster. Fairways and Rough lush. Tee boxes mostly lush with some thin spots. Bunkers all high quality sand and groomed.

From an organizer perspective the Desert Willow staff is as professional and accommodating as it gets. The practice area is perfectly positioned to the golf cart staging area and first tee of the Firecliff course. The patio and inside facilities are gorgeous. Only disappointment was I thought the restaurant/bar would still be open after our round on Saturday. Guess this time year they close early. I’ll do better research next time. Sorry about that.

Big thanks to our prize sponsors Linksoul and GolfMoose. And a big thanks to Desert Willow Golf Resort for hosting. We’ll for sure be back for another outing!

Great time yesterday getting together with Mattias, roarksown1 and kassper7 for our GK Cup Team Match at Simi Hills yesterday.

For only $45 rack rate to walk teeing off at 9:24am on a Saturday this place is well worth the green fee. Golf course was in great shape. Greens soft, mostly smooth and medium speed. They will be hosting the Simi Valley City Championship starting June 1st so I imagine they will be much faster then. Fairways lush with great lies all day. Rough, about an inch higher than the fairways with a blend of kikuyu and bermunda was moderately challenging. My guess is they will start growing that up soon for the coming city championship. Tee boxes in good shape, we played the gold tees, by far the most popular so they were chewed up a bit on par 3’s. On the par 4’s they had many of the gold tees back on the blacks (thankfully not hole 8) and were all in good shape. I did not find one sand trap all day. Remarkable! … so I can’t comment on them. I did not hear any complaints from my playing partners about the bunkers although.

We had breakfast before the round. Reasonably priced yet proportions were small. Decent food.

On course service was excellent and marshals did a good job to keep it moving. We finished on busy day in under 5 hours.

I snapped a few pics to check out.

Highly recommended at this time.

Thank you everyone that came out to Corica Park for our GK Plays outing! I’ve posted some photos and a recap on the GK Events page.

Despite the slow play on a very busy golf weekend in the bay area I had a super time out there. Golf course was in great shape and especially the greens. Having talked with the course management they have been very busy this year as you can imagine being a new course. However I hardly saw ball marks on the greens or divot damage in the fairways.

The greens were smooth, moderately fast and firm. Just a pleasure to play. The fairways were lush and firm. The rough lush and cut low unless you found the long wild bent grass or fescue which in that case it was very difficult to play from. The bunkers were in great shape with quality sand. The tee boxes in great shape as well.

Service all day very good from the proshop, starter, on course refreshments and restaurant. Almost everyone was commenting afterwards about how good/affordable the food was. A great atmosphere for having a drink and grabbing a bite to eat before or after your round.

From an organizer standpoint, I liked the staging area with the practice putting green, proshop, restaurant and first tee all close and in sight. Signals got crossed on my instructions on how to set up the outing but guessing that was a fluke and it was rectified. As an organizer given how busy the golf course is I would recommend weekday outings if possible. The staff is easy to work with. I can see us having another outing there.

I really like this layout. It certainly appeals to all skill levels. Easy shots off the tee that get progressively more challenging as you get closer to the green. Once on the green you need to be rolling the flat stick very well as there are many subtle undulations and sneaky quick putts.

Something super cool about the place is it has the ONLY Linksoul lab/proshop. It was loaded with all the latest releases. Great apparel you should check out while there.

In addition they have a premier driving range and practice facilities. Plus a fun nine hole 3 par course I wrote a separate review for.

Just posted a new set of photos in high resolution. Check them out!

Highly Recommended.