Played Saturday with a 12pm tee time and the course is going to need a few weeks to recover from the winter.

Lots of verticut fairways and punched, sandy greens.

With lots of water and some warm weather in the forecast, I have heard 2 - 4 weeks and the course should be in much better shape.

Booked a 9:40 Tee Time for Maderas, Sunday May 30th. Very nice facilities from pro shop, snack bar, practice facilities and course. The actual grill was closed, and food selection was rather limited from the snack bar. No cash accepted, card only.

I took an uber from San Diego Mission Bay Resort and arrived approximately 30 minutes later. Staff took my bag, put in a cart, and parked on the exit from the Pro Shop. Didn't have to pay a 5$ handling fee.

Practice facilities were nice with a grass range (complimentary balls for your round) and putting green complex. The speed on the practice green was a good indication of how the ball was rolling on the course, medium fast, rolled true, not very many bumps.

The tees were all fairly level (I played Maderas Tees which are combo of black and blue tees).

The fairways were very nice to hit from and provided roll on well struck drives. The fairways are rather narrow here, and a slight miss means you are in the rough or even trickling off and into ESA or cart path areas. Not only are they narrow, but there is some good undulation on them, so knowing where to hit off the tee is important.

The greens were pretty nice, holding well struck irons, both long and short, but if you find the wrong spot of the green, 3 putts can easily happen. Not a lot of undulation, but very little ridges and breaks that local knowledge, or a caddie, would definitely help. The speed changed a little from green to green, but mostly medium-fast, and a few bumps.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience at Maderas. I would play it again, but probably not at true rack rate.

I would rate this track around 6.5 and is worth playing

Tee'd off at 7:34 on Sunday 5/8. I practically had the whole place to myself. Course was in some decent shape. #1 is a great starting hole and is in great condition. the rest of the course is very playable, with some holes having a good amount of fairway in landing areas, marked GUR. Sometimes there were good 15x30y sections (especially #2) of new turf laid down in those areas. Most of the fairways though are well covered and fairly lush, perhaps could even use a mowing on some holes. tight lies to be had the further away from the fairways and in areas you shouldn't be. Wasn't in much sand today, but the bunker I was in was pretty thick from the previous days rain, or the moisture from the morning. The greens were rolling pretty quick, and very receptive to iron shots. I think they could be/should be cut and rolled, but I do not know much about course maintenance.

overall I had a very good/fun time. I finished my round around 10:30 and played a replay but only 9. I would recommend playing here and I probably will this coming weekend...

Played Lexington, Monday July 20 with a 7:14 tee time. Check in was a breeze with great staff at bag drop and in pro shop/check in. I was able to use the GK voucher from Riverwalk, and it was the quickest/easiest check in I've ever dealt with. The starter wasn't there near our tee time, so we decided to putt a little bit. When he finally showed up, he took our receipt and told us to wait for the other 2some joining us, in a snide tone. they finally showed up, a little past our 714 tee time and off we went.

The conditions on the course were pretty good. The first 5 holes were very nice, with lush and level tee boxes. The fairways provided excellent lies all day long (very lush) and the rough was pretty deep, sticky and therefore penal! Fortunately they had cut the rough, so I wonder how stickier it would have played a day earlier!

Anyways, after the first 5 hole, the tee box conditions started to fade, with numerous boxes providing unleveled stances and a hunt for a leveled ones. Also, I am not sure if it is just the environment, but the sand in the bunkers were more like hardly packed pebbles and rocks. It hadn't rained the night before, but man, the sand was hard packed and full of little rocks. I found this consistently throughout the course :(

On hole 9, we were told by the starter/marshall that we were not on the proper pace of play and to speed it up. we were actually finishing 9 at the 2 hour mark, and I think he forgot that we had to wait for the additional 2some joining us. Also, it was mine and my friends first time at the course, so we put thought into playing the course, you know, like pretending to know what we were doing.

then we got to hole 10... (laughing as I type this)

Anyways, the greens had a good amount of ball marks, mostly repaired -- provided good scoring conditions with good pace and true rolls; not extremely difficult greens, but on the wrong side and you could easily 3 putt.

I am glad I played this course; not something I would drive to Henderson for just to play the course, but fortunately I was out in Vegas for a job, so it worked out. also a plus that temps never got past 84 until much later in the day. thank you overcast skies! other than the sand and the anal starter, my friend and I enjoyed the course very much.

lots of tough par 5's. some forced lay up holes, and some great scenery of the course landscape and the Vegas strip.

Tom

Played the Vineyard course for my first time on Sunday 7/12 in the inaugural GK plays event. Tee'd off from the whites (70/116/6299y) a little after our Tee time due to a very nice starter and some pictures taken. On hole 10 we learned there had been a tourney that started "... a little past 8, with the last group teeing off around 10:40." Got held up on a few holes, like 4 and 18 (the only that come to mind), but each time I was able to speak with some of the other GKer's behind us! Pace was just over the 4hr30min mark.

Everything was in pretty good condition. The Tee boxes were level and lush, and the fairways were well maintained, providing great lies for hitting fairways! The rough was not too penal, HOWEVER, don't be short on number 15. Obviously there is water short of the green, BUT the rough leading up from the water to the green is some nasty stuff! IF the whole course had second cuts of rough like that, this would be NASTY, in a good way, that is. (making the course more difficult!).

Despite the vericutting, the chipping areas from about 90 yards in were very nice. The sign at the starter read the greens at 10 ' 2. I do not know much about the STIMP system, but the ball rolled at a fairly medium-fast speed. It was my first time playing Vineyard and have seen the Lakes course greens much faster. The greens were very receptive to short wedges and mid irons, however I found it difficult keeping my longer irons on the green

Anyways, I figured I would end on some miscellaneous notes: there are a good amount of blind tee shots on this course, so a little course knowledge would come in help (or perhaps the GK Tips section you can check out). However, there are sufficiently marked white and black striped poles for reference points. There is a little bit of water that comes into play on this course, and if I remember correctly, the few hazards are potentially blind off the tee, so pay attention to hole to hole layout provided on the scorecard and the granite displays on the tee box (or local knowledge).

Check it out, I recommend this course! Great rates, great staff, top facilities (grass range, tons of holes on practice green, etc.) great café, and best of all for this time of year, the location of this course makes the weather perfect for the summer temps!

Tom (sorry for late review)

I really enjoy playing this course. I played Friday 7/3 at 1pm with my physical therapist and some of his friends. It was consistently windy from hole to hole at about 5-10mph, not too many gusts.

I found the course to be in nice shape, not the greatest shape I have seen the course in, but definitely worth the price I paid to tee off on a Friday at 1pm. think I paid about 48 bucks with cart (not sure if walking is even allowed here).

Tee boxes were mostly lush and level, with a few in need of a nice trim. not too many divot damage and it looks like they do a nice job of rotating the tees around.

Fairways were very nice, with great coverage, with the ball mostly sitting up and providing great lies. sometimes the ground underneath was a little firm and other times a little softer, but I was hitting the ball flush all day (which is a rarity!!).

Rough was a mixed bag: some places were much more penal than others, but if you missed the fairway, the rough wasn't too penal where you couldn't find your ball. in my opinion, especially on the front, this course has some narrow fairways which provides most of the challenge, but if you are able to stay on the fairway and hit green in regulation, you have a good shot at scoring well here as the greens are generally pretty good here.

the greens were not as fast as I have seen them in the past. I found them to be a touch firm; they seemed to hold short irons better than longer irons, and perhaps it were the balls I was playing, but I seemed to have a tough time putting the little bit of spin, that I can generate on the ball, in order to stop it on the green (had a few wedges that were coming down pretty steep that left a nice divot, but the ball would roll an excess of 7-10 feet. They were medium paced, baby a touch faster than medium, but they are offering some great scoring conditions at Tierra Rejada, especially if the wind is in your favor. I hit a drive on #8 10 feet from the green with an up n down for bird.

there are a few spots that if you drastically mi sh-t the ball, you will find some burnt out areas, but that would be in areas after the first cut of rough where you would have to miss badly, and on most of the other holes if you hit it that poorly, it is most likely OB and a lost ball...

pace of play was surprisingly slow as we were never really pressured from a group behind us, and waited on less than a handful of shots for the group in front of us. (2hr 40 min at the turn) but we finished in just under 5 hours. it was an enjoyable round with great company nonetheless!

Tom

I played in a scramble on Saturday 6/27 tee time at 10am with a shotgun start. I played this course approximately 6 months ago and was not impressed, was actually rather bummed out that we would be playing such a 'gimmicky' course for our annual tournament. I am glad I went in with no expectations as everything from Tee to Green were in pretty good shape. All the unlevel Tee boxes were in great shape and spots that were mostly level. greens were very receptive to both long irons and wedges. Rough wasn't too penal, and it seemed like most balls had good lies on the fairways. If I lived closer I would play this course, but it is nothing fancy to check out. if you are in the area and have not played it, I would check it out.

Tom

Played in a mini tournament (more like a 28 person get together for a friends birthday) on Friday 5/22/15. We all played from the white tees, which I had no problem with, except I found that all my drives when playing from the blues were well short of the water, wound up in the water playing from the whites.

The course was visually appealing from the parking lot and tee's. Holes 1 and 18 had been spray painted for visual effects, and it seemed like those were the only ones painted. The verticutting is still present on most holes but you can tell it is making progress. (local rules stated from starter for the mens club says if a ball lands in a verticutting line, it is a free drop no closer to the hole). the aprons/fringes were also a casualty of verticutting/aeration. the greens have recovered very nicely from their aeration process from over a month ago. the sign at the starter stated 11.8. greens were pretty quick, but I felt they were faster last time I played, but putted pretty true from green to green.

everyone in the tournament had never played there before, and were complaining about the wind, which I told them time and time again, that this was pretty usual for this course... I would say the winds were consistently between 10 and 15 mph with occasional gusts reaching 20+ as the day progressed (we tee'd off around 1140 and finished around 440.

Fairways, other than the verticutting had very nice lies and were more lush than thin. Pretty consistant hole to hole

Rough was an inconsistent 1-3 inches not very penal directly off or in the second cut, however there are some natural areas similar to that of rustic canyon and olivas links that could be brutal to find/hit out of if you found your ball.

Tees were generally lush and level with divots present but mostly filled in and not too big of a problem. even on the par 3's there were good teeing areas

Greens were very nice and somewhat soft, receptive to irons/wedges, creating ball marks and divots on well struck shots.

even though great golF was not played, everyone had a blast as it was a surprise birthday party for our friend who just turned 50! the birthday boy had the lowest score with an 82. 40-42. it was a surprise party and he was completely taken away. we all had a complete blast at a very nice course, with great facilities. you can tell they are really trying to get their course in great condition. if only we could get a little more rain for the verticutting, Lakes course is going to be in nice shape for the summer.

It rained. Only rained hard enough to affect holes 11-15. Pace of Play was excellent. perhaps because of the weather.

With that being said, this course is in fantastic condition for this time of year. The little bit of rain that we have received these past few weeks has really made the course green. The fairways are very receptive and imo not dormant. The rough was pretty deep in most areas. because of the rain, the greens held approach shots pretty decent considering the links style greens. the greens were still rolling true and fast despite the rain. most of the balls marks on the greens were on the second part of the green and were never a factor while putting (as this course tends to be pretty quick on the greens, most people play short and let the ball roll which are where most of the ball marks are, however they do a good job of repairing most of them).

paid 89.00 with cart and medium bucket of balls. carts have pretty reliable GPS system.

Do not go off score card distances as the last few times I have played here they are not accurate. It would be handy to have a Bushnell or some type of GPS system to confirm/compare with golf cart GPS, however course is sufficiently marked

Played # 1 (Koiner) on Monday 2/16. Had a 9:59 tee time. probably didn't tee off til 10:10 or so. Played as a single with another single and a twosome (4some). Wound up with a birdie on 1 after a good putt from off the green. but after hole 1, the course kind of got pretty slow. waited for 2 groups on the tee before our group on #2 hole. Wound up finishing around 3:45 or so... d%mn near a 6 hour round.

Course looked to be in good shape. Greens had some bare spots but for the most part held shots well and rolled pretty true. Some greens needed to be cut better or perhaps need to be redone, but didn't necessarily affect putts.

Tee boxes were pretty nice, mostly level (except 18 but more on 18 in a bit). not too many divot damage (on par 3's) and if there was, there was usually a good spot to tee it up.

Fairways, on some holes, were probably the most inconsistent part of the course. perhaps because of the weather, or the fact that they do use some of the course for parking at rose bowl events, 18th fairway was horrible. 18th green was horrible, really disappointing that 18 was in such disarray. i wound up hitting my approach shot off of dirt even though my drive was on the right side of the fairway. all the grass from 160yards and in was ... well there was hardly any grass.

I would play this course again for the 47.00 i paid on GN (golf now) but i would tee off much earlier in the day assuming that would guarantee a less than 6 hour round. i think the rack rate is 75.00 for Koiner, which i dont see myself paying anytime soon with the conditions on 18.

other than 18 the course is very playable. they send out 5somes.

TLDR? course in decent shape, tee off early, rough not too penalizing, tight fairways, accuracy is ideal, long course, worth 47.00 and not rack rate

For a course that had finished its aeration, i was expecting a lot more. Greens Keeper said it was green and no maintenance to report. You could tell the greens had been aerated recently, with visible spots, bare spots on greens, ground under repair in fairways that are not marked. this course needs some maintenance. with that being said, the course is playable. I would give it another week or two for a true recovery from the aeration.