Out early as usual on a rather busy Saturday morning. First out so no issues with pace of play. Greens are very soft/rec... » More

Out early as usual on a rather busy Saturday morning. First out so no issues with pace of play. Greens are very soft/receptive, but not as quick as normal. A lot more unrepaired ball marks (?). Tee boxes beginning to recover, but still have a way to go. The fairways are just awful. The rye grass is all burned out and the Bermuda has not taken. Playing the ball "down" now would be really tough. I have been a member for 35 years and have never seen the fairways in worse condition. I understand that the course will be overseeding shortly, but how it was allowed to deteriorate to his condition is inexcusable.
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I knocked this course down last review, but they’ve made excellent progress on the renovation and conditions today were ... » More

I knocked this course down last review, but they’ve made excellent progress on the renovation and conditions today were excellent. A ton of rough has been removed and waste bunker sand has been put instead. Grass range was pristine. Tee boxes and fairways were pure. Greens weren’t lightning fast so it made them playable. Greens were excellent, no damage or ball marks, just smooth. New sand areas change the way the course plays a little, more punishing than rough I’d say. Overall, besides the new house construction, the course is dramatically improved compared to a year ago.
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From 8/12


Big V handed it to me again!


Enjoyed an excellent Outing at VCC with excellent pl... » More

From 8/12


Big V handed it to me again!


Enjoyed an excellent Outing at VCC with excellent playing partners!

I can best describe VCC as a fun Players Course. This course really kept you in check, but was never unreasonable. The layout was excellent! Reminded me of Riviera CC at times. I can see why the PGA Tour played here once upon a time.

VCC is a very well-designed course that places premium on accuracy off the tee and into greens. The course features clear definition between its mid-sized fairways and rough areas, well placed bunkering on fairways and proximate to greens, along with some strategic water hazards, with medium sized and reasonably fast greens.

The course is mostly flat, at times undulating, and sometimes with mild elevation changes from fairway to green, and offers some attractive views of localized mountains.

The course plays like a Championship Style layout. You will need to work the ball in both directions at times. Wind speeds were calm, peaking at 5 -15 mph when gusting. The course seemed to play it's yardage for the most part. The course was very well manicured and in excellent condition. The course layout is rated a 4.5 out of 5, conditions are rated a 4.3 out of 5. I note the following:

Tee Boxes: Level and lush, no damage. Above average condition.

Fairways: Green at times tight. Excellent condition.

Greens: Green, medium-fast in speed, with medium softness. No damage observed. Speed about a 10.5. Excellent condition.

Sand: Well maintained, heavy, and firm. Above average condition.

Rough: rough was well defined from the fairway and green collars but not too overgrown, about 2 – 5 inches. Above average condition.

Waste Areas: Waste areas on various holes did not offer much opportunity of recovery due to their overgrown nature. Above average.

Driving Range: The range is excellent, hitting from artificial turf. You see markers at 100, 150, 200, 225, and 250 yards. Range ran out at about 300ish. Range balls were your typical rangers, but in very good condition.

Chipping Area: Compact in size and included a practice bunker. Condition and features were excellent.

Practice Putting Green: Ample in size and very well maintained. Practice greens seemed consistent with the speed of the course greens. Excellent condition.

POP: Just under 5 hours.

The VCC facility included a snack bar / restaurant, and a very nicely stocked pro shop. Service received was excellent. If looking to join a quality golf club with the emphasis on golf this is a really good one. Really enjoyed this course. I endorse playing this track if given the opportunity. Looking forward to my next visit here.

Thank you Johnny and GK for this outing.
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From 8/17

Angel Park was great, but needs some water.

Played another very fun round of golf at anothe... » More

From 8/17

Angel Park was great, but needs some water.

Played another very fun round of golf at another excellent LV golf course. This a great course layout designed by Arnie with strategic challenges and scenic views.


The layout is fun and challenging. The layout and design are an A+. This is a great course for an advanced golfer, yet playable for mid-level golfers.


AP Mountain is a fun Players Course that is a reasonable test of golf with wind speeds that exceeded 20 mph in the afternoon. AP Mountain is well-designed into the desert and places premium on accuracy off the tee and into greens. The course features clear definition between its mid-sized fairways and rough areas, well placed bunkering on fairways and proximate to greens, along with strategic water hazards on a couple of holes, with fast greens.

The course layout is rated a 4.4 out of 5, conditions are rated a 3.8 out of 5 due to water shortage. I note the following:


Tee Boxes: Average condition


Fairways: Mixed green, yellow, and dry and at times tight. Average condition


Greens: Well maintained and medium in speed, about a 10.5. Greens were not underwatered and were in above-average condition.


Sand: Maintained and firm. Average condition.


Rough: Rough was defined from the fairway and green collared but not too overgrown, about 2 – 4 inches. Very grabby at times. Average condition.


Waste Areas: - Waste areas on various holes did not offer the opportunity of recovery due to their overgrown nature. Above average.


Driving Range: Very nice driving range with yellow rangers. Hitting off matts. Also noted a nice chipping green.


Practice Putting Green: multiple greens noted on site, condition above average.


POP: 3 hours


The facility included a nice restaurant, and pro shop. Service received at both was very good.


Really enjoyed this layout and course. It is enjoyable to play now, but I would say the course conditions are at 70% from their best due to water shortage and Summer heat. Once the Summer heat is gone and the course recovers, it will be a top conditioned golf course.


AP Mountain is a solid golf course that I look forward to again playing. If you have a chance to play here, do no pass up the opportunity.
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From 8/16

Finally made it to Bear's Best!


Enjoyed a great day of golf at Bear's Best on a Hot and... » More

From 8/16

Finally made it to Bear's Best!


Enjoyed a great day of golf at Bear's Best on a Hot and Sunny Friday. Bear's Best is a fun / challenging Desert Player’s Course that is a Jack composite course that features 18 holes from around the world designed by Jack and now set in in the LV Desert. I can tell you that many of featured holes, I have played the originals, and they truly are excellent replicas.

BB is a very well-designed course that places premium on accuracy off the tee and into greens. The course features clear definition between its mid-sized undulating fairways and rough areas, well placed bunkering on fairways and proximate to greens, along with strategic water hazards on a few holes, and with fast greens. The course is another great Jack design. I absolutey loved it!


The course is primarily flat but features lots of undulations, along with some attractive views of localized mountains. The course plays like a Championship Style Desert layout. The course seemed to play it's yardage. The course was in excellent condition overall. The course layout is rated a 5 out of 5, conditions are rated a 4.7 out of 5. I note the following:


Tee Boxes: Level and lush, no damage. Condition was very nice.


Fairways: Green at times tight. Condition was very nice.


Greens: Fast in speed and medium to firm. No damage observed. Speed about a 11. Condition was very nice.


Sand: Well maintained and firm. Condition was very nice.


Rough: rough was well defined from the fairway and green collars but not too overgrown, about 2 – 5 inches. Grabby at times. Condition was very nice.


Waste Areas: - Waste areas on various holes did not offer the opportunity of recovery due to their overgrown nature. Condition was very nice.


Driving Range: The range is excellent. You are hitting off grass into a beautiful mountain backdrop with markers at 100, 150, 200, 225, and 250 yards. Range ran out at about 300ish. Range balls were your typical white Callaway rangers and in good condition. Also noted very nice chipping areas. Great driving range! Condition was very nice.


Practice Putting Greens: Practice putting greens are ample and very well maintained. Seemed consistent with the speed of the course greens on this day. Condition was very nice.


POP: 3.5 hours – no wait was encountered.

BB features a beautiful restaurant with very good food, along with a very well stocked high-end pro shop. The customer service received at this facility was perfect. I can't voice how great they were here.


Bear's Best is now my favorite course in LV and I can't wait to go back. Sadly, I have been advised that it will go private next year, which will ruin everything for golfing here in the future.

This is a top-level golf experience! A+ all the way.
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Finally made it back out to Black Gold this week for the first time in many years and it was a real treat (albeit a chal... » More

Finally made it back out to Black Gold this week for the first time in many years and it was a real treat (albeit a challenging one) to play it again. I had two out-of-towners from work out and another local who's a member at Shady Canyon, and they were all not only impressed with the challenging layout and interesting routing, but also the very nice course conditions.

It was a midweek round so the price was great (around $125) for the experience. We had cart service at least 3-4x during the round on a very hot day, so that was very necessary, and the POP was very good as we didn't really have any waits all day. This course is most certainly a non-walking one with all of its steep elevations and distances between holes.

It's a tough 18 no matter how you slice it. Many of the holes are uphill or downhill, there are some decent and intimidating carries and the green complexes are very difficult with some incredibly subtle but impactful breaks. We played the blue/white combo tees and it gave us all everything we could handle.

The fairways are in really nice shape despite the hot temperatures all summer, while the rough is very grabby, especially around the greens, so no chip is ever a simple afterthought. Tee boxes were all in nice shape and the bunkers were mostly good but we found one or two that were slightly thin in parts. The grounds crew were doing a lot of watering as we played, so it was disappointing on one hole where my chip ran long and into a newly formed puddle on the green ... but luckily I still got away with a two-putt. As for the greens, very fast, very tricky and very difficult to hold the greens without perfect approaches. I had trouble with the speeds all day which led to a pretty poor putting round overall.

At the end of the day though, a truly fun and challenging golf experience to be had at Black Gold right now.
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Little late on the review walked the blues Monday 8/19/24 with my buddy Matt under beautiful skies around 71 degrees wit... » More

Little late on the review walked the blues Monday 8/19/24 with my buddy Matt under beautiful skies around 71 degrees with a strong 2-3 club wind for most of the day. Wanted to give a shout out to the very friendly staff in the proshop. Somehow between the morning senior men's club and a College of the Canyons tournament they were able to squeeze us 25 minutes before our alloted tee time which helped our POP at 4 hrs walking. They have the best staff here. We practiced on their beautiful chipping area, putting green and huge range[mats] prior to our round. Great practice facilities.

This is I believe my 4th summer round here and the conditions continue to thrive with summer papsulum beautiful lush Fairways and tees both coming in at a 9 out of 10. The rough is beautiful 8.5/10, semi lush and well manicured. We saw the mowers cutting the rough between 1 and 9. Greens were in good shape holding approaches very softly and rolling at a medium pace. Of note looks like they recently punched 13 green but it still rolled fairly smooth. Rated 8/10. Was in last Fairway bunker left on 3 that had great sand to hit out of. Was not in any greenside bunkers but they looked in good shape.

The native areas have thick beautiful flowers and some deep stuff. The lakes still have water in them which makes this course even more beautiful. Olivas always has a special place in my heart. If you don't like wind play here in the morning. Just love the layout, staff, temps, conditions and everything in between which makes this a must play in socal.
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Played Sunday 8/18, 11am tee time, 5:15 round. Been over a decade since I've played here, I think. So it was nice to p... » More

Played Sunday 8/18, 11am tee time, 5:15 round. Been over a decade since I've played here, I think. So it was nice to play a nostalgic course. fun layout... but in below average muni shape. Greens running a fast 9, bumpy. Fairways are hairy and inconsistent. tee boxes are some of the worst I've seen in a while. all in all, still a playable course.. had fun. not the fastest round.. not the best greens, not the most pristine.. but a classic nonetheless. Carts have gps.. that was a surprise. Glad I was able to get out.
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I think it funny when reviewers write that the tee boxes and the greens and fairways are all in great condition well of ... » More

I think it funny when reviewers write that the tee boxes and the greens and fairways are all in great condition well of course they are it's a private club! Played there yesterday and the greens were verticacut and they were still very fast but that took a bit of the break out them. The golf carts are set up to carry four bags with two players which I think more places should do and that way you can actually walk like our member did yesterday. Also I'd like to mention that there are not "some" elevation changes at this golf course but every shot is an elevation change, there isn't a flat lie on this place you're either playing uphill or downhill except for maybe # 9 is only the flat lie there. The course is not very long but most of the front nine you're playing uphill so the yardage is longer than stated on the card and the back nine plays downhill which is very scenic. (#18 plays back up to an elevated green and they are not kidding to stay very left of the elm tree by the cart path, which seems out of play but I assure you it's not! I agree one of the best back nights inp all of Southern California.) and you're playing into the prevailing winds which cancels out the shortness of playing downhill. Super beautiful course, very challenging, reminded me of many courses combined such as Bel Air LACC the old Malibu Golf Club and some Knollwood because of the pine trees both regular and stone pines, just beautiful! Fantastic views on the back nine and of course if you get a chance to play here don't hesitate it's worth it! Go play!!
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Walked the Blues on dew sweeper patrol with 2 other singles in 3.5H. $26 to walk early. Challenging course to walk, cons... » More

Walked the Blues on dew sweeper patrol with 2 other singles in 3.5H. $26 to walk early. Challenging course to walk, constantly up/down hills.

With more rainfall and being able to concentrate their H2O on 9 holes instead of 18, course much greener and more uniform in coverage than it was a few years ago. Fun layout with three par 3/4/5's that you play twice for 18 holes.

Greens nice, rolled well and would hold irons at medium fast speeds. Sand traps well maintained with good quality sand. Fairways, rough and tees all very playable with good coverage. Just not as good as the greens and sand traps.

Customer service limited but very friendly. Restaurant currently under renovation. They have a "Top Golf like" driving range with rooms set up with couches, multiple screens and simulators. Also available is what used to be the front 9 here that they rent out for $15 as practice on the course holes run by Cal Poly-SLO.

Easy access off Hwy 1, worth a play if in the SLO area.
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Played Raven for the first time in over a year and really enjoyed it. Played early round and length of round was great (... » More

Played Raven for the first time in over a year and really enjoyed it. Played early round and length of round was great (3.5 hours). Greens were punched about a month ago and have recovered very well. Some are still a little bumpy but overall the course conditions for this time of year were really good. Changes made to redesign bunkers and eliminate some bunkers and overall improve bunkers has made the course more playable. Staffing and cart/beverage services were really good.
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played 8-19 back nine 2x.
they are punching the greens.