Weekend round at Skylinks with two buddies and the biggest gripe came before we even hit the first tee. I booked the round on Friday late through GolfNow, which indicated cart was included, however ou... Continue »

Weekend round at Skylinks with two buddies and the biggest gripe came before we even hit the first tee. I booked the round on Friday late through GolfNow, which indicated cart was included, however our plan was to walk. When I went to the starter to pay (minus the cart fee), they told me I still had to pay the $17 extra for the cart since they couldn't adjust it. What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that? That's never happened at any other course regardless if the cart was part of the original booking. That's just horrific customer service and the deal with GolfNow should be reviewed and altered. Once we got on the course, it was in very fine shape for the most part with very nice greens (probably the best I've ever seen them here), nice tee boxes and pretty good fairways with plenty of good coverage but some thin areas around the course. Rough was very playable and only the bunkers were not in superb shape, still a little grainy and thin overall. We did get a nice POP until around the 14th hole when things backed up for the rest of the round, and there was no cart service at any point in the round. But we played the whole round under the cloud of having overpaid for a service we did not want or need. I will absolutely do my best to never book through GolfNow again, but Skylinks should definitely not contribute to that madness.

Played here today with an 11:30 TeeOff.com "Deal" time for less than $32 after promo code. Arrived early and the course was very busy. I guess both the Men's Club and Women's Club had tournaments this... Continue »

Played here today with an 11:30 TeeOff.com "Deal" time for less than $32 after promo code. Arrived early and the course was very busy. I guess both the Men's Club and Women's Club had tournaments this morning, and then regular play resumed a little past 11:00. I was paired with three other singles and we started pretty much on time. Pace was very slow. Lots of waiting and about 5:10 total POP. It was a gorgeous day with ideal temperatures early on, and then around the 12th hole a cold breeze rolled in, but it was still pretty. (Around the fourth hole, the course ambassador drove up and told us he had someone call and complain that we were playing too slow. A couple of guys in my group were Skylinks regulars, so we all thought he was joking because we'd waited on every shot to that point, and had to wait on each tee at least 5-10 minutes. He wasn't joking, though, but believed us when we said we were waiting on every shot, so he went off to hopefully find the culprit. I don't think there was any one "problem" group. It was just a busy day.)

Conditions are mixed. Greens are pretty slick despite quite a few ball marks and imperfections. They are quite soft and accept full shots well. They ran mostly smooth but my group did get a few bouncy putts. Fairways are dormant bermuda with mostly good, thin coverage, providing very tight lies and tons of roll out on low trajectory drives. Rough was patchier and less consistent than the fairways. Quite short. There were some bare spots in the rough. It seemed the rough around greens was maybe a little more lush/green than elsewhere. Also, some wet, muddy areas around some greens were marked as GUR with little stakes. All the bunkers I was in were good but maybe a little thin. Blue tee boxes had lush green grass but varied from decent to good, with sandy spots on the lesser conditioned ones.

As a teenager, I used to play here quite a bit because it was easy to show up before sunrise and get out as a single. At some point in the '90s or early '00s I stopped playing here and then became sorta defiant after the 2004 renovation and dramatic price increase. Having never played the "new" version, I barely recognized anything today. I think the changes were more significant than I was aware. I found the greens quite compelling to putt and I enjoyed the round quite a bit, despite the dismal POP. Definitely recommended at the rate I got; full fare, not so sure.

Course appears to be in better shape, bunkers were actually well groomed for once, fairways with good coverage and the greens rolled true and speed was consistent

Course appears to be in better shape, bunkers were actually well groomed for once, fairways with good coverage and the greens rolled true and speed was consistent

Seems like forever since I last played Skylinks. Had no intention of playing, mostly because the cost now is more than this course warrants. but I had an invite from some friends in Long Beach and was... Continue »

Seems like forever since I last played Skylinks. Had no intention of playing, mostly because the cost now is more than this course warrants. but I had an invite from some friends in Long Beach and was able to play for the senior rate, so it was more palatable.

Reading the last review, did not have high expectations, and I was not surprised. I will admit the fairways were better than expected. Greens were slow, bumpy and need to be rolled. While there was nothing really bad about the overall condition, it was a far cry from the Skylinks I used to play years ago. For me personally, if I'm going to travel to Long Beach, I'd rather play Rec Park or Eldo.

Played this weekend with two friends at Skylinks with a 1:30pm tee time and we all rode, playing from the blue tees. The greens fee with cart was around $80, so of course you think you're going to get... Continue »

Played this weekend with two friends at Skylinks with a 1:30pm tee time and we all rode, playing from the blue tees. The greens fee with cart was around $80, so of course you think you're going to get a good, quality golf experience at that price. Sadly it did not work out that way at this time.

While it's posted that the greens were punched back on 9/26 at the starter's office, it seems to have little to do with the bumpy and slow greens with ball marks everywhere that made putting such a wild adventure all day. Sure, there was evidence of punching here and there, but that also has nothing to do with the numerous greens that had damaged areas all around their perimeters and many with damage on the greens themselves. It's crazy that just a short while ago I played these same greens in the best condition I'd ever seen them.

Fairways were okay for the most part with a few thin areas but for the most part the lies were good to good enough. The rough was nice and lush in some spots, but sort of a mixed bag when taking the course in its entirety. Bunkers were fine. But the worst part of the day, even worse than the greens, were the dirt and mixed weed tee boxes found on pretty much every hole. I don't use tees so my game is very reliant on grass tee boxes, not mud and mayhem. Incredibly disappointing for a 'high end' course.

POP was okay for most of the day but we did slow down significantly on the back nine in spurts, but it was the least of the complaints for the day. There was also nothing in terms of cart service on a busy Sunday which was also a bummer, but there may be staffing issues that led to that situation. I will say the staff that was there was very nice and friendly, and of course the Skylinks layout is challenging and fun.

Overall though it was a pretty disappointing outing at a facility I generally laud pretty regularly, so I hope they fix what ails them soon. I would definitely give them a week or two to get the greens and tee boxes sorted out because right now it's bush league.

Years ago this was a rather bland course. Today it is a challenging layout with penalizing bunkers everywhere. What makes matters more difficult is the lack of sand in these bunkers. Imagine trying to... Continue »

Years ago this was a rather bland course. Today it is a challenging layout with penalizing bunkers everywhere. What makes matters more difficult is the lack of sand in these bunkers. Imagine trying to hit out of bunker with a high lip with very little sand under your ball. A ball in a bunker on this course is a 1/2 a stroke to one stroke penalty every time. If you play here, really avoid the bunkers as best you can. Yes, the tour pros are better than me 100 fold....but at least they play out of perfectly textured bunkers...and now for the rest...The tee boxes are an absolute joke. Uneven and just awful. The worst I have seen in a long time. The ladies and black tee golfers are lucky. The tee boxes there seemed to be in much better shape than the "Badlands" of the white and blue tees. The fairways are the highlight of Skylinks. They are firm but at least the lies are decent. The greens are slower than you think. They are riddled with ball marks. My repair tool got a work out yesterday. They have added OB stakes between holes 14 and 15. Skylinks is probably one of the most overpriced venues in So Cal. if you are not a resident of Long Beach. If Victoria was a golf course people would flock to it away from here. In sum, a fun, strategic course spoiled a bit by not enough love from a maintenance standpoint.

Took a buddy to Skylinks for his first-ever visit on Saturday. We scrapped up a 9:20am tee time the day before online which was a great last-minute option. Having just come off of a Covid illness, he ... Continue »

Took a buddy to Skylinks for his first-ever visit on Saturday. We scrapped up a 9:20am tee time the day before online which was a great last-minute option. Having just come off of a Covid illness, he opted to ride while I walked and we played from the blue tees.

First and most important thing you'll notice at the Links right now is how good of shape the greens are in. They're really fantastic, running very quickly and there were some very difficult pin spots set up for the afternoon. I played a horrible round so I can't speak to how shot-receptive they were, but once on them they played absolutely outstanding.

The rest of the course is also in good shape, but it's not that verdant, lush green that you would like to see at a 'higher' end course like this one. It was also a massive bummer to see all the trees that have been cut down or removed entirely around the 4th green/5th tee box. It used to be quite a beautiful spot but apparently the planes were having too difficult a time landing, although I never read anywhere about a bunch of crash landings. Oh well ... it just was aesthetically and environmentally saddening.

Bunkers were playing nicely for sure and the only real gripe was some damaged tee boxes that were not in line with the way the rest of the course was playing at all. It was surprising to see them in as poor of shape as they were and hopefully that gets remedied soon.

We had cart service a few times around so that was nice, and the POP was actually pretty phenomenal as well, finishing right on four hours. We played with a very lovely couple as well who made it quite a pleasant day. I'm not sure my buddy was as convinced of the course's value at over $80 for his round, but it was with a cart and, if the tee boxes get fixed up, it's right inline with what's acceptable in terms of cost.

I would definitely play here again if I see tee times come available in the near future.

It goes to show how American Golf does bare minimum. The Long Beach Open is next week, so the course is the best shape I’ve ever seen it. Fairways green and lush, greens rolling true, bunkers actually... Continue »

It goes to show how American Golf does bare minimum. The Long Beach Open is next week, so the course is the best shape I’ve ever seen it. Fairways green and lush, greens rolling true, bunkers actually manicured and soft (miracle alone here). Tee boxes still junk though. If only They put this effort into the Maintenance year round, this would be one of the better munis, unfortunately American Golf doesn’t and the course will go back to subpar in a couple weeks.

Played 6/7/22 in slightly breezy conditions and fair skies. Skylinks has all the added-on water, rocks and fluff to make it prettier than your typical City Municipal parkland course. The greens putt p... Continue »

Played 6/7/22 in slightly breezy conditions and fair skies. Skylinks has all the added-on water, rocks and fluff to make it prettier than your typical City Municipal parkland course. The greens putt pretty true, the fairways are fairly nice, some mixed grasses...the sand is inconsistent but still very playable, i.e. wet sand, dry sand, muddy sand... but no hardpan bunkers- and that's good! On the bad side, rough/fringe around some of the greens was absolutely atrocious. Hard pan with clumps of 3 different kinds of grass/weeds growing here and there within 25 feet of the hole made chipping a hit-and-hope affair. I missed one par-3 green by 2 feet and the hardpan bounce went dead right and ended up 25 feet off with nothing but scruffy clumps and pock-marked baked dirt between me and the green. Really put a damper on what could be a very nice course with a little TLC and maintenance. A note on the first hole: No one told me the lake was in play and after I shot the yardage over a little rise to the carts in the fairway at 205, I found out after hitting a nice 3-hybrid 190 right down the middle that the carts I shot were actually off to the right of the lake- you can't see the water middle/left from the tee box and there's nothing to tell you how far it is (I still don't know!). Still, all in all the pace was fine, the course mostly playable, there's some interesting holes, some water here and there to catch your eye and it's worth the price. Recommended- but with a red flag about the bare greenside lies and poor rough.