Fellow GKer, Tony, and I got out early afternoon here. I walked for $16.50 while Tony rode for $24.50. POP was a little on the slow side at 4:15; we waited on most shots as the course was stacked up. ... Continue »

Fellow GKer, Tony, and I got out early afternoon here. I walked for $16.50 while Tony rode for $24.50. POP was a little on the slow side at 4:15; we waited on most shots as the course was stacked up. Greens remain the best part of this American Golf run facility. They were lush, soft, and medium fast. Only problem is the myriad of deep ball marks today. I swear I fixed an average of 5 to 10 on each green. It's a par 60 for the men and I always find it hard to make a good score, even on the relatively easy, short par 3's. The fairways and rough were, for the most part, browned out, dormant Bermuda grass. Bunker sand was good, soft, light in color, and plentiful. Several of the tees were not very level making for some awkward feeling stances, especially the blues on the signature hole 17 (the island green). Course personnel are pleasant. One guy, Bob, drives around and carries a fresh cooler of water and cups for golfers who have not bought from the beverage cart. Also, there was a late afternoon greenskeeper filling in divots on the tee boxes. It's an okay course if you happen to live near it and want to work on some short game shots. The price was right.

Note: This is a review for the Chica par-3 course since it doesn't have its own page. Did not post rating to avoid conflicting with Vista's current rating. If I had to give it a number, we'll say abou... Continue »

Note: This is a review for the Chica par-3 course since it doesn't have its own page. Did not post rating to avoid conflicting with Vista's current rating. If I had to give it a number, we'll say about a 5 : )

This was the first stop on another of my short course blitzes today Was first off by myself a little before 6:30 once it was light enough to see. Price was $16, which seems a little steep for this 9-holer, but I'm sure I could have stayed out there longer and got my money's worth if I wanted to.

Course in OK shape. Greens very soft and wet that early in the morning, but rolling pretty smooth with good surfaces. Fringes nice. Tees pretty chewed up, but not horrible. Everywhere else is hit or miss. Some nice lush areas, some muddy sections after the recent rain. If you miss a green, you get what you get.

Came back to check this one off the list after playing Vista previously. Decent par-3 course with holes ranging from 70 up to around 150 yards. Some boring holes, a few fun ones with hills and a water hazard in play.

Played here today; $10.50 walking at 3:00 p.m. Pace was great as I was able to play through several groups, finishing in about 2 1/2 hours. Greens are the best part of the course. At least they look n... Continue »

Played here today; $10.50 walking at 3:00 p.m. Pace was great as I was able to play through several groups, finishing in about 2 1/2 hours. Greens are the best part of the course. At least they look nice; however, they are very soft and roll medium slow. Also, I have ranted in the past about infiltration of kikuyu and Bermuda grasses in the greens and it is as bad as it has ever been. They still roll okay, so I should just accept it. There were many unrepaired ball marks on several greens. The fairways were on the thin side, but not bad by any means. Several hoses and sprinklers were placed around the course to give dry areas supplemental water and they did come into play on a few fairways. Considering there are only 7 par fours, it was a big percentage of fairways needing water. I can vouch for tonybarrett's review regarding softening of the course. Bunker in front of 4 used to be a steep-faced monster. Now it is a little more gentle, but still no pushover. Bunkers were removed from the left-front of 13 green and the right side of 15 fairway. Good pricing in the late afternoon during the week giving me a chance to get some golf in after work. I guess I will be back.

Local course for me and I play here frequently. They have been doing some improvements so a recent review is in order.

Many of the greenside bunkers have been reconfigured and updated recently wit... Continue »

Local course for me and I play here frequently. They have been doing some improvements so a recent review is in order.

Many of the greenside bunkers have been reconfigured and updated recently with new fluffy white sand. While I definitely applaud the changes and appreciate the pride the staff has taken with the new improvements in educating golfers in ways to help maintain the course. By fixing ball marks, raking the bunkers and keeping carts away from the green complexes. They get allot of beginner play here due to executive size and low price point. So keep up the good work in 1st tee dialog with the players. It is up to us to play in ways that minimize the effect of playing on the course.

The new bunkers visually have added to the course and appear Augusta like and well defined from the tees. Fairway bunkers have not been worked on and still have hard dirt colored sand/dirt in them. Hopefully they will make some improvements there as well. There has been some design changes due to new bunkers. Notably on 4 and 13 as the intimidation factor of the deep faced old bunkers is gone as the new ones are relatively flat and the putting surface can be seen when in them. They also removed the left greenside bunker on 13 as a result removing that channel that balls would feed into between the bunkers either through too much spin or putting from the back downhill to that diabolical front hole position.

I did notice that the right side fairway bunker on 15 was removed. This bunker was well positioned to catch long irons off the tee and got allot of play. Overall i think the changes softened the course a little and personally on the fence regarding the play ability changes but the condition improvements are welcome. There tends to be trend lately in making golf easier for the masses as similar play ability changes were made to Olivas Links in Ventura.

Not so sure about this approach to make golf golf more appealing. In the end it may make some of these course less appealing to frequent players.

Vista offers tons of value in the variety of shots, great pace of play (typically) and recently for the most part above average condition.

Played an early morning warm-up round here before an outing at TPC Valencia. First time on this executive course. I got there early and was teeing it up by myself around 6am when there was barely enou... Continue »

Played an early morning warm-up round here before an outing at TPC Valencia. First time on this executive course. I got there early and was teeing it up by myself around 6am when there was barely enough light to see. $22.50 walking rate decent for the Vista course. Apparently, there's another guy who starts before dawn almost every day. I actually caught up to him on the back nine, but the pace was excellent walking in a little over 2 hours. The course was in decent condition. Very, very soggy, but you can expect that with such an early morning round. Tee boxes mostly good. Fairways had their poor patches, but better than I would expect for a lower-end little like this. Greens very soft, but rolling pretty well even when still quite wet. You can tell they've been doing a lot of work to the bunkers. Some are still somewhat "under repair" as they reshaped the lips and need to lay down some new sod around the edges. I was in a few. The first had good sand, but there were a ton of old footprints. The second was a bit firm. The third (on #18) was excellent with pretty new white sand. One thing that kind of sucked was how much "stuff" the geese have left behind all over the course. It's a mine field out there! I enjoyed myself out here and the staff was very nice and ready for the early birds. Pro shop guy made sure I knew where to go and the starter was kind enough to ask another twosome to let me go off first so I didn't have to awkwardly play through them a few holes in. Pretty fun executive layout with a few holes that are much tougher and longer than you'd expect on a par-61 course—like the 220+ par-3 2nd and the 450+ par-4 10th (playing from the blue tees). Several really fun par-3s, especially the island green on 17 with the elevated tees.

Even though this is an executive course, for beginners or inexperienced golfers this track is tough. There are numerous nasty bunkers in the front of many greens. There are also hazards to carry. It... Continue »

Even though this is an executive course, for beginners or inexperienced golfers this track is tough. There are numerous nasty bunkers in the front of many greens. There are also hazards to carry. It is too bad this course is not regulation. If it was it would be a great layout. On some holes it seemed I was playing a regulation course until several very short holes reminded me that no this is executive. The greens are very nice. The fairways and rough are dry. This is not surprising given the lack of rain this year.

Played Sunday 4/27 @ 3pm. No discount super twilight @ 16 to walk and $19 to ride. Pace was fantastic as there was no one in front of us for a few holes. Conditions were OK and nothing out of the ordi... Continue »

Played Sunday 4/27 @ 3pm. No discount super twilight @ 16 to walk and $19 to ride. Pace was fantastic as there was no one in front of us for a few holes. Conditions were OK and nothing out of the ordinary for an LA Muni. Vista provides an interesting Par 61 layout with a variety of holes, well protected greens and lots of elevation changes. Hard to beat it for the practice when you consider its about the price of a bucket of balls. I will be back often.

Tee box and greens were in pretty good shape. Surprisingly I didn't see much unrepaired greens today. Maybe the fact that the started reminded us to fix ball marks and rack the bunkers before sendin... Continue »

Tee box and greens were in pretty good shape. Surprisingly I didn't see much unrepaired greens today. Maybe the fact that the started reminded us to fix ball marks and rack the bunkers before sending us out! Wow! this is the first time I have ever heard a course actually do this. GREAT thing to do as most golfers (except maybe GKers) seem to have forgotten how to take care of the golf course. Bunkers were thin. Rough was mostly bare ground or patches of grass.

This is one American Golf course that their marshalls actually do their jobs. A marshall drove to us and told us if the group in front was holding us back to call the proshop and he will take care of it! That really made my day! Guess what, we finished in a little over 3 hours on a weekend afternoon! Impressive!

Again, conditions are not that great but if the marshalls are like this all the time, I would not have any problems coming back here on a regular basis. For the price we paid, it was a great experience and worth the green fee.

thank you.

Played the front 18 this morning with three others from the Valencia Fairways West and a 9:26am tee time. Using my "Par 55" card, a round of 18 holes cost $12.50 (walking), and that's exactly what th... Continue »

Played the front 18 this morning with three others from the Valencia Fairways West and a 9:26am tee time. Using my "Par 55" card, a round of 18 holes cost $12.50 (walking), and that's exactly what the 4 of us did this morning. Walk. Beautifull morning, slightly cloudy with a cool breeze and you couldn't ask for a better morning. Tee boxes and greens were in great condition, fairways are simply showing their "winter" conditions at this point in time, and the sand traps are simply lacking a good layer of sand. So, stay away from the sand traps :) Everyone was moving along well with their golf and it took us about 4 hours to play 18 holes today. Again, had a great time and looking forward to playing again next Friday morning...