Played 36 holes yesterday with Noel Daof and fellow GK'ers Ron and Matt. Bit of a drive but nice place. We had lunch in the clubhouse between rounds. The service was fantastic and the food was very... Continue »

Played 36 holes yesterday with Noel Daof and fellow GK'ers Ron and Matt. Bit of a drive but nice place. We had lunch in the clubhouse between rounds. The service was fantastic and the food was very good.

I liked the layout a lot. The course is built on a gentle slope and the design (by Billy Bell I am told) made good use of it to vary the elevation changes. The conditions were also very good. There were some drier areas in the rough. At other places the rough was lush but playable. The fairways were excellent in my experience. Some drier areas but nothing bare. The bunkers were inconsistent with a couple with only a thin layer of sand and a couple where the ball plugged in the thick soft sand. Otherwise, they tended to be a little crusty but playable. There were also bare desert spots if you ventured too far from the fairway. Those areas should not have been in play but were to badly placed drives. There were several dry (former) water features from which the ball could be played although the lies were iffy.

The greens were difficult. There was a definite Palmdale grain that made the greens difficult to read, slow when they looked fast and vice versa. There were minor problems on a couple of greens but otherwise they were outstanding. Few ball marks with good, true speed (if you could figure out break).

I thoroughly enjoyed the course and the experience. It was very windy in the morning and calmed down in the afternoon (still a half club), the opposite of the forecast, but the course was playable both rounds. Just a fun course.

Played 36 here today with Nickesquire, rgm2525 and sixpez. Great day on a wonderful course. As already mentioned by Keith and Nick, conditions are quite good. Greens are nearly totally healed from aer... Continue »

Played 36 here today with Nickesquire, rgm2525 and sixpez. Great day on a wonderful course. As already mentioned by Keith and Nick, conditions are quite good. Greens are nearly totally healed from aeration and running medium fast. A few putts bounced on us a bit, though. A week or two and they'll probably be back to normal lightning fast. Well-struck, full approach shots held fairly well with minimal runout. Fairways were good, nice coverage throughout and cut short. Rough was lush and about 2-3 inches in most places. Some tee boxes had visual signs of somewhat recent aeration, but nothing that really impacted play unless you insist on trying to tee the ball where a hole is. Bunkers were good for the most part, although one I was in lacked the depth of sand of the others.

This is a great layout and I agree with Nick that it's the type of course you'd want to play frequently if you had the opportunity. It has a great mix of holes, multiple doglegs, some quirk, minor elevation changes, tricky greens, beautiful surroundings, generally very nice conditioning and seemingly small crowds. Last time I played here I think all of the lakes were dry. Some of them are now filled in, in varying depths of water. Some are only partly full, where there are spots within the hazard where a ball can be found and played without much difficulty. Like Keith said, I'd still like to play here on a relatively calm day. The par-5 fifth hole is probably my favorite hole out here, with a hazard to the right of the fairway landing zone, and then a stairstep fairway leading downhill to the green complex, which is guarded by a large tree short left of the green. There's also a water hazard near the green, but unfortunately it only has a small amount of water in it.

I posted 32 photos to a Flickr album here: https://goo.gl/zTm0Ha

Played the Blues (6962/72.7/129) with Sixpez, Itslikeimsayin and RGM2525. We had a free 4some won through their monthly website drawing, playing in 4H, 10M on a very breezy weekday midday. Afterwards,... Continue »

Played the Blues (6962/72.7/129) with Sixpez, Itslikeimsayin and RGM2525. We had a free 4some won through their monthly website drawing, playing in 4H, 10M on a very breezy weekday midday. Afterwards, we replayed for $15 in about 3H, 20M and it was downright windy. Thanks much to Crystalaire for having us out! Enjoy the layout and the variety. You rarely see cactus and Joshua trees on other So Cal courses, especially parkland style courses with beautiful tree lined fairways. Not a tight course overall, but tight in a few spots. The courses main defense is the greens. No tiers or gimmicks, but they are usually slick and hard to read. The lakes are really down, dry or 1/2 filled. The tees had recently been aerated, but were still very nice overall. Poa annua mowed close and only a few had unfixed divots. The fairways were also poa annua mowed close. Good coverage, few unfixed divots, nice to play out of. On the rough, you could tell where they were concentrating their water allocation. The rough near the fairways was fairly lush. The farther you got from the fairway the more spotty and hardpan the rough became. I found the sand traps to be good to very good. The fairways bunkers were mostly hard packed and good to play out of. The green side bunkers were medium brown sand and very well maintained. The greens were nearly back to normal from spring aeration. Not as fast as I remembered them my last visit here, but still medium fast, firm and fairly smooth. No drink cart, but they provide cups/ice and there is water on the course. The customer service from everyone encountered was excellent. Functional, no frills clubhouse and decent practice facilities. I would play here regularly if the courses location was not so remote. Recommended = Yes.

Had a fun day out here today with Nickesquire, rgm2525 and Itslikeimsayin. Nick had won their monthly drawing for a free foursome, so he was nice enough to invite us out. It was not too busy out there... Continue »

Had a fun day out here today with Nickesquire, rgm2525 and Itslikeimsayin. Nick had won their monthly drawing for a free foursome, so he was nice enough to invite us out. It was not too busy out there on a Wednesday with some pretty heavy winds. We enjoyed a nice relaxed pace for our first round of about 4:10, and then we paid $15 for a replay round. We played a little quicker this time while the crazy winds really started tossing us around, and we finished the second round in under 4 hours. The course was in good condition overall. The tee boxes were great. The fairways were mostly quite good with some thin spots here and there. The rough was very thick in some areas and not much of a factor in others. Lies varied more the further you strayed from the fairways. I was in my fair share of bunkers and they were somewhat inconsistent. More good than bad, but each one felt a little different than the last. The greens had been aerated earlier this month and are getting close to being fully healed. Still bumpy in places and not rolling as lightning fast as Crystalaire is generally known for. Plenty slick on most downhillers and so tough to read the slopes! Needless to say, the greens ate me alive today. This is a fun course and the only other time I played here it was crazy windy, as well. I'm sure that's the case a lot of the time out here in the high desert, but I would like to play it some day in calmer conditions. The course is already tougher than it looks, but the winds really amp up the challenge.

First, I am somewhat surprise no one else had taken any chances to play this course all this time.... Just so people know, Mondays & Tuesdays are open fo play with Monday being the better deal of the ... Continue »

First, I am somewhat surprise no one else had taken any chances to play this course all this time.... Just so people know, Mondays & Tuesdays are open fo play with Monday being the better deal of the two.

As alays, this course always plays tough for me. But, nonethelss, the course is in a good playing condition. On top of that, this club is gearing to make things look better. The lakes is filled with water (nice- after being dry for I've forgotten how far back- it's been so long). Patches of grass replaced on cart tire's beaten path all over the course. But then some of those roots are still all around some of the tree lines- but that's another issue for later.

The greens are always good here. Rolled good and smooth and fast, of course.

The bunkers have new sand, unfortunately they're not new in all bunkers, sooo pay attention to the sand color and feel it with your feet to tell the difference.

The fairways are great!

The teeing grounds are fine.

It's still winter cold at night here in the high desert, so the color isn't very green like the L.A. or Coachella courses, but you'll find that the course plays pretty good for the price.

Btw, the green fees include an all day play and range balls- knock yourself out.

There are no beverage carts here. Sometimes, in the summer, they'll have drinks for sale at the gazebo. The carts are old and they don't have gps. Oh, and the course is out of the way from anything... It's quiet there.

Lots of Q goes through here, pros...ams... it's only a few yards shy of 7000, but it's a good test...no rinkydinks kind of layout, fun to play.

Peace Love & Golf

Last Friday was my first time back here since April, just prior to the aeration.

I was lucky enough to have been invited and had partaken in a very nice Member/Guest tournament that took place over... Continue »

Last Friday was my first time back here since April, just prior to the aeration.

I was lucky enough to have been invited and had partaken in a very nice Member/Guest tournament that took place over the weekend, July 18th & 19th, with a practice round day that Friday.

The greens were completely healed with no trace of aeration as expected. Therefore, it wasn't a surprise to see that the greens would have rolled smooth and with good pace (10, maybe 10.5).

The bunkers' sand were pretty consistent, the teeing grounds were good. I love the fairways' good conditioning as well. The services up at the clubhouse and at the gazebo were nice, pleasant and efficient.

Anyway, if you live in Southern California, you would be well aware of the rainfall we received over the weekend. Crystalaire CC, located just in the foot of the mountains also received their fair share of rainfall and, yes, there were also thunder storms. The horns sounded on our 8th hole we were playing from a shotgun start. And, just as the thunders had stopped, we've resumed play.

Standing water from that heavy pour? Not a chance !! This course can receive plenty of water and will drain well all the time.

Before I forget, I'd like to note that the lakes are all without water from the drought we've been having throughout the years.

I've also noticed that there are a numbers of trees that are dying from age and also the lack of water. In my opinion, this is a good thing! I say that because the course is beautiful links style...but the truth is that there are still plenty of healthy trees that would make you not think about the one's that are dying and not in play.

Until the next tee time, Crystalaire !

Ah, my ol'course... It's good to have seen and played this course a few times since I left after September 2015. It's also always great to see many of my friends there. Lucky for them, they're still ... Continue »

Ah, my ol'course... It's good to have seen and played this course a few times since I left after September 2015. It's also always great to see many of my friends there. Lucky for them, they're still members. But I think I'll be back. I've always had a very special relationship with this course.

Anyway, the course is being aerated this week. I found out the last time I was there was there on Friday and I know it's meaningless to do a review, but because this course is one of the most consistent/persistent in very good course conditionings, please allow me to just say that once again their conditions were a pleasure and most especially the putting greens. It rolled ever so nicely with about 10.5 or 11 in speed. The bunker's sand were much too fluffy for my play, but nevertheless, it was good, and the fairways were nice and lush... the teeing grounds were just fine. It's really nice to play in it.

It was a treat for me to visit and had tee'd off at 8:30AM walking for 18 and then jumped in the cart for another 18 with just me and a buddy of mine. At about 2:35pm or so we were done with 36 and our match was even... so we played 3 more holes to settle and to end the day nicely.

Hope to see and play this course again, soon!

Until then, Crystalaire!

_n.

Was lucky enough to play here yesterday 11/16/14 for free thanks to Gker Sixpez. Also played with itslikeimsayin and kviser and as always I had a blast playing with a group of GKer's. I have been hear... Continue »

Was lucky enough to play here yesterday 11/16/14 for free thanks to Gker Sixpez. Also played with itslikeimsayin and kviser and as always I had a blast playing with a group of GKer's. I have been hearing about this course for a while and was hoping I would some day get to play there and now I am really happy that I finally have and that it did not disappoint. The conditions were better than I had expected and the layout was a lot more fun than I expected.

Showed up a little early and I'm glad I dressed warm, as did everyone else, because it was probably around 45° with the wind chill and maybe even a little colder in the shade. Check in couldn't have been easier and the guy in the pro shop told us to feel free to use the practice areas until we were ready to go out. Hitting the practice green before teeing off should be mandatory especially if you have never played there before. Kviser told me "everything breaks away from the mountain and it breaks hard" and we all found out on the course that that was very true. It does not matter if you have a north facing putt and it looks like you are putting up hill it will be very fast and if you have a downhill looking putt into the hill it will be slow. There weren't too many people going out ahead of us but they were out of site in no time. In fact other than letting a group pass on the second hole we never had to wait for a shot.

The course was in really good shape. It could have been better condition wise but it was very playable. Tee's were good, a couple mushy and a few with sand on them. Fairways were like carpet and still gave quite a bit of roll on most holes. Rough was inconsistent but had really good coverage. Some areas were very lush, long and green and other areas were thin and brown but I did not notice any annoying patchy areas. I was in the sand a few times and every time it was good. The ones I landed in were a little crusty on top but plenty of sand underneath. Greens were rolling great and were very tricky. They held almost all full shots hit at them but chips and pitch shots seemed to release a lot. Like I said before everything breaks away from the mountain and is very quick, we had a couple that rolled through the entire green that weren't even hit very hard. Layout was a decent challenge. A few really good doglegs and a few blind shots. Course knowledge would help you out on a few holes but the rest is pretty straight forward but not boring at all. Customer service was excellent in the bar as well and prices were very reasonable. I think come spring or early next summer when it warms up I will be trying to get back out there and if you have a chance to play at the guests rates I would say it is well worth it.

Really feel like I let this one slip through my fingers. Got a great opportunity to play this course thanks to sixpez winning the monthly drawing and just played terribly all day. Worst score in recen... Continue »

Really feel like I let this one slip through my fingers. Got a great opportunity to play this course thanks to sixpez winning the monthly drawing and just played terribly all day. Worst score in recent memory. But even with my terrible play, I really enjoyed the company (sixpez, kviser & mnehls86) and the course. This is a very playable layout that presents a good challenge and forces some shotmaking on certain holes. (The par 4 16th is a great dogleg right framed by trees that demands a left-to-right ball flight off the tee.)

Unfortunately, most of the lakes on the course are all dried out, but otherwise conditions are good and very playable. The greens are the highlight, extremely fast when with the grain/wind/gravity, and near impossible to stop the ball when all three combine forces. We happened to choose a very cold, blustery day to play, and the winds increased the difficulty factor exponentially. Fairways were nice, rough a little less consistent, tee boxes decent and bunkers were good. I would love to play here again, preferably on a calm 75-degree day.