Played Coyote Hills recently for the first time in almost ten years. I had always looked forward to coming back out to this challenging, narrow course after it had beaten me up so badly fresh into my ... Continue »

Played Coyote Hills recently for the first time in almost ten years. I had always looked forward to coming back out to this challenging, narrow course after it had beaten me up so badly fresh into my golfing career, but even the more seasoned golfer in me still had a very tough time on this particular day to turn things around. Few courses in SoCal will take the driver out of your hands more than Coyote Hills. The angles, elevations and split fairways make it a luxury more than a necessity in most cases, but there are plenty of holes too with forced carries. The par 3s are all very unique but each daunting in their own way. Few holes are 'wide open' and even the short par 5s throw plenty of trouble at you to make you work very hard for a good score. The layout some might call 'gimmicky' but if you make wise club selections and put a good swing on the ball, you will be rewarded. Course conditions were pretty nice all around with the greens being not diabolically fast, but incredibly tricky with their breaks and very subtle with the dropoffs that make you think twice about speed on every single one. I had a tragically poor putting afternoon and it's because I could never maintain the confidence putter speed. But the surface conditions were quite good. The fairways had mostly good coverage with some thin spots here and there, while the rough (where you can find it) was quite playable and comfortable. There are a lot of trouble areas with mulch and trees or just plain OB that you have to navigate, and also avoid all the oil derricks that are still in operation around the course (but do give it some interesting character). Tee boxes were mostly in good shape but some a bit thin and the par 3s could use some love ... all flat and level though (we played from the blue tees). Bunkers were still a bit on the grainy side after the recent rains so I am reluctant to give them a poor rating but that's what this site is all about - the truth of the moment. We had cart service multiple times throughout the day and that was good. There is a small snack shop open near the starter at the turn as well. POP was very interesting as I thought we were moving pretty decently most of the day but was very surprised when we were teeing off on the 18th hole that we were just over five hours. I suppose that's a good testament to an interesting and fun course that the slow play didn't detract from the overall experience that much. You need to play this course plenty of times I think to really shoot some low scores here as a lot of the visuals can throw you off, but you'll have a good time doing it no matter what. I'm glad I finally had a chance to come back and knock it off my sub-100 list finally (mission accomplished!), but I know I have better rounds in me here and I intend to come back and make a better go of it.