Played 5/3 Sat morning. This was my third time playing here and their customer service is top notch. Well, considering the green fee and that this is a resort golf course, that is kind of expected. ... Continue »

Played 5/3 Sat morning. This was my third time playing here and their customer service is top notch. Well, considering the green fee and that this is a resort golf course, that is kind of expected. Greens were very good. It was more on medium speed in the morning and by afternoon, it was on medium-fast side. Fairway and rough were good, except lots of divot marks that were not filled in by golfers. Only down side on this course was the sands. I was in two greenside bunkers and they were both hard and shallow. It had a very think layer of fluffy sand on top, and then hard, wet sand underneath. It made my sand wedge bounce right off, skulling the ball. Other than the sands, it was an excellent experience with great customer service. The view from the third hole is priceless.

Played 4/8/14 with GKer Jerry64. Noticed that they space the tee times out perfect in 10 minute intervals which is a big plus. We tee'd off on time @ 10:20am and the group ahead was already putting bu... Continue »

Played 4/8/14 with GKer Jerry64. Noticed that they space the tee times out perfect in 10 minute intervals which is a big plus. We tee'd off on time @ 10:20am and the group ahead was already putting but us going out as a twosome we ended up catching them by the next hole with them barely pulling away from the tee box when we finished the 1st hole. According to the starter they rarely ever send out only twosomes but the other two people canceled so he insisted we play a couple balls if we wanted to. Even though we had some waiting time on the front 9 the views made up for that and didn't bother me one bit. Back nine the marshal kept up on them and they started moving much faster. I believe we finished around the 4-1/2 hour mark but I was enjoying the course so much that pace didn't bug me one bit.

On to the course. Tee boxes were mostly level, I had a few where I had to move a little to get on more even ground. Fairways were a mix of lush and thin with some patch work and other GUR throughout the course. Rough was the same, pretty lush but quite a few thin areas right off the fairway and if you stray a little further off on some holes had some DEEP rough. There were a lot of bunkers which I found a few greenside and fairway. The fairway bunkers were a little on the firmer side so easy to hit out of and all the greenside bunkers except one were great and the one that was worse was just a little wet but still had plenty of sand. Greens had been punched a couple weeks before and some aeration holes are still visible but seem to be healing just fine. Most of the greens rolled pretty true for still recovering so I'm sure they will be amazing in another week or so. Greens were really undulating on a few holes and some really sucker pin placements. Luckily the greens weren't rolling super fast but I can imagine them being extremely tough if they were running any faster. I thought the layout was great with a good mixture of holes a different settings. Of course the signature 3rd hole was amazing. Cart girl came around plenty of times and you pass the snack shack twice during the round so getting enough food and drink is no issue here. Plus water bottles were in the cart cooler before the round and the marshal brought water bottles around during the round. Overall I had a great time and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Played here 3/22 after they had punched the greens. Not a fun experience playing a high priced course with punched greens. The rest of the course is great, especially the bunkers which are world cl... Continue »

Played here 3/22 after they had punched the greens. Not a fun experience playing a high priced course with punched greens. The rest of the course is great, especially the bunkers which are world class sand. Our mens league had booked the date before knowing this would happen. Certainly it took away from the event.

Played Monarch on Thursday, temps in the upper 70s and little to no wind troubles. Course is in excellent condition Green and very lush, fairways provided great lies throughout the day with very few t... Continue »

Played Monarch on Thursday, temps in the upper 70s and little to no wind troubles. Course is in excellent condition Green and very lush, fairways provided great lies throughout the day with very few thin areas present but 4 fairways cart path only holes 1,2,12 and 16. All other area of the course were perfect. Rough was thick and penal in nature with a depth of 2-4 inches. Bunkers were well groomed and contained new sand maybe 3-5 in some and 4-6 in other bunkers on the backside. Greens rolled true, 10.5 on this day but the same problems as always, ball marks left without taking care of them. I can only assume it was from the large outing that tee-off early in the morning as many golfers were beginners based on the practice net areas and the viewing that was taking place. Customer service here is always great, but the cart girl today was rarely seen only twice the whole day, once on the third and again on the 10th. Did not see any real reason for the closed fairways other than the new drainage flags being placed for work coming up. Course is still deciding whether or not they will surrender the ocean view holes to developer pressure and redesign or not, information told to me by starter on this day that latest offer was rejected membership bulletin touches on subject briefly but not in any informative way. Overall course is in excellent condition and would recommend playing it for the first time or as a return customer.

Played yesterday 2/5/2014 with perfect weather and amazing ocean views. The course was in great shape -the greens are perfect, rolling true and fast. Tee'd off at 1:15pm and finished at 5pm, excellent... Continue »

Played yesterday 2/5/2014 with perfect weather and amazing ocean views. The course was in great shape -the greens are perfect, rolling true and fast. Tee'd off at 1:15pm and finished at 5pm, excellent POP.Overall a great experience.

Played here this afternoon. Found a pretty good deal through EZlinks ($68 for a 12:40 tee time) and also saved a few extra bucks with a 10% promo code. With the perfect weather, it seemed like a great... Continue »

Played here this afternoon. Found a pretty good deal through EZlinks ($68 for a 12:40 tee time) and also saved a few extra bucks with a 10% promo code. With the perfect weather, it seemed like a great day to visit Monarch. I checked in with the starter around noon and it didn't seem too busy (first tee was wide open), so I asked about getting out a little earlier. They said a single just went off and was playing through a foursome on the 2nd tee, so they had me meet him on the 3rd tee and start from there. It was a bit weird starting on the best hole, but when I came back around to play 1 & 2, they encouraged me to go ahead and play 3 & 4 again since things were open. That was pretty sweet getting to double-dip on those signature holes. The service here is definitely top-notch and they are all really friendly people. In total, my round took under 4 hours even with the two bonus holes, so the pace was excellent! As the previous reviewer notes, the course is in very good condition for winter. Mostly lush and green throughout. There are plenty of thin spots scattered throughout and a few GUR areas roped off, but the course looked and played very well. The greens were very soft and receptive, which is necessary with such well-protected and undulating greens. Rolling pretty smooth at medium speeds. I noticed a few thin areas on some greens, but mostly pretty nice. There were an unfortunate number of ball marks on these soft greens, so it's sad some resort guests don't do their part to help maintain such a beautiful course. Last but not least, the tee boxes were excellent and the sand traps were immaculate with perfect soft white sand. I had the chance to test out a large number of them today(!), so I got my money's worth in the bunkers. With the right deal, I would definitely recommend Monarch to anyone. For what I paid, it was an amazing deal made even better by good conditions and perfect beachfront weather. Rack rates very expensive because of the location and resort-level service, but you can find decent deals here to make it well worth the occasional visit as a local.

I played on Wednesday 1/8/14. The personnel are fantastic. From the free valet parking, Shop Cashier Tony, the starter, the bag boys and Megan in the patio are all top notch and I felt I was being pam... Continue »

I played on Wednesday 1/8/14. The personnel are fantastic. From the free valet parking, Shop Cashier Tony, the starter, the bag boys and Megan in the patio are all top notch and I felt I was being pampered! I played their promotional rate of $74, my partner, a Laguna resident became a member.
The facility has stalls for hitting into nets-(reverse batting cages) with all the range balls you want. Putting greens are adequate. The layout is very interesting. Once you get in the carts (GPS), pay attention to signs for directions-especially the front 9. I don't prefer courses surrounded by housing but, next to the ocean, I'm relaxed.
Course condition gets an 8 because the back nine had several fairway spots that were dry, under repair, or access restrictions. Greens and sand traps are in excellent care.
Great lobster salad sandwich!

Played yesterday 1/7/2014 with perfect weather and amazing ocean views. The course was in great shape -the greens are perfect, rolling true and fast. Overall a great experience.

Played yesterday 1/7/2014 with perfect weather and amazing ocean views. The course was in great shape -the greens are perfect, rolling true and fast. Overall a great experience.

Played Monarch Beach last week. Hadn't played the course in about 7 years. Had a special SCGA rate (tee off before 8AM) of $74. This is usually out of my price range but my partner and I gave ourselve... Continue »

Played Monarch Beach last week. Hadn't played the course in about 7 years. Had a special SCGA rate (tee off before 8AM) of $74. This is usually out of my price range but my partner and I gave ourselves an early Christmas present. The staff was excellent as far as the service. Very attentive and helpful. As for the course...well..the greens were find and the ball rolled pretty true. Sand was very good for this time of year. A good thump when you hit your shot. I was disappointed with the fairways. Too many bare spots and real tight lies. For what you pay here as regular rate, you'd think the fairways would be excellent. I played the "Ike" at Industry Hills a couple weeks ago for the same price and you'd think it was PGA tour ready. We had a good round, pace of play was good. I wouldn't play this course at their regular rate. Money better spent at other courses,