Hate to rub it in, but I got to play here today. It was actually the second leg of an awesome "OC Tour" package some friends and I bought at a charity auction. We already played Shady Canyon and Newpo... Continue »

Hate to rub it in, but I got to play here today. It was actually the second leg of an awesome "OC Tour" package some friends and I bought at a charity auction. We already played Shady Canyon and Newport will be next, but today was all about Big Canyon. We were hosted by a really nice member and felt very welcomed as guests with full access to the clubhouse, locker room and other nice amenities. We teed off at 9:00 with a pretty good gap in front of us. We caught up to a fivesome ahead at the turn, but they asked us to play through. Nice relaxed 4-hour pace, so perfect country club experience. The course was in nice condition overall, highlighted by the greens. There are reasons the pros love to come out here to work on their games. The greens were exceptional. Receptive on approaches and super smooth and true on putts. Not lightning fast today, but downhillers were still sometimes hard to stop. The tee boxes were fantastic and the bunkers were excellent, as well. The fairways were good, but I wouldn't say great. I generally had nice lies in the bermuda turf, but noticed some thin areas throughout. The rough is also a bit inconsistent, but it was cut down and not much of a factor. In fact, our host told me that the members just voted to replace all of the rough with year-round bermuda. So that will be an upcoming renovation project. Looking past some of the fairway/rough imperfections this time of year, it's hard not to love this course and the high-end country club experience you get here. The course layout is really fun and interesting, with each hole offering something a little different. We played the white tees, which gave us some more scoring opportunities. Still, it makes you work with some awkward tee angles and well-protected greens with deep bunkers all around. From the tips and even the blues, I could see it would be much, much more challenging. Certainly, if you ever get a chance to play here, don't pass up the opportunity!