First time at Rams Hill and I'm realizing that I should listen to GK and ignore golf magazines on the great courses to play in California. I've never noticed Rams Hill get much love in articles on wh... Continue »

First time at Rams Hill and I'm realizing that I should listen to GK and ignore golf magazines on the great courses to play in California. I've never noticed Rams Hill get much love in articles on where to play but it's a darling of the GK world and now I know why. This place jumped into my top 5 by the end of the first hole.

Unlike flat ground forced into holes by pencil and bulldozers - this Fazio design uses the rolling hillside Rams Hill is built on to it's fullest. Forest green fairways and rough pop out against the the desert landscape. Bunkers are ringed in a hilighter pen of light green and brown grass.

The holes themselves are challenging, interesting and fair. Plenty of bowl shaped green complexes and friendly hillsides to keep a miss hit from traveling too far away. As a first timer - I never felt confused on the the tee box as to what the hole demanded. The couple of holes where my ball went out of sight over a ridge - there was never some secret punishment lurking - if anything it was in a better spot than I was expecting. There were no gimmicky holes - no forced lay-ups - no 3 wood or more par 3's - just great variety. Only on real property could you have and all downhill par 5 and Rams Hill has a pretty good one.

I guess my only complaint would be a hole or two have houses lining them. If it hadn't been for a fortunate ricochet off a tree - I'm pretty sure I'd owe someone a sliding glass door or perhaps my ball would have entered the open back door and taken and tour of the kitchen and invited itself over for dinner.

You can keep reading all the superlatives you like about Rams Hill, but you just won't get it unless you get out there and play it. It's a truly marvelous golf experience from soup to nuts. From the m... Continue »

You can keep reading all the superlatives you like about Rams Hill, but you just won't get it unless you get out there and play it. It's a truly marvelous golf experience from soup to nuts. From the moment you pull into the parking lot and see that wonderful contrast of plush, carpet green with the surrounding desert, it's not hard to understand why this place is truly special. I enjoyed having two first-timers at Rams Hill in our group as well as they were completely struck all afternoon by the beauty and awesomeness of the course and its location amongst the hills. There is simply not one hole wasted in this layout - every single hole is a unique and challenging spectacle, and the rewards of playing them well are spectacular. The Fazio design used every contour of the land surrounding the property and filled in the gaps with green goodness. It's an amazing place to play the game we love. Conditions were simply excellent and some of the best I've experienced anywhere in quite some time. Absolutely perfect lies in the fairways all day long. And not just nice, green grass, but thick and healthy. The rough was even more uniform and spectacular - cut just high enough to make you think about putting away that hybrid, but not penal enough to discourage you from going for it when the time was right. Fantastic visually and in terms of playability. Tee boxes were immaculate and there's no shortage of options. We were awed all day by the positions of the black tee boxes, but that's way too much length for most any amateur, so we 'settled' for the blue tees, which were more than challenging enough. Bunkers were wonderfully stocked with fluffy sand and any mistakes out of them was more user error than anything else. Can't have a single complaint. Greens were glassy righteousness, coming in around an 11 on the stimp I'm guessing. No shortage of tiers on Fazio's greens, so either be very good or very lucky to keep it close. There are a lot of double breaks and undulations that must be skillfully navigated, but if you hit your ball solid, you'll get a perfect roll every time. Just need to get that speed down! And even low trajectory shots for the most part seemed to find a home on the greens just fine. Epic. Fantastic service all around from the pro shop, the attendants outside and a cart service that came around so often it was almost comical. Felt bad not ordering more! Great patio with an incredible vista of 18 and the surrounding mountains and desert. What more is there to say? We were the first group out for the GK event so hopefully our pace (right at four hours) set a good tone for the day. Thanks to Johnny for putting this awesome day together yet again. We're looking forward to coming back again next January to do the same big Borrego weekend all over again. It was that fun and memorable.

Played on 1/7 at a GK outing. Course is in FANTASTIC condition! Tee to green it is a well maintained oasis in the desert. Started the round with a nice conversation with the starter who not only let m... Continue »

Played on 1/7 at a GK outing. Course is in FANTASTIC condition! Tee to green it is a well maintained oasis in the desert. Started the round with a nice conversation with the starter who not only let me know that the course does have a combo card but went to get me one! (forwards makes it too short so a combo for me of white/red was perfect!) Tee boxes were lush and LEVEL. Highest praise for that treat. Fairways were green and well mowed. Rough was just rough enough to make you stop to think about your club choice. Sand traps, which I played a LOT of, were in very fine condition with nice fluffy sand- tough to do in the desert. Greens were medium fast to fast, and challenging in all their undulations and almost hidden breaks. Fun! Refreshment cart was around a sufficient number of times. Actually saw the marshals on the course regularly. Restaurant afterward has a delish portobello burger done just right. This track really requires some thought due to layout and strategic placement of the numerous traps. It's always in good condition but this was the best its ever been in my experience. I always have a great time at Rams Hill.

Played the Blues (6369/70.9/131) with Ron, Matt and Brian in the GK Plays in 4H, 20M. Overcast and calm in the 70's, excellent golf weather. Thanks to John and everyone responsible for a well run even... Continue »

Played the Blues (6369/70.9/131) with Ron, Matt and Brian in the GK Plays in 4H, 20M. Overcast and calm in the 70's, excellent golf weather. Thanks to John and everyone responsible for a well run event. Tom Fazio design, I like the course layout, I can see the high slope rating. Concerning course conditions, everything was in the 9-10 out of 10 range across the board. The tees were lush and very well maintained. Large, level with few divots, mowed down close, near immaculate. The fairways were lush with few divots. A couple of discolored areas but still excellent overall. The rough was also very lush. Thick and even though the ball usually sat up, long enough to make longer clubs a chancy play. Get outside the maintained rough and the native rough is lost ball thick. The sand traps were nicely maintained with good quality sand. I don't see how a public course in a windy area could maintain their traps any better, and there are close to 100 of them total on this course. The greens were firm, smooth, medium fast and rolled well. Perhaps not as pristine as prior visits, but still excellent overall. The customer service was excellent. The pro shop staff, Starter, Marshall and Drink cart were all excellent to deal with. Had a salad after the round, efficient, friendly service. The setup of the all grass driving range with the complementary Pro-V range balls is top notch. Most of the range is sand, with numerous grass greens set up as targets in 25-30 yard increments so you could hit almost any club and feel like you were hitting into a green. Many holes are visually intimidating with 97 well placed traps and a decent amount of water. Four different sets of tees for men, all varied by 400-500 yards. The course was fair, not overly tight and an excellent test of golf. Definitely recommended.

Played in the GK outing on 01/07 and all I can say is WOW. The course is amazing. The fairways are so lush that I did not want to leave a divot. With the exception of a few fixed divots on the green... Continue »

Played in the GK outing on 01/07 and all I can say is WOW. The course is amazing. The fairways are so lush that I did not want to leave a divot. With the exception of a few fixed divots on the greens they looked perfect and the grass on a few par 3 holes being a little long there is nothing to complain about.
Great company playing with Ben, Kevin and Andrew.
Good food after the round, and thanks to Johnny and Andrew (linksoul) and to everyone who donated raffle prizes made this a great day

Fabulous GK outing at Ram's Hill once again! Course is in great shape greens running fast and true holding well struck approaches. Fairways pristine, rough uniform and healthy, bunkers filled with nic... Continue »

Fabulous GK outing at Ram's Hill once again! Course is in great shape greens running fast and true holding well struck approaches. Fairways pristine, rough uniform and healthy, bunkers filled with nice fluffy sand and the layout fun yet challenging. I had the cheeseburger at the restaurant and it was very tasty with delicious fries, service was quick, friendly and great. Great warm up areas, putting green (smooth and rolling perfect), pitch and chip green in a separate area (again smooth and perfect) and a driving range featuring Pro V1's. Fantastic!

Played today in spectacular weather. We took advantage of the Christmas golf special sent to us. Greens were at 11.5 and the course was immaculate. My impressions of this course, is that it is one of ... Continue »

Played today in spectacular weather. We took advantage of the Christmas golf special sent to us. Greens were at 11.5 and the course was immaculate. My impressions of this course, is that it is one of the best (if not the best) courses for the value in S CA. The staff goes out of its way (thanks Mike) to make your day memorable and enjoyable. Yes it is off the beaten track, but well worth the effort to go play. Tee boxes terrific; fairways outstanding; just enough rough outside of fairways, to ruin a shot; bunkers so playable; greens are fantastic. Not to mention the great service in the restaurant. Obviously there have been many superlatives given to this course and they are all well deserved. A course I plan to play every year, as long as I am able.

Yet another business trip from SoCal to Phoenix, so this time I took the southern route and played Borrego Springs Resort and Rams Hill on 12/4/17. The drive through north San Diego, although long, is... Continue »

Yet another business trip from SoCal to Phoenix, so this time I took the southern route and played Borrego Springs Resort and Rams Hill on 12/4/17. The drive through north San Diego, although long, is a beautiful and interesting drive. Left home at 4:30 am, 58*F. 6:00 in the mountains at 21*F, 6:45 at the course and it was 60*F.

Played Borrego Springs first - go see my review on that one. Rating: 9.99+.

Next up – Rams Hill. My 2nd time to Rams Hill, so I didn’t have the same “where have they been hiding this gem” reaction. Had I not been to BSR immediately before, I would be raving about the Rams Hill condition. Now this course has the shaved fairways and greens, but still in excellent condition. But there are a few, very rare, spots where the grass isn’t growing as well. The rough here is in excellent shape as well. Tee boxes are great, no issues there. The greens are what all courses seem to be striving for these days, green, plush, and darned fast.

The layout of RH, along with the elevation changes, really make this course stand out from BSR. It is an amazing course. Fantastic practice facilities and staff.

I am one of those that searches the internet to get a deal on a green fee. Rams Hill may be the only course that I don't even flinch at paying rack rate. Any day - sign me up.

This 36 hole day will go into my memory as something really special. Two great courses, but two really different courses, both in great condition. While I still think my day playing Bandon Dunes & Pacific Dunes was more memorable, my day at Borrego Springs Resort and Rams Hill was similarly amazing minus the ocean views and a heck of a lot more affordable.

Played 11/24/17 $80 GN Hotdeal 11 am 4:45 POP. Very busy !! The course was in it's prime shape. I've never rated any course a 10 before, but this course was all that and two bags of chips. Everything... Continue »

Played 11/24/17 $80 GN Hotdeal 11 am 4:45 POP. Very busy !! The course was in it's prime shape. I've never rated any course a 10 before, but this course was all that and two bags of chips. Everything was perfect. Fairway's were deep emerald green and manicured. I am absolutely spoiled now. I don't want to hit from any other fairway's Greens listed at 10.8 speed. I'd give that a touch above medium fast. Very controllable and even with the afternoon foot prints ran Smoooooth and receptive. Rough just thick enough that you wanted to stay out of it, but still very playable. Found a couple traps and all were consistent in great shape. Right now it is in ideal conditions. I was paired with a guy that works at the Classic Club and he mentioned the conditions were better then his course and most in the valley. GO PLAY !!!!