Played on Saturday September 12th and was pleased with the progress the greens are making. I have been a long time supporter since the course opened and up until this years green debacle a huge fan. In any event the greens are sand free, a little long/shaggy and slow but rolling pretty true. They are also a bit firm. Considering where they were 6 weeks ago it's night and d... » More

Played on Saturday September 12th and was pleased with the progress the greens are making. I have been a long time supporter since the course opened and up until this years green debacle a huge fan. In any event the greens are sand free, a little long/shaggy and slow but rolling pretty true. They are also a bit firm. Considering where they were 6 weeks ago it's night and day for the better! Fairways are generally good albeit a bit thin in spots. Some improvements to sand traps with some being great and some still needing some work and new sand. Tee boxes generally good. The course recently appointed a new General Manager who has been a long time employee and a great person! Excited about her positive approach and the changes she will make to improve things. The course also contracted with an outside 3rd party for maintenance and it seems to be making a difference. The old super is gone. Looking forward to further improvements in the greens after aeration. As usual, staff is great and very professional.. If you have been staying away because of green conditions I'd suggest you give it another look.
» Close

Played at Hidden Valley on Saturday morning in a small Men's club tournament.
I hadn't played here in ten years but I remember that the course was nice and challenging.

First off, the staff was friendly and helpful throughout the day.
The tee boxes were decent and mostly level with good coverage. The fairways were nice and green and gave some nice roll out with gre... » More

Played at Hidden Valley on Saturday morning in a small Men's club tournament.
I hadn't played here in ten years but I remember that the course was nice and challenging.

First off, the staff was friendly and helpful throughout the day.
The tee boxes were decent and mostly level with good coverage. The fairways were nice and green and gave some nice roll out with great conditions. There were very few areas that had damage or GUR. I managed to avoid the bunkers all day, so I can't comment directly, however, my playing partners did get in a few and they seemed good with a fair amount of sand. There were a few bunkers throughout the course that were being renovated which is always nice to see that improvements are being made. The rough was the perfect height to enable you to find your ball easily but deep enough to make you think a bit. There were a few areas that were really deep grass and very wet that would've been bad to be in.

I had remembered the greens being perfect and fast years ago, but that wasn't the case this time. A lot of the greens, including the practice green, were very bumpy and kind of slow. As we played on, I noticed that a lot of the greens were being invaded by the fringe grass and other different types of grasses that were causing them to roll slower on some putts and faster on others. I hope that they can get a handle on this or they will be needing to replace a lot of greens in the future. All in all, the greens held shots well and were playable, but just kind of weird I guess is the best way to describe them.

Anyway, I do still recommend playing here. The course layout is tough if you are a first timer and don't know your way around. I'll probably come out again soon so that I can learn the lay of the land a bit better. We had a great time and a fun tournament. Thanks HV for hosting us. Also, I should mention that we had lunch there as well, and the burgers were great!
» Close

Played in group 1A of Saturday’s awesome Vivid Golf X GK outing here with mpisarski01, Dan from SCGC, and Ryan. Super fun group! Beautiful day with a high temperature around 102 but there was a nice breeze much of the day to offset the heat somewhat. Pace was decent for an event at a little under five hours.

I hadn’t played here since December 2021. In all honesty, at... » More

Played in group 1A of Saturday’s awesome Vivid Golf X GK outing here with mpisarski01, Dan from SCGC, and Ryan. Super fun group! Beautiful day with a high temperature around 102 but there was a nice breeze much of the day to offset the heat somewhat. Pace was decent for an event at a little under five hours.

I hadn’t played here since December 2021. In all honesty, at that time conditions had taken a noticeable step down from the exceptionally high standards Rams Hill set for itself when it reopened in 2015, and I sorta figured it would still stay nice, but not topnotch like it was all the previous times I’d played it. I’m happy to say that assumption was wrong, because even in mid September conditions were excellent yesterday. White tee boxes were great, fairways were fantastic, rough was thick, lush, and penal, despite being only maybe 2-3 inches deep, bunkers were all great. The greens were smooth, medium speed and accepting of full shots. I was very impressed. The only minor complaint I can think of is that many of the on-course lakes smelled like a sewer for some reason.

Free tacos and snow cones at the Ram Shack are a great touch, and the cookie at the end of the round was great. There could have been some sort of miscommunication, however, because a course employee at one point announced they’d be bringing water, Liquid IV packets, and frozen grapes around during the round. That didn’t happen for our foursome. Club employees were all great. All in all, a fantastic day and I hope Johnny is able to schedule another event at Rams Hill soon.
» Close

I played here today. Took family and friends up to Russian River for hiking and picnic and I went to play golf.

By now everyone knows that Alister MacKenzie designed this course. I know very well his design methods having been a member in the late 70's early 80's of Pasatiempo.

I wanted to play here because for many years working in Silicon Valley I frequently p... » More

I played here today. Took family and friends up to Russian River for hiking and picnic and I went to play golf.

By now everyone knows that Alister MacKenzie designed this course. I know very well his design methods having been a member in the late 70's early 80's of Pasatiempo.

I wanted to play here because for many years working in Silicon Valley I frequently played Boulder Creek GC designed by Jack Fleming (a protege of MacKenzie) also in the redwoods and at that time a wonderful 18 hole course. Sadly the back 9 was destroyed by fire but was told they will rebuild and reopen the back 9 in 2027.

I found Norhwood to be very similar to Boulder Creek in design and playing through magnificent redwoods.

It is a nice course but its alure is the redwoods cool temperatures and the solitude of the area. Not to mention the calmness one feels playing amongst these giants of such beauty.

Tees were fine. Fairways were playable. Very little rough and very few traps. Greens were playable and in good shape.

Just try to stay out of the trees LOL.

I paid $36 to walk on the weekend. More than happy to pay that to support the course for the future.

I played it once. But I can recommend it to anyone who is the area or wants to play it. By all means do it.

A great course to play with family .
» Close

played fri 9/11, 9:40 tee time, 4:30 round. Greens slow and bumpy. I've played here 3 times in the past 2 yrs, and everytime the greens have been bad. People I play with swear it's usually good.. i've yet to see it. course otherwise in decent muni shape. I like the layout.. wish it was a little more taken care of. I'm sure I'll play again, and hope for good greens.