Finished out my Monterey jaunt by playing in some thick fog at Black Horse. The rough on this side was no where near as punitive as Bayonet and with less trees than Bayonet you probably would get thro... Continue »

Finished out my Monterey jaunt by playing in some thick fog at Black Horse. The rough on this side was no where near as punitive as Bayonet and with less trees than Bayonet you probably would get through this round with plenty of lead left in the pencil. Both courses are worth the green fee and if you are in the area you would have a real good time here. One thing I will add is that while both courses have some serious traffic I was able to play both on weekend in less than 4 1/2 hours. Well done to the staff.

Needed to challenge my putting skills and there’s no better place like BlackHorse. We had a late morning tee time. We went down to the range and it was packed with handful of people waiting for a sp... Continue »

Needed to challenge my putting skills and there’s no better place like BlackHorse. We had a late morning tee time. We went down to the range and it was packed with handful of people waiting for a space to open. When I drove in I noticed the course didn’t look too busy so we ended up jumping out about 20-30 minutes early. We had clear sailing until about the 7th hole when we got up to the twosome in front of us. They weren’t the problem. The problem was the foursome in front of them which we waited on every shot thereafter for the remainder of the day.

Green are always tough at Blackhorse with the numerous undulations. They are also hard so getting shots to stay on the green are difficult. We had more than our share of solid approach shots that landed in the middle of the green but rolled off the back. Greens rolled at a medium-fast pace.

Fairways at Blackhorse will always present a tight lie. Today was no exception. In addition to that there are a few brown areas from cutting back water. Which as we all know will be a common occurrence in California the rest of the summer.

Tee boxes were level with good coverage throughout. Rough was about 2-3 inches thick but not nearly as penal as yesterday at Spyglass Hill. Sand traps were ok. A couple of them were a little thin but all in all decent.

I love the layout at Blackhorse and always will. For the Mon-Wed price it’s a great track, if you’re paying weekend prime rack rate…. It’s 50/50. If you want a tough challenging track with ocean views (assuming the fog doesn’t roll in like it did most of today for us) then yes I suppose it’s worth the price of admission.

Fun design but fairways were terrible. They’ve got some issues out there. Grass around short game area bad, as well. Had to roll your ball all around the course to get a reasonable lie. Greens rol... Continue »

Fun design but fairways were terrible. They’ve got some issues out there. Grass around short game area bad, as well. Had to roll your ball all around the course to get a reasonable lie. Greens rolled well, very firm, and fun to read. Get conditions up to par, and this is a wonderful facility.

This review of Blackhorse is almost identical to my review of the course last month. Greens are showing some signs of being ready for the upcoming aeration at the end of the month. They rolled a lit... Continue »

This review of Blackhorse is almost identical to my review of the course last month. Greens are showing some signs of being ready for the upcoming aeration at the end of the month. They rolled a little slower than normal but still rolled true at a medium-fast pace. Fairways always present tight lies here but they are currently in normal condition. Tee boxes are already getting their annual maintenance with some in the 5-6 rating and others in the 10 depending on if they already received some upkeep.

Bunkers were all in real nice shape. Given the amount of rain we had the previous night the course drained very well with no standing water or wet spots

Range was on mats. Customer service was 50/50. 50% excellent (pro-shop) and 50% poor (starter). The starter made us wait 30+ minutes for our tee time even though no one had tee'd off for almost an hour. We finished in just under 3 1/2 hours with no waiting as we never got the group in front of us that was about 4 holes ahead.

The weather was clear but cool. Blackhorse is a tough track but has beautiful views of the bay on several holes. Definitely a recommended play.

Feeling good about my game with 12 birdies in 11 rounds, I went and played Blackhorse to see if I could keep the momentum going. Blackhorse is always a tough track with fast greens that have several ... Continue »

Feeling good about my game with 12 birdies in 11 rounds, I went and played Blackhorse to see if I could keep the momentum going. Blackhorse is always a tough track with fast greens that have several undulations. In short they are flat out wicked. Greens are firm, fast and roll true. There are a lot of false fronts so even chipping can be tough. Fairways present a lot of tight lies but have decent overall coverage. You have to be comfortable with hitting off a tight lie at Blackhorse. This is especially true with chipping. Very easy to chunk or thin a wedge shot.

Tee boxes were all in real nice shape. Level and lush throughout with very little divots. No issues with the bunkers. Most had brown sand but very playable. As I mentioned before, chipping off the skirt areas around the greens can be tough due to both the tight lies and the area being chewed up from so many golfers chunking shots in this area.

Blackhorse is a tough but scenic track. There are views or peaks of the ocean on numerous holes as long as the fog clears out. Today, it was dense fog for about 3 holes then started clearing out to eventually we were in short sleeves.

COVID – Only two people allowed in the pro-shop at a time. Pro shop has plexiglass barrier between employee and customer. Putting green open, Range balls pre-stacked down a the range. Single rider carts. Foam noodle in the bottom of the cup, no rakes in bunkers, no sand bottles in carts.

Played 11/7 11:30 start after an evening of rain. Probably a gully washer as the loose dirt on side of cart paths ran over cement when draining. You could not tell on the course with exception of a f... Continue »

Played 11/7 11:30 start after an evening of rain. Probably a gully washer as the loose dirt on side of cart paths ran over cement when draining. You could not tell on the course with exception of a few areas of bowled grass without bunker. And a few bunkers showed evidence of it too. Otherwise course overall in exceptional condition in all areas. The redesign years back must have included sand cap as drainage was excellent.
Covid restrictions no inside dining and mask requirements.
Greens slick and fast. Fairways tight rolling out rough enough to pay attention to.
Views of Monterey Bay and it's a course that has the look and the challenge that any golfer would be pleased experiencing.

I haven’t played either Bayonet or Blackhorse since the COVID restart but have used the all grass range a few times. Played Black Horse yesterday with an 8:50 AM tee time. Weather was absolutely beau... Continue »

I haven’t played either Bayonet or Blackhorse since the COVID restart but have used the all grass range a few times. Played Black Horse yesterday with an 8:50 AM tee time. Weather was absolutely beautiful with the sun out early and no wind. The excellent views of the bay were like looking out on a lake. Blackhorse is always a tough track with fast greens that have several undulations. With two three putt bogey in the first three holes I went into defensive mode right away. Greens are firm, fast and roll true. There were 2-3 greens with some top dressing on them, but they didn’t affect the putts at all. Fairways present a lot of tight lies but on the flip side offer decent roll out. Fairways do have some thin areas. You have to be comfortable with hitting off a tight lie at Blackhorse.

Tee boxes were all in real nice shape. No issues with the bunkers. Some gorgeous white sand some brown but all very playable. The area I was disappointed with was the skirt areas around the greens. They are cut down super short so putting (Texas wedge) from 4-5 feet off the green is usually very doable. Unfortunately, most of the skirt areas were chewed up pretty bad forcing a chip shot.

Blackhorse is a tough but scenic track. There are views or peaks of the ocean on 16-17 holes. Every hole has some sort of elevation change. There is still some tree work going on so if you play mid-week be prepared for some occasional chain saw noise in the background.

COVID – Only two people allowed in the pro-shop at a time. Pro shop has plexiglass barrier between employee and customer. Putting green open with mini-flagsticks in, Range balls pre-stacked down a the range. Single rider carts. Foam noodle in the bottom of the cup, no rakes in bunkers, no sand bottles in carts.

Rode the Blues (6533/71.5/131) in 3.5H early morning. 60ish, sunny and fairly calm. Beautiful, really demanding layout. Lots of fairway traps, constantly up down rolling hills and large, undulating ... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6533/71.5/131) in 3.5H early morning. 60ish, sunny and fairly calm. Beautiful, really demanding layout. Lots of fairway traps, constantly up down rolling hills and large, undulating greens. Some nice views of the bay in the distance on several holes. Based on what I had read/heard, expectations were high and overall the course met expectations. Tees were the weak link. Thin coverage, lots of divots and they had been recently sanded. Fairways were nice to play from. Firm and tight. Fescue Rough on the back was in the 2-3" range and while thick was not wet after being in the sun a couple of hours. Because of the rough difference, front to back was like playing 2 different courses. Fescue rough on the front was grown up to 4-5" and thick/wet. Made even worse with thick, wet piles of cut grass on top. I can only imagine how tall it was before the last cutting? Been a long time since I played in rough right beside the fairway any more punitive. Do not know what swing speed would be required to get a wedge properly through that stuff, but it was WAY above my pay grade. POP would have been close to 3H if not for the length of the rough on the front. 1/10 of my total shots were on hole 8, where I did something I never remember doing on any other golf hole. I used all 4 of my wedges on the same hole. Three of which I advanced 8-12 yards each trying to take full shots just to get it back in play. Could not even advance a SW out of that stuff! Made a nice putt with break to keep it in single digits. Sand traps were incredibly well maintained. Every one I saw was completely raked with thick sand. And I saw more than my share. Large greens were very firm and looked quicker than they were. Medium speed and balls would run out more than usual because of the firmness. Quick efficient check-in, round was prepaid. Group I was supposed to play with teed off early, so I played as a single. Complimentary bottled water a plus, saw the drink cart once. No other services with COVID-19. Carts were nice but did not have GPS. Recommended.

Not much has changed since my review last month. In fact I'd say the course is in identical shape. The one notable difference is they are doing a ton of tree maintenance before the upcoming winter. ... Continue »

Not much has changed since my review last month. In fact I'd say the course is in identical shape. The one notable difference is they are doing a ton of tree maintenance before the upcoming winter. Be prepared for some chainsaws going off in the background and there were a number of piles of tree branches on the sides of the fairways. Not an issue if you're in the middle of the fairway, but certainly a lost ball if you stray off to the side.

Definitely a recommended course.