Played in the annual GK outing on Saturday 9/7 and had a great time on a wonderful course. Thanks to Johnny as always for setting up another awesome event! And thanks to Rob, John, and Mark for the fu... Continue »

Played in the annual GK outing on Saturday 9/7 and had a great time on a wonderful course. Thanks to Johnny as always for setting up another awesome event! And thanks to Rob, John, and Mark for the fun and laughs on the course! Mark's eagle on #1 was amazing!

The course was in good shape as it usually is. The only slight dings I can think of were some of the fairways were thin in spots and the rough was less lush than in the past but still very very adequate and still better than the majority of courses out there. Greens were firm and fairly fast. You could make a ball mark but it took a really high shot to leave one. The were mostly smooth and putted well (for everyone else as I couldn't make a thing! lol) Love playing here and will be back again.

Played here for first time Friday 9/6, then again on 9/7 at the GK event. As always, thanks Johnny for an excellent outing, and to my group Rob, Kevin and Mark for a fun day. Watch for Mark's 173 yard... Continue »

Played here for first time Friday 9/6, then again on 9/7 at the GK event. As always, thanks Johnny for an excellent outing, and to my group Rob, Kevin and Mark for a fun day. Watch for Mark's 173 yard eagle on # 1 on Sportcenter plays of the month.

I found conditions to be above average in spots and a little below in others. Overall, still quite good. Fairways and greens are firm. On the few fairways I found, I had a variety of lies, some thin and others a little soggy. Greens consistent throughout. Medium fast and firm, and rolling pretty well. A lot of bowls and humps to navigate, but fun to putt on.

Personally, I thought the sand bunkers were real nice. Dense and kind of firm, but very consistent. Beware of some the smallest fairway bunkers I have ever seen. Found one one the side of a mound on #9 on Friday, and barely got a stance within it. Had to go sideways to escape, but very interesting.

I like the layout and use of the mounds and dunes throughout. Has a links feel in spots, and will require some precision shots off the tee on others. Homes around course are always a bit of nagative for me, however, homes here are unobtrusive and don't really come into play. Very accomodating staff, great service inside, and good on the course.

Enjoyed, recommend, and I will return.

First and foremost, a BIG THANK YOU to JohnnyGK for putting together this event. This was my (our) first GK event and will definitely lead to more future outings! It was great to meet new people and h... Continue »

First and foremost, a BIG THANK YOU to JohnnyGK for putting together this event. This was my (our) first GK event and will definitely lead to more future outings! It was great to meet new people and hopefully can golf together soon!!

This was my first time ever playing here. Great weather! The tee boxes had a few divots, same with the fairways. The greens were excellent, but hard and a little difficult to read. The rough, at times, was extremely difficult to get out of. You either couldn't see your ball because it was eaten by the long grass, or if you got out of it, it didn't go where you were aiming because it just grabbed your club head through impact. I donated a few balls to the water on 15. Played extremely well until the 15the hole. All the holes are different, some offered really great views. This course makes you use every club in your bag.

First of all, and most importantly, THANK YOU to JohnnyGK for setting up an awesome, professional, well-run event. Perfect mid-60s light wind day. Played with JohnnyGK, TeaGal and Audacity. Had a grea... Continue »

First of all, and most importantly, THANK YOU to JohnnyGK for setting up an awesome, professional, well-run event. Perfect mid-60s light wind day. Played with JohnnyGK, TeaGal and Audacity. Had a great time. Struggled through most of the back 9, blew up a couple and basically just goofed off last 3 holes. Had my worst 9 ever!! That said, course was decent, different from what I had expected. Front 9 was more of the "dunes" style, but as some previous reviews stated, not much difficulty navigating. The back 9 had a good and interesting mix of holes as well, but took on much more of an uphill, downhill configuration. If you like a good mix of very different holes, this is definitely a course for you to try. Greens were the best part of the course, pretty quick, basically smooth, good shape. Tees were mostly level, typical par 3 tee box divots. Fairways decent but did have quite a few unrepared divots on some holes. Rough good but very different soil conditions. One lie was very clean and wet when coming through with the divot and another that looked exactly the same nearly broke my wrist! Definitely some hard pan feel to some of the lies even though there was sufficient grasses. Sand was wet and heavy but decent and a sufficient amount in the bunkers. At least they were consistent throughout. Saw cart girl on 8, but she breezed by and didn't check to see if we needed anything. Overall, a good course, fine service, good food and great company.. Wish I had played better, but still a nice day overall.

Though we had a smaller group than normal, it was another great GK event at Monarch Dunes. Thanks to JohnnyGK and the staff there for another enjoyable visit. And thanks to kviser, LarryTee and tonyba... Continue »

Though we had a smaller group than normal, it was another great GK event at Monarch Dunes. Thanks to JohnnyGK and the staff there for another enjoyable visit. And thanks to kviser, LarryTee and tonybarrett for another fun round even if we didn't play particularly well! I'm sure others will break down the conditions more than I will, but the course was in pretty good overall condition. It didn't seem as nice as last year, but still good. The greens here always give me fits, but I keep wanting to go back for a rematch. I actually don't love this course as much as others, but I definitely don't find it as boring or easy as the previous reviewer describes. It is always a fun and challenging layout with very, very nice aesthetic touches.

Played Monarch Dunes Old Course, Monday August 26th, 9:50 A.M.tee off, as my second stop on a Two week golf trip to the Central and Northern Coast of CA, ending with a Three day stay at Brandon Dunes.... Continue »

Played Monarch Dunes Old Course, Monday August 26th, 9:50 A.M.tee off, as my second stop on a Two week golf trip to the Central and Northern Coast of CA, ending with a Three day stay at Brandon Dunes.
The course presents itself nicely. Customer service is excellent, with the starter giving great advice on how to play a few of the better holes.
On this day, the temp was in the upper 60s with a steady wind blowing about 10-15 mph.
The fairways are nice and green, with good lies with only minor areas presenting burned or thin lies. The fairways are well defined by the rough here which is about 2-3 inches in length and rather easy to escape from if you find your ball in it. Most areas of the rough are lush with again only minor thin or clumpy lies to be found.
Greens by far are the best thing to note on this course. They were running at a medium pace today at 9.5, with no damage noted that is worth a mention. They can have some tricky pin placements here, so watch your pin placement carefully, some may require a one club up selection. The bunkers are just average and in some cases disappoint at best. Most seem to be lacking sand and what sand there is, was heavy and wet.
Tee boxes were level and lush with only minor damage on the par 3s where you expect to find it. The course offers a few risk reward holes for the longest hitters and a few more for the modest hitters, who may want to take a swing at it. Play a smart game and leave your Driver in the bag on a few holes, think your way around the course and you should be find.

Now for the bad, the course presents very little or nothing at all in the (WOW) factor. Our twosome played from the Gold Tees 6357 yards 70.7/135 rating and found it to be uneventful and easy. The Dunes as they are called present little challenge to clear or work your way around, and most present clumpy areas of dry grass with little else to worry about. Although in a twosome our round ended in just over 4 hours, I can attribute this to the five some that was allowed to tee of in front of us. Also, playing from the wrong set of tees as no one in the group was any better the poor, as we waited for each shot from tee to green with balls traveling more sideways than forward. We asked several times to play through and the answer was always no.
The course is a fun little funky design, however it is in my opinion no where near the asking rack rate and should in my opinion be lowered to the 50 dollar range. If I could find a hot deal or a web special for that range I would consider playing again if I was going to be in that area. This is one course that I can say is living on its name, and not its challenge or (WOW) factor.

Played Monarch Dunes this morning at 7:30am w/Alaksana. Man do I LOVE this course! Definitely in my top 5 of courses that I've ever played. The variety of holes, scenery, weather, layout, and challeng... Continue »

Played Monarch Dunes this morning at 7:30am w/Alaksana. Man do I LOVE this course! Definitely in my top 5 of courses that I've ever played. The variety of holes, scenery, weather, layout, and challenge keep me coming back again and again. And since we recently purchased a home in the area, we decided to join their Royal Rewards program which allowed us to play today for free! Customer Service was great during check in. FYI, there is no starter until 8am so it's kind of an "honor system" on the first tee. No beverage cart until 10am so come prepared. Tees: Lush and level with some divot damage on the par 3's but they do a good job of rotating the tees often and there's never a problem finding an area to hit from. Fairways: Lush although on #'s 4 & 5 everyone is kind of forced to layup to an area and those two fairways had more divots than the rest. Other than that, the fairways are great and fantastic to hit from. Rough: Primary cut was a consistent 2" and not very penal. However beyond that is the fescue covered mounds and if you're there you can be looking at anything from bare spots, up against a large clump of fescue, in some sandy areas, or taking a drop after losing your ball. Large Eucalyptus trees come into play on most of the holes as well which can lead to a sideways punch out. Bunkers: As always here, fantastic shape and well maintained. Thick heavy sand here with NO footprints!!! Hallelujah! Greens: Always the highlight here. I don't remember the type of grass they are but if I recall correctly only a handful of courses in California use the type they have here. A real treat to putt on. Medium speed to start but once the sun came out and dried out the course they sped up to a med/fast to fast speed. Many undulations make putting a real challenge. Bring your A game to these greens. #15 and 17 had distressed areas in the greens but they were being treated with sand and didn't affect roll too much. Misc: The layout is just awesome. There are no boring or easy holes here. Every shot must be well thought out and executed to score well here. #1 is one of the hardest opening holes anywhere. Split fairway with bunkers and fescue left and middle, dogleg left to an uphill green with a lot of slope! Front 9 is the harder of the two sides. If you're on the fence about playing in the upcoming GK outing, it's truly a no brainer! Whether it's a day trip or you make a weekend of it, you'll love it here! The course will be in great shape for the event and I can't wait! Come play!

I’m very late on my reviews and ratings for courses played during a golf weekend in the Paso Robles area. Unseasonably hot this weekend, with PR temps up at about 110 !!! Fortunately, scheduled Saturd... Continue »

I’m very late on my reviews and ratings for courses played during a golf weekend in the Paso Robles area. Unseasonably hot this weekend, with PR temps up at about 110 !!! Fortunately, scheduled Saturday’s two rounds down in Nipomo, where temps were about 80, so really got a break. While it was very hot in the PR area the ocean nearby moderated temperatures in the Nipomo/Arroyo Grande area, so it was very pleasant playing down there. Played Monarch Dunes on Saturday morning, 6/29/13, first off at 7AM ahead of a couple of large groups, finishing at our own pace in 3:40. Paid the locals rate of $77 – I felt this was an excellent value for this quality of course early on a weekend morning. MD is my favorite course on our PR area trip and a favorite of mine in CA due to design, ambience, and hole variety. All aspects of the course were in very good condition. We had no wind at all to start; and then only a light breeze after ~9am. This was my first time playing MD in the early morning – the lack of wind makes a big difference in how the holes play compared to my rounds in the early afternoon in previous GK outings. Staff was very friendly, although we were surprised that play doesn’t begin until 7AM and staff arrives about 7:30, despite there being plenty of light. In SoCal, several groups would have been away by the time we teed off. Highly recommended.

Played Monday, 5/6, for the first time. This is perhaps my new favorite course in CA (I've played probably 40-50 others).

Serene atmosphere, friendly pro shop staff, beautiful entrance, and all of ... Continue »

Played Monday, 5/6, for the first time. This is perhaps my new favorite course in CA (I've played probably 40-50 others).

Serene atmosphere, friendly pro shop staff, beautiful entrance, and all of that paled in comparison to the actual course.

Conditioning was fairly immaculate, and the course was a great mix of links-style and resort course. Even though built around a housing development, the residences never encroached on the playing experience. Nice elevation changes, true greens, some good target strategy on the water holes, and just some really beautiful scenery with towering trees and really attractive mounding throughout.

If you're anywhere near the central coast, this is a must-play. I can't wait to get back and bring a couple of my buddies from L.A.