Played here Monday with the usuals.

740 tee time. Pace of play was AWESOME! no one in front of us and no one b... » More

Played here Monday with the usuals.

740 tee time. Pace of play was AWESOME! no one in front of us and no one behind us. The perfect bubble.

The course was in standard usual shape. Fairways were about a 6 and the greens weren't bad. Rolled well enough. The bunkers were terrible. These courses hate raking them in the morning when their cutting pins and prepping for the day. This is for sure a common occurrence and most courses these days and it sucks. It makes the rounds a lot more unfair for players.

Tee boxes were ok and the putting green was awesome. There were also cart people out there as well so that was a nice change for a Monday round.
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played Butterfield Sunday.

Greens healing from the punch. Course was in typical Butterfield shape. a little ch... » More

played Butterfield Sunday.

Greens healing from the punch. Course was in typical Butterfield shape. a little choppy and overgrown. Some of the fairways were really long in the middle of the fairway.

Bunkers needed attention. Between not being raked by the course and by the players made for complicated shots for the people in the group.

pace of play was kinda long at 5:45. I know it was a Sunday but a 4some split into 2 twosomes in front of us and that was the end of that.

The layout is fun enough and an easier break than playing Chino Creek.

In a couple of weeks the greens should be in good shape though.

Oh, and the reclamation plant on the back, whew it was pretty nasty.
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Walked the blues Monday 9/22/25 just before 1pm joined by 2 nice singles. Weather was ideal with maybe a 7mph breeze and... » More

Walked the blues Monday 9/22/25 just before 1pm joined by 2 nice singles. Weather was ideal with maybe a 7mph breeze and temps around 75 degrees with humidity clouds and sun mixed in. Our POP was 4 hrs 30 minutes. Great people working here with a great practice facility.

Wow this place "lushed" up even since my last round here.

The tees were very green, lush and level. Rated 8.5/10

The rough is incredible. Super green, lush and visually stunning. Saw some mowers cutting the 1st cut around some fairways. Rated 9/10

The fairways have really improved since the last time I played here. Perfect carpet lies ball sitting up. Still contained some roll out on drives. Rated 8.5/10

Was in one greenside bunker on 8 that had just perfect base. Rated 8.5/10

The greens will be punched in a couple weeks 10/6 and 10/7 according to GK. The greens on the back were healthier, slower and very soft and in good shape. Front left section on hole 9 needs some attention. Overall the greens are nice and playable. Rated 7/10.

Once the greens are punched and healed this place if kept the same as I saw it Monday will be close to PGA tour shape.

Highly recommended for layout, prices, conditioning, staff, weather. They got something great here.
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I used to really enjoy this course. Interesting and challenging layout. Some scenic views of the back of the slough in M... » More

I used to really enjoy this course. Interesting and challenging layout. Some scenic views of the back of the slough in Moss Landing. But right now, the greens are a major problem. There's some kind of disease that's destroyed them, and made them unplayable.
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Played two rounds here over the weekend and to echo previous reviews, conditions here are suboptimal. Hitting from the f... » More

Played two rounds here over the weekend and to echo previous reviews, conditions here are suboptimal. Hitting from the fairway is like hitting out of the first cut if you're lucky, and thick rough if you're not. Easy to lose a ball in these conditions with the fairways overgrown and overwatered with absolutely no roll out.

The rough is extremely overgrown as well, which is actually kind of cool and presents a good challenge for such a short course. Wouldn't mind it staying this juicy to be honest, but it does make finding your ball hard. Pace of play both days was around 5 hours which is brutal for such a short course.

Thankfully the greens are being aerated today and tomorrow (9/22-23) so hopefully they'll be good again in a few weeks, because they were in pretty poor shape. Tons of unfixed pitch marks along with crabgrass growing in made for a very bumpy putting surface.

I wasn't in any bunkers so can't speak on them, but I did hear that they're going to be renovating a number of bunkers soon by adding in new liners/drainage as well as fresh sand, so that's something to look forward to.

For now give I'm going to take Alhambra out of the rotation for at least a few weeks while they work to get conditions back to their normal levels
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Played Saturday, Sept 20, shotgun 8am tourney with SD Golf group, north vs. south of I-8 match play event. Super fun an... » More

Played Saturday, Sept 20, shotgun 8am tourney with SD Golf group, north vs. south of I-8 match play event. Super fun and great group of people.

There was another shotgun scramble tourney in front of us, so it was very slow. 5.5hrs POP. Ugh. All the people in our tourney play super fast and it was a 1 on 1 match play event for us, so we were even that much faster. The POP definitely got the best of me and I lost my match to a very formidable opponent, Will from Poway is a great golfer and truly a blast to have our match.

Course conditions are just average all around. Nothing great but nothing in bad shape. $130 price was fair, we got a cool hat and a little goody bag. And I had CTP on #5 for a $25 payback, so that was nice.

White tees were just fine, no complaints. Greens held shots well, but seemed to be bumpy and nobody could make any putts. Found one bunker and it was good. Rough was not too penal. Fairways were the worst part, especially #4, it was pretty much all GUR on that hole. It's a no frills course in my opinion. I never get super excited to play here but it's convenient. Medium recommend, lol.
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First round back since three weeks away on vacation so a buddy and I thought Balboa would be a great place to ease back ... » More

First round back since three weeks away on vacation so a buddy and I thought Balboa would be a great place to ease back into the game. We were correct.

We snagged a 10am tee time this Sunday and rode while playing the blue tees and paired up with two, fun older gentlemen - a good time was had by all. It was warm but there were some nice patches of cloud cover that really made it ideal temperatures to play.

Course conditions are about what you would expect right now at Balboa, although to be fair I was concerned it was going to be even more dried out than it actually was. I found the greens to be in pretty darn good shape actually, holding shots well and rolling pretty consistently.

The fairways are not all covered but there are plenty of good spots in the right hitting alleys. You're still going to find some thin and dry along the way, and even some roped off GUR areas (perhaps needed a few more to be honest), but nothing too bad to complain about any more than this. The tee boxes are definitely beat up but they're level and adequate. Bunkers were a bit crusty on the top but actually had more sand underneath than expected, so not terrible.

Carts are pretty well appointed and they have a very good GPS system to help you out, but Balboa as a course is pretty straight-forward with no water features, no elevations and nothing but trees and a little bit of length on a few holes to trouble you. I was thrilled to come back after a long hiatus and play my best round of the year so far.
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Out first on a very mild end of summer morning. This is the last day the South course will be open for at least three we... » More

Out first on a very mild end of summer morning. This is the last day the South course will be open for at least three weeks, and they will be punching greens and most critically, overseeding the fairways. I am praying the overseeding resolves the issue with the fairways, as they are presently the worst I have seen in my 35+ years here as a member. Greens, tees, bunkers are all acceptable, but the fairways are beyond description. I am cautiously optimistic that the course will return to the condition I have learned to enjoy over the past decades. Time will tell.
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Played on Tuesday, the 16th, around 8:30 am. Rode from the blue tees as a single behind a couple of foursomes of ladies.... » More

Played on Tuesday, the 16th, around 8:30 am. Rode from the blue tees as a single behind a couple of foursomes of ladies. The group in front of me had some difficulties and it seemed really slow but the POP ended up being around 4:10.

The conditions were pretty much the same as last time except they were aerating the fairways on the back nine and I assume were going to do the ones on the front also. I did not see the Local Rule at the clubhouse saying lift, clean and place and I had some mud on my ball a couple of times from the work. I did lift and place on 18 after ending up in an aeration hole on the drive.

Really nice to get out here again. Just beautiful. My wife and I had lunch at the cafe on Wednesday. My wife commented on how good the food was for a golf course diner. The crowd was evenly split between golfers and locals stopping for a bite to eat. Another reason to recommend the course!
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Playing a practice round for tournament next week. Overall conditions: 4/10 in pretty bad shape. Only silver lining was ... » More

Playing a practice round for tournament next week. Overall conditions: 4/10 in pretty bad shape. Only silver lining was the greens. Range was mats only today, and they were blasting music from the bar. Fairways were bumpy and dead. If you read other reviews, believe them.
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Played Thursday and left it to my buddy to book the time. The greens had been verti-cut and rolled. The practice green u... » More

Played Thursday and left it to my buddy to book the time. The greens had been verti-cut and rolled. The practice green unusable as it was only cut and debris covered. The course greens putted ok considering a bit slow but consistent. Some have bare spots baked out fringe areas. On the back we waited from 13 on a few minutes for the roll and blow crew to finish up details. 3 hour POP.

That's the highlight here. Continues to provide a place to play but not being maintained to 5 rating level.
Shaggy tee boxes. Bare areas in place of rough on every hole.
Bunkers packed and unplayable with weeds growing in them. Fairways blotchy.
A third area course run and being run down under Charlie Gibson management.
Trying not to be bias but honest as a former charter member. When it was a mostly private club one of the best. Now not even a shadow of it's former glory.
Better than working or watching tv. Better courses close by is the continued sad trend.
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Played Trump with Evnroll Bushnell crew.

First time playing here. Been to lunch, the range a few times but ne... » More

Played Trump with Evnroll Bushnell crew.

First time playing here. Been to lunch, the range a few times but never played.

What can you say? The view right? The breeze, the wind.

Course was immaculate. All facets were top notch.

The course is tough (we played blues) and it gets a little unfair at times. The layout is ok, Its just a lot of back and forth but nonetheless its still a pretty great course. The greens are big and complicated. Not knowing that made the course really tough. Some of the long par 4's into the wind are pretty brutal.

Very grateful to have played here and look forward to playing here again.

The burger is also very good.
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