Late but quick review because playing only 12 holes the previous outing, I wanted closure and went back to play 18 on Th... » More

Late but quick review because playing only 12 holes the previous outing, I wanted closure and went back to play 18 on Thursday 4/24 with a 12:30 start. When booking, I overlooked the fact that the greens had been punched between rounds, so my previous review pretty much stands except for a greens update. They were mostly lightly sanded with what I consider medium punch holes, but I thought they ran surprisingly true and on the slower side of a medium that didn't feel overly sluggish. No need for a big compensation for speed, and I made putts. In the end and despite the surprise, I had a good round and wasn't disappointed. Greens were pretty clean before the aeration so give them another week and, despite any visual remnants, they should be performing quite well.
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Played a solo round at Rio Hondo this past week and was certainly disappointed with a well-over five-hour round and some... » More

Played a solo round at Rio Hondo this past week and was certainly disappointed with a well-over five-hour round and some crazy long waits on the front nine at the 7th and 8th hole tee boxes. There's not a marshall in sight to move this along?

Greens are recovering nicely from the latest aerification but need probably about another week or two before being in optimum shape. Still, they're not bad at all right now. Fairways have a few too many thin spots for my liking but there is also plenty of good to go around. Rough is cut to a manageable length and the tee boxes (played the blue tees) were okay. I was in about three or four bunkers and they had mostly serviceable sand in them.

No GPS on the carts but they're in good enough condition to enjoy your round. But really, the POP over five hours was really a cause for serious frustration. I am always a big fan of Rio Hondo and consider it one of the best LA County munis, but it was a little bit frustrating this time out.
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Weather conditions have been excellent with temps in the high 70's to low 90's over the last week. The course is still i... » More

Weather conditions have been excellent with temps in the high 70's to low 90's over the last week. The course is still in nice shape. Greens smooth, firm and medium fast. Tees lush and well maintained. Fairways mostly lush with the Bermuda taking over from the winter rye. With many playing downhill, LONG drives are the norm this time of year. Rough mostly clumpy Bermuda which usually produces iffy lies. Sand traps immaculate. Customer service always a ++. Nice restaurant on site. Practice facilities very good. Good GPS on carts on a very spread out, almost unwalkable layout. Highly recommended.
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Course not as lush as a month ago but still in nice condition. Tees lush and very well maintained. Fairways now firm and... » More

Course not as lush as a month ago but still in nice condition. Tees lush and very well maintained. Fairways now firm and play fast with a few brown patches here and there. Rough hit and miss, could be thick or thin. You actually want it to be thick to stop balls that otherwise will end up in the cactus w/o it. Sand is excellently maintained. Greens firm and putt medium fast with few ball marks. Carts have nice GPS. Customer service excellent from almost everyone on the staff. Excellent range and good restaurant on site. Highly recommended.
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Early Sunday morning round in a little over four hours. The staff is always friendly and busy. Most of the carts do no... » More

Early Sunday morning round in a little over four hours. The staff is always friendly and busy. Most of the carts do not have windshields which can make for a cold trip around the course if using one. They do allow and have walking rates even on the weekend. The entire course is very flat with many water features which makes walking enjoyable. The tee boxes were all dry, scruffy and full of divots. The rough here is pretty much not present. You might find something similar to rough if you spray one too far from the fairways but most holes have nothing to speak of. The fairways were all dry and patchy for the most part with tight thin lies to hit from. Finding a good lies in the fairways usually requires the use of your foot wedge. The traps are still mostly a hard compact dirt/sand mix with a few having better sand. Most of the traps are damp or filled with runoff which again requires the old foot wedge. The greens were punched about a month ago and are in VERY nice shape with total coverage. The green side sections generally are pretty well kept. The greens were slightly firm with only the best of approach shots finding a spot near their landing area. The speed of the greens was pretty quick with not too many ball marks. There are not many hidden breaks but sometimes you will be surprised with what you don't see. The course might want to consider a name change to GEESE LAKES with the what seems like hundreds of them on almost every hole. There were goose droppings from them on every hole from start to finish even a distance from the water features. The rates and pace of play with the location and two 18 hole layouts make for a good round even with the geese and dry conditions.
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Played 4/25/25 10:30 am $99 POP 3:50. Course is trying to come out of winter and green aeration. Greens were maybe 50% b... » More

Played 4/25/25 10:30 am $99 POP 3:50. Course is trying to come out of winter and green aeration. Greens were maybe 50% back from punching with lots of sand & punches prevalent.
Fairways ultra tight and thin. Starting to green, but many brown & bare patches mixed around. Good ball striking required. I was surprised at the turf conditions. I thought they would be further along in the regrowth. It appeared they were gearing up for some pre summer maintenance and preparation. I really enjoy this course but unfortunately not worth the rack rate at this time. Hopefully in the next month with warming temps the course will be back.
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What a treat to be able to come back to this golf course.

Joined the GK/GM/Vivid Golf event and played with M... » More

What a treat to be able to come back to this golf course.

Joined the GK/GM/Vivid Golf event and played with Matt and Rich. Fun day.


As we arrived at the parking lot, staff member came up to take our bags in.
Check in was super easy with Gary helping us get started. And off to practice area. Driving range had plenty of stalls. Hitting off mats with shiny range balls (looks pretty new :) 2 practice putting green was sanded but rolled really nice and fast.

Shotgun started on time and we finished just under 5 hours.

Tee boxes, fairways all good. lush and easy to hit off. got into a few bunkers and plenty of sand to splash out of. no complaints here.
Greens were similar to practice greens- fast and firm and quite enjoyable and unforgiving (in a good way)

Love this course. Design and conditions are top notch. Staff was super helpful. Enjoyed our day out at WR. Thanks to our playing partners for the tips provided in playing WR, to the GK gang and WR staff for making this happen. Until next time!
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Played Thursday 4/24 with a later Am tee time. Wind light enough to call your attention and cool (60's) partly sunny ski... » More

Played Thursday 4/24 with a later Am tee time. Wind light enough to call your attention and cool (60's) partly sunny skies. Full disclosure I had played most recently in Feb. and didn't post review here as I thought the course was in winter condition and gave it time to come out of "hibernation."
It has and is greening up in all areas, let's say from the edges in.
We played the ball down and it was a fair test without unexpected bad break lies.
The rough is getting thick and enough to hold and hide the ball and stop any forward progress quickly. A few areas I found had been punched and had the flat plugs. Escape from it variable could be good as the fairway or buried to the top.
Fairways are ok. Still some shorter dormant areas among the improving short grass.
Bunkers good I wasn't in them but maintained as expected.
Greens rolling good not the fastest I've putted here. My partner commented if it looked like they were going to aerate or they were healed. They had been done about a month ago I confirmed. Held high pitches and chips. Allowed me the bump and runs I use. A few thin spots on the edges.
Numerous broods of namesake turkey in the tall grasses and colorful purple wild weed in unmaintained areas.
2025 $79 prime to $69 Friday to $52 Senior rate Mon-Thu we qualified for.
I didn't take pictures. Looking at the ones posted here it will be interesting to see if the course summer grows into the quality venue it has been.
They are pricing like that. Steele Enterprises owns many area courses.
Historically a little better condition wise that their peers.
One caveat: Most always wet area near 7th green cart path was over flowing and sewer odor evident. A bit far away but above the wet roped off area in the middle of the 9th fairway with a siphon hose being used.
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Played Reflection Bay Tuesday morning in pre-summer conditions. Temps got up to low 90’s by the end of the round. U... » More

Played Reflection Bay Tuesday morning in pre-summer conditions. Temps got up to low 90’s by the end of the round. Unlike SoHi which has thousands of trees on the course so you can find shade, Reflection Bay is pretty much wide open desert golf. That is Desert golf with some elevation changes and great views of the lake!

Overall, course was decent. Not great by any means but certainly playable on all levels. The greens had been punched about a week earlier so they were bumpy and a bit unpredictable speed wise. I’d say they need a good two weeks to fully heal.

Fairways were decent enough, tee boxes were fine and sand traps were good to go for sure. The kikuyu grass around the greens isn’t my cup of tea but I imagine if you get used to playing on it, it’s ok. I’m not sure if the disappointment in the conditions was just natural let down after playing near perfect conditions (except for the aerated greens) the previous day or if it was a genuine “conditions need to be better for this price point”. The layout is fantastic with views galore all while being a challenging track.

POP was pretty slow for the first nine and then we zipped through the back nine once we got around the “bachelor party foursome”. Most of the staff were very friendly and helpful.

I’m sure I’ll play here again sometime down the road but it’ll be at the bottom of the course rotation for the time being. And I’ll also call to make sure the greens haven’t been punched recently.
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I played here with the East Bay Golf Hacks on Friday, April 11 2025. We teed off at 12:20. They have a driving range, pu... » More

I played here with the East Bay Golf Hacks on Friday, April 11 2025. We teed off at 12:20. They have a driving range, putting green, and chipping area. The course was in excellent condition. Tee boxes were level. Fairways were well maintained - I didn't notice any patches. Greens were pristine and rolled true, but slightly quicker than I'm use to. Our foursome finished the round in just under 4:10. I would highly recommend this course and plan to return in May!
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Played wed 4/23, 8am tee time, 5 hr round, mostly cuz it was the ncga qualifier 2 man best ball, and we were putting eve... » More

Played wed 4/23, 8am tee time, 5 hr round, mostly cuz it was the ncga qualifier 2 man best ball, and we were putting everything out. Course condition is the same as 2 weeks ago... fairways spotty with dandelions, lots of unmarked gur,, rough decent and mowed, bunkers decent. Greens are the best feature.. roll true and quick, grainy: 11 down grain, 9 up grain. but lots of ball marks, so bumpy if you don't smooth them out. Looks like they are punching next week. Cold and windy, 1-3 club wind. Warmed up a little by noon, but didn't take the beanie off. A decent fun round with a lot of good shot quality shots, but in mediocre at best shape. Very walkable. Need course knowledge on a lot of holes. I hear the weekday rate walking is much more reasonable than the sunday rate I paid last time, and for under $50, I would play here a lot.
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Out early on 4/24. Had a 7:10 time, but pulled up at 6:45 and checked in. Nobody was on #1 tee, and the started said go.... » More

Out early on 4/24. Had a 7:10 time, but pulled up at 6:45 and checked in. Nobody was on #1 tee, and the started said go. So off I went. Played through 1 single ahead, and finished in just over 2 hrs. Been a while since I've had a solo round.

I have not been to Pala Mesa in 5 years. I must say I am impressed. Course conditions were really good. Fairways, rough, sand were all fantastic. Tee boxes were very good.

The greens were in good shape and rolled really well. A couple of the greens had some challenges, and you can see a mixture of grasses on the greens might be an issue later, but right now they are rolling great.

Big thumbs up to Pala Mesa for a job well done, I look forward to coming out again.
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