Spent this past Sunday afternoon playing in a Rancho Park men's club tournament on a very hot day enjoying one of SoCal's best public courses. My group played from the white tees and had an 11:40am tee time, so we were right in the thick of the heat, but the course has held up well.

Fairways are in good shape with the occasional thin spots around the greens and many remnants of old GUR areas that are apparently back in good graces - but the faint outlines are there to see! Rough was thick in areas but thin in others, while the bunkers in good shape from what I saw. The worst part of the course were some of the uneven tee boxes and one that had barely any grass at all (I'm looking at you #10) - definitely improvement needed there.

Greens were in good shape - consistent speeds, holding shots well and lines being true to the putts taken. No complaints on the greens at all. I was very appreciative of those greens as I had a career afternoon which I'll write about in the 'What'd you shoot - September' section!

POP was not great at the start but really picked up after the 4th hole and we pretty much kept moving nicely for the rest of the afternoon. The old rumors of Rancho Park's six-hour rounds are nothing more than nostalgia now and that's a great thing.

If you can get a time there, I would recommend it right now.

Played last Friday at Skylinks with one friend, then somehow managed to add Mattias and one of his friends late for a fun foursome at one of the LBC's best courses. We had an afternoon tee time and were able to take off a bit early and had a very nice POP for most of the day until we hit some snags on the back nine.

Course conditions at Skylinks are improved from my last visit but still not at its optimal best. The fairways are playable but don't look very nice and are still saddled with some thin areas, while the rough is not too penal at all. The bunkers are a little on the thin side while the tee boxes (we played the blues) were all just fine.

Greens were running pretty nicely to the best of my recollection - nothing really stood out too much in terms of issues. Sure, there are a few with some limited damage around the edges, but for the most part they ran consistently medium-fast, held shots well and stayed true to their lines. Nothing too bad to complain about.

Overall it's all just above aveage, but of course you're paying optimum Long Beach course prices, so it should simply be a bit better than that, but I will give them some concessions based on the very hot temperatures over the past week or two. I think some rainfall and some fall aeration will probably do this course wonders.

Played this AM. Great to see cool weather when teeing off. Course is doing well with this latest heat wave. They are keeping the course well watered. Tee boxes all playable. Fairways had good coverage, needed mowing but still provided good lies/limited roll out. Traps have improved greatly with the new sand. Rough was manageable. Greens were slow due to moisture. But you could go after pins w/o fear and that added to the number of birdies made. Great customer service from Christian and Julia as always as well as Rich in the cart barn. Still the best value for 18 holes in S CA IMO.

Played 9/8, was very hot. Course overall is in good shape. Fairways on most holes have good coverage. A few like #1 are beat up. Greens were nice and smooth for the most part. Sand traps were hard with little sand. No cart service here which is tough when it's close to 100 outside.

Walked the blacks today 9/9/2024 under great weather around 80 degrees with little to no wind at tee off as a single. Friendly staff got me out 30 minutes before my tee time. I played through a 3some on 3 tee and flew around walking the front in an hour 15 minutes. Hit a logjam of players on 14 for a total POP of 3 hrs 30 minutes.

Enjoyed the course immensely today even way back at almost 7200 yds. Sandpipers layout from hole 10 through 14 is just something special. I also love holes 5 and 7.

Conditions were good but not as great as say 2 months ago. Most portions of the fairways had good to great lies with some spots here and there of browning. Rated 8/10.

Tees were very lush, soft and some tees needed leveling like the back box on #6. You needed long tees for your driver that is how soft they were. Rated 7.5/10

The rough was more brown than I'm used to just off the fairways but still in the 7/10 range. Was in fairway bunker on 8 that was perfect to hit out of.

The greens were very healthy looking and rolled pure. They are slower and softer than I'm used to. Would say a 10.5 on the stimp rather than there usually 12 on the stimp. Rated 8.5/10

It was a hot day in California so blessed to be able to walk this course today even in low 80s which is hot for Santa Barbara. I did not see one walker today. Would highly recommend this track. One of my favorites.

played sun 9/8, 8:30 minishotgun. hot day. course in decent shape. greens were a little bumpy and tons of poorly repaired ball marks. but rolled ok if you fixed them. fast 10 on the stimp. fairways in good shape. tee boxes so so. Overall in good shape other than the greens. I haven't been out here in in over a decade, and the more I play this, the more I find myself not liking the layout. Challenging... forced carries over the tee and to the greens on a few holes. course knowledge is very important... as avoiding hazards and having good ball placement are integral to scoring well here. greens are huge and tough putting, which makes the bumpiness more noticeable. a lot of quirkyness to the course. restaurant is great and the staff is wonderful.

advance booking fee was collected without notifying aerification coming up. false advertising for booking tee time and course condition.

Out this AM early to beat the heat. POP 3H and it was getting warm. Course is in protection mode from the heat keeping the course really wet. But really the only issue was the fairways did not roll out as much and the greens putted slow. So you could take greater chances with your driver on many holes and really fire at the pins with the greens being soft. Tee boxes were all playable and so were the sand traps which were clean and groomed. Customer service in the shop, starter and restaurant were terrific. I will be back next month when hopefully the weather has cooled down and the course is playing fast and loose.

Looking for somewhere to play which would not be quite so hot, but even Costa Mesa was hot. Just a fun course to play. Because of the interesting green complexes, always presents a challenge, not because of the shorter distance, but rather the unique greens. As usual, course was in very nice condition, staff was great and all things considered, pace of play decent. If you have not played this course, don't let the shorter yardage dissuade you.

played 9-4 pop 3h 20 min the good. this was my first time playing since re-opening and the service was great. now for the bad, greens are thin and sparse although they ran good, fairways are also thin and sparse with virtually no rough with a mix of old trees and new ones.
I like the layout but think the course lost some of it's character with the redo. I fixed one ballmark all day and it wasn't mine, hit a towering lob shot with spin and no Mark to be found.
the course is in desperate need of a re-seed this fall but it being American golf highly doubt it will happen. Overall it was a fun track to play but I won't be back until we get some rain. one final note they will be punching greens starting 9-10.

Played Wed 9/4, 7:15 tee time, 2 some, with some waiting, played in under 4 hrs. course in pretty good muni shape. Greens are running a fast 9, mostly good... a lot of tamping down ball marks. Fairways are even and above average. A few soggy spots off the fairway. Not bad at all. the one bunker I landed it was really good. dense, but soft, if that makes sense. I don't get out here often.. it's a Dye brother creation, short from the tips (6100), not a ton of trouble, but enough to keep you thinking on half the holes. Had a good time. Punching next week, so plan accordingly

Walked the back tees today 9/3/24 under cloudy skies in the high 60s/low 70s with a club and a half wind. Joined by 3 nice older gentlemen from the VC area. Our POP behind 2 tournaments was 4 hours 45 minutes getting off a little after 10am.

Decided to pick a course that wasn't punching, had cooler temps and had tee times available. Unfortunately couldn't snag a time for one of my buddies but enjoyed the gentlemen I played with. I had not played Lakes in 3 years trying to avoid American Golf run facilities. I just love the layout and staff here and have tons of great memories with buddies here.

I was shocked how poor the conditions were. The first two greens were the worst with pot marks and some major bumping. The greens on majority of the holes had sand and bare areas around the edges and greens like hole 9 they are losing major portions of it. The healthy parts of the greens were soft on approaches and rolling very slow maybe a 8.5 on the stimp. It pains me to rate the greens at a 5/10 but that is where they are at.

Many Fairways have dead dry grass with very thin lies. Playable but ugly to the eye. Rated 4.5/10

The rough and what is left of it had maintenance dirt plugs with many little irrigation mini flags around it. Rated 4/10.

Tees were mainly level, dry and crusty. Rated 4/10

Was in 2 greenside bunkers on 16 and 17 that were actually pretty nice with just enough sand in them. Other traps I walked by looked terrible. Rated 6/10

If you play for cooler temps and the bones of a course this would fit the bill but would not recommend the conditions at this time. Would need to see many good to great reviews to come back anytime soon. Just a shame as it has a strong challenging layout and great people working here