Catching up on a review from last week. Teed it up with sparky14, itslikeimsayin and briano1985 at Dove Canyon Golf Club 8/17. This was my 100th event. What started with me running the events solo in July 2021, not sure what to expect, became 99 rounds later filled with good times and lots great golf experiences for my fellow golfers. Dove Canyon Golf Club was one of the first to welcome our group, in fact last Monday was our 11th event there. Despite the 20+ clubs I’ve had these events at, the 4-5 hour round trip drive it takes me (from Thousand Oaks – traffic sucks) and the punishing difficult layout, it’s in my Top-5 host clubs we play. It’s a phenomenal Jack Nicklaus Signature Course layout that is a blast to play. Jack’s Den at the turn is my favorite place to grab a bite. The food is delicious and affordable + plus that give out free big delicious muffins. The clubhouse is magnificent. The service is top-notch. I love this place.

While the playing conditions on 8/17 were not up to Dove Canyon GC’s typical lush, beautiful standards, the course did not disappoint. With cooler temps and overseeding around the corner, Dove Canyon GC will be bouncing back soon.

I’m already looking into booking a 2027 Spring event. Don’t miss it.

Despite being a San Diego resident for 45 years, I finally played Oceanside GC for the first time on Saturday. Overall, I was impressed with what the golf course has to offer, not only from a conditioning perspective but also with regard to the subtle demands it places upon one’s game, despite being relatively short at 6400+ yards from the ‘Tips’.

Tee boxes were in good shape, despite a few uneven lies, while the Par-3 holes, naturally, showed a bit more wear and tear. Didn’t amount to much of a bother though so no complaints there.

Fairways, however, were a different story. While some were uniform in their growth, coverage, and turf consistency, others were a mix of different types of grasses. When it came to those holes, lies were quite thin with nothing more than a ‘veneer’ of grass covering the base underneath. You could be looking at three or four different strains of turf within a ten-foot circle.

As a result, ball striking had to be precise from those spots in order to ensure solid compression. I did find it necessary to ‘bump’ the ball out of a few bare depressions in order to give myself a fair chance at doing so…and this was especially true when it came to short irons/wedges.

I suppose it’s just the nature of the soil, turf, etc. but the difference between the fairway grass on, say, #1 and #15, were like night and day. Still…I gathered enough positives from my total experience that the turf issue isn’t going to discourage me from returning.

The real highlight was the greens. They were in great shape: soft and receptive to approach shots where you were literally throwing darts out there yet medium-quick on speed with consistent, true rolls on every green. Putts from above the hole may have been a bit quicker but nothing outrageous.

Also want to mention that although the putting surfaces were soft, I saw very few unattended ball marks. If repaired promptly, as should be the case, these greens can remain fairly pristine from sunrise to sunset.

Rough isn’t much of a factor as most perimeter areas are characterized by hard-packed sand/crushed granite. It gives the course somewhat of a desert-like appearance but sure does help with reducing maintenance costs while also keeping play moving…although we still had to endure a five-hour round.

Bunker sand was good but played a bit ‘heavier’ than I anticipated. I was in just one trap so I can’t comment on their consistency but they did appear uniform in that regard.

While the course is considered ‘short’ by today’s standard, it does demand precise shotmaking in order to score well. The closing stretch is solid…and even more so when the wind is up…and the size of the greens provides another option to stretch the yardage further than the card.

Whenever we encountered a ‘back’ flag position, it was ALL the way back! There were more than a couple of greens that measured some 40-50 yards from back to front. I really like golf courses that have this type of ‘interchangeability’; you may play one hole and approach the pin with an 8-iron one day…and 5-iron the next from the exact same spot in the fairway due to the flag’s location.

Course is flat until you hit the steep, uphill Par-4 12th (be aware of the severe ‘false front’)…which is followed by the dramatic downhill Par-3 13th…but there are enough twists and turns where it’s never monotonous and being able to shape the ball both ways off the tee is an asset.

Staff were friendly and accommodating, facilities and grounds spotless, and the vibe casual and relaxed. $55.00 to walk ‘Prime Time’ on the weekend with an additional $15.00 cart fee has value written all over it when you add everything up. And that’s amplified just a bit more if you happen to play during the week and walk.

While it’s an hour’s drive for me, I anticipate playing here a bit more in the future. Love the layout and if the greens continue to be maintained at their present level, it’s an absolute no-brainer for this kid.

Rode the blues this morning 8/24/26 as part of the Vivid/GK Golfmoose event under hot conditions for Somis almost 90 degrees. Pop was 4 hrs 40. Joined by buddies John, Ron and Matt.

Great run event with smooth check in and a nice warm up area with two practice greens and an elevated range on mats.

Greens were in great shape. I have seen them quicker around us open qualifying time here but they were still pretty quick with pure rolls. Due to the heat there were a couple sections of real dry patches creeping in like the middle of 17 green. Rated 8.5/10

Fairways just in great shape perfect lies. Rated 9/10.

Nasty rough today probably the thickest I have seen out here. Balls would nestle way down just off the fairways and would catch barely off struck drives like a catchers mitt. Very long but in very good shape. Rated 8.5/10

Tees were in very good shape with no issues. Rated 8.5/10

Was in greenside bunker on 1 and fairway bunker on 16. High quality raked perfectly sand here. Rated 8.5/10

Love this golf course. You have to golf your ball well here to score well here. Plenty of bunkers, red and white penalty areas and rough to challenge the best of players. Members are blessed here! If you have a chance to play here jump on the opportunity to!

Played early this morning as it is starting to warm up again and to hot to play later in the day.

Course is in good shape at the moment. A little wet but that's to be expected with the warm weather.

Tee boxes all playable.

Fairways wide and good coverage with good lies and hit miss in the rollout depending upon fairway and elevation.

Traps all clean and playable at this time of the day.

Rough is playable and able to find your ball and advance it.

Greens are slower than normal due to watering but still large and very important to land in an area to get within good distance to the flags. My new LAB putter is working just fine at the moment.

Always good customer service in the shop and from all employees encountered.

First time back at Wilson in exactly one year and just the second time in the last four years ... and of course saved it for my worst round there since 2019 under the sweltering summer sun.

My friend and I rode obviously, playing the white tees and with an 11:15am tee time, paired up with two others. Did I mention it was hot? This was especially brutal on Wilson because of course there's no cart service and you don't reach the snack shop until the 11th tee box.

The course looks and plays dry thanks to the summer heat that's pressed down on SoCal for the past month. There is also a fungus growing on a lot of the greens which might explain the punch marks in the middle of August - that's rare, right? Pin positions were also as diabolical as possible which I didn't even think they could do on Wilson's greens, but other than that they actually rolled pretty consistently despite the clear work done on them.

The course is playable for sure, but it's seen better days. Riding carts over the fairways and other areas feels like taking a dune buggy out after a WWI trench battle - it's rough out there. Take your Advils and be prepared for that wild ride.

Fairways have better coverage on the back nine (14 and 16 remain tremendous holes) but you can feel the thin and dry just about everywhere. Rough is fine, bunkers played okay and the tee boxes were a little short of good - level but very beat up in some cases.

One thing of note regarding the driving range - you can (at least currently) NOT use a credit card to get range balls, so you have to get your code from the starter. This was frustrating for me because whenever I play at Griffith Park, they always advise you to first check in 15-20 minutes before your tee time, so I went straight to the range this time, only to find out now I had to go to the office anyway. Minor gripe but an annoyance at the time.

In summary, Wilson is playing just as you would expect right now with the current weather conditions. I would certainly wait until things cool down again and the place gets a chance to fix things up.

Played this AM. Last few rounds here have been very windy. Getting a great downwind game but not so good into it. Wind speed 18 with gusts to 23.

I am finding out that the main reason locals avoid the course is because of the windy conditions due to the location of the course. Me I am checking conditions better before I make future reservations.

Lucky we got out early. When we made the turn we found the area around the clubhouse packed and staged for a tournament. We were not even notified of this happening when we checked in. I guess they assumed we and others would finish before this started. Wrong.

When we were teeing off on 18 the carts for a shotgun start started coming down from the clubhouse. Lets just say we let the guy in the clubhouse know how we felt.

Tee boxes all clean and playable.

Fairways had good coverage on most holes with decent lies but the only rollout was on downwind holes.

Rough was playable.

Traps had been all cleaned so we had decent sand to play out of all round.

Greens had been mowed and chipped/putted at good speeds. But hitting them in the wind was a challenge as well as putting into and with the wind. And many of the greens are elevated from the fairway so trying to factor in wind direction and speed was not fun.

Had a great $6.50 breakfast including coffee after the round so that helped the days frustrations somewhat.

Early morning round in 4.5 hours on the Oaks/Creek nines. Staff has always been great and friendly. The practice facilities weren't busy at all on the warm morning. It appears Thursday mornings are when the ladies club plays. The carts remain top notch with everything you need. The tee boxes were good with exception of the beat up par three boxes on the Creek nine. The rough has been cut down shorter and the heat has dried it up some but you can find your ball in it fairly easily now. Hitting from the rough can be easy or difficult depending on the thickness from hole to hole. All of the fairways have real nice coverage with approach sections on the longer holes being full of divots in need of repair and sand. The carts have sand bottles but many golfers don't know how to use them evidently. The traps all have plenty of good to great sand and were all raked nicely. The greens were quite a bit slower than usual with the extra water they were receiving on this hot day. They were holding shots and had very few ball marks which was nice to see. With the slower greens came less break than was usual for a round here. The rates are acceptable for what you'll find in the local valley.

Played Crandon GC yesterday after my bike ride. Apparently playing at 11:30 AM in the middle of the summer is the way to go because I flew around the course in 3 hrs only having to go through two groups. In fact if it hadn’t been for raccoon who hijacked my cart (see picture when it’s up), I would have finished in sub 3 hours. Course remains in decent condition all around. About the same as my last review. A couple of the greens had some serious brown spots throughout but other than that not bad. Greens are slow here. they roll true, just at a slow pace. Fairways had pretty good coverage throughout. Not the Spyglass Hill perfect 10 but a good solid 7 rating. I was in a lot of greenside bunkers and all had good amount of sand. Again, not the perfect white fluffy deep sand, but enough to be predictable.

With numerous water hazards and a couple glimpses of the Miami skyline, this has become my “go to” course outside of the private ones I get to play.

Had not played Marshall Canyon in over 20 years and boy what a walk down memory lane. Course was well conditioned and staff was friendly for a city course. My greatest memory was the slope and severity of the greens and they did not disappoint. Despite the short yardage the greens protect the course. Some defy logic as slopes and the nearby mountains often cancel each other out. An added treat was the large gallery of deer that were spectators for the day. As someone who’s played the Pebble Beach courses and Bandon Dunes, we saw more deer here than both those combined. This course earns the title of hidden gem. I can’t wait to play it again.

Played this AM on a very cool foggy morning. Felt like fall instead of middle of Aug.

Course was very wet from tee to green and everywhere in between.

Tee boxes were not in the best shape today and were good last week?

Fairways wet soggy very little roll and OK lies and some had just been cut and clippings lying all over. Not ideal.

Traps were all bad. Damp crusty and hard packed. Some appeared unplayable.

Rough was high and wet and easy to loose a ball.

Greens were soft and left divots from balls landing and they putted slow all round.

No idea what happened from last week to this but it did not give any of us a good impression.

But they only charged us $34 w cart so at least that was a postive.

Great customer service in the shop.

Played in group 1B of Monday’s Vivid Golf X GK outing at Dove Canyon, Johnny’s 100th event since starting to run these in 2021! Congratulations Johnny!

As usual, the event was run beautifully and a lot of fun. Dove Canyon is handling the summer heat well, but precautions are being taken. Namely, the greens are slower than typical to avoid burnout. They ran mostly smooth with medium to medium-slow speed. For how much water is being put on them, they surprisingly weren’t super soft. I’d say medium firmness/acceptance on approach shots. Fairways had good coverage with a few GUR areas. Rough was a little more penal with some thin areas here and there but nothing too deep. Blue tee boxes were mostly great, although I felt one or two sloped slightly toward the front of the box. I was in a lot of bunkers and they were all very nice.

The real revelation during this round was the Paloma Dog at Jack’s Den. Johnny had tried this a couple events ago and raved about it, and now I see why. If a bacon-wrapped hot dog and cheesy, gooey quesadilla had a baby, this is it. Wow, one of the best things I’ve ever eaten at a golf course!

Had a great time with sparky14, Johnny, and Bryan. Definitely recommended anytime you can access this course. Oh yeah, pace of play was amazing for these events… we finished in less than 4:20 from the time we teed off!

Played August 16 (Sunday)! 5:30 round! Typical Sunday stroll at the golf course! For the most part, the fairway was lush, with some fungal issues. Seems many courses are coming down with some form of fungal infection on the fairways. One could easily avoid the bad grass. Greens were slow, but what should I expect??? It's summertime!!!