We had our first private club outing at El Camino Country Club in Oceanside, CA on Monday, 2-9-26. It was great to see some fellow GKers there and tee it up with sparky14, rgm2525 and Brian from Golfmoose.

I cannot describe the golf course playing experience more accurately than my fellow GKer’s review sd3bs below mine so please read his as well. I’ll jump into an organizer’s perspective.

From the beginning it was a pleasure to work with their event director Elizabeth. She was very efficient and professional booking our round. Upon arrival, I noticed they have 3 separate parking lots to accommodate tennis, golf and large events. If you are playing golf make sure to use the upper parking lots.

The clubhouse, restaurant and practice facilities are small. Which made it challenging to stage a large golf outing. There is no driving range, but rather 6 hitting stalls and a small practice putting green. The practice short game area however, does accommodate short wedge shots 80 (and in) yards and a practice bunker. They have a nice bar/restaurant with some patio dining which was open and those I spoke with that ordered breakfast said it was delicious. My only complaint was the lack of preparation in regard to having enough cart keys for our group which caused a lot of confusion, late start and inconvenience. El Camino CC eventually found enough keys, and I hope in the future for large groups of 100+ players they learned from this mishap. Other than that, I was very pleased with the experience and look forward to having another event at El Camino CC!

Check out some the photos I posted.

Since the late 80s, I have had a long history with Mulholland Hills CC, formally Braemar CC having experienced all its transformations. I can undoubtably say, the name change from Braemar CC to Mulholland Hills CC is perfectly fitting because it certainly is a new, incredibly fun, beautiful private club. Lanny Watkins and his team did an exceptional job redesigning the former 27 holes to produce what I believe will be the hottest new club in LA County.

On Monday 2-2, Mulholland Hills CC hosted our 100+ players event on the Canyon + Vista combo. Teed it up with rgm2525, mark_6m and itslikeimsayin. The Vista course opened literally 3 days prior to our round. Both the Canyon and especially the Vista course were in excellent condition providing stunning views and a captivating round of golf. I’m going to let the photos of the courses speak for themselves.

If you’re a golf event organizer like me, or someone interested in a private club membership, I suggest you give them a call. Our group loved it.

I’ve already booked another event, on the same Canyon-Vista combo for 4/20 that will go on sale in March. In April, Mulholland Hills CC will have new carts and it won’t be cart path on the Vista Course for an even better experience.

Highly Recommended!

Well goodbye Alhambra hello Rancho Solano. Played my last round today and was very pleased with conditions. Greens had small punch last week look all healed and chipped/putted with good speed all round. Fairways have been mowed and are giving good roll out at the moment as well as good lies (some better than others). No issues with tee boxes. New sand in traps is excellent and very playable. Very little rough to contend with. Been a great 10 years playing this wonderful course and have enjoyed the staff (new and old) that have made my many rounds so enjoyable. As of Sunday Feb 14 I will be a GK member of N CA golf. Spent many years in Sac so know the area well and look forward to playing many of the courses I played so many years ago.

Played Tuesday, February 10, before 7:00 am. We were a five some, all walking, in the third group out. We played in 1.5 hours for the 9 holes with little or no waiting on the group on front of us. Little amenities at the course at present with no restaurant in operation. Three net bays for warm up, a nice sized practice green and small chipping area.

The course is in good shape. Lush fairways and greens for the most part. There was little sand in the one bunker I was in but others found adequate sand in other bunkers. The tees were not always level but were okay. The greens were nice, running at a decently fast speed. High side of medium speed.

Nice way to start the day.

Course in very nice condition. Played with a nice family from N.M., one of which was 6 years old. His dad had him tee up about 100 yards from the green. Surprisingly good, consistent contact.

Tees lush and very well maintained. Fairways now firm and play fast and look immaculate. 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.

Played in the Golf Moose outing on a sunny warm day with great partners. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The facility is aged but well maintained as work was being performed during our round. The practice area does not have a driving range but the putting greens, chipping area and driving nets did the job. The comfortable carts were very nice and quick but lacked any GPS. The rough was the perfect length to slow wayward shots and allowed for a decent shot. The fairways had good coverage with divot mix placed throughout the entire course. The fairways were tight in sections with great roll on well struck tee shots. The well groomed and trimmed traps were mostly damp with very thin to thin sand coverage. Hitting from them could be difficult if you found your ball in one. The aprons around most greens was thinner Kikuyu which was difficult to chip from with most electing to use the short sticks. The greens were great with total coverage. They held shots good but did have roll out without a lot of spin. They were very quick with unseen breaks. Many were very small and well protected with the pin placements. The layout had a few water features and fairway bunkers strategically placed which came into play. There were many trees lining the holes from start to finish which made finding a ball near one with the leaves difficult or impossible. There were some elevation changes in the layout but the course is definitely flat enough to walk. The fairways were generally wide forgiving. The front nine has three par three holes playing to a par 35. The back nine at a par 37 was 400-500 yards longer and more challenging. Definitely a course our group would play again given the chance.

Played 2/8/26 12:45 POP 4:15 First time playing the course and enjoyed it. Pretty basic in design. Generous fairways with little to no trouble off of tees. Fairways very green with great coverage, but on the tight side. Great roll out on drives! Greens were in great shape. Mostly firm, but ran slow to my taste at a medium/slow. Lots of subtle breaks that were hard to pick up especially when the ball slowed. Was not in any traps but they all looked to be in great shape. Course was in overall great shape. I don't recall any "Signature" hole. Some water in play with one par 3 over water. A decent course that won't beat you up that was in great shape. Some very nice scenery when playing back towards the mountains
Easy recommend as a "also" course or warm up course if in the area for more than one day.

Played early on Super Bowl Sunday, second group off. There were four of us, all walking. We played in 3:55 which is pretty good. A beverage cart caught us on the 15th green, the first time I have seen that at Rancho. Nice feature considering there is usually nothing available for the early morning crowd. The food truck was not at its place behind the driving range when we finished. There were tables set up next to the putting green where they had a bar at one time; maybe they are doing food there.

The course generally is in nice shape.. The warmer weather really has it greening up for a winter morning. The greens were pretty good although there are a few with some of the problems noted by Roarksown1 in his December review. #2 was especially bad. The practice green was also rough. The greens on the course were better.

Just a gorgeous morning at Rancho.

Played the Links @ SB with Alex326 and Bob as previous review indicated. I was prepared to play in any weather when asked to join more than a month ago. It was a day of days. Best treat that can't be beat at the Duke's $$. The staff gave us VIP treatment and the course was playing at my favorite links style best.
I'd post 10 in every category, then might be accused of over rating by the algorithm but not lying! Not many days no complaints, all compliments. This was one. And with experience of former rounds got the arrival right. Using Spyglass to warm up and portion of 17 mile drive to get to course ready to go. Maybe that's a possible change coming some type of warm up area. I think it's time for irrigation replacement also. As a resort many forego playing here for some reason when it is included in the stay? I don't know why...
If the redo changes that for the better I'm for it

The Mountain course usually gets more play than Canyon. However, POP still moving well. Weather conditions have been mild. Playing conditions are about as good as it gets here. Near immaculate. The overseeding took better this season than last, very few outlying areas that need attention. Course is playinf firm and quick. Long drives in the lush fairways. Greens are firm and quick. Lush everywhere. Sand almost always near immaculate here, especially around the greens. Probably the best 36 hole facility to play south of Phoenix and north of the Mexican border in southern Az. Highly recommended.

5 weeks left before the course shuts down for the remodel. DeepSea14 and I teed it up with my buddy Bob at our usual 9AM (9:10) tee time. I have played Spanish Bay many many times and this may have been the best weather ever. Perfectly sunny without a breath of wind all day long. Temperature was around 80 degrees and just glorious. Course conditions remain steady as always. Greens were excellent. They rolled smooth at a medium fast pace. Greens are still tricky, as indicated by my fiver or six 3 putts. It will be interesting to see how tame they make the greens during the redo.

Fairways were super for the most part. Only #11 had some issues and had a portion being re-seeded. The rest were lush and offered good roll out. Rough was the only sign of the course starting to slip. Rough had some patchy areas that probably aren’t being attended to, due to the course being shut down in a little over a month.

Tee boxes and bunkers were fine.

Spanish Bay is one of my favorite go to courses and I’m curious what the redesign will look like, but I’m certainly going to miss playing here for 2 years while they do the makeover.

Simple, first time playing there you may find it in bad shape and hard to play, but once you know the course and where to it hit your shots it is not bad for the money at all. We played here for a second time and knowing where not to hit your tee shots made a big difference, yes some holes are tight and houses near, greens small (less putts) but being an uphill down hill course it has enough challenges to make the round worth it. Not a place for someone who counts on a long drive every hole. If you are wild off every tee you may not find this the place for you but if you can hit spots and have good distance control you can score good. We as many gave this place a bad review after one round, but the second round we found much better with a little course knowledge. No sand traps (a plus for me) lets call this the course for someone not looking for a pristine course or a flat long hitters course, this is a public up hill down hill rough shape course that will give you plenty of NON level lies to hit from.