It took eleven long years but finally made the trek back out to Santa Clarita to try my luck at Sand Canyon (formerly Robinson Ranch) again, and boy did I need as much as I could get out there.

This is not a course for the faint of heart. It's relentless and never lets you take a breath. There are elevations, crazy design angles and lines, desert chaparral mayhem around every corner, uncomfortable sightlines, and to top it off there are three nines offering all of this. My buddy and I played from the blue tees and did the Valley/Desert routing with a cart. It's a big challenge if you're not sharp off the tee or on approach.

Course conditions are far better than expected at this time of year and in that dusted out area of northern Los Angeles county. There is a lot of green in the fairways and rough, with the occasional dry spot but lots of danger areas between tee box and fairway to find trouble. A lot of the tee boxes were a bit slanted with the landscape, but they were in good shape. I only hit out of one bunker (greenside on hole 8 Valley) and it was very nice.

But the best part? The greens and the green complexes. Really fun, really nice rolls and a good mixture of massive and not-so-massive to really make you plan your approaches. Speeds weren't super fast at all but they were very consistent from hole to hole and simply a joy to play. Worth coming back just for the greens.

Driving range looks like a synthetic football field from the Pacific Northwest, but it gets the job done. Customer service folks were nice, as was the one cart girl we met up with on the front nine. Pace of play? Epic - we were done on a fairly quiet day out there in just under four hours. That was great.

Now that I've moved away from the South Bay and more up into the Los Angeles area, I finally realized that an afternoon tee time here with no traffic only takes about 40-45 minutes to get there, so I think that I will be not waiting another decade before I take on the super fun challenge of Sand Canyon again.

Mid week early morning 4.5 hour round. The staff is friendly and helpful. The carts are good and equipped with gps and windshields. The tee boxes were all level but slightly thin and dry. The rough is hit and miss with sections but not present on every hole. Where it exists most rough was thin and short enough to put a good strike on the ball. The fairways vary from good to poor depending on the hole. The good fairways had nice coverage with decent lies. The thin fairways were thinner and dry requiring you to move the ball to grass. The traps were mostly thin, dry, compact and in need of more sand. The greens were in decent shape and held approach shots okay. The greens were quite slow overall and still bumpy depending on the hole. There was total coverage on all holes with some having a weed or two popping up here and there. The layout and location of the course are good and rates reasonable.

Played 6/25 for the first time in over 10 years. I wanted to see first hand if the improvements advertised are taking hold. First off, it was worth the $55 green fee. Layout is nice with some shots requiring thought and proper club selection. Greens in pretty good shape, albeit a little slow on the role. Fairways a solid 7 of 10 with some being in better shape than others. Sand traps are in bad shape and should be called dirt traps as opposed to Sand Traps. 3.5 hour round, courteous staff and clean carts with GPS. All and all not bad for $55 and I can tell they are making efforts to improve which are paying off. Put a little sand in the traps and I will come back.

First off course was in much better condition than most reviews we read before going. That said this maybe NOT the course for short hitting men or women, it is not so much the length but the kikuyu grass fairways and all around the greens making landing short, just that short. Long hitters, for sure off tee may find this really great course, but short hitters are not getting any roll if they have much height on tee shots. You may find it hard to chip off the kikuyu also if your not used to it and the kikuyu around most greens is packed TIGHT. I would call it a good course for long hitters off the tee just to get closer to greens and be able to hit greens with short irons. The course is very popular and was full on the Monday we played, just know if you never have played on an almost full kikuyu course the first time is different for sure (and hard).

Monday, 6/22, was our first private course event at Alta Vista CC. It was a big turnout of over 100 players on a beautiful day. I was impressed with the fun challenging layout providing a large variety elevation changes and doglegs. The course was in excellent condition tee to green. Greens rolled smooth, held shots and were moderately fast. Fairways were lush and groomed providing great lies all day. Rough was a challenging blend of Kikuyu/Bermuda, about 2 inches adjacent to the fairways and about 3 to 4 inches greenside. Tee boxes were level, lush and well groomed. The bunkers lagged in comparison to the rest of the course from a condition’s standpoint due to sand quality which I found to be mostly firm and a little crusty. Interesting characteristic about the bunkers is they are all filled to capacity with about 1-to-2-inch lips. It seems like you could putt out of them but the edges of the bunkers are all surrounded by 4 inch Kikuyu/Bermunda rough making it highly unadvisable.

For an event organizer standpoint, Alta Vista CC has a fantastic staging area. Driving range, practice putting, proshop, golf carts, bag-drop, clubhouse, snack bar, parking and first tee box are all conveniently located for your group. With their excellent outside services and well-organized staging area, our group thoroughly enjoyed their pre-round experience. Plus, it made it easy for us organizers to check-in and keep track of our players.
I just posted some photos. The course looks even better in person.

It was a great day teeing up with GKers rgm2525, sparky14 and Itslikeimsayin who helped with the event!

I highly recommend Alta Vista CC for golf events and those interested in memberships.

We will be back!

Early round on a somewhat overcast morning, but still very pleasant. Michael's review was spot on, as I agree Butterfield is in as nice condition as I can remember, except of course for the bunkers, which usually are not that bad. Greens have always been the highlight of these two courses. Not a lot on run-out on the fairways, so combined with the early morning dampness, made the course play longer than usual. Still reasonably priced, which is a rare commodity these days. Staff as always is great.

Formerly Jack Kramers racket club,open since 1925. Starter had my group off on time (10:17) for a trip around the South course. 6 par 5's in total first 2 holes on the front are 5's! 6700 yds from the mens is a very good test for a 15 like me. Bombers will enjoy the length and generous width of these beautiful fairways, beware of landing area slope. Enjoyed the full length cart paths ( most in need of replacement ), nice modern GPS systems, not so fun geo-fencing. Mixed bag of sand trap textures of which I tested 5. Greens are receiving very nicely, rolling a bit slow compared to rounds at Indian, Butterfield, Jurupa of late. POP was aggravating (4:45) for a Tuesday morning, likly players challenging the south instead of the north course. You will enjoy the modern club house and restroom facilities, decent warmup on matt driving range and multiple practice putting surfaces. See ya out there.

No reviews for this course for several years, I'm surprised as it gets a ton of play.

Played yesterday, Monday, 6-22-2026. 2:40pm teetime and off on time. Slow start the first few holes but then things picked up. We were done around 6pm, so POP just over 3hrs. Waited on most tee boxes for just a minute or two, but not bad. Played with my buddy and our wives, so the ladies tend to like a nice slow pace. $25 to walk was well worth it.

Blue tees are pretty chewed up and not level. Big crowns or slopes in most all the tee boxes, they should really put some work into them. Nonetheless, take an extra few seconds to find a decent spot to tee it up.

Fairways were nice on the two par 4's. No complaints.

Bunkers were fairly fluffy but that's not a good thing when nobody rakes them!!! Tons of foot prints that were deep. I found two of them and they were very difficult to get out of, basically grip it and rip it out of the sand just to make sure you got out of the bunker.

Greens were fairly quick but were bumpy late in the day. They held shots very well, but were difficult to read. The cups were cut on some severe slopes and with the bumps, it was hit and pray.

No frills customer service, no beverage cart, but we BYOB, so not a big deal. Marshal was around a few times which was nice.

I recommend the course expecially for a casual game with beginners. It's fun and easy to walk. It has some elevation change and keeps your attention. Get on out there and have some fun.

Range and practice greens both upper level quality wise. Nice GPS on carts. Restaurant good for a golf course with a good selection. POP excellent with few golfers out braving the 100+ degree temps even early in the day. Course beginning to get "summer scruffy" around the edges. With temps frequently above 100 and fewer golfers, my observation is that they do not mow the rough very often this time of year. Rough is hit/miss and you cannot count on it stopping balls hit around the edges of fairways. Areas getting overspray from the fairways can be lush/deep. But areas 5' away can be low/thin. Fairways and tees still mostly lush but showing the effects of the heat. Sand traps almost always nicely maintained here. Greens back to outstanding again a month out from sanding/punching. This time of year they are firm, smooth and quick. Downhill putts can be almost impossible on some hole locations. So you need to plan and execute your approach shots accordingly. Highly recommended.

Course beginning to get "summer scruffy" around the edges with temps frequently above 100. Rough is hit/miss and you cannot count on it stopping balls hit around the edges of fairways. Normally you can see your ball in the rough from 50 yards away here. I had to almost step on my ball yesterday to find it right beside the fairway where it was lush/deep. Fairways and tees still mostly lush but showing the effects of the heat with thinner spots. Sand traps almost always nicely maintained here. Greens back to outstanding again a month out from sanding/punching. This time of year they are smooth, firm and quick. With downhill putts on some hole locations treacherous. So you better plan and execute your approach shots accordingly. Range and practice greens quality wise are upper tier. Nice GPS on carts. Restaurant good selection for a golf course. Highly recommended.

Monday 6/22/26. Got to the course at 6:15AM for a 7:00AM tee time. Not a sole awake, waited for 15 minutes before checking in, only to find out that I would be playing alone, and the next tee time behind me was at least 1 hour behind. To be able to have this course entirely to yourself was truly a gift. Normally, I enjoy being with a group, but this round was about as therapeutic a day as I could have asked for.

The Mauna Kea golf course and resort is a special place, if you have been there, you understand. Not a blade of grass was out of place today. The wind was basically dead, and the sun was shining. I didn't rush and still finished in just under 2.5 hours. Everyone is friendly, and the amenities are top-notch.

I would recommend this course to anyone who comes to play on the Big Island. It will always be one of my favorite places to play. I first played here when I was 10, and again when I graduated college. I cherish those memories. An experience you will not forget.

Played here on Monday in group 1B of the Golf Moose / Vivid Golf / GK event. Great times with Johnny, Ron, and Steve. Seemed like a large contingent of people from the Southern California Golf Community FB group were in attendance, who all brought a great energy. Overall it feels like five years in, Johnny’s Golf Moose events have fostered a joyous, grateful community of their own – much like GK has – and it’s really nice to see so many familiar faces at each outing! POP was pretty good for an event like this at just under 5 hours. Enjoyed a tasty hot dog special at the turn that included chips, a soda, and a banana.

Course conditions were very nice! Greens were smooth, medium-fast, and accepting of full shots. Fairways and rough were both very healthy with the fairways providing great lies and the rough potentially presenting difficulties in some spots, and sitting up in others. Black tee boxes were fantastic. I was in one bunker and it was very good – a thin crusty layer on top of a soft sand base.

I had played here once about two years ago. The course begins with two straightforward holes somewhat out of character with the rest of the design. Overall, I much prefer the back nine to the front. Holes 10-14 are excellent, with 14 being my favorite on the course. Nice facilities with the range and large practice green all conveniently located right outside the clubhouse. Beautiful weather, great people, and a fun day on the course! Thank you Johnny for organizing these events, and thanks to Alta Vista for hosting for their first time.