Played yesterday, 12/9. Cold and damp, late start due to frost delay (fog didn't burn off to let sun thaw out the greens).

Conditions were good for the season, fairways a little patchy but greens were quite good (and fast, too!). Only in one bunker, sand is compact and moist but consistent and playable. Rough is hit & miss with some bare spots, not too high but still affected options and shots. Pace of play was fast - 18 holes in about 2.75 hours (including 15 minutes warming up in the grill between front and back nines). Speaking about the grill - nothing fancy but good quality and reasonably priced.

Played this AM. 45F at tee time but it did warm (thank goodness) up after 9. But it is so nice to be playing golf in Dec. Course is in good shape. Tee boxes good. Traps are playable with the new sand but many players are not raking. Fairways still have good coverage although some bare spots can be found on some. They do provide good lies and roll out. Greens have come back in nice shape, though some still have a little more healing in some areas to do but flag sticks are not in those areas. And they have good speed to them. And it appears players are fixing their divots thankfully. Great customer service in shop from Christian and Madison and from Rich running the cart barn.

Walked the Oranges today 12/9/2024 around 11am joined by my buddy Mark and a super nice single Mike from Northern California. We had perfect weather with no wind, sunny skies and temps in the mid 60s. Pop was around 4 hrs 30 minutes. Range on mats, putting green closed this morning. Seperate small bunker/chipping area open. Very friendly vibe and staff up here always. We had delicious burgers and beers post round at Zadies Restaurant watching the sunset. Very good food here.

Golf course is in good shape for winter golf.

The greens were rolling medium paced 10.5 on the stimp and holding irons nicely. Some of the greens if short sided on chipping could be devilish. Rated 8/10

Fairways were semi lush with most areas tightly padded with nice lies. Fairways turning ever so slightly to a yellowish hue. Rated 7.5/10

Was in greenside bunkers on 3 and 17 that had perfect semi deep beach sand. Bunkers here are almost always usually immaculate. Rated 8.5/10

Most tees were level and lush with just minor divot damage on the par 3s. Rated 8/10

Rough in decent shape, cut fairly low just off the fairways. Rated 7.5/10.

Soule Park is a Parkland layout that is treelined at times. Several nice long length par 4s and a couple challenging par 3s keep the best players on their toes. Also some score able par 5s out here to take advantage of.

One of the best values bang for your buck in socal.

Played yesterday, Sunday, Dec 8. 7:10am teetime. My buddy Jeff booked it online and somehow got a decent rate of $75 to walk. Course is in overall playable to good condition. Nothing outstanding, but no huge complaints other than some dead spots and some overly wet fairways. POP was outstanding! 4hrs straight up, no waiting and nobody pushing us.

Teeboxes were level, but a little shaggy. Not a big deal. Easy to find a good spot to tee it up.

Fairways were the lowlight. Lots of GUR that wasn't marked off. Some of them had dead patches, dirt patches and wet patches that weren't marked, couple of bad lies in a few fairways, but the rest of them were decent.

I was in one fairway bunker and it was just fine. Didn't hit from any of the greenside bunkers, but they looked good.

Rough not penal at all, just about an inch longer than the fairways, so not a big deal.

Greens held shots very well. Definitely the highlight. They putted smooth for the most part and were slow in the morning dew, but sped up when they dried out.

Customer service just fine. Saw the beverage cart once, but I BYOB, so no big deal. Guys in the proshop and the starter were all good. No complaints on the service.

It's a fun track to play every once in a while. I enjoy walking and it's an easy walk. There's a couple of stupid holes, but all in all a good layout, just no "wow" factor. Very conveniently located. Recommend to play a couple times a year, but try and get a decent deal.

The GK Cup final was played this past Saturday at Goose Creek and no one could have picked a better spot that was in better shape. The Goose is always very consistently top notch, but on this particular day it was even better in just about every facet. Truly spectacular.

It helped of course to be playing on a picture perfect early winter day with temperatures in the high 70s, minimal wind if any, and absolutely clear skies. It simply doesn't get any better than this. And on top of that, the course itself was in prime shape.

Let's start with the fast-rolling greens - unbelievably consistent and inviting. The greens themselves are super challenging with many subtle breaks and levels but a good putt here is absolutely rewarded, but the speed must be dialed in, especially on the tricky downhill ones. They also held shots very well and were simply a joy to be play upon.

The fairways? Fantastic. Not a bad lie all day. Even the areas around the greens, while challenging, were super fair and consistent. Middle of fairways were absolutely carpet and it was so much fun to hit from good spots. The rough was definitely a challenge in some areas but it was never so deep as to make it impossible. Bunkers were in very good shape as well with fluffy, white sand and just the right depth to make necessary shots. Tee boxes were also just great (we played from the 'blue' IV tees).

POP was amazing as well at this properly-run facility. We finished in around four hours and fifteen minutes and never spent any crazy amounts of time waiting. We also had cart service come around at least 4-5 times during the day, so that was outstanding. And what about practice facilities? Top notch ... great putting and chipping areas and the range is great although they do have large mats but no one seemed to mind moving forward a bit to use the grass for driver swings.

What else can be said? Goose Creek is absolutely at the TOP of its game right now so if you want a quality golf experience at a tremendous value, this is the place to be. What a treat.

With the great stretch of weather I was itching to play some golf this past week. Made the call to Alex and we were able to play Baylands just after noon Thursday. We were a two-some following group of three with the full rack rate groups out ahead so POP was a bit slow. Palo Alto airport is right next door so was entertained with a busy runway of small plane activity.
Links style course transitioning into winter play. Some brown areas both in the fairways and rough (not deep or defined) but all very playable. Very few trees and none in the areas of intended play. Had to pay attention to the group in front and use the app for some routings.
The greens and the areas around them are the highlight of the course imo. Large undulating greens, quick on the downhillers, subtle breaks and undulating surfaces with many hole locations. Overall Baylands fits my eye and my interest with second/third shot options.
Easy Friday commute into the Oakland area. Driving home was a bit of a slow drag over and hour extra drive time back to Sac. (580 Altamont pass)
A course I had in my sights as it hosted NCGA SR event I couldn't play in earlier.
The weather and the challenge of a new track with Alex = worth the drive. A scouting trip so I will know before I go play sr series event here in 2025. Recommend

First time playing here and wasn't expecting much since I don't really hear about this course. Pleasent Suprise! It's in an interesting area with some elevation changes and trees. The layout wasn't repetitive and the conditions were good compared to most other courses I've played this time of year. Greens were undulating and pretty fast. Fairways, rough, and tee boxes were decent and consistent. I'm a bit jealous of the people who live out here and have such a playable course in their back yard.

Played 12-5-24 early morning walking for $30(senior rate), finishing in about 3 hours and 45 minutes with very little waiting. Tee boxes were a little on the thin side but still mostly level with some divot damage on par threes. Fairways were a little damp and starting to get a little thin with some bare spots that are marked off, but still provided good lies. Rough was about 1-2 inches in most areas and in good shape. Was not in any bunkers, but they looked to be well groomed with a good layer of white sand. Greens were a little bumpy and rolling medium/slow pace, they look like they are still recovering from being punched. Overall course is in decent shape, but starting to play like winter conditions.

Played 12/6. Course is a mixed bag right now. Fairways were in good condition with good coverage. Rough is spotty. Greens were awful. Shaggy and bumpy. Making anything more than a tap in was pure luck. Tee boxes mostly chewed up. At the turn, the bar was literally out of food. No sandwiches, hot dogs, burgers, just candy and chips. They mumbled something about a shift change. Anyway, I like this course but hard to recommend right now.

Played numerous times since my last review here. Let's make this brief.

Lush. Pristine. Fazio layout. Conditions could hardly be improved on.

Carts with nice GPS, and they are needed. Very few attempt to walk here with the distance between many holes. Excellent practice facility, nice golf course restaurant. Excellent customer service. Highly recommended.

Played twice this week. With daytime temps consistently in the low 70 to low 80 range and night time temps in the low 50 range, the course has flourished. Possibly the nicest conditions I have experienced in the 3 years I have been playing this course. Very comparable to the times I have played Pebble Beach as a basis of comparison. It not only looks lush everywhere, it plays that way.

Sand traps fluffy white beach sand that is immaculately maintained.

Rough combination of dormant Bermuda, still green Bermuda and over seeded grasses. Weak link compared to the other parts of the course but excellent coverage everywhere and very playable.

Fairways a little higher than normal, which lessens the almost insane amount of roll when they are mowed low and playing quick/firm. Tee boxes very lush with most divots filled in.

Greens their normal firm and quick. The 2 Ventana courses have the best Bermuda greens I have ever putted on by a large margin. And they do not overseed the greens. There is evidently about a 125 mile wide band from south of Phoenix to roughly the US/Mexico border that agronomists determined that Bermuda greens should not be over seeded and they do better than over seeded greens do in that climate. It is such a joy (on the rare times I manage to do it) to just tap a downhill putt with break and watch it trickle smoothly into the hole.

Customer service always top notch. Highly recommended.

Hemet is one of those golf course you play because course conditions are not as important as getting out to play. Rough conditions all over, hit and miss fairway coverage, greens OK not to fast and hold line OK. Still a few interesting holes that need some good shot placements to score on. Carts have GPS and are in good shape. People are friendly and pace of play seems slower than what the time will show. We had fun even with the fight to find a good lie in many fairways. Again a place to play when you do not expect anything resembling a Country Club.