Played yesterday. The course is really messy because of all the rain. Probably 6 of 9 holes have standing water. Holes 5, 6 and 7 are the worst. You'd be better off playing with high-top snow or fishing boots. Several of the traps are lakes too, a couple have so much water you're not even going to try and get your ball out unless you have a ball retriever. The course is a little smelly in some places also because of the standing water and maybe some diluted geese poop. Expecting more rain this weekend. I don't think I'm going to play there again until the summer or until we have about two straight weeks of warm temps and sunshine.

Played Canyon Crest and Ridgeline tracts yesterday. The weather was perfect. MCC is a beautiful course with great views and a nice staff and facilities. Make sure you bring your A game though because the tracts are challenging. There's lots of up and down shots and some blind tee offs where a driver can get you in trouble. If you're not playing to a single-digit or low teens handicap don't play the blue or black tees and think you're going to do well. You must manage this course and in many cases stick to clubs that you feel confident in hitting straight balls with. There's lots of opportunity to lose balls. You'd be smart to go the course website (the link is on their page on Greenskeeper) and click the 'Golf' menu item and then click the links for the tracts where they have advice on playing each hole. Even consider printing out the pages. Don't trust being able to access the website on the course on your phone because cell phones don't work very well there, at least mine didn't.

Just played it 10-7-08. The course was challenging and in good shape, weather perfect, staff very nice and it was a fun outing. They were doing work on the fairways which was a noise nuisance and obstruction at times. You're paying a lot for the ocean, coastal and mountain views mostly. I took some incredible pictures that will make great screen savers on my PC's and make my friends in the Midwest USA envious.

Played twilight Sunday 7-9. Started at little after 3 and ended about 8:30. They allow fivesomes and there was a group of 5 guys in front us whp should not have been playing the blue tees based on the performances we saw. At the 3rd tee there was three groups waiting to hit. I thought is was a golf convention. It was getting pretty dark by time we were at the 18th and the mosquitoes were coming out in major force. They were freaking us out so bad we were in a hurry to leave, I left my 60 degree wedge and no one turned it in which sucks. Other than that the course itself was in great shape.

Westlake is a place I visit often because it's close to where I work and live and it's inexpensive. Many people consider it a executive course but it's a challenging place where it's you need to hit straight or you might hit a car on the freeway or nearby street, hit someone on another freeway or have a hard time finding your ball because of many trees and leaves that don't raked too often. You have to hit over water on three holes. Often there's a fair amount duck poop to maneuver around on fairways and greens but we don't complain much because the green fee costs are probably kept low due to limited staff.

I finally played the course yesterday after living so close to it. This course is very nice but not for the faint at heart. I shoot in 90's fairly consistently now and pleased with my golf progress so I decided to play it as a sorta Father's Day gift to myself. I lost frickin 8 balls on the front 9 and it's very easy to do especially in the afternoons when the wind is fairly strong from the west. You're slowly climbing mountains dealing with doglegs and barrancas to manage. Then on 8 you're hitting from a high elevation down to a fairway that ends at a green sitting on the edge of a mountain. It's beautiful sites to see but after 9 you might feel like going home. The carts have GPS which helps a lot. My friend who is a 10 or 11 handicap even shot a 48 on the front and ended with a score of 87. The back nine is much more manageable and I would have ended up with a score in the 90's if it weren't for all the lost ball penalties. My friend said he thinks they should reverse the front and back 9's. That might be a good idea giving us a chance to build our confidence and groove on the front 9 before tackling that mountain-climbimg golf.

The green on #6 if finished now and nice. Simi is close to home for me and one of my favorite places. The wind can be treachorous though in the mornings sometimes. I learned my lesson about the lake bed mud being like quicksand as Nkeboy2323 mentioned. Only got my shoes covered though but it was a scary experience.