I keep coming back here when I want something more than a typical muni. And I realized again, why I should flat out quit the local muni's (but they are close though) - Black Gold is worth both the extra fee and extra drive. I got a good deal on GolfNow, showed up early, and as usual, the pro shop doesn't care when you booked your tee time, they'll let you go early if there's room. I've written before about the conditions, and they continue to get just a bit better each time I'm out. The grass is great, both fairway and rough. Greens are good too, but as always a bit on the soft side. I'm not sure if that's a complaint or not, as they roll well. I'd rather point out though the service I always seem to get here. I'm getting a bit sick and tired of the typical 'don't-care' attitudes I find at the other courses I've played, and am realizing just how much that the simple friendly attitude I get here helps my experience. The pro shop guys, the starter, and the marshal that came around twice and explained to us how he's managing to push a slow group faster so we wouldn't have to wait so much. Try that at Skylinks fellas! Other reviews, including my past ones, sum up this place well enough, though I think some people expect to pay less for a course like this. This is certainly premiere. Considering how drought conditions have affected Oak Creek and Strawberry Farms, I really only think of this course and the Industry Hills ones as the closest, best premiere course to me (apologies to Goose Creek - I still haven't played, but everyone keeps tell me I should, they're just too far away for me from Long Beach). I played for $88, and its a steal. Industry Hills courses can't normally be booked online, nor with any discount, so its Black Gold for me! I'm even considering joining their men's club (which includes discounted rates at Desert Willow .. oh I love you Desert Willow!). Anyway, rambling nonsense here, just play Black Gold. Its narrow, so you have to hit it straight, but you can play the blues with just a 3W if you want. I played whites last time and hit 5I on several holes. It makes it fun to navigate this course that offers a different challenge on each hole. Pull out the driver and take the risk .. pull out the 3W and play it safe.. Enjoy!

I'm a member, so I'm somewhat biased. This course has gone through 3 management changes since I've been there. Originally it was owner-run, then they leased the place to a national management company that was later bought out by another, larger management company. While I'm a fan of the food, service and other non-golf amenities (pool, locker room, gym), I'm very happy that their focus is the course. Within the last year they've replaced every bunker, and now they're near perfect. The greens are always nice, and rather difficult. Hole 10, which is the 18-handicap hole, is straight and short, yet the green is the hardest on the course. 3 and 4 putts are quite common. Other greens are also hard, you can lose the chance at a par simply by landing on the wrong part of the green. The layout is very nice, and the tips offer an extra challenge. I like their landscaping too. Lots of trees, very nice plants, etc.. This is protected area as it serves as a water runoff for the military base next door. Lots of birds hang out here, including many hawks and eagles, which are fun to see. The membership is quite affordable too. Its a mid-tier club, unlike the stuffy and expensive Virginia country club.

I'm reviewing from an earlier round back in mid-June. Reason why I say that is when Industry Hills gets close to reseeding, they can let the course conditions fall a bit. Not in mid-June though. I used to love the Babe for its excellent conditions. Most people prefer the Ike for its length and "players" style conditions, so its usually a bit more beat up, while the Babe would be fairly pristine. While not long, its very "links" style and is the course that will force you to use every club in your bag. What it lacked in length and typical "pound driver, mid-iron to green, 2-putt" type play it made up for with very nice conditions with small landing zones, punishing rough and greens that are easily 4-puttable. Not lately though, if my review and other recent ones server correct. Perhaps its the price, I played for $49 on a Saturday - and that was the walk-in rate, not a discount from a website. So I understand its getting more play, however, the course is, frankly speaking, beat to near death. Lots of brown spots everywhere, the rough is no longer a punishing 3" length but an easy to hit off of 1" length. The bunkers, which are usually well kept, were somewhat hard packed and wet. Lots of marks everywhere. The price puts it in the mid-muni category and the conditions are about the same. I'll try the Babe or the Ike again soon, as these used to be in my top-5 places to play, but I'm a little skeptical. My plan is to wait until after the reseeding (and maybe a few weeks after, both course suck to be stuck with cart-path-only, I'd rather walk), and see how the conditions are after that. The hotel and courses are in the process of being sold, so perhaps that has something to do with the decrease in attention to the maintenance.

This has become my go-to course when I want to play a step above my local muni. I'd consider this a very good middle-tier course that has the ability to compete with some of the more pricier courses. The reseeded with poa and the results are pretty good. Its an odd grass as it tends to lift up the ball a bit more, which makes the rough a little easier to handle sometimes. I like the layout of the course a lot. The bunkers could use some work as it didn't find it fluffy but a bit wet and hard. The greens are sluggish and soft. They feel like you're walking on memory foam. Nice atmosphere, and the staff is very good. If you can keep your ball somewhat straight on this narrow course, you'll do well. It definitely plays to know the course as there's numerous shots where you're hitting to an elevated green and you're pretty much blind to where you want to aim or to exactly how long to hit it (even with a range finder or the cart's GPS). I hope they continue with their maintenance as they're on the cusp of being a premier place.

Improving. I came close to posting a "poor" review a few months ago, but didn't get around to it. Played a couple times since and am happier now. Skylinks always has great bunkers, and I'm happy about that. During my last round, I twice hit from a fairway bunker onto the green! Much of the course's challenge is managing the bunkers, and if a course is going to do that to you, then they should be of good quality, and these are. For the rest, I was tempted to write that its "better than most munis", but after playing a couple higher tier courses lately, I'd have to say that this place is "better than most". I don't recall a bad lie or "poor conditions" situation in my last couple rounds here. I also like that they're now placing the blue tees in their proper spots. I'm not sure when they changed that but when I was playing here regularly up to June 2013, the blue tees where by the white stones. Probably a pace-of-play decision but its nice to see the tees on the proper locations now. I find the course generally easy though and somewhat short, even from the blue tees. Though its not boring. Nearly every hole is unique in some way, not a cookie-cutter type of place with parallel fairways that are identical to each other. This is why I consider it my favorite "local" course.

Played on 3/24, on a deal that had going because they recently aerated the greens. I thought the course was pretty good. I love the layout, as most holes are unique. And I like the challenges the different holes offer, as well as the narrow, hilly aspects of it. Lots of elevation changes, and several holes I was choosing 3W or even 3H instead of driver. (I played the whites so as to join the two-some that were playing up. It does make the course a little short). The conditions were pretty good, imho. The pair I was with were disappointed by the fairways, which they might have been right about - the fairway was more like cut low rough than a nice polished fairway. I didn't mind though, as I never saw a bad lie all day. I play this course about once a year, and I think its been improving each time. The course usually has a deal on click4teetimes, and I think its worth it for that. The normal rack rate might be a stretch unless conditions are more consistent, as it sounds like it is based on the other reviews. I'd certainly play again for the $50 I paid, and would have no problem up to $80.

Last played about 6 months ago, conditions were good then, but near perfect now. This course is well cared for an in very good shape right now. It was an absolute pleasure to play. I got a $122 rate on click4teetimes, which I think makes this a good value. I would even consider paying a little more for the conditions were that good.

Played 5/7 on a click4teetimes rate, $75. Well worth the price. The course was nicely trimmed and very green. There were several spots that were GUR, and a couple fairways looked like they were being reseeded, yet was very playable. The greens were excellent. This course has a nice layout, which can be tough for some as its requires straight shots for the most part. I like how nearly every hole presents its own challenge. Several elevation changes, several doglegs, (probably more elevation changes than most). Last time I played here the homes that line the fairway were still being built, now they're done. While I don't care for courses that have homes that line the fairways, these were fairly far away, and in many cases further up and away, so they didn't really seem to bother me. Service was very nice as well. A solid course, a nice layout, and appears to be in very good condition right now. For under $100, this course is a steal!

My first review of a perfect course! I never play out in the desert during the winter or spring, so I'm used to the brown bermuda grass during the summer. Now that I've experienced Palm Springs in the conditions they produce during the cooler months, I'll be skipping a lot of work and driving out for day trips for golf! Absolutely perfect!! Escena is a course I've never played before, and is quite unusual. The front is par 35 and the back par 37, with 5 par 3s and 5 par 5s. The length in the course comes from the par 3s, I think the shortest was 165, with the rest being 200+. The course also is close to I10, so it can get quite windy. The clubhouse is quite nice as well. In short, I strongly recommend this course as the conditions are perfect right now.

Played Thurs. 4/4. Course recently had their greens punched, but has nearly fully recovered. Greens still had sand on them (or whatever that is they lay down), but the holes were gone and the greens rolled well and true. Rest of course is in near perfect shape! Fairways are nice and green. Rough was real tough though. Quite long and quite lush. I have gotten used to the rough at muni courses, which I usually play by simply clubbing up 1 iron, and sometimes not even that. The rough at the Babe was impossible to get a good strike on it. It made for a penalizing and challenging round. I wish I had played it smarter. Excellent course and is in great shape now. Worth the $75 weekday fee. Weekend play is probably real slow as the course is so difficult, so I would avoid it then.

Played Presidents Day on the costco coupon ($150 for 1 round at Oak Creek and 1 round at Strawberry Farms). So I played for $75, which I thought was a great value for the course. This was my first time playing, so I hit from the white tees, which was a mistake (more later). The course is in good condition, despite the fairways being dormant. There weren't many spots that were GUR, I thought the rough was fairly long, making it harder to hit out of, and the greens were quick. The course is nestled in the hills of Irvine, and while there are house way up high on the hills looking down, it feels fairly remote. Its a good place to occasionally take a moment and just look around enjoying the atmosphere.

As for golf, the course is harder for those that struggle to keep their drives straight. They've made it a bit easier by moving the whites up on many holes to the gold stones. Already short at 5800y from the whites, having many/most holes with their white tees up closer makes for a very short course. On many holes I was <70y from the green after my drive. In hindsight, I would've played the blues, as those tees were kept at the correct distance, and well, I was hitting my drives straight as an arrow that day so it would've made for a better golf experience. I enjoy the greens here as they're not too flat, making even short putts difficult to make.

For the negatives: the sand here was too hard, making greenside bunker shots a bit of a challenge. And the greens were rather hard has well, making it hard to keep some shots from bouncing off the back.

For $75, its a definite bargain (though last I checked costco no longer sells the livediscount deal). I think the normal rack rate is $110 on the weekdays, which feels to me on the border of being reasonable. I'll have to retry the course playing from the blues to see if I enjoyed it as much. Overall this course is a good option, and if you're a straight hitter, I recommend the course.

Have played twice in the last week, and am happy to say conditions are improving radically. The fairways have recovered much of their 'greenness', and the former muddy areas have dried up and regrown their grass. The rough is still dormant and brown, but covers pretty well with few bare spots. The greens are most impressive. For a while it looked like disease was gonna take a couple (namely holes 8 and 10), but whatever maintenance they have done has paid off. The greens were nice and green, few ball marks, and rolled at a nice, fast pace. The bunkers are ALWAYS great here, its quite nice to play out of a bunker that's not hard as a rock. Am happy with my home course again!