Just got back from the GK Plays event @ Cross Creek (thank you Johnny!) and as usual it was a great time with fellow GK'ers! Service from all the staff encountered was impeccable all day. Nice grass range to warm up and large putting green next to the clubhouse and range.

Course conditions were mostly good to very good with the greens being the highlight. They were semi-firm but would hold well struck shots. Rolling quick and mostly smooth although some slight bumps were encountered later in the day as to be expected on Poa.

Tees, fairways, bunkers, and rough were all quite nice with some areas of rough that were well...rough. Some wiry grass, bare patches, and clumpy areas were present but for the most part it was good coverage.

Love the location and layout of Cross Creek with some tight driving holes on the back that really make you think before you tee off. Some of the holes on the back reminded me of La Purisma with the hills and oaks. Lastly, this could be good or bad depending on your perspective, but don't expect to have ANY cell service out here. Just peaceful, enjoyable golf! Will be back again and highly recommended.

My buddy needed some help with some repairs to his rental place in Palm Desert so he asked me to tag along and we'd go play some golf. Who am I to pass up this offer? We decided on Classic Club since neither of us have played there and I've been wanting to go for quite some time. We didn't have a tee time but it didn't matter as it was 3pm by the time we arrived. Friendly check in staff got us out right away. $69 incl. range balls (which we didn't use), towel, divot tool, & $15 F&B voucher which we used on the course with Brittany in the beverage cart. Played through a couple groups on the course and were done by 6pm taking our time hitting a few extra balls here and there.

Conditions wise I'll just defer to Hollis' previous review as everything he mentioned still holds true. Might be the best tee boxes I've ever seen in my life. They're literally better than most greens at other courses! If I had to guess, I'd bet they were in the 7.0-7.5 range on the stimp. Yes, the tee boxes!

The usual afternoon wind made for a VERY challenging round but man this was a fun course to play. Lots of trouble lurking if you're just slightly offline. Twice I actually hit the greens and the firmness + slope led my ball right into the ever present water on this course. Same goes with tee shots as well. Water or bunkers are in play on just about every shot. Better bring your A game to score well here. The entire property is immense and the clubhouse is spectacular. Highly recommended!

Played Coyote Hills yesterday @12:30 with Osamabinhacking and another buddy. POP was ok at a little over 4 hours. Not sure what the numerical rating came out to be but I'll get straight to it.

Great: Greens were perfect! 10/10 Smooth, quick, & holding shots...which of course means they're about to punch them next week. Bunkers were fantastic as well. Soft white sand and plenty of it! 3 plugged lies in our group today.

Good: Customer service was fine and beverage cart around several times. Tee boxes were level and had good coverage with little damage.

No Thanks: Fairways and rough! Both are dormant and dry to the point of being ridiculous. Don't get me wrong there's coverage in the fairways but they're so firm and fast. Combined with non existent rough & hillside layout and you have the Robinson Ranch of the OC at the moment. Case in point, OBH laid up with his tee shot on #16 (downhill par 4 with stream close to the green.) His (high fade) ball landed in the fairway and proceeded to bounce and stumble like a drunk b*st%rd for another 80 yards into the creek. That's not cool. Oh and large areas of the rough have been punched with large holes.

Overall it's target golf as those that have played here know. I hit driver 4 times yesterday on #'s 1, 11, 12, & 15. I've seen it in much better shape and with upcoming aeration combined with poor fairways and rough I would have to say it's better to wait at the moment.

*EDIT*
Just saw the rating came out to 5.8 and that's because I rated the greens and bunkers highly. I would probably say 4.5-5.0 is more accurate. Proceed at your own discretion.

Decided to play a late afternoon round at Monarch Dunes today since I'm here for the weekend. They have a Happy Hour deal for $35 after 3pm with a drink ticket. I tee'd off at 4:15 starting on #10 today, thinking the course would be empty and it was...for 5 holes and then I caught up to the pack. Ending up doing some creative navigation and eventually got in 21 holes before the sunset. Course is in really good shape right now. The only subpar areas are some bare/thin patches in the rough around the mounds. You could be lucky and end up on a grassy patch or unlucky and end up on bare dirt, or REALLY unlucky and end up on bare dirt up against a large clump of fescue, not fun. But having said that, the rest of the course is great right now! Tees are flat and well covered with minimal divot damage. Fairways are fantastic. Lush and green (so nice from the winter thin at most courses back home). Bunkers are same as always, soft with clay like sand. Greens are rolling smooth at medium speed and are holding well. Some unrepaired ball marks from other players were the only blemish.

Mother nature was not co-operating today. Winds were blowing a steady 20-25mph. You think #1 is normally tough? Try hitting directly into the setting sun with that wind blowing straight into your face. Sheesh that's a tough par 6! ;) Still one my faves anywhere and I can't wait to play again soon!

Played a couple hours after sngernz. Not much to add to his review. Our POP was the same 4:40 which is slow for the Goose. Very crowded today. We were paired with a couple of guys playing a practice round for the US Mid-Am Qualifier being held on Tuesday and it appears many others out there were doing the same as every group we could see had some serious sticks and all were playing from the tips. Taking their time on the greens was probably the reason for the slower play. As stated, greens are firm right now with only the highest softest shots holding well. Chips and pitches needed to have a lot of spin to stop. They started to get bumpy later in the afternoon. Tee boxes were also pretty hard. Rest of the course was in great shape as usual.

Back out on the Babe today a week after they aerated the greens. They're offering the member rate of $49 through the end of the week. Greens are still recovering with punch marks and sand still covering the greens but I can say that the rain last week has helped immensely as they appear well on their way to healing nicely. Another 2 weeks and I'd say they'll be great. Rest of the course is in fantastic shape. Fairways are the highlight will lush full coverage and not a single dead spot that I saw. Bunkers & rough were nicely maintained as well. Tees were average at best. Many (blues) are in need of leveling. A course of this caliber shouldn't have the majority of tee boxes either crowned, sloped, or lacking in coverage. Customer service in the pro shop was great as always. Beverage cart made the rounds a few times. POP was a tidy 3.5 hours teeing off at 10am. Only a few groups out there today (probably due to aeration). Our twosome caught up to a threesome around #6 and we just laid back and hit some practice balls since we were in no hurry today in this beautiful weather. If you're wanting to work on your ball striking, now is a great time to go. If you have to have great greens to putt on, I'd wait a couple weeks.

Played the Babe today with Osamabinhacking and another one of our buddies as 2nd off at 6:50am. Caught up to the first group on #4 and we waited a bit before playing through on #8 for a nice 3:20 POP. $54 on the "special" that's been running for a couple years now.

Course is in pretty good condition right now. No dead or dormant spots anywhere that we saw. Green and lush everywhere (other than some coot/goose damage) on the par 3's near the lakes on the back 9. Tee's had good coverage but needed some leveling as there were a few too many crowned or sloped for my taste. Fairways and rough were really nice. In fact, we lost a couple balls in the rough that we thought we had eyes on. So beware as it's juicy and thick in many spots right now. Greens are smooth and rolling a nice med. quick speed and holding shots nicely. Was in a couple bunkers today and they had nice sand. No complaints. Customer service in the pro shop was friendly and efficient as usual.

Course layout is still one of the toughest tests (narrow) around especially the front 9. You're much better off laying back with less than driver off the tees to keep in play because trouble lurks everywhere in the form of trees, hazards, and OB on several holes. As a general rule on both courses, putts break away from the hotel on top of the hill. With the deals that can be found and being so close to home, I'll always be back!

Our replay round, using the Underpar unlimited golf for 2, was at the Player course with a tee time of 12:46pm but didn't tee off until 1:00pm which just barely allowed our group to finish 18 in near dark. In fact, we were the last group to be able to finish. Conditions here were noticeably better than at the Pete Dye course. Tees, fairways, bunkers, & rough were all just a tad more lush and well defined. But the greens were a significant notch above it's sister course. They ran smoother (although bumpy toward the end of day) and much quicker than the molasses they had at Dye. I tend to prefer this layout more as I feel it has a better variety of holes and challenge instead of just putting 10 bunkers on every hole. If you can only play one of the 2 courses right now, Gary Player is the way to go.

Played this morning at 7:42am using the Underpar deal for 2 players w/free replays. Tee'd off right on time on a busy Saturday morning with the course full of snowbirds. Overall course conditions seem to have improved from the previous reviews. The fairways have all filled in and are a nice dark green that are framed beautifully by the dormant yellow rough making it easy to see where you're supposed to go. Tees were mostly level with good coverage but a little too many divots. Rough was not an issue. Bunkers seemed ok but I didn't visit any. Greens were the downside. Slow, bumpy, and full of old ball marks. Quite disappointing for a resort course. One great thing was the fact that they really take the Troon POP seriously. Even with over 200 rounds booked today, the pace was right on time at 4:15 with the marshall making many passes to keep us updated of any potential slow play ahead while also getting those slower groups to keep up. Wish all courses would do this!

Played at RH again on Friday 1/29 and nothing has changed from the GK outing 3 weeks ago. Everything is still just perfect and nothing more to add other than the greens seemed even quicker today which was terrifying in a good way! Can't wait to go back again!

Perfect...just perfect. Course conditions, layout, service (every staff member we encountered were so friendly and all had a smile on their face!). If you have a problem with this course then that's a YOU problem or you get to play Augusta everyday. On the drive there, Ben and I weren't sure if we were insane and I was almost sure this would be a one and done course due to the drive. But now I can't imagine not coming back again and again. Just the most spectacular course I've ever seen. All 18 holes would be signature holes anywhere else. Big thanks to Johnny for all the hard work and a special shout out to Ben, Andrew, & Invisible Rob for all the laughs today. My sides are still hurting!

Played in the GK Plays yesterday with Osamabinhacking, Ringworld, and RobStretch and we had a blast! It was my first time playing Sandpiper and I think knowing ahead of time that the course was hit hard by the drought lowered my expectations going in so I was pretty happy overall. Conditions wise I agree with the previous reviewers. The layout is pretty solid. Being able to work the ball both ways is a plus here. Most the the course's defense comes from the wind and the awesome views which will distract you lol. I've played a lot of ocean front courses and Sandpiper's stretch of 10-14 are some the best views I've ever had on a golf course. In fact, so much so that the last few holes are somewhat anti-climactic. But still a great test of golf. Saw the beverage cart several times on the front but not once on the back 9 on a hot day.

Thanks again for setting this up Johnny!