Played BCC twice this week, riding solo Wednesday am from the black tees and walking this morning from the blues with a mother and (middle age) son. Pace of play was good on Wednesday where I was sent off the 10th tee to avoid the pot game starting on the front nine. Today not so much when the course was more crowded.

The course is in beautiful shape. Gorgeous green fairways and lush rough. Sure, there are some less watered areas in both, but generally lush conditions. The rough is cut down but still sticky and punitive. The greens are very nice. I have seen them faster but not by much. I’m told the aeration on Monday and Tuesday is small tine. The greens are firmer than usual so it may help with that. Biggest negative about the conditions are the sand traps. I switched to a lob wedge out of them because of the thin sand layer.

Well worth playing if in the area.

Late review, played last weekend with two grandsons and a friend of theirs from San Pedro. The range was closed because of heavy rain the day before. It was cart path only for the same reason. I was pleased with the 4:15 pace of play considering my grandsons are new to the game and each lost a box of inexpensive golf balls.

There were wet places out there but overall, the course drained well. The starter warned me that some of the sand traps were in rough shape but I found them playable. Fairways were good. They were working on the greens with many of them having new grass with seams evident between the strips. Those greens were lush but very slow (like the practice green). Other greens had sections that had been repaired. Some had no new sod laid. There were places on the greens with bare spots which presumably will get work in the future. The areas without new sod ran at a nice medium speed with some subtle breaks.

I enjoyed the round but the course was overpriced at its present condition (the availability of last minute tee times was a red flag I missed). I’ll probably go elsewhere on my next visit unless the grandsons drag me out there.

Played Sunday, Mother's Day morning, around 7:00 am, foursome walking, three from the blue tees and one from the white. Range open when we got there but that was the only services offered. Played in 3:50, waiting on some shots but not many. There were two solid holes open behind us the entire back nine and some space behind that group. Shameful that early.

The course is in nearly good shape. Definitely not as much water being put on the grass. The fairways were dry for the most part. The rough was cut down and not as lush as one would like. The sand was beach type, and no issues with amount of it. The greens have not completely healed from aeration, with some bumps. I thought the course greens were not as fast as the practice greens. They were medium speed, although admittedly some downhill putts could get away if the putter was not careful. My experience though was more short putts than long ones.

Overally, enjoyable as usual. No beverage cart out there that I saw, there was no food truck at the driving range and the snack shack was not open. Outside of the lack of amenities, a good time had by all especially considering the pace of play.

Played this morning, teeing off about2 10:00 am. They evidently aerated the greens recently, I am guessing two weeks ago. The greens had evident remnants of the holes and were bumpy. They were also pretty fast, not always the best combination. The course is playable now and will be even better in a couple of weeks.

I was told there had been improvements including some new sand traps. The course was lusher than the last time I played. The cart told me that the 16th green recently opened. There were faint lines where I could see turf had been added in strips. It had not been aerated. It looked nice and rolled well. The course still has numerous different kinds of grasses and is s little rough around the edges. Overall, though, it is in good condition. Amazingly enough, we played in about2 4:10 after making the turn almost exactly 2 hours after we started. Much improved pace of play for the past.

Played on Saturday, April 25, in a fundraiser for the Riviera Village Sportsmens Club. Scramble format with a 10:00 am shotgun start. About 20 some odd years ago, two co-workers and I would play this course on Friday mornings before work. So I was interested to see how it had changed.

The course is pretty much the same except the greens are better. They were really very nice, running at a fast speed and rolling nicely. The course is a par three layout with holes running from 80 to 180 yards. Easy walking course which is good because it has been years since I started drinking beer at 10:30 in the morning. They are playing the first tee from the longer, upper, tee. I thought back in the day that they were not using that tee in order to limit possible shots going into the hotel's patio. It would take a really, really bad shot to do that though so apparently they have adjusted. The worst part of the course was the tee boxes which are really in need of grass. There was a mat on each tee but we were playing from the markers and those areas were lousy. Otherwise no complaints, the course is lush and obviously well maintained. I note that they took out the parking lot next to the clubhouse to install three pickle ball courts. We had to park at the adjoining hotel although the course validated parking. Word is the parking lot may be coming back sometime in the future. Considering we had to walk through a conference's registration (before the round) and lunch (after the round) area for ingress and egress, changing the parking layout seems a good idea.

Played this morning around 8:00 am, joining three regulars, walking from the blue tees. They had a barbecue going for burgers and hot dogs when I finished and the restaurant was packed with locals. Nice to see. The snack shack at the 2nd and 14th greens was closed, from what I was told probably permanently. No drink cart. We played in 4:20, falling a shot behind at the end.

The conditions were very good. Green and lush fairways for the most part. Some barer areas but I was not in any. The rough was generally cut down but was on occasion a factor. The sand traps did not have much sand in them. There was enough, but barely. The greens were very nice, running fast and true. I had three three-putt bogeys, twice when it ran out more than expected (front left pin position on #1 is always bad when putting from above the hole) and once when I left a lengthy putt woefully short. I really like the greens here when they are running like this.

Overall, a great experience. Recommended.

Played Monday, April 20, around 8:00 am, walking from the blue tees with two male college seniors. Beautiful day, I got to enjoy a lot of it as the round took 4:40, of which 2.5 hours was spent on the back nine. No beverage cart.

The course is still more lush than normal although definitely not as much as in January/February. Conditions were good throughout, fairway, sand and tees. The rough was cut down somewhat. It looks like they are marking at least part of the left side of #16 as a hazard (red line painted along the top of the slope down to the fence - no stakes), something I took advantage of unfortunately. The greens on the front nine look fully healed from the aeration one week ago. They were on the fast side and pretty firm, rolling nicely to the dismay of the twosome I was with. There were some partially healed aeration holes on the back nine greens although they also were extraordinarily healed considering it had been a week or less since the aeration. They also were running at a good speed. The pin on #13 was in the back middle and there were some bare spots on the green in that area. The ball still rolled well, but the green just did not look as nice as the others.

Can't wait to get out there again.

Played Wednesday, April 15, around 7:00 am, walking from the blue tees. There were several openings for singles when I checked the website on Monday afternoon. Come to find out the reason was there was no back nine play, they were sending early 18-hole golfers off 1 and 10 because of a shotgun start for an outing later in the day. My group of four walkers finished in 4 hours. The range was not open when we started, it opens later on Wednesdays.

The course is really lush right now. Fairways are great and the rough is thick. There were areas of a second cut that were really punitive. Very thick kikuyu grass. The highlight was the greens. Fully healed from aeration, they were deceptively quick. Some tough downhill putts. The lowlight was the sand traps. They should be GUR until they can put some sand in them. I got out of the front right trap on #9 but there was no way to hold the green on the shot. The front left bunker on #17 was marginally better although I was in a low spot of what had recently been mud. The fairway bunker I was in on #16 was like hitting off the cart path.

The lush conditions and nice greens more than made up for the sad bunkers. Recommended.

Played Sunday, April 12, around 7:00 am, walking from the blue tees. Cudos to the group in front of us, finished in 3.5 hours, rarely waiting after the third hole. Rained most of the front nine, at times hard, but cleared up for a beautiful day.

I knew before I went but the guy that made the tee time did not. They had aerated last Monday and Tuesday and the sand, especially on the front nine, was heavy. There was a temporary green on #14 on the left side. It was shaggy and very soft but still better than the aerated greens. They were using the right green on the par 3 16th. It was not aerated but it also was soft and shaggy. Weird considering it is a regular green. The greens were glacially slow on the front but much better on the back. Probably aerated them first and the rain compacted down the sand.

The rest of the course was in nice shape. It drained surprisingly well. I'll be back, hopefully after the greens have healed.

Late review after a round last Friday, about 7:30 am tee off. Walked from the blue tees with two riders and another walker. Not a quick round but the back nine was faster than the front and we finished in less than 4.5 hours. Snack bar was open when we made the turn.

The course was still wet in places from the rain last Tuesday but much better than when I played in January. For whatever reason there was still a moisture problem from the restroom building next to the 13th tee extending into the fairway, including a buildup of water on the cart path. The fairways were good if a little shaggy for this time of year. The sand traps were lousy, wet mud for the most part. The greens were pretty quick and held shots well. There were some difficult putts out there considering the speed and slope.

The course is playable but playing longer than usual. I would give it a few days to dry out but worth the play considering the cost.

Played Tuesday, February 10, before 7:00 am. We were a five some, all walking, in the third group out. We played in 1.5 hours for the 9 holes with little or no waiting on the group on front of us. Little amenities at the course at present with no restaurant in operation. Three net bays for warm up, a nice sized practice green and small chipping area.

The course is in good shape. Lush fairways and greens for the most part. There was little sand in the one bunker I was in but others found adequate sand in other bunkers. The tees were not always level but were okay. The greens were nice, running at a decently fast speed. High side of medium speed.

Nice way to start the day.

Played early on Super Bowl Sunday, second group off. There were four of us, all walking. We played in 3:55 which is pretty good. A beverage cart caught us on the 15th green, the first time I have seen that at Rancho. Nice feature considering there is usually nothing available for the early morning crowd. The food truck was not at its place behind the driving range when we finished. There were tables set up next to the putting green where they had a bar at one time; maybe they are doing food there.

The course generally is in nice shape.. The warmer weather really has it greening up for a winter morning. The greens were pretty good although there are a few with some of the problems noted by Roarksown1 in his December review. #2 was especially bad. The practice green was also rough. The greens on the course were better.

Just a gorgeous morning at Rancho.