Played Monday 9/12 at 12:30 with a "daily deal" booked through the Goose Creek site. $52/person is an absolute STEAL for a course of this caliber. POP was approximately 3:35 as I was standing in the parking lot chatting with my playing partners at 4:10; absolutely amazing pace.


Conditions are as we have all come to expect here: Lush fairways, lush rough that can be somewhat penal, and flat teeing areas. Greens were a little bit thicker than usual with speeds slowed a little. Believe this to be a combination of the recent heatwave that has hit SoCal as well as the fact that Goose will be closing in the next week for their 5 week aerification (did not get exact dates from the starter unfortunately).


However, a HUGE plus that takes this course from great to excellent, is the addition of NEW CARTS! When I rate a course on my personal rankings, I always take into account all aspects of the course, not only just playing conditions but amenities and yes, carts as well. If you have played GC in the past, you can remember the carts were rickety and devoid of any GPS or comforts. The new carts have thick, cushiony seats, two bottles of divot mix per side, a club and ball cleaner, and a Shark Experience GPS/entertainment console. May seem trivial to some, but it adds to the experience for me.

Always a fair challenge out here, especially with the wind kicking up and blowing into your face on 17 and 18 coming home. Escaping with a par on 18 is always a high point. If you haven't gotten out here, do so ASAP!

Got out for a 1:05 pm tee time with two buddies. After reading past reviews, I was cognizant to not get my hopes up too high and temper my expectations. I would say that they were almost met, with conditions falling just below, but still not terrible value for $35.

Tee boxes were either chewed up, or had matted grass that was high enough to prevent me really sticking my tee in. Some sloped, but usually could make do.

Fairways were hit or miss, with the front appearing better than the back. Our group moved a couple balls on the back that were in the fairway yet in a patch of dirt or patchy grass.

Rough was lush enough to be penal in some areas, and non-existent/dirt in others.

Greens were in decent enough shape, felt spongy and slower on the front than on the back, took a bit of pace adjustment after playing CC greens.

Was in one bunker that was less than ideal.

The POP was the highlight of the day. We didn't see a single group in front of us until catching up with a father/son pair on the 18th fairway. That was the only time we waited all day, finishing in just about 3:25, including a 10-15 stop at the turn for sandwiches.

I'm not sure I will be adding this course to the regular rotation, but it was nice to get out and check another SoCal course off my list.

A name change has been implemented, with the club now being called "Bear Valley Country Club at Spring Valley Lake". New scorecards reflect the change. Blue tee boxes are now called the RTJ tees, and the whites are "Members".

This course used to be under the ClubCorp family of courses, but was recently acquired by Steele Canyon (owner/operator of Dove Canyon, Bear Creek, Bermuda Dunes, and Pauma Valley). You can absolutely see the work that the new ownership is putting into the course.


Growing up in the community where this course is located, I've played it probably 100+ times and the conditions right now are the best I have ever seen them. Pristine conditions led to my best ever score here, a +5 77 from the RTJ tees.

Fairways are like carpet with great to perfect coverage, rough is lush but not overly penal with just a couple patchy areas, and the sand is fluffy and consistent throughout.

But what really stole the show yesterday were the greens. Completely smooth, rolled true and medium-fast/fast but held well struck shots. Needed to give the uphill putts a solid whack, but downhillers could easily get away from you.

Warmup area included grass range, putting green, and chipping area just off the first tee. Across the street by 18 green is a practice bunker with 3 flags to hit to.

If you ever get the chance to play here, it comes HIGHLY recommended at the moment. Shoot me a message if you're looking to get out and I could potentially host you as a guest, especially if there is some quid pro quo at a private course you may belong to!

Played Friday 5/27 to kick off a wedding weekend in the Seattle area. The pro shop and parking lot sit elevated above the course, with a shuttle taking you down to the 1st tee/warmup areas, so the entire course is visible from up there. One word: WOW. I have never been so enamored by beauty while simultaneously nervous as I was at that moment.

All grass range and two putting areas were just off to the side of the 1st tee, with a refreshment station located just adjacent. The course is walking only and had push carts available that were included in the green fee.

Tee boxes were perfect, fairways provided great rollout while still giving some fantastic lies to hit from. Rough was being grown out for the Women's Amateur in August and was penalizing. Sand traps were immaculate even though they appeared damp (it's the PNW, everything is damp). The course was fair and gettable if you kept it where you should be, but that was a BIG "if" and missing by as much as 5 yards could send you 40+ yards offline.

A couple memorable moments from the day: On the short par 4 12th hole (262 on the card, uphill the whole way, playing about 280) I hit a drive that started right and drew perfectly with the shape of the hole, hitting just short and kicking onto the green. Our group caddie with us said it would be close depending on where they cut the hole that day and it ended up being about 15-20 feet below the hole. Left to right bender that I left in the jaws about 3 inches short for what would have been my first ever eagle.

On the par 5 18th, I hit a drive into a left fairway bunker, just to the right of the lip about halfway up the bunker. Hit what I thought was a perfect 9 iron to leave myself a 3rd shot into the green, but it rolled into what our caddie called "Chambers Basement", a 15 foot deep pot bunker smack dab in the middle of the fairway about 110 yards to the pin.

All in all, had a fantastic time and can't wait to play again.

Buddy of mine organized a 16-player skins matchup here yesterday, Saturday April 30.

Greens have almost fully recovered from aeration: small holes on the green did not seem to severely impact many putts. I thought they actually rolled pretty quickly despite the small punch holes, as evidenced by the 20 foot putt that I hit 15 feet BEYOND the hole on 16.

Tee boxes are always above average here simply because they are so wide and never hard to find a spot.

Fairways were good to very good, just a few dead spots which is about par for the course here.

Rough was just slightly longer than the fairway and not overly penal.

Conditions here are always quite good, but the POP is ALWAYS an issue for me. Teed off at 10:06 and finished in about 5:15. Every par 3 had at least a 3 group wait to tee off. Marshall non-existent, we *maybe* saw one on 11/12 but he drove right by without saying anything. We were the first tee time in our 4 tee time group, so we used the par 3 waiting to catch up with those behind us and compare scores.

All in all, the course is solid, but the constant POP issues keep me from playing this on a more consistent basis.

Played yesterday, 4/19 at 12:00 pm on a pretty blustery day (I'd estimate a 1.5 to 2 club wind). Had booked a twosome and expected to be joined by 2 other players, but the starter got us out right at our tee time with just us. No waiting on the front but caught the twosome in front of us on the 10th tee. POP was right about 4 hours with just some minimal waiting on the back nine.


Conditions were about what I expected: good to great coverage in the fairways, rough was a tad patchy and like the previous review mentioned, was some slight sand residue on greens from the punching a couple weeks prior. Both my playing partner and I were over-reading the greens to start as it seemed like the conditions of the greens were taking most of the breaks out of putts.


Most if not all of the tee boxes had a slight slant to them, but not so terrible that you couldn't find a place to tee off.

Bunkers seemed to be a mixed bag on if there visually appeared to be enough sand or not, but weren't terrible to hit out of.

It was my first time making it out here and I would definitely be back to see if I could improve on my score when the weather is cooperating a bit more.

Got out for a mid-afternoon round on Wednesday, March 31st to help a buddy prepare for the upcoming Mens Open Championship there next Friday. We both used to have the Players Club "Membership" here in 2020-21 but let it go when the course started to lose the greens and it had been almost a year since I have played it last.


Tee boxes were mostly good, a couple were slanted and you had to search around for a level place to tee off from.

Fairways were pretty good following the recent rain, seemed mostly green and there was usually a decent lie to hit from.

Rough was not overly long but was clumpy enough in places to sometimes have an impact on your club head/swing.

Sand traps looked like they had recently been filled with nice, new white sand. VERY fluffy and also very visually appealing to the eye. As someone whose miss out of the sand is a thin, skulled shot, I prefer to play out of fluffy sand because I know I can really go after it and have a very slim chance of catching it thin.

Greens had recently been aerated within the last 7-10 days (they gave us a $10-15 discount on the tee times as a result), so they were a little thicker and thus slower than I remember for TR. With that being said, it looks like they have taken great strides to improve the greens after losing some/most of them to a fungus. With a couple more months I think they can return this place to the track it once was.

I arrived 2 minutes before tee time after forgetting my shoes at home (DOH!!), and so the 2-some that we were supposed to be paired with took off without us. It felt like we were waiting on most of the holes, including a group and a half deep on each of the par 3's, but overall POP was nice at about 4:15, finishing just before sunset after having a 2:50 tee time.

My "home" country club from back home was being sold by ClubCorp so we wanted to get out and utilize our reciprocal privileges one last time. In between the time we bookedthe tee time and the date of our round (Saturday 3/26) the sale had been finalized so we were technically no longer ClubCorp members. Called the course a couple weeks prior and explained the situation to Kim, the head pro. She could not have been more understanding and let us know she would still get us out!

On the day of play, it was a 5-star day in north San Diego, with just a slight breeze keeping things cool. Practice facilities were awesome: grass range with ample targets and a putting green that matched the speed/breaks experienced on the actual course. 2 of our group did not prioritize the practice green and struggled on the front nine with multiple three putts.

Tee boxes were level and lush, never a problem finding a place to hit from.

Fairways were carpet-like and rough was dormant and just a touch longer than the fairway, not very penal at all.

Bunkers were a mixed bag and really the only downside to the course. The couple greenside bunkers that I found myself in had wet, compacted sand and that just doesn't suit my sand game very well.

Greens were a delight to putt on and the real defense of the course for me. Held well struck shots well but were quick-fast. On more than a couple occasions the putts seemed to break uphill or there was a break that I just could not see was there.

All in all, a great day at a sister course and I'm actually kind of bummed that we didn't get out here more and utilize those reciprocal privileges.

Got out for a 1:00 pm round on Thursday 2/24. Excellent POP finishing in around 4:20 even with a relatively slow player in our group.

It was my first time here and the course lived up to expectations. Never had a hard time finding a flat lie on tee boxes, fairways were in great shape for being mid-"Winter" here in SoCal, bunkers had a perfect amount of fluffy sand, and the greens were running fast and pure all day, but still held well hit shots.

Definitely a course where you can benefit from some local knowledge, and luckily one of the playing partners was happy to give advice. Some tee shots made you think and the approach shots were a nice challenge all day, with some pins being in downright brutal positions.

Pro shop mentioned that rates will be increasing March 1, so not sure how often I will splurge on playing here, but as of now, the $80 twilight rate is a great value for this course.

Family takes an annual Thanksgiving trip up to Mammoth Lakes. This year, weather was too warm to ski/snowboard, so the golfers in the family made the trek down to Bishop CC to play.

Played Saturday, 11/27/21, teeing off at 8:30am and was pleasantly surprised! It was in the 40's at tee time but quickly warmed up and was eventually low 70's when the round ended. The Pro Shop attendant was awesome (wish I got his name) and gave us the local rate and 2 free buckets of balls. $55/person including carts and balls seemed more than fair for a holiday weekend.

The course exceeded my expectations conditions wise this late in the year. I don't think I can remember having a bad lie in the fairway, the rough was not too penal (with the exception of the fallen leaves, but the Pro Shop attendant made sure to inform us of the local rule that allowed for a free drop if your ball was lost in the leaves).

Sand was a little firm and wet, but I chalked that up to the temperature.

Greens were VERY firm to start (again, likely due to the temperature and overnight lows creeping below freezing) but rolled great. There are definitely some putts that seemed to break uphill on me, so they presented a nice challenge. Once the sun was fully out and warmed the course, well hit shots held well. In fact, my wife had her VERY FIRST birdie on 14 here. I had expected the ball to roll out a little more and had her club down, but the ball hit into the up slope and stopped pretty much on a dime. Gave her the nice satisfaction of having to fix a pitch mark before sinking her putt.

All in all, would definitely play here again on a future trip if the weather allows! Nice little hidden gem if you are travelling up 395.

Got out yesterday, Nov 9 with an 8:12 am tee time. Course is/was still CPO so the round took a little over 4 hours, but there was no waiting for our group.

Tee boxes were a mixed bag, some were very lush, bordering on thick, but some were the traditional tee box length.

Fairways were nice and cushy and provided a good base to hit off, pretty much had a perfect line if you found the fairway.

Greens were a little thicker than usual for Oak Quarry and thus rolled a little slower and didn't appear to have as much break as one would think.

Sand traps are still the unfortunate weak spot of this course: hard and lack sand. Some were even covered up/emptied out and had large rubber tiles in them. One of my playing partners was in one like that and we treated is as GUR.

The rough was extremely penal today and it didn't look like it had been cut in quite some time, likely due to the recent overseeding. It was at least a 2 club difference if you were able to advance it.

All in all, course was in great shape following the recent closure and CPO didn't really impact my enjoyment of the day (plus the round was discounted from it's usual price, so that is always good). Would/will definitely return here.

Played the South this morning with a 9:22 am tee time. Running about 10 minutes behind from the start, and we had to wait on the group in front of us a little more than we would have liked, but still finished around 4:30 POP, so not too bad all things considered.

Played the "Jack's Blacks" and WOW is this course long from those sets of tees. My putting was atrocious the front 9, but came around on the back and my score dropped accordingly (48/41). Made Par on the behemoth that is 18, so I consider that a win.

Course was in pretty decent shape for this time of year. The first couple of holes had some mud and the course did not roll out as much as I am accustomed to due to it being a little soft, but it was fair for sure.

Greens were in great shape, rolled true (minus me not being able to control my speed on the front) and held shots.

Fairways were fair and you found yourself in a good lie more often than not.

Rough wasn't too bad most of the time, but I did find myself in a very thick bit on one of the holes on the front. Took an extra club than I normally would for the distance but I still caught it fat.

All in all I would definitely return and would consider their "Players Club" program. 6 rounds for $215 during the week or $345 anytime. Seems like a great value.