Played 9 holes on Course 2 yesterday at 3pm, joining a local for a relaxed round on a pleasant, breezy, sunny day. LWV is in their maintenance cycle right now – Course 1 is closed this week and we could see some of the sanded greens during our round. Course 2 will be closed for punch/sand next week, and the greens on 2 today were pretty firm and released most shots. Lots of ballmarks on the greens as it appears players are letting next week’s maintenance take care of their damage. Course 3 will be punched the week of 9/22, and the par-3 course the following week.

A blustery wind made things more challenging yesterday as many of the lower-handicap holes play uphill and/or into the wind. Decent pace of a little over 2 hours for the nine – Course 2 is the most spread-out of the 3 nines. Overall conditions were consistent with earlier reviews.

Finally got out to the par-3 course at LWV on Wednesday, 8/20/25, around 10am. Never been here before and was expecting a crowd, with all the golfers in LWV. But it was sunny, hot, and muggy, and there were only a few scattered groups on the course. It's walking only here - carts are not allowed, except for pull carts, so I'm sure that contributed to the light useage that morning. There’s a small clubhouse with a starter shack – there are no tee times, you just show up and get in line to play.

The course is set in a multi-fingered drainage area in the midst of scattered housing, with a central pond and the holes playing down toward or up away from the pond. Distances range from 80 to 130 yards. Some of the elevation changes are surprising. 2 holes have forced carries over fingers of the pond. Greens are small and don't have any real undulation; a couple are fairly slopy. But if you are on the green you have a chance to make a putt.

Tees are small and showed a lot of divot damage; sand bottles are not available. No real fairways and the grass is lush, thick kikuyu, so chipping and pitching can be challenging. A few of the greens are fronted by surprisingly large sand traps - I was in one, with a very firm base under a thin playing layer. Greens had been punched recently with small holes and partially sanded, but rolls were good and speeds consistent.

I’m guessing the course gets more play when the weather gets cooler.

Back out to LWGC on Friday, 8/15/25, for 9 holes joined by local GKer Itslikeimsayin, on a sunny, warm day with a cooling southwest breeze to take the edge off. [Also out last week in 90+ degree temps that reduced me to a barely active pillar of sweat – not conducive to any good golf on my part.] We got to start a little early and had a fun, relaxed round in well less than 2 hours.

The course was relatively uncrowded for what I’ve seen in the past, as the group ahead was playing fairly quickly, and the group behind us was up close on only a couple holes. Conditions were similar to my previous reviews – smallish greens were receptive and rolling well at medium speed. Lots of unfixed ballmarks today. Fairway coverage was generally good although I wound up in dry/thin spots a couple times. White tee boxes were pretty level and grassed except for the par 3s which have very narrow, small boxes. I was in one greenside trap with a thin sand layer over a firm underbase and I bounced the clubhead into the ball – at least some operator error there. Rough can be variable, from short/dry to deep/juicy where you have to really search for your ball. Both fairway and rough grasses are sticky and cut down roll and swallow offline shots. And in general don’t try to bounce your shots onto the greens.

It was great seeing Mark again and I hope to connect with other GKers as I try to re-find my swing and build back my stamina and enthusiasm.

Played 9 holes on Friday afternoon, 7/18/25, on a sunny, warm day with little wind. Very surprised to find the course almost empty – teed off as a single at 2:30pm and never saw anyone behind me. Several twosomes stretched out in front of me, but with the combination of my shaky play and sometimes hitting two balls I never really waited on anyone, finishing in just under 2 hours. Conditions continue to be good – good fairway coverage, variable rough height but good coverage, greens consistent in being somewhat soft on the surface but releasing approach shots a few yards. Speeds are medium+; a couple greens can fool you with very slow uphill putts and breaks around the cup. Tee boxes generally pretty firm and dry. Greenside traps could use a deep raking and some additional sand. All the kikuyu cuts down on roll, eats your ball up in the rough, and gobbles up pitch shots short of the green.

Played LWV on 6/6/25 and 6/13/25 – 9 holes each time, as I’m not yet strong enough to finish 18 holes without staggering. Three nines here offer a variety of lengths, while conditions are similar across all. Generally good conditions – level tees, fairways in good condition with very few thin/bare spots, rough that is generally fairly short and playable. Greens are small, and don’t have much tiering, but can be slopy with unexpected breaks around the hole. The weather has been mild this winter and temps haven’t gotten hot yet, so greens have been fairly moist and accepting of shots. Surprise – a lot of members don’t fix ball marks! Most traps are fairly open and flat with okay-to-good coarse sand, but a few are pretty deep. More slope across many holes than you might expect from looking from a distance. The courses are always busy with lots of members, but play on all nines generally comes in at around 2 hours.

Played my first 18-hole round in more than 14 months at Laguna Woods Village GC on Thursday, May 1 at 1:08pm, then got out again around 2pm on Thursday, May 15. Sunny days with steady and occasionally blustery winds and shirt-sleeve temperatures. We sold our house in Mission Viejo last year and moved to this gated senior community, but this was my first chance to get out as we finally think we have stabilized my wife’s health issues. The course is within the confines of the Village and is thereby quick to get to and back.

There’s a total of 27 holes over 3 nine-hole courses – various combinations of 2 nines can be played. The course dates back to 1964 and is a David Rainville design. [There’s also a walking-only 9-hole par-3 course I haven’t seen yet.] Blue tee distances on the nines range from 2,626 to 3,110. It’s all kikuyu all the time for turf, which right now means less runout in fairway areas and quicker stops in the rough areas. However, most fairways are wide and the rough is currently cut fairly short. Greens on the 3 nines were aerated over the last half of April – depending on which 9 you were playing, you would encounter greens with visible hole indentations and a light scattering of sand, up to almost fully-recovered greens that showed little evidence of the maintenance.

Fairway coverage was generally good. Tees were generally set pretty wide, except on a few of the shorter par-3s where the box was small, but all tee boxes could be dry, patchy, and hard to put a peg into in some places. Most of the greens have sand bunkers in front or along the sides; fairway bunkers are fewer and frequently not really in play. Sand in the greenside bunkers was pretty firm but generally adequate for good escapes, although one of the ones I found had almost no playing layer.

Distances on the card are not long, but the turf conditions and many holes playing uphill and/or into the wind dictate greater distance requirements. There is some elevation change across the course and occasionally within holes. All par-4 and -5 holes have a striped post at 150 yards COG, as well as plates at 100 and 200 yards COG. Par-3 tees usually feature SCGA yardage plates at the card distances.

Greens are mostly pretty flat without much tiering. Speeds were maybe medium-slow, likely as the aftermath of recent aeration. We’ll see if they get faster as summer comes on. As a result of the punching the greens were pretty soft, and so easily accepted most shots.

I was surprised that the course was not listed on GK and no reviews have been posted. There aren’t that many listed GK members in the LWV zip code, but the surrounding codes in South OC have a combined hundreds of members. The fact that it’s a private layout (all residents are members) contributes, but guest play with a member is allowed.

After a long layoff. My game was very inconsistent, especially my iron play. I hit a few good drives, escaped well from the sand a couple times (shocker!), but I didn’t make any putts, carding a 44-48=92 and then a 44=46=90 and really being exhausted from this unusual activity. Need to build my endurance back up while I work on re-finding my swing.

Played Oak Quarry on Wednesday, 2/28/24, at 12:08 in a GK Cup 20 match with Cup newcomer Kramnetto2. Course was apparently pretty busy that morning as the shop had no range balls at 11:30am, so no warm-up. Carts are nice but it looks like they’ve removed the ball washer/club cleaner from the carts – too bad.

The course was in decent shape with obvious question marks. After all the rain we had there are still large swaths of fairway that are thin/brown/tight – great for rollout but not so much for lie and playability. Greens had good coverage but needed to be cut and rolled – they looked fuzzy and rolled at just medium pace with a lot of bumpiness. They were fairly firm but held full shots. Most traps were in good shape but on some holes a bunker renovation is underway and you can only chip out or drop outside the bunker – we did the latter.

Most of the lakes are now full and there were no bird problems. Pace of play was slow and we finished in just under 5 hours – I don’t recall seeing any course employees out on the course. The interactive GPS message wants you to use the drop zones on the tough par-3 7th hole, but there were no marked drop zones anywhere on the hole. I went into the shop just before tee-off and again when we finished with questions/comments, but no one was around either time.

Love OQ but would like to see a tighter ship and improved conditions.

Very late review. Got out to Mile Square with a high school buddy on Friday, 2/23/24 at 1:40pm. I was late to look at the MS site so only late times (unable to finish) available. Saw GKer NutNButCup’s review playing a few days after I did and reiterate his observations – good greens rolling at medium speed, course still pretty wet after all the rain we had and so good fairway coverage but little roll-out. Sand damp and heavy but in good condition. Tees were in rough shape and needed to be cut. Rough was generally pretty short but could get juicy farther off the line of play and under the trees.

Greens showed lots of old and new ballmarks. Play jammed up on each of the par-3s, with 2 or 3 groups waiting on each of those tees. Overall pace was slow and front side took 2.5 hr; we finished hole 14 at around the 4-hour mark and packed it in in the fading light. Still recommended.

Played at 1pm on Thursday, 2/15/24, after booking a time as a single on GolfNow. Hustled over after a medical appointment that morning and arrived about 10 minutes before my time. Lo and behold, the sheet was running ahead(!) – the single I was to be paired with was long gone, and I was in behind a 4some. They let me play through on #4, and it was smooth sailing to #10, where I found myself behind several groups and waited on every shot on the back nine. Overall time was just over 4 hours.

Conditions were OK. Carts are comfortable with an interactive GPS that gives F/M/B distances to the green, and in green view has those ‘heat’ diagrams that show slope – the kind I have no idea how to read!! Since I don’t play here regularly, I was fooled a few times by seeing slopes/breaks visually that weren’t there, so the ball was heading away from the hole frequently. GPS does not show the locations of other carts – you need to be careful on several blind shots around the course. Saw the cart girl several times. Skipped a stop at the clubhouse at the turn, trying to push forward and finish before dark.

Greens were just OK, thin and pretty firm and rolling quickly. Lots of small debris on the greens from wind or mowing, and most greens had obvious large areas of different/patched turf. All greens had several unrepaired ballmarks scattered around. Fairways generally had good coverage and provided good lies and rollout. Rough was patchy and unpredictable as to what you would get. Tees (I played White [6,000/69.0/124]) were level and in good condition. On the par-3s, tees are set up narrower and it’s more of a challenge to find a level, suitable area to put your peg. I was in 2 greenside bunkers – the bunker on #16 had basically no playing layer – it was basically just machine-scraped hardpan; the greenside bunker fronting #18 had better sand, allowing a normal escape.

Saw a big coyote walking down #7, then heard a lot of pack howling down below the #15 tee. Several greens on the back nine are very challenging as they are severely perched and missing short results in long runouts off the front of the green. The course uses a R/W/B flag rotation – all of the par-5s (1,7,10,13) had red flags today – no imagination on flag placement.

I generally enjoy this course as I think it plays shorter than the card as many of the longer holes play downhill. Conditions have been up and down over the years as the course has had a variety of owners. Glad to see conditions improved from the past and improvements to facilities over the last couple years are evident. Recommended.

Got a decent twilight rate at Oak Creek on Thursday, 1/25/24, at 1:40pm. Thought we might have time to finish, then the rains started earlier this week. The course was pretty wet and it was path-only. Discovered through lots of walking that the cart paths here are on the high-lines of the holes, so all balls run away from the path as the fairways/terrain slopes away. Also, there’s just a lot of area between the paths and the playing areas, additionally increasing the amount of walking. So in these wet conditions this course is a long, exhausting slog.

Otherwise, conditions are pretty good. We started on time as the sun finally broke out and we had pleasant weather with little wind. Fairway coverage was good – the grass was a bit shaggy as they hadn’t been able to mow for a couple days, but not too bad. With path-only players need to carry their sand bottles with them out to the ball – most don’t, and there were lots of unfilled divots out there. Rough was not much longer than the fairway and not difficult to play from. Tees were level and a little shaggy, but OK. Coming off my long layoff and loss of distance, we played the Copper tees, and many were pushed even farther forward than the card distance. Traps were generally good, and I think I was in more sand this round than any I can remember ever– still working on that direction control! The greenside trap on #11 gets a lot of use and needs more sand. Greens were in good condition – mostly firm, damp enough to hold shots, and rolled nicely at medium speed.

Used the practice facility ahead of time and remembered how nice it was. $10 for 50 balls about average these days. Range was on grass and large chipping green available, as well as multiple putting greens. Bag staff was courteous and efficient. Saw the cart girl 2 or 3 times. Probably could have finished if not for the path-only requirement – finished #16 as darkness fell.

Recommended – look for deals or play twilight.

A late review for the GK/GM outing at the Huntington Club on a picture-perfect day in Huntington Beach on Monday, 1/8/24 – sunny, not too cold, and very little wind to affect shots. Played with good groupmates Gary and Lindsay, and (gasp!) a non-GKer Dave, who I think Lindsay was trying to recruit the whole round!

I had played in the first GK/GM outing here two years ago, and enjoyed the course but had a terrible ballstriking day. I was anxious to get back and give the course another try – bad timing, as I’m deep in the grip of my long knee-surgery layoff, and wasn’t able to bring a consistent game.

Course conditions were good. I only noted one tee where the stance was a little sloping, otherwise cut nicely and level. Fairway coverage was consistently good and lies were fine. Rough varied from benign to 2-3” and sticky. I was in 3 greenside traps and all were a little short of playable sand. Greens were good – full coverage, smooth and pretty fast. They were very firm and approach shots didn’t leave large marks, and they released quite a bit. Chipping from around the green had to account for significant runouts.

Comfortable carts with interactive GPS and distance to the pin location. Glad to see that courses are returning to having drinking water available on-course. Saw the cart girl several times – didn’t partake of the BBQ on offer at the turn.

One of these days I’d like to play this course when I’m hitting the ball well. Recommended.

Started the New Year at Los Lagos, wanting to get some swings in before the GK/GM outing at The Huntington next week. I was hoping that the general populace would be sleeping late after the New Years Eve parties last night, but the lot was full and both tees were stacked up. My 11:36am start time wound up being more like noon, and we waited on every shot. We had sunny, warm weather with a light breeze off the ocean.

Conditions were OK for CMCC. We’ve had a little rain recently and the course was playing no fairways/rough only. Not as bad as cart path only, but what resulted was that the rough areas were badly rutted by carts and squishy muddy. Lots of bare mud areas and standing water. And as you get wider into the treeline the obvious root/gopher problems are more evident.

Tees are set very wide here so easy to find a good place to hit. Fairways were pretty perfect as you can imagine. The general dampness, and lack of a mowing for a couple days, resulted in a lot of mudballs in the fairways and little roll-out. I wasn’t in any sand. Greens were in very good shape but rolled fairly slow.

Carts are very basic. No GPS or yardage posts – you have to look closely for the 100/150/200 markers set in the fairways. After struggling through the front nine in 2.5+hours I decided to bail on the back nine.

Recommended for a casual round with decent conditions, but expect a slow round.