GKer atreitman and I discovered Candlewood CC together for the first time at 1050 on Wednesday morning, 12/8/21, to play a GK Cup 18 match. Man, it’s getting harder and harder to find a morning tee ti... Continue »

GKer atreitman and I discovered Candlewood CC together for the first time at 1050 on Wednesday morning, 12/8/21, to play a GK Cup 18 match. Man, it’s getting harder and harder to find a morning tee time in SoCal if you aren’t a member somewhere or signed up for some players club. No starter, but we went to the first tee on time. We were paired with another pair of visitors there for the first time, so no benefits from local knowledge. Our group got behind starting on hole #2 and we could see the groups stacked up behind us as we dealt with poor and sprayed shots. Finally caught up with the group ahead on hole #8 and were in position for the rest of the round, finishing in 4.5 hr.

The course plays across mildly rolling terrain with a large unimproved drainage creek running alongside half the holes, and the remainder on slightly higher rolling ground. Several uphill or downhill holes and some blind shots. Most holes with lots of trees alongside. Lots of kikuyu and with rain the day before the course played soft and longer than the card. Only 2 par-5 holes and par of 70.

Conditions were generally pretty good. Greens had good coverage and rolled medium+ fast with generally more break than you saw. Not a lot of green tiering or undulation, but greens are fairly small and most have plenty of sand around them. Greens had recently been sanded and showed some residual material but it didn’t appear to affect roll. Fairway lies were good and rough was not too deep and very playable as the course dried out during the day. We did see scattered thin/bare areas in fairways and rough. Tees were mostly level and par-3 tees didn’t show excessive damage. There were no divot mix containers on the par-3 tees. Traps had a coarse, brownish sand that looked OK and had a fairly shallow playing layer. Rakes were provided so we played the traps down.

Playing partners talked non-stop until we finally asked them to take a break, and on one hole they played Alan’s ball by mistake. No cart girl; there’s a snack shack at the clubhouse at the turn. Didn’t use the on-course bathrooms. Fairly small clubhouse with a separate golf shop. Staff encountered were all very friendly.

We paid $89 on GolfNow. Trying to find a morning time is chancey and this is what you have to pay these days. I hit the ball very poorly and I’m sure that affect my comments. I wouldn’t rush back here, but CCC is a solid play with a variety of holes. You need to be getting off the tee well and hit the ball straight. Many holes are narrowed by treelines and nearby hazards. The par-3 holes are challenging.