I played here Friday, going as a single, played the Mountain and Valley nines. 8:00 a.m. The starter said there were foursomes ahead and behind me and the course looked pretty busy despite what looked... Continue »

I played here Friday, going as a single, played the Mountain and Valley nines. 8:00 a.m. The starter said there were foursomes ahead and behind me and the course looked pretty busy despite what looked like a pretty open online tee sheet the night before. $55 to ride as a senior. POP was about 3:45, with a little waiting on the last three holes.

Currently, I would rate the course as fair conditions. It's in the middle of winter now and of course the Bermuda is dormant. There is still a pale green color to the turf, but some areas seemed dry and there was the occasional tight lie with little to no turf under your ball. Be careful walking around because there are many uneven areas where burrowing animals (ground squirrels, likely) are wreaking havoc. I did not see any traps set, but this course could employ someone full time just to kill rodents.

Greens: They were a bit bumpy on the first few holes of the Mountain Course, my front nine. A maintenance guy came around by hole 6, working his way back, rolling the greens with a brand new roller (I did have a conversation with Rafael, the maintenance Superintendent the day before on something unrelated and he showed me a picture of his new machine). After that the greens seemed smoother and faster. There were many unrepaired or poorly repaired ball marks that I did my best to fix as many as I saw. At least one green had a ground squirrel digging in it (Valley Hole 7) and there was another green with some diseased turf ( I thing it was Valley Hole 6). Overall, the greens were mostly good; I would rate a 7/10.

Fairways and rough: Lots of good lies in most places. Some areas were a little thin and dry. As you get further from the center of the fairways it gets worse. The rough was a mixed bag of thick and thin turf. Some dormant Bermuda and some fescue or winter ryegrass.

Tees: I found them to be mostly level (I played the blue tees) and the few that were not just right had only slight deviations from level. There were no issues finding a good place to tee up and swing away. A couple of the par threes were a little beat up. Valley Hole 7 tee was moved back to the blacks (Yikes) for a nice 200+ yard downhill shot; I assume it's to allow some time for the blue teeing ground to heal.

Bunkers: The sand looked good around the greens and actually seemed okay in the fairway bunkers as well. No rakes (another dumb Covid idea) in any of the bunkers.

My overall impression is that this course is likely worth the $55 I paid and probably not much more. The tee times are sort of weird to me, but I guess that's probably a thing when you have 3 nines to rotate golfers on. Sunrise to about 8:20 starts on all three, then new times starting around 11:10. You would think that 10 minute tee times would be enough to keep the pace good, but there's always folks who just want to maximize their time out there without actually paying for and playing a second round. Like I said, my pace was great (and I was taking my time) until I got to the last three holes. I think the course could be in better shape, but at what cost to the golfing public?

A day-trip down and back (388 miles) may skew this review and the fact that we got runover in our GK cup match here today.
A sunny day breezy an mild high 60's.
Go to Briggslaw for accurate review ... Continue »

A day-trip down and back (388 miles) may skew this review and the fact that we got runover in our GK cup match here today.
A sunny day breezy an mild high 60's.
Go to Briggslaw for accurate review of the Mountain and Valley Combo which we also played with Eric and John GK'ers we met for first time, and enjoyed playing with.
Didn't use practice areas but did notice the practice green near bag drop pro shop area looked shaggy and hoped it was not representative of course conditions. It wasn't but the best green on the course by far was the 8th (our 17th on the Valley course) a short uphill 255 yd par 4 that Alex chipped in for birdie from above the hole. I then parred the 9th a par 5 with a large Oak tree in fairway in landing area of drives providing interesting look. Too little too late for our match. Refer to forum post of GK Cup for details of that from the winners!?
Greens were bumpy, healing from maintenance. Playable and one bump helped me par first hole from 15 feet. Fairways tight and dry mostly good lies, rough almost non-existent in some areas. Helped keep ball out of junk in others as did the mounding pushing errant shots back in play often. Some areas of GUR thin dry spots. Course knowledge would help a bit.
A fun residential course. The facility looks like it's a blast in non-COVID era coming back not soon enough. Due to those restrictions it made it a record day trip down and back from Sacramento area for me. Driven through nearby many times. Happy to have reason to stop and enjoy the canyon area of Santa Clarita.

Returned to Sand Canyon 11/25 to play the Mountain nine (paired with Valley) because I never had played it. I enjoyed it and found it comparable to Desert in that it has some narrow spots, is a littl... Continue »

Returned to Sand Canyon 11/25 to play the Mountain nine (paired with Valley) because I never had played it. I enjoyed it and found it comparable to Desert in that it has some narrow spots, is a little shaggy here and there, and again has some trees that interfere with tee shots, i.e., overhanging the tee box, which is like dreams I have where I can’t find a place to tee the ball. An odd lack of maintenance quirk. Mountain is very heavily treed generally, many very mature oaks throughout the nine holes. There is water on a couple holes but not in play, almost can’t even see it. No idea why they call it “Mountain” and why the Valley 9 is called “Valley,” both end with some elevated tees on a hillside.

Greens, fairways, bunkers, rough, surrounds consistent with the other two nines—tee boxes on Mountain were a little more uneven and divoted, and a couple greens had some damaged areas being worked on, but overall the greens roll well and don’t have a lot of undulation. Small to medium sized greens like the other 2 nines. Like Desert, Mountain can be narrow off the tee, and trees come into play even on some good drives if you are on the wrong side of the fairway or greenside. Like the other 9s you will lose a lot of balls if you are not in reasonable control of your drives. Fairway lies generally quite good, bunkers very good, rough spotty, surrounds very shaggy and often bare.

POP was 1.5 on Mountain, but Valley 9 was 3 hours on a fairly busy day before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The practice putting green has now been cut and is rolling well despite some patchy spots with some weird grass. I did not use the range, but it looks very mediocre to me, the mats are basic and worn. It also was crowded, clearly gets used by locals for practice alone, not just by players that day. There is no short game or bunker practice area that I could find.

Now that I have seen all three 9s, I rate Sand Canyon as a good but not great place to play. The courses are ordinary, the unique features like some very elevated tees and trees in the fairways and the like seem contrived. Range is muni-like, pro shop is very good, personnel are very good, and the ownership seems to be focused on the right things on the course but the course really needs help on its expansive surrounds, their shabbiness detracts from the overall look and feel. Valley is clearly the best of the three 9s, and seems to get the most play. I suspect a Desert/Mountain combination would be an excellent pace of play on most days and a fun outing when one is hitting it straight off the tee and wants to focus on iron play. Any of the 9s would be a good place to tune up for an eastern or Midwestern trip because of the trees, even on “Desert.”

Played Desert/Valley today 11 am as a single, from the blues. Haven’t played here for years, since the old Robinson Ranch days. I am glad I came back.

Very friendly and easy check-in, nice pro sh... Continue »

Played Desert/Valley today 11 am as a single, from the blues. Haven’t played here for years, since the old Robinson Ranch days. I am glad I came back.

Very friendly and easy check-in, nice pro shop, but oddly does not have a GHIN computer. I had 11:30 tee time on Valley/Desert; shop suggested Desert was wide open and to go ahead early and reverse the two nines unless I wanted to join someone, so off I went. Had Desert to myself, played in 1:15, which then had me run into traffic on Valley, but still played that 9 in 1:45. I like a club that can look at what is happening on the course and let people freewheel a bit. Course overall was not very busy, though.

I did not use the range, but it is mats and a little worn. Supposedly has a short game area, I will report next time. The once incomparable practice putting green is clearly under repair, quite shaggy, not sure why it is even open at all, not a good introduction to the course.

Carts had ball washers and ice chests, and an ice machine is available and a free bottle of water was given out, but no GPS on the carts. Ball washers and ice chest and GPS should be required, but can’t think of the last time I got all three anywhere! With all the portable laser finders and GPS systems available, I guess I would rather have the washer and ice chest. I used free “GolfPad” app and it worked perfectly. Carts also had a plastic divider between seats—a first for me, annoying, but whatever. On the other hand, there were no cup shallowing inserts; the Marshall told me people were stealing them (WTF?) so they just removed them all. Pro shop staff had masks—most golfers and the Marshall did not. (I don’t care about any of this stuff, it is all overkill to me but I can live with it. It does point out the almost total randomness of the rules, though; they are all over the lot from course to course even within the same county.). No cart girl at least today (a Monday).

The Desert 9 is narrow and heavily treed, on some tee boxes the adjacent trees actually block the tee shot. Weird, but not a big deal. This is not a difficult course if you can regularly find the fairway. The Valley 9 is wider off the tee, also well treed. Again, not a difficult course, but there are some angles to get familiar with. Both these 9s feature some big elevation changes and each has a ninth tee tee high above the fairway; the Valley’s 9th has an infamous large oak tree in the middle of the fairway off the elevated tee, and it is a bad feature, is just too large and right in the center and right in the landing area for all but the longest hitters. Like a putt putt feature. Neither course has water, each has a dry barranca or two to cross at one or two points. I used almost all my clubs, and each has a par 4 on which driver might not be the play from the tee. Each has a long par three, 200+ on the Desert side from the blues. If you are not hitting well off the tee, you will lose some golf balls, the areas surrounding the fairways are pretty impassable.

These 2 nines overall can best be described as ragged around the edges but generally lush in the landing areas, with high quality greens. The surrounds of the course are in very poor shape, lots of dead and bare dirt areas, but then few of these are in play; they just don’t give the course a luxe appearance. The fairways have some poor spots here and there, but generally not in normal or intended playing areas, and if you are hitting it straight and well, you generally find nice and often lush turf. The tee boxes are pretty beat up, some a bit uneven and shaggy, but not a big deal other than aesthetically. The greens are in very good shape, they are relatively fast and very true, especially around the cup (no Dave Pelz “lumpy donut” to knock your ball off line as it nears the hole). But the greens also have very little undulation; I haven't had this many dead straight putts, well, ever. The green surrounds are lush and present a fair challenge. The bunkers have a dull, ugly sand but there is enough sand to give you a fair chance at getting out with a normal effort. No rakes (COVID), but the carts have sand/seed mixtures for filling divots, a first for me since the pandemic. (See above re the randomness of the rules.)

It appears they are putting money into the course where most important at present, the playing areas. One example of raggedness is the hole signage—they are really worn and have an abandoned look. The Desert 9th still has a sign for “Valley 18th,” which is a bit confusing for a newbie here. But the surrounds and little touches are not a priority, while the greens and fairways and some tree planting seem to be—appropriate if funds are limited and they seem to be. The course has a long way to go to support a “resort” as is planned, but the bones are there. If Industry Hills could do it, they can do it here as well, though these two 9s are not as good as Industry Hills in terms of design. I would also note with appreciation that they did have a Marshall out and he spent his time filling divots and fixing ball marks, which all marshalls should be doing everywhere they exist. I would say, so far, this is a well run operation and worthy of support.

There are nicer looking courses (and surrounds) for the money, and some much less expensive, but I would say this is a reasonable value and I definitely will return, perhaps regularly. I never played the “Mountain” 9 even in the course’s prior iteration, and am eager to try it.

Was in Southern California and wanted to play a new course. Decided on Sand Canyon since it was close to where I needed to be Thursday morning. I chose to play the Mountain/Valley nines since everyo... Continue »

Was in Southern California and wanted to play a new course. Decided on Sand Canyon since it was close to where I needed to be Thursday morning. I chose to play the Mountain/Valley nines since everyone else seemed to review the desert / valley nines. I arrived early and headed to the range… which is odd. Range is on mats which is no big deal. But the rest of the range is artificial turf. I’ve never seen that before.

Initial check in was simple and pleasant. I had apparently paid on line in booking it directly through the course website. I was told they were running a bit behind due to a frost delay and that I could get my cart just before my tee time.

At about 15-20 minutes before my tee time I went to get a cart. The older gentleman organizing the carts was overwhelmed. He was very pleasant but it took me 15 minutes to get a key to my cart.

On to the course. The mountain course has tight fairways and is mainly target golf. Short grass was only about 25 yards wide with about 10 yards of first cut on each side. Fairways had a lot of brown and thin spots mixed in with the decent coverage. I managed to find a good lie throughout. I was in two greenside bunkers and they had good coverage with a decent amount of sand. I did notice a couple of the bunkers had a ton of foot prints in them.

Tee boxes were pretty bad. All of the par 3’s were torn up heavily with multiple divots throughout. Even the tee boxes on the long par 4 & 5’s were in bad shape. Tee boxes were easily the worst part of the course condition wise.

Greens on the other had were super nice. Greens were on the smaller side with only a few having some moderate undulations. Greens rolled super smooth at a medium pace. Greens were a little firm with even well struck approach shots running 10+ yards past the landing spot.

Greenskeeper did a great job at pin placement throughout the day. There was a good mixture of tough pin’s mixed in with some in very gettable locations.

The scorecard showed the course having a few water hazards but I have to say they are pretty much non existent. I didn’t even see one of them until after driving away from the hole as I headed towards the next tee. I’m not sure if it’s a poor design or poor maintenance but the water hazards aren’t really visible from the course.

The valley course is more open with much wider landing zones. It still has a few holes requiring lay ups off the tee but offers plenty of grip it and rip it holes.

COVID: range open as was the “putting green”. I didn’t bother putting since the grass was taller on the putting green than some fairways I’ve played. No rakes in the bunkers, but carts had sand bottles. Cups were back to full depth, though we left the flags in all the time. Double occupancy allowed in one cart. Masks required inside the pro-shop and locker room. They also request masks on while walking around the facility. Masks are not required while playing.

First time back in a long time. Was a big fan of the old RR. Started off a little oddly. Got there early to warm up and was told I could only have a small bucket because they were busy and the range w... Continue »

First time back in a long time. Was a big fan of the old RR. Started off a little oddly. Got there early to warm up and was told I could only have a small bucket because they were busy and the range was running out of balls. Putting green was like a shag carpet. Played the Valley and Desert. These two together are basically the old Valley course with a few design changes. Course overall is in pretty good shape. Fairways had good coverage and the greens were pretty fast. Bunkers have nice sand for the most part. Tee boxes a little beat up and rough inconsistent. Looks like they are putting work into the course and hopefully, conditions continue to improve. Not sure it is worth the $90 they are charging on weekends. Carts have no GPS. Staff was friendly.

Played here on a last minute (mere days before my move to AZ) whim to try and take my mind off packing alongside my partner's cousin JP. First time playing here for both of us and I must say I enjoyed... Continue »

Played here on a last minute (mere days before my move to AZ) whim to try and take my mind off packing alongside my partner's cousin JP. First time playing here for both of us and I must say I enjoyed the course, getting to play the Valley/Desert combo (seemed almost everyone played this combo). It reminds me a lot of CrossCreek if someone placed it in the desert; mature trees, lots of blind shots and forced carries, but more than anything very good conditions for an area that must see triple digits and nasty winds.

Tee boxes: Okay to good shape. Nothing noteworthy either way, a few had some unlevel ground, but most were easy enough to find good turn to drive your tee into (blue tees played).

Fairways: Good to great shape. They were a visually stunning sight to behold in contrast to the surrounding desert-like natural terrain. Roll was fair, lies were good, and very few divots remained unfixed.

Rough: The rough that does exist on the course was thick and sticky. The more prevalent areas beyond the fairways are the natural terrain including chaparral, sand/dirt, rocks, etc. that will eat up bad shots.

Sand: Was in two bunkers and although they look awful, they played better than they look. That isn't to say they were wonderful as the the sand in them is more towards the dirt side of the scale and varied in consistency and amount. No rakes.

Greens: The absolute highlight of the day. They were wonderfully conditioned (a few divots but no fault of the course), rolled very true and quick (not lightning fast but sneaky quick), and were visually pleasing to the eye. Shots held well and breaks weren't insane.

ETC: Carts had no GPS and they could use it as there are plenty of tricky holes with blind shots. Carts DID have plastic divider so they could be shared via COVID-19 restriction protocols. Staff encountered was friendly, but no cart attendant with food today. Option to call in an order at the turn available, though not used today. Ample parking lot with solar panel-ed shade for a few rows. Restrooms on course could use some upkeep but glad to see them open. No water on course. Pace today was an amazing 4 hours considering everyone was playing the same combo 9's. Highly recommend.

Back again today; first group out. Senior rate $55. I played the Valley and Desert nines. Overall, fairly lush conditions; the further out in the rough, it does get sketchy and quickly you could find ... Continue »

Back again today; first group out. Senior rate $55. I played the Valley and Desert nines. Overall, fairly lush conditions; the further out in the rough, it does get sketchy and quickly you could find some dirt or native areas. On the bright side, there is a noticeable difference between the fairway cut and the rough. Pace was great on the front at an hour and twenty minutes. We hit a shotgun tournament on the third hole of the back nine and then it was a long morning after that, finishing that back nine in twice the time it took for the front. Greens: The Valley nine greens ran smooth and medium fast. No bad areas, a little soft and very receptive to most shots. The Desert nine greens were a little bumpier, but not bad and the speed was the same. Fairways: It looked like they could use a mower, but it was nice overall. There may have been a few areas marked GUR, but those were not usually in play. Great lies throughout all the fairways. Carts did have bottles of sand/seed/mulch, which I used quite a lot; I even grabbed two more between Holes 4 and 5 where they have a stockpile by the restroom. Mostly, I used them on tee boxes and a few areas in the fairways. Rough: It's getting thick out here. Some areas I had trouble locating my ball, it was that deep. Like 3" and lush. Bunkers: All the bunkers had good amounts of soft sand. No rakes, though. Tees: We played the blues; they were mostly level except for Desert 1 and 9, but even those two were not terrible. It seems that the course is really coming together. Personally, I would like to see more grass and less native areas. It can be done. I think the course could be better if it were a little more forgiving. I guess I'm gettng old and soft. It's definitely worth the $55.

I played here today with my buddy and old GKer, kilt1iron, who I am trying to get to post more here. We had a 6:50 tee time; senior rate is $55 to ride. Must make time online. Covid protocols: No tou... Continue »

I played here today with my buddy and old GKer, kilt1iron, who I am trying to get to post more here. We had a 6:50 tee time; senior rate is $55 to ride. Must make time online. Covid protocols: No touch check in, no flags on practice putting green, for some reason there were no flags or decent targets on the range, Styrofoam in cups, etc... We got off on time, but had to wait on two or three slower groups right in front of us. POP was just about 4:15.

Mower was making its way towards us, so the first two greens were not mowed before we played them. It should have been nice after that, but the greens were so soft and the mower seemed to be leaving some debris behind; not much, but it should have been better.

The course is definitely bracing itself for the impending heat wave this holiday weekend and there was a lot of surface water on several fairways. A couple of areas were roped off GUR and there was some spot aeration on a few fairways. Fairly lush conditions on the fairways and rough, so there was not a lot of run out on most shots. That's a good thing here as you could find a good shot going bad real quick because of all the native areas adjacent to each hole.

I have been playing here for decades and it seems despite the new ownership and the ample amounts of water they are putting into it, things are not improving as much as I'd hoped. I was told there was a fungus problem a week or two ago on a couple of greens and you could see some residual damage here and there. Hole nine has some obvious signs of attempted repair. Overall, the greens looked okay and rolled okay, but that's it. I am old enough to remember when their slogan was, "Fastest greens in the west!" Ah, the good old days!

I want to really love this course. There are plans for a resort, similar to Ojai Valley Inn. It looks like it would be good for the area; especially since there is a nearby development project with commercial, residential, and a transportation hub. Overall, right now, I could say it's almost worth the $55, but not much more.