After the Talega website wouldn't do a single reservation and I kept getting errors trying to make a tee time on TeeOff - I had to use the dreaded GolfNow to make a $65 tee time at 8:20.

Talega see... Continue »

After the Talega website wouldn't do a single reservation and I kept getting errors trying to make a tee time on TeeOff - I had to use the dreaded GolfNow to make a $65 tee time at 8:20.

Talega seems to had a scuffle with a nearby course because it looks a bit beat up. Various tee boxes had weird lumps and slants, the fairways were mottled with GUR or sodded and places that were nearly GUR. The rough length was of no consequence but other types of weird lies could be easily found in the rough. Greens were slightly soft and a bit slow. Nothing Talega needs to see a doctor about but scrapes and bruises nonetheless.

Despite the complaints - I like the course in the same way I've come to appreciate most of the courses in the area similar to this. Layouts with some difficulty but not tricked out or unfair - decent conditions - priced high enough to keep the "riff raff" out (I'm probably "riff raff") and thanks to rolling hills and coastal chaparral - attractive. Like most things in Orange County - once Talega finishes getting some "work done" it will be even more attractive....

Played on 07-02-17 at 2:40 pm. Easy check in with starter. Got out on time. Tee boxes are in good shape. Fairways are in nice shape with good coverage. Greens are in nice shape but a little slow and b... Continue »

Played on 07-02-17 at 2:40 pm. Easy check in with starter. Got out on time. Tee boxes are in good shape. Fairways are in nice shape with good coverage. Greens are in nice shape but a little slow and bumpy. There are many unfixed ball marks on each green. Sand traps are hit and miss. Pro shop and starter at first tee need to remind the people to fix their ball marks on the greens and rake the entire area they used to get in the bunker as well as out of the bunker. Very frustrating how people can be so lazy not to keep the golf course up.

Played here at 1230 on Sunday, 6/11/17, for my GK Cup 10 2nd round match vs. Rat-patrol – thanks to Jim for making the trip up from San Diego and congrats for his steady performance. We were joined by... Continue »

Played here at 1230 on Sunday, 6/11/17, for my GK Cup 10 2nd round match vs. Rat-patrol – thanks to Jim for making the trip up from San Diego and congrats for his steady performance. We were joined by GKers sr129 and caligolfer1031, so we had a GK group.

We’ve had a lot of very damp June gloom weather here in the south OC for the past couple weeks, and that contributed to the fairly wet conditions we encountered early in our round. The overall course was playing much slower/longer than last year when we were begging for rain. Rough could be longer, damp, and clingy. Green aprons were so damp/bushy that you rarely could putt successfully from fringes and beyond. That wet weather may have delayed/reduced the ability of the course to keep things groomed as close as usual, which may have contributed to Jim’s comment regarding the need for overall mowing. I know there were a couple of instances in the round where I came up well short of target areas that I had played to last year under drier/firmer conditions. We finally got some sunshine in the last half of the round and conditions dried out somewhat. And there was that steady crossbreeze to consider!

Greens looked great and were in very good condition, fairly firm and releasing most shots. They rolled pretty well with few bumps at medium speed. I saw very few old ballmarks and can’t remember any thin/bare areas. Fairways were cut fairly close and gave good lies, with less rollout than I was used to. There were scattered bare areas in both fairways and rough. Tees were in good shape except for the unfilled divots and consistent shagginess. Some blue tees were placed well forward. [Tee markers could use a little paint – there were several instances when we had to make sure to differentiate the blue and white tees. Also, some of the white tees had some pretty significant vegetation growing up in front of them, which could use trimming.] Sand was a mixed bag, with some bunkers looking like new sand and others looking like raked dirt. Some bunker areas were still marked GUR – bunkers here have been a WIP for many years, actually, if you look at past reviews. The large bunker fronting hole 17 looked like an active quarry operation! [And unfortunately there have been many bunkers removed here over the past couple of years, which has altered the strategic aspects of some holes.]

Simple GPS gives only basic distances. The course now uses an entry/exit gate system, which I like, except when cart users run over the gates and cart signs. The wet conditions resulted in some exit areas being a little torn up. Saw the cart girl a couple of times.

Shot of the day was from Greg (caligolfer1031), with a one-hop laser to within 4 feet of a back right pin on #17.

I like this layout and conditions now are very good.

Played a GK Cup match vs D-Con here today, first time for me at this course. I enjoyed the layout and conditions were above average, although just about every part of the course could use a mowing.
T... Continue »

Played a GK Cup match vs D-Con here today, first time for me at this course. I enjoyed the layout and conditions were above average, although just about every part of the course could use a mowing.
Tees: a bit chewed up (even on a par 5 tee box?)in spots, mostly level, but shaggy
Fairways: good coverage just a few bare spots, I always had good lies, not a lot of roll out but a bit
Rough: sticky and long in spots
Bunkers: mostly brown, moist, dirt from what I saw as I was only in one fairway bunker that I had no trouble getting out of
Greens: rolling mostly smooth, a bit on the slow side of medium and pretty soft
Warm up areas: chipping/putting green in front of the clubhouse didn't go to the range but saw it on the way in way down the hill from the course no idea how to get there
Walkability: nope, not practical
Layout: very enjoyable and varied, rolling fairways, deep bunkers and multi-tiered greens, it was a fun course to play. It didn't play very difficult today even with some stiff breezes, if the fairways were running a bit more and the greens played firmer I believe it could play tough.
Recommendation: certainly, get a deal and this course is a fun one.

Played 5/21 for my brothers 50th birthday. Quite a mess but the course was awesome. Golfnow apparently didn't actually reserve my tee time and only sent me a cancellation email 30 mins before the ti... Continue »

Played 5/21 for my brothers 50th birthday. Quite a mess but the course was awesome. Golfnow apparently didn't actually reserve my tee time and only sent me a cancellation email 30 mins before the time. When I showed up, obviously there was no tee time. The proshop guy didn't really seem to care and said we would have to wait until 2 (its 1145 at this point). We were just a two some and watched as numerous twosomes (3 by my count) went off at a leisurely pace. Then the starter gave me all kinds of attitude including not getting our group a cart until we were next up when there were 2 groups behind us in carts already. He proceeded to make a mini-scene portraying me as impatient and even commenting on it to other players waiting to tee off. For the price of this course I found all of this to be completely unacceptable. As for the course:

Tees: Mostly level with closely mown grass. Quite of bit of divots but no problem. 6.5/10
Fairways: Very nice lies throughout. Mix of green/yellow/brown but nice cushion underneath. 6.5/10
Rough: About 1.5 inches and pretty consistent throughout. Didn't really affect play or club selection. Maybe a half club more. 6.5/10
Bunkers: A little worse than I expected. Pretty crusty and thin although by no means concrete like a few muni courses. 5/10
Greens: Very nice and smooth, a little on the slower side but consistent. Probably just a 9 on the stimp. I constantly under read the break though. 6.5/10

Love this course and the layout and would recommend to anyone. The back nine especially is awesome. The staff needs to get their act together tho. If your rack-rate is close to $100 your staff should conduct itself accordingly.

It had been a while since I last played here, so decided to give it a try. Based upon recent reviews and the indication the greens had been punched in mid September, I was not expecting much. But to ... Continue »

It had been a while since I last played here, so decided to give it a try. Based upon recent reviews and the indication the greens had been punched in mid September, I was not expecting much. But to my surprise and delight, the greens were wonderful. They were smooth, rolled true, very receptive to accepting shots, but still a little slow for my taste. (Maybe because they were still very wet from the morning dew?) Fairways too were way better than expected, many areas in excellent condition, but there were bare and thin areas.

The rough however was terrible! Many areas were virtually dirt or at best extremely thin. The tee boxes- every one- must have recently been seeded, because all the "baby grass" was 2 inches tall. It was like teeing up in the rough. They need cutting!

I enjoy this course, and would play it more often were it more affordable. I still believe the tee shot on #15 is perhaps the most intimidating tee shot around, particularly when you don't play here often and can't remember the site line. Lots of fun par 3 holes, and #18 is a really great finishing hole.

Played this afternoon on a GolfNow offer for $30. I do enjoy this course, but some of the upkeep issues really need to be addressed:

First off, the greens are seriously disrespected by the golfers... Continue »

Played this afternoon on a GolfNow offer for $30. I do enjoy this course, but some of the upkeep issues really need to be addressed:

First off, the greens are seriously disrespected by the golfers and it doesn't appear the course itself has gone out to try and repair the damage while cutting and watering the greens. There is quite a lot of damage from old ballmarks and from improperly "fixed" ballmarks.

Second, The conversion from rye to bermuda seems to have gone on for more than a year now and doesn't appear much better than it was a year ago.

Third, bunkers... if you don't put in the money and the effort to take care of the bunkers now it will cost you more than double later. Sand is cheaper than having to re-shape, re-line, and then apply new sand.

Still, love the layout and play it well even in the 2 club winds in the canyon (+6, 78 with 3 water balls)... but I would really like to see the greens in shape and not running in the medium-slow range. It is a great course and if they can get the upkeep to match the course layout it would actually be worth the rack rate. As it is, $30 is probably my max.

Played Talega at 2:45pm on Thursday, 8/4/16. Got a $40 deal on GolfNow; day was warm but not hot, breezy but not windy. I was cautioned by GKer Matt’s recent review of course conditions, but decided t... Continue »

Played Talega at 2:45pm on Thursday, 8/4/16. Got a $40 deal on GolfNow; day was warm but not hot, breezy but not windy. I was cautioned by GKer Matt’s recent review of course conditions, but decided to give it a try, as I like this layout and I’m continuing my futile quest to eagle the downhill par-5 #11. [Explanation: I had a free video swing analysis I had won a few months ago at Pechanga, and the Pechanga teaching pro is also the pro at Talega (Randy Chang; nice guy and talks common sense!), so after the video analysis I wanted to get out and field-test the changes.] Conditions were better than I expected after seeing Matt’s review, and I know that conditions have been up and down here over the past few years. Greens were in pretty good shape – fairly firm, holding full shots, and rolling well but at only medium-slow speeds, which helped hide a lot of sins. You could be very aggressive on most putts. We did see a few scattered bare spots on some greens. Unfortunately, greens had LOTS of old and new ballmarks, and the number of marks seemed to increase as we progressed further into the round. The last few greens looked like a war zone! Too bad people won’t take care of their course! Fairways were firm and mowed tight and gave good lies and rollout, with some scattered thin or bare areas. Rough was dry, thin, and had generally been cut low. Tees were in pretty good condition – I never felt like I was standing on a sloping area. I wasn’t in a trap, but playing partners encountered hardpan, or fluffy cement, or hard-packed damp conditions, resulting in both flops and rockets. [Looks like the course owner, like many others in SoCal and elsewhere, has cut the Superintendent’s budget and staff to the bone, and conditions have suffered. I guess the course is doing the best they can with the resources they have.] I was paired with 2 nice younger gentlemen, long hitters but definite sprayers, and we had an enjoyable round (Although one had music playing softly in the cart – no, they didn’t ask me.). We were behind another 3some that moved along OK, although we were frequently waiting on them, and the quick-moving 2some behind us always seemed to be ready to hit as we walked off the greens. POP was about 4 hours. No cart girl. The snack bar outside the clubhouse was closed as we made the turn at 4:30 – you had to go inside for service. No starter, and pro shop kid wasn’t the sharpest pencil in the box. [Verdict on the swing changes: Mixed results – it’s definitely still a work in progress to get more comfortable and consistent.] The GPS on the carts, previously a fairly high quality system (albeit with issues in the back nine canyon) has been changed to a simpler ProShot system that gives only basic yardages. There’s still quite a few “construction” projects going on. Some adjoining areas have been converted from turf to mulch, and others could be seen with the turf stripped off, awaiting mulch coverage. The area short left of the first green had been resodded. I commented previously that several bunkers had been filled in and converted to rough – yesterday I saw that the bunker behind #18 has been removed. On hole #15, the intimidating tee shot was defanged as the blue markers were on the white box. [Hole #11 eagle update – I hit a pretty good drive down the left side, then my 2-hybrid got a great bounce just beyond the last trap on the right and caromed like radar toward the back left pin location. Just 8 feet to an eagle, but missed the putt to the right! I was playing too much break all day!! Next time!?!] Still recommended.

Played Saturday 7/23 at 10:08 for my buddy's birthday. I'll just get this out of the way right now, the conditions aren't good and I would look elsewhere for the time being. Good stuff: Tee boxes and... Continue »

Played Saturday 7/23 at 10:08 for my buddy's birthday. I'll just get this out of the way right now, the conditions aren't good and I would look elsewhere for the time being. Good stuff: Tee boxes and fairways are in typical canyon/arroyo course shape. The bermuda is dry and a bit thin but very consistent. I rarely saw burned out patches in the fairways. A couple tee boxes were a bit un-level and there was some divot damage on the par 3s. A couple more needed a mow, but I'd say that they were pretty good overall. Not good stuff: Rough was a little bit of everything. Plenty of sparse bermuda that was slightly longer than fairway height. Wouldn't stop the ball at all, but at least it was grass. There was thick, lush grass around sprinklers (mostly Poa and a little bit of rye) that would swallow your ball and played completely different than anything else on the course. Finally, there were wide swaths that were mostly dirt with some sprigs of grass still holding on. Lots of new turf had been recently laid early on the front nine on some of these spots and those played as GUR. Worrisome stuff: Greens were burning out along the edges and many were showing brown spots on the main portion of the putting surface along with lots of unfixed ball marks. Most burned out patches were small (golf ball size) but I had to putt through a couple that were shoebox sized. Holes 1 and 18 come to mind as the worst shape right now, but there were others. Not good when the greens are burning out to this extent. It seemed like the grounds crew had put some water on them that morning so hopefully that will help. It's going to take some work to get them back however. Awful stuff: Bunkers are atrocious. Some of the worst sand I've played all year. You could be in 1/4 inch of dried powder over hardpan or in 3 inches of wet concrete. Really bad. As usual, the staff was very good and accommodating. There were no groups in front of our foursome for 30 minutes (or so said the starter), but we caught them by hole 5 and the course bogged down a bit. Overall POP was a little over 4.5 hours despite being almost 30 minutes under pace through 6 holes. I doubt I'll be back considering the drive and typical south OC overpricing, especially with current conditions. Keep an eye out for more reviews and hopefully they get it back in passable shape.