Got out to Talega on a Saturday afternoon, $60 w/cart. I read and agree with leef2020's extensive review from the other day: the course has some sour spots that will keep me away for awhile ... mainly... Continue »

Got out to Talega on a Saturday afternoon, $60 w/cart. I read and agree with leef2020's extensive review from the other day: the course has some sour spots that will keep me away for awhile ... mainly the bunkers. Majority of GS bunkers were extremely firm and tough to play from ... and then a few had decent sand but were not maintained. Sad. Today, the greens were bumpy which can happen on an afternoon but this was not all due to foot traffic. Speed was medium but we saw so many putts move off line from the hopping and skipping, just made for a frustrating day. Fairways mostly thin and firm with better conditions on the back side. Rough was spotty ... some areas nice 2-3" grass and some, well, not. A lot of variation in the lies we got. The layout thru the rolling San Clemente hills is the positive here. Very challenging track with undulating greens ... it requires some thought before each shot, especially due to the firm fairways and unpredictable bounces. Good GPS although one cart had no GPS. I'm sure the drought has something to do with the whole situation here and with summer upon us, looks like this course (as it is with many others) will suffer thru another dry, firm, golf season. Just get those greens back to give us a smoother roll and do something about those bunkers!

Played here in the afternoon on June 9th. Booked a single tee time via GolfNow, with no issues. Was paired up with another single who also booked through GolfNow, and we played as a twosome. Starter k... Continue »

Played here in the afternoon on June 9th. Booked a single tee time via GolfNow, with no issues. Was paired up with another single who also booked through GolfNow, and we played as a twosome. Starter kept things organised. The cart had a good GPS unit that provided a lot of hole info, including tips and distance detail, including distances to all hazards, front/back of green, pin, etc. Nice putting green before the round, but was a bit slower than the greens on the course. Course was generally in good shape, with the greens being the best bit. Other than a few bumps from the days' golfers' shoes, they rolled pretty true (31 putts) and were in very good condition. Greens were medium-fast in my opinion. Fairways were pretty firm, and if you landed the tee ball in the fairway, you generally got pretty good roll. Some spots in the fairways were a bit splotchy, with tufts of grass, and this carried over to the rough throughout the course, leaving you with some tough lies at times. Also some new turf in the rough around some of the bunkers, I guess reducing the size and quantity of sand traps. Traps were generally very firm, some with gloppy, wet sand visible too often. Worst traps I've seen by a wide margin in the last two years. Considering the number and size of the traps that run throughout the course, the condition really detracts from the experience. They really are a key visual feature of the course, so you'd think they'd take greater care to ensure their condition is more top-notch. The front and back 9s are different, with the back 9 offering a number of 'blind' shots off the tee, over a fair amount of trouble. As a short hitter, the blues were a bigger challenge on the back than the front 9. Oddly, both sets of the restrooms out on the course were locked. Hello, bushes. In spite of waiting on every shot/hole for the foursome in front of us, we finished in 4 1/2 hours. Finishing the round at 7:20pm on a Thursday, was surprised that the bar/restaurant was dead and pretty much shut-down. Otherwise, the clubhouse is nice and I'd expect it to be busier. Must not be a priority or draw for the area, as nearby San Juan Hills' bar/restaurant is much better. Overall, a good experience, and would like to play there again in the future. It is a nice layout, some challenging holes and greens. But, I won't be rushing back there in the next few weeks. Maybe in another month or three.

Got out for an afternoon round at 12:50 on Wednesday, 4/19/16 – booked a Hot Deal on GN for $30. “One only” reservation at that time meant I was joining a threesome (which turned out to be a twosome a... Continue »

Got out for an afternoon round at 12:50 on Wednesday, 4/19/16 – booked a Hot Deal on GN for $30. “One only” reservation at that time meant I was joining a threesome (which turned out to be a twosome and another single), but on a slow Wednesday afternoon there was no starter and players were basically going to the first tee when they wanted to, so the twosome took off and I played with the other single a couple of groups later, in just over 4 hours. Turns out GK legend “weber” was out earlier that day, although, having never meant the gentleman, he could bounce a ball off my head and I wouldn’t know it was him. Also saw Bob Pan’s review from last weekend. My review differs from theirs in that I didn’t see any signs about switching grasses on the greens. Like weber, I found the greens to be very good – maybe as good as I’ve ever seen them here – good coverage, lush, holding shots well, rolling at medium speed, with only minor scattered discolored spots that didn’t affect play. We found the fairways to be washed out, very thin, dry, and firm, aiding runout but giving uncertain lies (and not being that attractive). Rough had been cut very short and was almost preferable to the fairway lies. Green collars were more lush and green and in some cases precluded run-up options when recovering around greens. Tees were fine – lush and level. Even the par-3 tees were in good condition. My big problem here continues to be with the bunkers. They’ve had a bunker rehab program going on for what seems to be the past 2 or 3 years(!), but many of the bunkers are still almost unplayable. Some of the fairway traps (left side, #4; short of the green right, #9) are just packed base – you can walk thru without making footprints, and the rake doesn’t move any material. Others have good fluffy sand depth – my playing partner encountered BOTH conditions in one bunker adjacent to #10 green. The course is apparently addressing some of their bunker issues by REMOVING bunkers – traps on the right side of the driving area on #2, on the line to the green on the short #3, and a key trap on the left side of the semi-blind #15 have been filled in, to the detriment of the strategic aspects of the course. We saw lots of scattered small maintenance projects – cleared areas, staging, etc. – that didn’t really affect play but were visually unappealing. GPS was frequently unavailable, especially on the back nine. This has been a long-term recurring problem at Talega – the course needs to install additional technology to better cover these areas if they continue to offer this feature. No ranger or cart girl seen. I like this layout and generally conditions are acceptable, with the exceptions noted. I’d look for deals or play twilight.

Difficult to add much to robertkpan's previous review! He did a ver nice job describing the conditions here. I did not find the greens all that bad, maybe because I actually made a few putts ??. O... Continue »

Difficult to add much to robertkpan's previous review! He did a ver nice job describing the conditions here. I did not find the greens all that bad, maybe because I actually made a few putts ??. Otherwise conditions are good - no real complaints.

The staff is always great and very accommodating. I would play here more often, but it's a little pricey for repeated visits. I don't agree that the par 3 holes play similar distances. Maybe because of pin positions today? In any event, always enjoy this course and with the senior rates, it's not undoable with respect to $$

Played Talega on 4/16 with a 9:44 tee time. I read bstoc99's post regarding the same day and I had a totally different experience. POP for our group was right at 4.5 hours, which I felt was pretty goo... Continue »

Played Talega on 4/16 with a 9:44 tee time. I read bstoc99's post regarding the same day and I had a totally different experience. POP for our group was right at 4.5 hours, which I felt was pretty good for a Saturday mid morning tee time. Before i get to the conditions, the facilities here are top notch except for the driving range. The range is pretty small, mats only and really far away from the clubhouse. They did shuttle us back and forth, but the range didn't match the rest of the course.

Fairways, tee boxes, bunkers and the rough were in excellent condition. Fairways are nearly perfect throughout the course and really give you a chance to score well. Bunkers are consistent and very easy to play out of. The only issue from a condition standpoint are the greens. Talega is transitioning from Rye to Bermuda and the bermuda hasn't fully come in yet on all the greens. While this is an inconvenience, it really didn't affect play too much and the course posted signs everywhere explaining what they are doing. Also the pro shop let me know when I made the tee time so we knew what the issues were. All that being said, I never felt as though the greens were a detriment to the course. I'd say roughly half the greens are fully healed, and the other have are about 75% of the way there.

The layout of Talega is pretty average. My only major complaint is every par 5 is laid out nearly identical with a hazard running down the right side and 3 of the par 3's played the same distance today (175) so that was a bit disappointing. However, I think the scorecard has some variation and it's just the way it was set up today.

The course isn't very difficult unless the wind blows, but when it does, scores can balloon quickly. It's not target golf, but accuracy is rewarded. Overall I'd give Talega a solid "B", conditions are very good (greens still healing but not bad). As far as OC courses go, it's on par with Strawberry Farms, and Oak Creek for about the same price.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

Pace of play today was horrible at about 5 1/4 hours. Just too many groups out there. The tees were fine with plenty of grass. Fairways and rough were pretty thin with some gr... Continue »

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

Pace of play today was horrible at about 5 1/4 hours. Just too many groups out there. The tees were fine with plenty of grass. Fairways and rough were pretty thin with some grass and a few lush spots. The bunkers were absolutely AWFUL!, they were either thin like concrete or very thick and way too inconsistent. Greens were TERRIBLE!!! About half of the greens had some sort of disease and they were littered with brown holes that looked like pitch marks. EXTREMELY BUMPY! Overall, this was a huge disappointment for the green fee of $60.

Do not play here for at least a couple months or until conditions improve!

I've played here quite a few times over the years, but the conditions seem to be slowly deteriorating. The greens were in great shape yesterday, but the rough had lots of bare spots. They switched t... Continue »

I've played here quite a few times over the years, but the conditions seem to be slowly deteriorating. The greens were in great shape yesterday, but the rough had lots of bare spots. They switched the fairways to bermuda, I assume for drought resistance, and for the most part they were in decent shape, although still a little dormant. Overall, though, I'd wait to see if conditions improve before playing there again.

Considering I've lived within 15-20 minutes of this course since it opened and I'd never played it, I had to jump on a $25 GolfNow "Hot Deal" for 12:56 this afternoon. The starter actually got me out ... Continue »

Considering I've lived within 15-20 minutes of this course since it opened and I'd never played it, I had to jump on a $25 GolfNow "Hot Deal" for 12:56 this afternoon. The starter actually got me out around 12:30 and I played with three other guys. POP was right at four and a half hours, playing the blue tees (6,583 yards).

One of the reasons I'd never played here is because reviews have led me to believe conditions were really bad, so I went in with low expectations. I think this helped a lot, and I found the course far from pristine but very playable. The greens have lots of good, lush grass and are not "winter thin" like so many other courses right now. However, they are only about medium speed and oftentimes slightly bumpy. They accepted full shots great and were softer than they were firm. All in all, not bad at all. Tip: Hit your putts firmly. The "touch" putts were the ones most affected by the bumpiness, so it's important to get the ball started firmly on the desired path.

Fairways were dormant and mostly thin, although there are spots of lush grass here and there. Lies on the dormant stuff are very tight, as expected. The rough was a little more lush than the fairways, some in very good condition and others not so great. There are many, many areas marked as GUR, but I felt they weren't very well defined. Oftentimes there was a staked rope on only one side of the GUR, which made it difficult to determine where to drop if you were in it. Not a huge deal, but it might be better to just spray paint the perimeter rather than put up ropes all over the place. Bunkers were inconsistent; some had sand under the ball, others did not. Tee boxes were good throughout; no complaints.

Overall, I had a great time and enjoyed the course. In some spots it felt a little like "Maderas Lite" to me. I felt it was weird that the uphill, 613-yard 13th is designed to play less than driver off the tee, due to a chasm that juts into the fairway about 250 yards from the tee. The GPS stopped working for a long stretch of holes on the back nine, which my playing partner said happens frequently here. The short par-4 14th might have been my favorite hole, offering tons of options and a crazy green with a big ridge running through it. The course is unquestionably worth the rate I got, but not the full weekday rack rate of $80.

Played today for the first time in almost a year. We were very disappointed the last time with the course conditions (this track ain't cheap!) so we took it out of our rotation. Had been hearing that ... Continue »

Played today for the first time in almost a year. We were very disappointed the last time with the course conditions (this track ain't cheap!) so we took it out of our rotation. Had been hearing that things were better so we gave it a try. Got out quick (before our scheduled time) and knew they had been changing over the turf and conditions vastly improved. Greens were in very good shape! Hardly ANY ballmarks! (one of my major peeves!). Rough, not too bad but thick enough that you could chunk it or fly it. Found the sand on a few holes. Some traps better than others. Had a very enjoyable round. Staff always very accommodating. My playing partner and I are Seniors so we get a pretty good rate. I'd look for deal if I was anyone else because it is pricey but then again its south OC and that can be expected.