Had a work event starting this past Saturday down in Anaheim so went with a colleague over to Tustin Ranch for a fun round after having gotten our work done in the morning. We had some time before our... Continue »

Had a work event starting this past Saturday down in Anaheim so went with a colleague over to Tustin Ranch for a fun round after having gotten our work done in the morning. We had some time before our 2:10pm tee time so we ate at the Player's Lounge and then warmed up on the range ahead of our start. We were told that one of the holes (the par 3 3rd) would be closed for maintenance and that we would be starting our round on the 11th hole, then we could replay it to get in 18 holes. Fair enough. But when we did get around to the front nine, both holes 2 AND 3 were closed. Hole 2 is a beautiful par 5 that I would have loved to play and I felt absolutely cheated after having been given completely false information. Both my colleague and the other two players we were paired with were quite livid. And worse, when we finally finished the round, no one was around to direct our complaints to. Very frustrating indeed. One hole was fine, but two? At $190 for 18 holes? Very disappointing. As for the rest of the course, it's actually grown on me a lot since my last two visits, but I still think it's overpriced for what you get - especially when two holes are cut out! But the rest of the course was in pretty good late summer shape with nice, well-maintained and mostly green fairways (dry areas in spots to be fair), very playable rough, nice bunkers for the most part and excellent tee boxes (we played the whites) and greens. The greens were in really nice shape, rolling fast and true and holding shots quite well. They have some tricky green complexes for sure and I think I rolled my best putt ever on the 9th hole green where I was on the proper tier but a sloping section forced me to aim well right and up the ridge before finding the fall line and sinking the 50-footer for birdie. Carts are very nice with GPS and very finely appointed - no complaints there. We also had cart service come out a few times and that was great. POP was not really an issue until we caught the groups in front of us after the two-lost-hole debacle, then it slowed down quite a bit, but we cruised through the first ten holes quite nicely. So all-in-all it was a disappointing experience in one regard but not something that I anticipate will be a regular occurrence at Tustin Ranch. I would recommend waiting until they've sorted out this irrigation issue though on holes 2 and 3 before spending that kind of money to not get what it's all worth.