Played TR yesterday morning - 7:30 tee time. Friend and I paired with two nice guys. Out on time. Tee boxes are good on most holes, looks like they are letting the grass die on a few boxes and will... Continue »

Played TR yesterday morning - 7:30 tee time. Friend and I paired with two nice guys. Out on time. Tee boxes are good on most holes, looks like they are letting the grass die on a few boxes and will be replaced with new sod after summer heat. I didn't think it impacted play. Fairways are mostly green, good lies. Rough is a little inconsistent, think and lush in spots and not so much in others. Some GUR spots. Some areas of dead grab grass - again looking like they are letting it die so can be re-sodded after summer. Greens are in nice shape - not nearly as many ball marks as last few times I played. Held shots, medium speed. Still ridiculously hard if you're not on the proper level as most greens have multiple tiers. They are redoing the sand in the bunkers - much needed and the few greenside traps I was in had new, fluffy sand. I'm not a great bunker player, but the new sand made it much easier to play from. Staff is always helpful and friendly. Drink cart around twice on each side.
TR continues to make improvements to the course. They are trying to get back to pre-American Golf conditions. Overall, it's in good condition, a few rough spots they continue to work on, but conditions are nice for mid-summer. Go play.

Played TR Saturday, teed off around 1:00. We finished (barely), POP about 4:40. Was CPO, and as expected, course was still very wet, standing water in some low spots, etc. Tee boxes are good, fairw... Continue »

Played TR Saturday, teed off around 1:00. We finished (barely), POP about 4:40. Was CPO, and as expected, course was still very wet, standing water in some low spots, etc. Tee boxes are good, fairways have good coverage. Some thin spots, mostly on the fairway edges. Greens were medium speed and in good shape.
Course is continuing to work on areas trying to improve conditions. Staff is always friendly and helpful.

Always great to knock another course off the dreaded 100+ list and today I got to accomplish that at Tustin Ranch. Almost nine years to the day from the first and only time I ever played this course, ... Continue »

Always great to knock another course off the dreaded 100+ list and today I got to accomplish that at Tustin Ranch. Almost nine years to the day from the first and only time I ever played this course, shot 116 and never been back since, so today was fun Christmas Day payback. I didn't remember much about the layout but found it to be very compelling, quite challenging and very rewarding. There's a lot of water in play, bunkers aren't overwhelming in number but strategic in nature, and lengths can vary significantly regardless whether a par 3 or 4. It keeps throwing some new wrinkles at you with each hole, but never gets carried away. Conditions were mostly quite good, but certainly some post-rain muddy areas that could have used some GUR stakes. There were mostly good to very good lies all day but common landing areas on holes showed a lot more wear and tear and unfilled divots. But again, a minor complaint. Greens were showing a few too many ball marks (again, post-rain) for a 'premium' course, but they ran nicely and some are devilishly tiered and banked. What was great? The rough, most of the tee boxes and the sand was super fine and hit great bunker shots all day after landing in a lot of them. We played from the blue tees and outside of one or two they were absolutely fine. We had cart service numerous times throughout the day and that was great, however the (understandable but still frustrating) Cart Path Only rule for the day took some of the fun out of it because you invariably use the 'wrong' club at least a few times per round because you don't want to walk the half hour back to your cart after you realize you do in fact need a bit more loft or distance. That's just always an eye-roller. But overall this place leaves a far better taste in my mouth than my first experience nine years ago, although I do think this course is pretty overpriced when I see normal weekend prices (we paid much less today for some reason - is Christmas Day not usually crowded?) online or anywhere else. But for today's rate, and a really gorgeous sunny day, it was all well worth it. If it weren't such a haul I'd go again next weekend.

Played Saturday - 10:30 tee time. Out on time. Pace was about 4:20 - better than it seemed, we waited more than I like.
Course is in decent winter shape. They continue to perform maintenance in se... Continue »

Played Saturday - 10:30 tee time. Out on time. Pace was about 4:20 - better than it seemed, we waited more than I like.
Course is in decent winter shape. They continue to perform maintenance in several areas trying to get things back the way they used to be. Fairways have good coverage in most areas, some thin spots. Tee boxes are good. Bunkers are mostly soft and fluffy - a few are more firm and some inconsistent sand. Greens are running medium speed - lots of break and need to be on correct tier or it's a 3 putt.
Staff is always great, beverage cart around 3 or 4 times. Marshall out keeping everyone moving.
Picture perfect day, little wind, great company, had a great day (except for my score!)
Conditions are overall pretty nice for winter, and recommend getting out.

Played Sunday with 8:10 tee time. Pace was about 4:40 - I guess that's to be expected on a Sunday in OC.
Course is in pretty good shape. Greens fully back after maintenance, running medium speed. ... Continue »

Played Sunday with 8:10 tee time. Pace was about 4:40 - I guess that's to be expected on a Sunday in OC.
Course is in pretty good shape. Greens fully back after maintenance, running medium speed. Fairways had good coverage, lots of water, assume due to hot, windy weather. Tee boxes in better shape than last time I was here. Pin positions were pretty tough, not sure if someone had a bad night or what, but most pins tucked in corners or on slopes. Sucker pins they call them, and I was a sucker going for too many and paid the price for my misses. Made for some fun putting.
Course is still doing lots of work, and results are showing, slowly but surely.
Fun course, tough greens, in good shape now and worth playing if this is your type of course.

Played in the Annual American Legion scramble. Course was in decent condition and greens were OK. Being a scramble you just accept the pace of play.

Played in the Annual American Legion scramble. Course was in decent condition and greens were OK. Being a scramble you just accept the pace of play.

Have not played Tustin Ranch for a number of years (Primarily due to cost) Out early at 5:30am on a mild morning. Fairly busy considering it was still somewhat dark out. Lots of maintenance, which I k... Continue »

Have not played Tustin Ranch for a number of years (Primarily due to cost) Out early at 5:30am on a mild morning. Fairly busy considering it was still somewhat dark out. Lots of maintenance, which I kind of expected, but it would have been nice if they would have had pins in the greens. Apparently the mower who was in front of me just left them all out, because another person was going to change pin locations. Finally able to get in front of him after #9, so at least I had flagstick on the back nine.

Truth is I was surprised and disappointed with the conditions. Greens were still not fully recovered from the aeration, but beyond that, there were numerous bare spots on the greens and they were certainly neither quick nor true. Same thing in the fairways. Mostly good, but more bare areas than I would have expected, particularly when you charge so much. Did not find a single bunkers, but they all appeared fine.

I frequently ask myself why people pay so much $$ to play some of these course, when for a fraction, you can play many of the municipal courses. But South Orange County seems to have no problem charging whatever the market will bare. Location - location- location

I will say that the staff in the pro shop and the starter were fantastic.

Played Tustin Ranch on 4/15, 12:30 tee time but the starter let us out early since the course wasn't busy. My twosome got paired up with another twosome. Pace of play was great for a Saturday in Ora... Continue »

Played Tustin Ranch on 4/15, 12:30 tee time but the starter let us out early since the course wasn't busy. My twosome got paired up with another twosome. Pace of play was great for a Saturday in Orange County at around 4 hours and 10 minutes. Conditions were good, greens were very tough. Would play this course again.

Played on a beautiful warm day yesterday. Overall the course is in good condition. The bermuda fairways were a little thin but the rollout on drives was really good. The tee boxes were excellent bu... Continue »

Played on a beautiful warm day yesterday. Overall the course is in good condition. The bermuda fairways were a little thin but the rollout on drives was really good. The tee boxes were excellent but the greens were a bit beat up. They will be aerating the greens next week so the condition should improve. Although I live in Tustin I don't play here often as the green fees are rather expensive.