I wish more Orange County courses would be affordable to play. Even though I live in the OC I travel to Riverside County for affordable golf. Luckily my friend is a Creek Card member which makes it ... Continue »

I wish more Orange County courses would be affordable to play. Even though I live in the OC I travel to Riverside County for affordable golf. Luckily my friend is a Creek Card member which makes it more affordable to play here. Played here 6/7. The course has some challenging holes requiring precision shots or your OB. Tees were lush and had some major divot damage. Greens were nice and rolled true. Overall s decent course to play.

Played yesterday 5/30/17 am. Was told 8 greens had been punched that morning. !0 greens were actually punched. No reduction in fees were offered. Greens have always been inconsistent. Tee to green was... Continue »

Played yesterday 5/30/17 am. Was told 8 greens had been punched that morning. !0 greens were actually punched. No reduction in fees were offered. Greens have always been inconsistent. Tee to green was playable.

Im a Creek Card member so got out on dawn patrol for $65. A lot of fog for the first 4-5 holes which added some additional challenge (visibility and moisture), but finished in about 4 hours. All in ... Continue »

Im a Creek Card member so got out on dawn patrol for $65. A lot of fog for the first 4-5 holes which added some additional challenge (visibility and moisture), but finished in about 4 hours. All in all, I still think the course is one of the best values in South Orange county. I was excited to get out for my first time since the aeration.

Similar to a few other reviews, I too am a little worried about the greens. They were cut close, held shots well, medium/fast-speed, but unfortunately a lot of ball mark damage. Not much damage left from aeration. Some rare dark green polka-dots of grass are still visible, but I don't think it affected putting as much as the ball marks and some burns on a few greens (hello Arroyo Trabuco?). I agree they are still not up to their lush quality, but getting there.

Fairways were in great shape, lush, and divots repaired. Couldn't ask for much more.

Tee boxes were hit and miss. Some boxes were cut, others not. Some with un-repaired divots, some had the markers aiming a good 20 degrees off into the rough, other not. A real mix match. First time I had seen that here.

Traps were wet and mushy. Agree with others that it would be nice if they could get this right one day.

We saw the cart girl once on 17, although it was 10AM at that point, and the marshall about 3-4 times. I think the course is in great shape. Beautiful scenery on the back with no shortage of deer, rabbits, squirrels and other wildlife. Still a great value and probably my go to course in South OC for the near future.

Played a 2-man scramble Monster club tourney here on Wed., fun times. Course set up with super difficult pin positions and a few very strange tee locations, played blacks and beyond on most holes. W... Continue »

Played a 2-man scramble Monster club tourney here on Wed., fun times. Course set up with super difficult pin positions and a few very strange tee locations, played blacks and beyond on most holes. Whoever set it up was very creative. Conditions were accurate per the latest leef2020 review but his concern for getting the greens back into shape can be forgotten (at least for today), as they were well prepared, even, quick, and just about as good as Poa can get. A pleasure to putt on. Fairways starting to brown out a bit, rough still semi-deep and penal in some areas. Bunkers here are never very well maintained, I don't know why this is so difficult for a higher end OC course. Decent deals exist for twi-light or using the Creek Card, because the rack rate here is typical OC over-the-top. Still recommended.

Played here yesterday, April 27. With the EZLinks booking software down, TC was affected by it, but other than having to pay via a manual credit card slip and the obvious stress on the pro shop staff ... Continue »

Played here yesterday, April 27. With the EZLinks booking software down, TC was affected by it, but other than having to pay via a manual credit card slip and the obvious stress on the pro shop staff (still pleasant), not an issue overall, and was able to tee off on time at 1:20pm. Starter had a print-out with all the groups properly listed. POP was 3:50hrs - and all on our 3some.

Belatedly found out we had teed off after the last group of a shot-gun start outing came through on hole #1. After we finished the first hole, we noticed that the group in front of us had vanished - we literally had no one in front of us on the entire course, which was cool, but also tremendous pressure to be sure we weren't holding everyone up! :)

Played the blues and the tee boxes were all good, with the exceptions of #14, #16 tee boxes (par 3s), tough to get a stance not standing in divot holes.

Fairways and rough has browned up (mix of 80% green and 20% brown) since I played a month ago, but the ball sat up very well on the fairways and generally sat down enough in the rough to be up to a club-penal. Ball rolled out nicely, as the fairways and rough has firmed up.

Greens have been cut close, held shots pretty well, medium-speed, and were a bit bumpy on the day and the cups were a crowned mess, no doubt due to the outing that had just played.

Greens are generally recovered from the spring aeration, dark green polka-dots of grass are still visible, but don't think it affected putting. I do, however, have a concern about the staff getting the greens back up to a top-notch standard going forward. They are still not up to their lush quality last fall, prior to their fall aeration. Hope they prove my concerns unjustified.

Was in two greenside bunkers, #14, #17, and the sand was in good/fair condition, with two different types of sand - fourteen was a pretty firm calcium carbonate type sand (white) and seventeen was soft and fluffy brown sand. Both were raked pretty well.

Saw the cart girl twice and marshal a few times. He really didn't have much to do, but was surprised he didn't bust our chops at some point for having so many holes open in front of us. ;-)

I'd give the course conditions a 'B' overall, as of yesterday. A notch below Black Gold and The Crossings at Carlsbad, but still pretty good and playable.

Tijeras Creek as a single on Friday morning, $65 CC senior rate, with a 7:11 tee time, on time. PoP stagnant (4:30) for such an early tee time. I got some exercise today and walked it, but did get a ... Continue »

Tijeras Creek as a single on Friday morning, $65 CC senior rate, with a 7:11 tee time, on time. PoP stagnant (4:30) for such an early tee time. I got some exercise today and walked it, but did get a pull up the hills after 14 & 17. Played with some good folk, too. [Rant on. It amazes me that there are clueless old farts (I'm an old fart so I can say it) who like to play early but cannot get around in 4 hrs or less ... even when they ride. Suggestion: grab a later tee time!!! Rant off.] Yes, we waited on every shot except after the par 3's. Found the course in very good condition, tee to green (see leef2020's extensive prior review, it's spot on). Fairways were fuzzy until the mowers got out, then they were just right. Greens are a bit soft, ball marks were craters, but rolling at predictable medium speed, semi-true. Was in one f/w bunker on #1, well maintained and good cover. Always enjoy playing the back side here, like a walk in the woods. Grass range (Fri-Sun) and nice short game green. Range balls are $9 for 50. Recommended.

Course was packed today (3/29), with no open tee times/slots even for singles, from at least 9am - 3:00pm. Heard one guy there at 12:40pm being told to come back at 3:00pm and they'd 'work him in'.
... Continue »

Course was packed today (3/29), with no open tee times/slots even for singles, from at least 9am - 3:00pm. Heard one guy there at 12:40pm being told to come back at 3:00pm and they'd 'work him in'.

Teed off about 12:55pm on a sunny, breezy day. POP was 4hrs, 35mins, which I consider good given the amount of play. Temps dropped from mid/high 70's for most of the day to about 60 degrees by the 16th hole, around 5pm.

Course is in very good condition, imho (finally!!). Overall, I'd say it is a 1/2-notch below where it was about this time last year, due to some fine-tuning still needed on the tees and greens.

Tees were green, lush and cut short enough today. We played the whites, which were mostly located up alongside the 'green' tee markers (not sencha). A little soft and at times chewed up from golfers 'twisting' during their tee shots. They seem to be giving several tee boxes a rest, as the blues and blacks were also grouped with the green/white combo, perhaps mostly on a few par 3s

Fairways were fully green, lush, cut about 3/4", some decent roll at times, but certainly not the firmest I've seen them. Consistent coverage and the ball sat up well. Very nice.

Rough was very lush, mostly dark green with some small areas of yellowing/light brown, recently cut to about 2" today/yesterday, easy to find the ball, but it was tough getting the club through the grass if the ball sank down, which it did a number of times.

While a handful of greens still had small areas of visible punch holes from 5 weeks ago, the vast majority were fully-healed or 97% healed. Greens held decently, there were a number of ball marks that we repaired. Putting seemed smoother on the back than on the front - at least that's where I drained the longest putts (a 50 & 20-footer). ;-) The green on 14 still has 1/3 of it under repair due to the collapse two/three months ago., but it is coming along.

The one greenside sand trap I was in (#7) was recently raked, with a good layer of soft sand.

Marshall came by about 4 times, the cart girl about the same number. Nice jugs (of ice water) available at tee boxes on 3, 5, 8, 11, 14 and 17. Toilets are located at #6 tee box and after #13 green. So, it is advisable to 'go before you go'.

Carts have no GPS nor ice buckets. But, two guys in our group brought their own portable buckets w/ice (and bevvies), and the starter didn't say a word. A good day out, and I will return with two golfing buddies on Monday.

Back out to Tijeras Creek for an early morning round, as I wanted to use my last discount Creek Card coupon before it expired on 3/31/17. The course is in better condition than it was a few weeks ago... Continue »

Back out to Tijeras Creek for an early morning round, as I wanted to use my last discount Creek Card coupon before it expired on 3/31/17. The course is in better condition than it was a few weeks ago, greens while still too slow for my taste, did roll better. Fairways were lush/green and well maintained. The tee boxes however need to be mowed, way too long ! Bunkers were hit or miss depending upon where in the bunker you ended up.

I enjoy this course and it's close to home, but it's pricey and I struggle with the staff to get out early as a single. I have mixed feelings about their policies.

Following sngernz's review, not much has changed. Greens still have not recovered from the punching/sanding, I suspect it will be a couple weeks until they're decent again. The rest of the course is... Continue »

Following sngernz's review, not much has changed. Greens still have not recovered from the punching/sanding, I suspect it will be a couple weeks until they're decent again. The rest of the course is fairly good. The rough was uncut in places, and the bunkers needed to be groomed, but I think I was ahead of maintenance ?

I like this course, particularly since it's the closest course to my home, but it's still a bit pricey, even with the creek card and senior rates. But I guess by the time you factor in time and gas, it's probably "a wash" compared to traveling somewhere else?