Played with my monthly club on a hot, sunny Saturday, 7/21/18 at 10AM on a surprisingly uncrowded course. Maybe everyone was home watching the British Open. [LOL – I have a running semi-feud with our ... Continue »

Played with my monthly club on a hot, sunny Saturday, 7/21/18 at 10AM on a surprisingly uncrowded course. Maybe everyone was home watching the British Open. [LOL – I have a running semi-feud with our tourney scheduler about major championship Saturdays – he was 3 for 5 this year with outings scheduled on Saturday during the Masters, Players, and British! He says he’ll try to do better next year {5 for 5!!?}. I say ‘STOP!’]. As we were finishing up, a big 80-person shotgun was going off – stay hydrated, folks! We had very little breeze to start, and only got some significant breeze on the last 7 holes. Fortunately, high thin clouds came in around 11AM to take the edge off the heat. Plenty of water available and you can find shade along most fairways and cart paths. We saw the cart girl several times, and the 9th hole swings back by the snack bar. Greens had good coverage and looked great. They were receptive to shots and rolled well at medium-fast speeds. We had good lies in the fairways. Rough was very playable, but could be clumpy around the greens, so recovery shots could be challenging. I wasn’t in the sand, but bunkers looked good and playing partners had no complaints. Tees were level and in good shape – a few were punched and sanded, but OK to hit from. Excellent breakfast burrito to start the round. Our tourney also got a giant hot dog and chips (yes, as a matter of fact, it is pretty giant!) and a $10 voucher for the pro shop. The latter isn’t that great, as it’s one voucher per person and only good on a single item >$20, so doesn’t work for a sleeve of balls or a glove. To get clothing or something useful, you have to spend quite a bit more to make it work. Hole 1 and 10 have been path-only for as long as I’ve been coming here, but I don’t see any good reason for it. Staff and cart girl driving through groups while hitting should be addressed by management. The course uses a red-white-blue flag location rotation – today, 3 of the 4 par-5s had blue flags. The course should mix things up more. Sierra Lakes is one of my favorites in SoCal as it fits my eye, has a nice mix of elevation changes and holes, and I’ve always found it to be in good condition. Recommended.