Wanted to play somewhere this week ahead of the Mt. Woodson outing, but it's tough to find courses not doing maintenance right now! Thanks to GK I was able to identify some prospects, and then this mo... Continue »

Wanted to play somewhere this week ahead of the Mt. Woodson outing, but it's tough to find courses not doing maintenance right now! Thanks to GK I was able to identify some prospects, and then this morning I found a really great Hot Deal rate for Los Serranos North today at 2:00. Checked in and was told I'd be playing with another single, but then when I went to the starter's booth, he just sent me out by myself. Played the first 11 holes behind a fast twosome in just under 2 hours, but then things backed up a bit. Joined that twosome for the last six holes and finished in 3:30.

Conditions are decent/good and very playable. The greens are very soft and prone to footprints and ball marks, so late in the day they were a little wobbly. The 12th green was the exception to the softness, as my 90-yard sand wedge approach bounced high in the air in the middle of the green and ended up on the back fringe. That ball would've stopped within a few inches on every other green on the course. Greens were rolling medium speed. The 5th green has a big bare/trouble area near the front, so the pin was far back and it didn't really affect anything. Fairways are quite nice with mostly good coverage everywhere; good lies all day. The rough, on the other hand, is pretty bad, with poor coverage and lots of areas where the ball settles down between tufts of grass onto dirt. What grass there is in the rough is cut pretty short. I think I got lucky because all of the bunkers I was in were good. Tee boxes were a little thin but nothing to complain about.

Played Tues 9/20 - customer service as always was very good, breakfast special is a good deal. Got off on time.

The course was in OK condition, not lush but not completely brown. Tee boxes were ok ... Continue »

Played Tues 9/20 - customer service as always was very good, breakfast special is a good deal. Got off on time.

The course was in OK condition, not lush but not completely brown. Tee boxes were ok some not level, fairways ran OK, bunkers were hard pan with little to no sand, greens are still recovering from being punched two weeks ago. Rough was wicked, got me several times with the grass roots grabbing my club head.

19th hole is always nice - cold pitcher of Dos XX, order of crispy O'rings and crispy fries.
Keep it in the short stuff!

Played Los Serranos for the first time ever on Sun 08/28/16 early a.m. Honestly, I'm not too concerned about customer service as long as the course staff isn't outright rude or lazy, but I was pretty... Continue »

Played Los Serranos for the first time ever on Sun 08/28/16 early a.m. Honestly, I'm not too concerned about customer service as long as the course staff isn't outright rude or lazy, but I was pretty impressed by how friendly everyone @ Los Serranos was...especially since it was still super early in the morning when I got to the course. I couldn't help but be put in a good/positive mood with everyone being all nice & cheerful. The positive vibes, for my game at least, generally translates into good results so that was actually a big plus in my book.

Warm up areas are located close to the clubhouse & 1st tee so you're not forced to scramble across the whole course to get some swings & putts in before your round. Loved the range since it was off natural grass & they've got a lot off diff targets to aim at.

Course itself was in good shape minus the bunkers. Especially during the front nine when it was still kinda damp, the bunkers were like concrete mix. The poor condition of the bunkers elevated the difficulty level of the course significantly since the greens are all fairly well guarded by big bunkers and you do not want to be in those gravel pits.

I really like the layout of several of the holes. Fun elevation changes, some tricky angles off the tee box (esp from the back tees), and that huge trench bunker thing across the 9th made that hole very fun. Don't know if it's a regular thing but they had a guy set up on the 10th tee doing a hole-in-one/shank promo for $20. Nobody in our group participated but it was an interesting touch. Another different but nice touch is that they don't have just the 1 traditional snack shop @ the turn but instead have 2 different ones at like the 7th & 13th (i think?). Also, for those interested in this particular kind of detail, I'll just say that the young lady at the 13th hole shop is probably at least one big reason why some guys come to play this course. The longest snack shop line i've ever seen. haha.

Bottom line, very fun course that gives good value for the money. Only played it once but I'm putting it at the top of my list for courses in that area (e.g. Diamond Bar, Royal Vista, Mountain Meadows, El Prado, etc.).

Played Zeb's Southern California Charity Classic on Friday 7-29-16

Fantastic time playing with sixpez again and meeting JohnnyGK and roarksown1.

This was the first time I have played either cour... Continue »

Played Zeb's Southern California Charity Classic on Friday 7-29-16

Fantastic time playing with sixpez again and meeting JohnnyGK and roarksown1.

This was the first time I have played either course here in decades. Several items stood out. First was the lack of trees from what I remember, which really opened up the course and made it more hacker friendly. Second was the very good overall conditions for such a busy course(see Johnny's review or my rating for specifics). Lastly was the welcome back to SoCal poa and kikuyu, here in CenCal we have almost no poa and only sporadic kikuyu so it was really a fun experience playing an entire course with those grasses again, yes the afternoon bumpy greens do bite, but it was fun nonetheless. I posted a pic of team GK so it should post soon. Thanks again gents for a wonderful round.

Fun day on Friday with GK’ers sixpez, cencalhack and roarksown1 as we participated in another GK’ers, ZebWelborn, Southern California Charity Golf Classic. Team GK came out of the gate on fire but fad... Continue »

Fun day on Friday with GK’ers sixpez, cencalhack and roarksown1 as we participated in another GK’ers, ZebWelborn, Southern California Charity Golf Classic. Team GK came out of the gate on fire but faded at the end for respectable 10 under, 62. This is a very enjoyable golf tournament for some good causes I will be participating in again next year.

The tournament was held on Los Serranos CC North Course. We played the white tees. It was challenging day to play golf that is for sure. Temps over 100 and a gusty wind to contend with in the afternoon. Having recently played Los Serranos CC South Course during our GK Plays in June, I liked the North Course, but IMO it’s not as good of a track as the South Course. The conditions on the North Course were good, not great like the South was, but given the massive heat waves lately, I can see why many dry/brown areas are starting to develop in the rough and occasionally in the fairways. However being it’s predominantly a Kikuyu grass course, where it was lush in the fairways, which I would say 95% of the time, the ball really sat up. The bunkers were firm and thin yet well raked. The tee boxes were in good shape, lush and cut. The greens were healthy poa grass but as the day wore on footprints started to accumulate so what began as smooth mostly fast greens gradually got bumpier and slower. Overall the course was in good shape with enjoyable conditions.

I found the layout easier than the South Course and not as interesting but still a fun track with at times some challenging greens/tee shots. I liked the various elevation changes and doglegs. I liked the risk/reward par 5’s and being we played the white tees, some risk/rewards par 4’s. As far as Pace of Play it was an almost full 144 players shotgun tournament in 100+ degrees so it was as expected a slow 5 hour round. I’ve played the course before and under normal circumstances and it was an easily under 4 ½ hour round.

Perhaps one of my favorite aspects is the Los Serranos Country Club huge comfortable clubhouse. It’s loaded with golf and tennis history. Nice bar, good food and friendly service. I’ve never not enjoyed a round of golf at Los Serranos CC and will be back for sure.

Played with Keith, Johnny and Tate (sixpez, JohnnyGK, cencalhack) in Zeb Welborn's very fun Southern California Charity Golf Classic on Friday afternoon and it was a really good time. I'm probably too... Continue »

Played with Keith, Johnny and Tate (sixpez, JohnnyGK, cencalhack) in Zeb Welborn's very fun Southern California Charity Golf Classic on Friday afternoon and it was a really good time. I'm probably too self-absorbed in bettering my own golf game that the scramble format would be one I would want to play too often, but with those guys it was pretty cool. And I'm not sure I'll ever be shooting a 62 on my own so that was a treat!

I'd never played Los Serranos before (either 18), so I was looking forward to it. I do want to come back soon and play a regular stroke round here to test myself, as this north course was definitely a challenge - not made any easier by the 100+ temps and slow tournament play.

As far as conditions, Keith's appraisal was spot on. There are some dried out areas on the fairways, and especially off of them, but that's understandable in this part of dry county. The sand did seem very firm and would have been pretty awful to play out of at any point.

The tee boxes were all pretty good and the rough was a mixed bag of varying lengths. The greens were actually quite nice and I actually really liked many of the green complexes. They had some very interesting breaks that happened to confound us all later in the day when the heat and tiredness got to us.

I thought the layout was pretty fun and again, look forward to playing a regular round here in the near future. It's a little far out for me but may do a double with either both 18s or a round here and one at El Prado.

They did also have a few more snack shops around the course (there's one on the 13th tee box?) which is really cool. Not much to read into the service and cost though since it was an arranged tournament and not just a regular day out. But I'm sure this track is super fun when it's in even more optimal condition.

Played here this afternoon as part of the Southern California Charity Golf Classic event hosted by GK'er zebwelborn. Fun event with a lot of prizes and goodies. Scramble format. Team GK consisted of m... Continue »

Played here this afternoon as part of the Southern California Charity Golf Classic event hosted by GK'er zebwelborn. Fun event with a lot of prizes and goodies. Scramble format. Team GK consisted of myself, JohnnyGK, cancalhack and roarksown1. We came out of the gates red hot, but fizzled on our back nine and didn't win. Next year! The course was in fine shape overall. Tee boxes decent. Fairways had plenty of thin spots scattered throughout, but we always had good lies to play from with the scramble. Rough pretty spotty in some areas and lush in others. We didn't have to play from any bunkers, but I did retrieve a stray ball or two and they seemed pretty crusty on top. The greens were soft and receptive, rolling at medium speeds. Got slower, spongier and bumpier as the round went on, which is typical here. I always have a pretty good time on the North Course and I think it's somewhat underrated compared to its big brother. I still would pick the South, but North is very solid on all levels. We sure had a lot of fun in our group and at the event, so it was an enjoyable day all around! Most importantly, it felt good to support some great local charities.

Always enjoy playing here. The north is not as punishing as the south, but I do miss all the par 5 holes on the north. (Birdie opportunities?) Staff is accommodating and generally I am able to get ... Continue »

Always enjoy playing here. The north is not as punishing as the south, but I do miss all the par 5 holes on the north. (Birdie opportunities?) Staff is accommodating and generally I am able to get out early and beat the crowds.

Course is in decent shape. The greens rolled well (Or maybe I just made a few putts?) Some issues with the rough which needs to be addressed. Some bunkers good, some not so good.

I play the LS North regularly and it seems to play the same most times. It was really nice today. The greens are great. Some of the greens had some light sand on them which was supposed to fill in ... Continue »

I play the LS North regularly and it seems to play the same most times. It was really nice today. The greens are great. Some of the greens had some light sand on them which was supposed to fill in some of the imperfections on them I was told. Still it did not impact play and they rolled very well. The fairways were also very nice. There isn't really much rough as it they let it die out due to the water shortage. Its still very playable. just more dirt than grass. Noticed though that some of the bunkers were redone with softer sand. Not all of them but its still a big improvement.

Pace of play was about 4.5 hours on a hot day. We played behind a slow group but my group wasn't exactly Speedy Gonzalez out there! We were kind of slow today also so 4.5 hours was on us. Need to pick up the pace a bit with this group!

I really enjoy Los Serranos. Even the North at 6382 yds 71.6, 130 is a tough layout. Customer service has really changed there over the years. Great guys in the club house and I thoroughly enjoy the 19th hole. Good food in there.