Weekend round back at Rio Hondo this weekend with an old friend and we both walked, playing from the blue tees. Made the... » More

Weekend round back at Rio Hondo this weekend with an old friend and we both walked, playing from the blue tees. Made the booking online with cart only, but the starter was a pro and gave us the walking rate instead of the online price - good customer service there.

I've reviewed Rio Hondo a million times so I won't get too much into the course layout or other extracurriculars, but current course conditions are worth a closer look.

The greens have recovered well from the last punch a month or so ago and are running quite nicely right now. Putts hold their lines well, approach shots hold the green, and the speeds (medium fast) are consistent from hole to hole. A few too many pitch marks to be fair, but I fixed up as many as I could find.

Fairways are mostly in good shape but there are some holes that are severely flirting with 'thin.' The rough is also a mixed bag of everything imaginable - stick to the fairways - easier said than done on this narrow track. Bunkers were okay - a little thin for my liking but played better than they actually look. Tee boxes are feeling the heat but nothing too awful to cry about in this post. The course is definitely playable but I've certainly seen it more lush than at the moment.

POP was not great but we were paired with a twosome and one of them was most certainly a beginner so I think we were mainly the reason for the slow-ish play, but it wasn't too bad in the long run as we finished at just under five hours ... I suppose that's not bad for a Sunday round in LA.

Overall it was a good day for golf (despite playing atrociously) as the skies never parted, the sun kept us warm and the course entertained us with all its gifts. I will be back I'm sure.
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Big TEN O – It was our tenth outing at Bear Creek Golf Club Monday 12/1 on a beautiful December day with the best playin... » More

Big TEN O – It was our tenth outing at Bear Creek Golf Club Monday 12/1 on a beautiful December day with the best playing conditions yet. Gorgeous overseeded fairways & tee boxes, meticulously kept bunkers with new white sand, somewhat dormant rough and best of all, smooth/fast/firm greens that require good reads and excellent touch.

Bear Creek Golf Club is a perfect place to host a 80 max players event. The entire staging area, large driving range (grass), practice putting, chipping/sand short game practice and clubhouse are conveniently located for your players. We set up our check-in tent adjacent to the putting green making it easy for players to check-in and run our Vivid Golf Putting Skill Challenge prior to play.

We play a lot of very nice private clubs with our events. Bear Creek Golf Club has moved into my Top-5. I wish they had more golf carts (although the course is walkable) so we could put on a full field 120 players event but even with an 80 players max, I’ll continue to book events here with more coming in 2026!

Huge thanks to rgm2525 & Itslikeimsayin for helping out with check-in, Vivid Golf Skill Challenge and photos/video. Great time teeing it up with these GKers and to be joined by Brian from Golf Moose. Great company on a great course. Love Golf.

Highly Recommended
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Played this AM. The fairways were damp so lies were good (not on all fairways) so little to no roll out.

Tee b... » More

Played this AM. The fairways were damp so lies were good (not on all fairways) so little to no roll out.

Tee boxes were all playable and traps have new sand (not all yet) and they are very playable. But I would be remiss not mentioning no one rakes, nor cares or does not know how to rake a bunker. After all these years of playing the only think I can come up with is that players today are just lazy.

Greens are getting better and firming up and getting faster. I was told that they are going to remove the bent grass greens that have been there since the 80's and seed them with poa annua but no time schedule was given.

I would not say the course is in as good as shape at present as I have seen it over the years. So I certainly hope we will see improvement over the coming months.

As always excellent customer service from every employee who I came in contact with.

Restaurant still open only W through Sun.
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Played in group 1B of yesterday’s Golf Moose + GK outing presented by Vivid Golf with JohnnyGK, rgm2525, and Brian. We c... » More

Played in group 1B of yesterday’s Golf Moose + GK outing presented by Vivid Golf with JohnnyGK, rgm2525, and Brian. We caught an absolutely ideal weather day with perfect temps, a little breeze, and gorgeous clear skies, which made it feel extra special to play this beautiful private course. POP was typical for these outings at 5 hours.

Conditions are very nice, highlighted by excellent, fast greens. They ran smooth and were more firm than soft. They accepted full shots well but it was difficult to get shorter shots to check. I would’ve liked to see fewer ball marks on the greens that were clearly from fellow participants in the outing – if we don’t take great care of these courses, they’re not as likely to invite us back. The overseeded, vivid green fairways were quite lush and maybe could’ve used a tighter mow; they didn’t provide much run-out on drives. The rough wasn’t deep but definitely made things more challenging than hitting from the fairways. White-sand bunkers were all quite good, even if my sand game wasn’t. Blue tee boxes were mostly great.

This is a really fun, challenging course with some beautiful holes set in what appears to be an amazing, active community. It feels special being out there. Highly recommended if you get a chance to play it.
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played on 12/01/2025. They have increased the rates to play for a non-resident by 50% to help subsidize the local player... » More

played on 12/01/2025. They have increased the rates to play for a non-resident by 50% to help subsidize the local players. Play was still very slow. Not worth the additional money until they can get this course and greens in shape.
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Never having played Oak Valley and rarely in the area, I drove out on Tuesday, 11/25 to meet a buddy to catch up on life... » More

Never having played Oak Valley and rarely in the area, I drove out on Tuesday, 11/25 to meet a buddy to catch up on life and share a round on his home course — him literally renting in the development. The week after all the rain, it was good timing because things were greened up but not sloppy. Playing the whites, conditions were solid and a step above my normal muni excursions. Teeing grounds were green, clean and while I wouldn't take a level to them, they were consistently level enough. Fairways had consistently green coverage and good lies. The rough was similarly green and on the thick side, more often costing a shot. Missed the bunkers and the grooming appeared average. Green surrounds could be on the heavier side and hitting into the grain could be an ugly result, while the putting surfaces were clean and running at the fast end of medium.

Not a readily walkable course, $60 with cart seemed like a pretty solid deal. It has a good amount of contour with interesting holes and the occasional altitude drop or rise. A few holes required some carry on the tee shots or the second shots, and there could be consequences for getting off line (drop off, water, etc.) but the fairways were a reasonable target width. I think the main challenges tended to be around the green complexes. Frequently they eliminated or minimized the roll up option with bunkers, elevation or an angled alignment to the fairway. Bottom line, between the course itself and the nearby snow capped mountains, there was some nice visual interest and more than a reasonable amount of challenge for those of us not blessed with single digit handicap level games. We teed of around 12:40, had a painfully slow group in front of us, skipped them and the tenth hole at the turn and finished on 17 due to failing light. Don't know if/when I will ever be back, but I would welcome it with the bit of course knowledge I gained.
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Played on Thanksgiving, course in good shape. Excellent driving range included in the $125 green fee, a steal this time... » More

Played on Thanksgiving, course in good shape. Excellent driving range included in the $125 green fee, a steal this time of year for a course this good in the Desert Area. Course was busy and we still made it in 4hours 15 minutes. Greens a little slow, front nine a few strokes harder than the back nine. A good mixture of long holes and shorter ones, real short par 4 #11 and #15. Bunkers around greens were great for a change, fairway bunkers were good but for some reason some had weeds growing in them which was strange as the rest of the course is in great condition. Rough was not high at all but most holes if you miss playing area your ball is gone as vegetation is thick and not playable (or finding your ball) possible. Highly recommend if your going to try and play out in the Desert Area where many are over or closer to $200 during this time of year.
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Hidden gem in the Antelope Valley. Private but I think sometimes public. Would play again. Food was great.
Would s... » More

Hidden gem in the Antelope Valley. Private but I think sometimes public. Would play again. Food was great.
Would say more but just repeating earlier reviews.

Played last month, October 2025, but so old almost forgot to review it.
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The third and final round of the Vegas trip was at Anthem Country Club on Wednesday. This is allegedly one of the hig... » More

The third and final round of the Vegas trip was at Anthem Country Club on Wednesday. This is allegedly one of the higher end CC’s in the Vegas area. I will be as open minded as possible during this review and my comparison will be against other high end public courses in the area and not against the Uber elite Southern Highlands CC which I played the day before playing Anthem.

I’ll start with the layout. Anthem has some of the widest fairways I have ever seen. It really begs a grip it and rip it attitude. Plenty of room for error in the landing zone with only the occasional bunker to disturb a tee shot that lands anywhere in the same zip code. Stray way way off path and your ball is in a creek or bare desert terrain separating the course from the surrounding houses. Plenty of modest elevation changes throughout the course but most holes are pretty straightforward. The course has a number of water hazards, but most are behind the green. Overall it was a decent layout similar to that of Serket or the two courses at The Revere Golf Club.

Greens at Anthem were very large. They had moderate undulations and rolled at a nice medium-fast pace. Fairways had some of the weirdest grass I’ve ever seen on a golf course. On the surface it looked fine but it had the tendency to grab your club in the worst way. On the other hand the rough was great. Only about 2” deep but lush and predictable.

Overall, Anthem is a nice course. Nothing super fancy but definitely enjoyable with decent playing conditions. I would put it on the same level (or a touch below) that of Serket.

Regarding recommending the course, I’d say there are better options (especially if you have to pay the ridiculously high “holiday week reciprocal fee” but if you get invited by a member who wants to treat you, don’t turn it down.
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Early morning 4.5 hour round on a very green course. The staff faces are very familiar over the years and do a great jo... » More

Early morning 4.5 hour round on a very green course. The staff faces are very familiar over the years and do a great job keeping things going. The practice facilities are good and conveniently located. The carts are probably about five years old with no GPS and some drive like an old Chevy. The tee boxes are all level with total coverage but were a little firm at times. The rough is not very long where there is some and easy enough to hit from. The fairways have real nice coverage and were just cut earlier in the morning which left clippings everywhere. The over seeded fairways were covered with fertilizer as well and slightly damp. You would have to lift, clean and place nearly every shot. Many golfers were too lazy to fill their divots in the new growth fairway which was discouraging to see. The traps here have always been lacking sand and compact wet sand and dirt. They were no different today. The greens have really nice total coverage but were still a little bumpy from the fall maintenance, The greens held shots nicely and were extremely quick (we forgot how quick). There were a few ball marks but not too bad compared to the number of unfilled fairway divots. The lakes come into play on several holes and at times you have to deal with all the ducks and geese on the course. The rates were hiked up for the holiday weekend and the usual walking rate was not offered. The location and course conditions make this a good place for a round with the option of the two courses.
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Course lush and in very nice over seeded condition. No longer all the time CPO, but still may be early morning or after ... » More

Course lush and in very nice over seeded condition. No longer all the time CPO, but still may be early morning or after a rain. Tees and fairways lush and well maintained. Still cut high, so less roll out than normal. Sand near immaculate. Rough mostly dormant, clumpy Bermuda mowed low. Lies can vary tremendously within a small area. Large Bermuda greens firm and medium quick. Few ball marks. Restaurant good for a golf course. Customer service excellent both inside/outside the club. Practice facilities and the GPS on the carts both excellent. Men's lounge nice place to have a meal or get a drink with numerous big screen TV's in a friendly atmosphere. Newly renovated gym is a nice addition as well. Highly recommended.
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Course in very nice post over seeding condition. Will be better in a few weeks when the over seed is more mature. Fairwa... » More

Course in very nice post over seeding condition. Will be better in a few weeks when the over seed is more mature. Fairways and Tees lush and well maintained. Cut high, which makes for a long course with little roll out. Rough has some bare areas and is generally not overly penal. Mixture of Bermuda, weeds and over seeded grasses. Bermuda greens rolled nice @ medium fast speeds. Always firm here, few ball marks. Traps always good to excellent here. Well maintained and rarely will you find inadequate amounts of sand underneath your ball in greenside bunkers. Customer Service VG from the pro shop to the cart guys to the men's lounge. Good GPS on plush, new carts. Driving range and practice areas are very good. Highly recommemded, good shoulder season prices. Still may be CPO early morning or if it rained the night before.
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