Took a cruise over the weekend and when disembarkation took place at 7:30 a.m. this morning, suddenly found myself with an "extra" day off from work. So I took that opportunity to get a new 60-day gol... Continue »

Took a cruise over the weekend and when disembarkation took place at 7:30 a.m. this morning, suddenly found myself with an "extra" day off from work. So I took that opportunity to get a new 60-day golf access pass at Camp Pendleton. The visitor's center process seems a little different where now you check in, give them some initial information and then they take your phone number and send you to your car to wait. Then they call you and tell you to go directly to a specific window number to complete the process. All told it probably took almost an hour to get my pass. Showed up at the golf course around 12:45 and paid the $30 twilight walking rate and was told to hit the first tee whenever I wanted. Another single was lined up to follow the foursome on the tee, so I joined him. He bailed after 13 holes and I played the rest by myself. Total POP was just under 4 hours on a beautiful but windy afternoon.

Conditions are decent to good. Greens are definitely the highlight. They are smooth, medium-fast and medium firmness. Full shots stopped quickly. Fairways are decent with good coverage but a mix of grasses and some bare spots and imperfections. Rough along the fairways is a little deeper but seems to have lots of squirrel holes. Further off the fairways is mainly bare dirt and more burrowing animal holes. Blue tee boxes were pretty good. Bunkers were pretty good.

Sort of expected the course to be in better condition. It's very playable, but could be more consistent. I also played ridiculously terribly, but still had a great time. Well worth the effort to get the base access pass.