Rode the Blues (6247/71.2/128) in slightly less than 5H with Ryan, Collin and Kelton twilight using Forelinx. Sunny and in the 80's were nice, but windy made for challenging golfing conditions. Course... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6247/71.2/128) in slightly less than 5H with Ryan, Collin and Kelton twilight using Forelinx. Sunny and in the 80's were nice, but windy made for challenging golfing conditions. Course was packed, we played 18 basically in the dark to finish. Tougher course than the scorecard slope/ratings would indicate, especially when the wind whips up. Seemed like you were protected on the holes that should have had a helping wind and were often playing into the teeth of the wind on holes already long and uphill. The tees had okay coverage from multiple grasses and weeds. Mediocre overall, some were quite good, others poor. The fairways had decent coverage, much more thin than lush. Several fairways had been recently resodded and were roped off. The rough was usually penal. High and thick for the most part. The sand traps were okay only if you were lucky enough for your ball to be in the bottom in a flat area where they were raked and usually had a decent amount of sand/dirt. The edges were crusty and needed serious maintenance with weeds/grass that had not been trimmed in recent memory growing into almost every trap. The greens were firm, medium fast and smooth, they rolled really nice. They could have been rated great "but for" too many unfixed ball marks. Numerous greens are large and be ready to play alot of break on numerous putts/chips on this course. Large, very busy up hill range that had everyone hitting off mats. Friendly, efficient check-in and the cart gal was visible numerous times. Carts have GPS. Like the hilly, challenging layout that is tight in spots. Recommended.

Rode the Blues (6247/71.2/128) in slightly more than 4H with David mid day using Forelinx. Sunny, breezy and in the 70's made for nice golf weather. Hilly, challenging layout, tight in spots. Becaus... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6247/71.2/128) in slightly more than 4H with David mid day using Forelinx. Sunny, breezy and in the 70's made for nice golf weather. Hilly, challenging layout, tight in spots. Because it is a par 70 with only two par 5's, it seemed longer than 6247? I personally find it a negative that three of the four par 3's are within 5 yards of each other, 149/152/154, I hit the same club on all three. The other par three is 121, unusual to play a course where 154 yards is the longest par 3 from the back tees? Twelve par 4's, many with severe elevation changes that are long provide the most challenge on this layout. Overall, in spite of only two par 5's and a lack of variety on the par 3's, liked the layout. The tees were mediocre overall, hit and miss. Good coverage but spotty. Same for the fairways. Numerous fairways had been recently resodded and were roped off. The rough was clumpy and a mixture of grasses. Penal, you almost never had anything but a bad lie in the rough and frequently just whacking it out of deep, thick stuff to get it back in position was the prudent play. The sand traps were terrible, some of the worst greenside traps I have played this year. They were raked and the sand/dirt quality was passable, but they were hard barely underneath the surface and too thin in far to many places to be considered decent. The greens are large and undulating. Easily the star of the course, firm, medium fast and smooth, they rolled really nice. Only complaint is a golfer issue, FAR too many unfixed ball marks. Friendly, efficient check-in and the cart gal was visible numerous times. Carts have GPS, although you often had to manually forward it to the next hole. Large, very busy range. Good bones, but the maintenance except for the greens is rough around the edges.

First trip to San Diego/Escondido area. Played The Vineyard at Escondido 9/5/19, 10:45 tee time. Thoroughly enjoyed the course. As a high handicapper, I'm usually taking in the surroundings when pl... Continue »

First trip to San Diego/Escondido area. Played The Vineyard at Escondido 9/5/19, 10:45 tee time. Thoroughly enjoyed the course. As a high handicapper, I'm usually taking in the surroundings when playing a course away from home. The views here were very nice, peaceful. A bit of construction on the course #8 is shortened to a par 3 while the fairway is being re-sodded. Both #9 and #11 have portions of the fairways roped off from recent repair. Dumped two in the pond on par 3, #12 being distracted by the homes on the hill. We were in our fair share of bunkers, but each was playable with adequate sand. The staff were all great, and the starter was very helpful. We were only a twosome, and the PoP was exactly at 3.5 hrs. We caught the crowd on #7, and it was pretty slow from there. The rough was more punitive than what we're used too, but we managed to find "most" of our wayward tee balls. The greens rolled pretty true, medium speed. My one and only complaint is not with the course, but with the BALLMARKS NOT BEING REPAIRED! We spent time repairing marks on nearly every green. Not sure how to improve that situation. The weather was great, only 93* for the high. But I did have a laugh when I heard a local complaining about the heat. When I told him I had to wait for the temps to drop to 105* so I could go out a couple weeks ago, he reconsidered his complaints....all things are relative I guess. The drive from SD wasn't too bad, but I need to know who to talk to about interstate traffic around here....hahahahaha. We'll definitely be back.

Played on 7/13 and the greens were the highlight of the round. This is a challenging course with some parts of the rough playing like a major golf championship. The weather was a bit warm at 10:06 whe... Continue »

Played on 7/13 and the greens were the highlight of the round. This is a challenging course with some parts of the rough playing like a major golf championship. The weather was a bit warm at 10:06 when we teed off. I would suggest teeing off earlier, but the $79 dollar deal for 2 we got from clickitgolf.com only allows tee times after 10:00am on weekends. The guys we played with paid over $60 for their tee times. The bunkers were wet and compact, two things you should not expect at a golf course. Overall, I really enjoyed the course and I highly recommend you play before it gets even hotter.

The last time I played here was 3-1/2 years ago. With Tee-Off + promo code I was able to play for $24. I was very early for my 11:07am tee time so they paired me with a guy who works in the pro shop,... Continue »

The last time I played here was 3-1/2 years ago. With Tee-Off + promo code I was able to play for $24. I was very early for my 11:07am tee time so they paired me with a guy who works in the pro shop, and a nice couple from Arizona. We teed off at 10:37am. The carts have good GPS (although ours quit working on the #15)

Last time I was here, conditions were not so good. It was very nice to see the improvements that have been made and are continuing. There were a couple of fairways that had sizeable areas of very thin turf, but the rest were nicely green with good coverage and cushion. The rough was consistent around the course ranging from about 1 to 2 inches- easy to hit/chip from. The greens were very impressive- smooth, somewhat soft, fast-medium roll, and only a handful of ball marks to be fixed. The tee boxes were level with few divots on any of them. The water in the several lakes is much clearer than I remember in all but #5- still enough scum on that one to support the 5 or 6 balls that were sitting on top of it. The bunkers were more dirt than sand. Some were thin/crusty, others were soft/deeper. I was in 4 of them and I was unusually successful in getting out of all them (Thank you, GDR23!). I heard that they are eliminating several bunkers around the course and shortening some on the mounds on the right side of the #8 fairway.

The layout is fun. There are several narrow holes with water including the very short but challenging #3 – don’t land right, left or long- on the green is the only safe place. The #6 par 3 has always been my worst hole. Apparently I wasn’t the only one recently to need the drop zone – there was hardly any grass left in it! The back 9 has some nice elevation changes and scenic views. POP was a little over 4 hours. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. I won’t wait another 3 years to play the Vineyard again.

Played on Monday, Presidents day and the course was full, as expected. Teed off around 945 and was expecting the slow play and the expectation was meet. Waited on most holes and POP was around 5 hou... Continue »

Played on Monday, Presidents day and the course was full, as expected. Teed off around 945 and was expecting the slow play and the expectation was meet. Waited on most holes and POP was around 5 hours. The course was in very good shape, considering the rain. I was expecting a lot more standing water but it was minimal and only in low areas and some of the bunkers. Greens were firm and fast and they had the pins on every slope and ridge they could find so putting was challenge.

Fairways were thin and wet but only had to move my ball a few times. We played lift and clean, so the mud on the balls didn't affect our play.

Bunkers were in poor shape and are all going to have to be given some tender loving care, we saw a few with standing water but most were in fairly good shape.

Tee boxes were in pretty good shape with only a few having divot damage.

track was in much better shape than I expected and my groups had fun. Well worth getting out to the Vineyards

Tee Time: 5:37 (start time about 5:45)
Date: May 10, 2018
Pace of Play: 55mins (9 holes)

Was first off on the back 9 with my buddy this morning for a quick round before work. They recently have ... Continue »

Tee Time: 5:37 (start time about 5:45)
Date: May 10, 2018
Pace of Play: 55mins (9 holes)

Was first off on the back 9 with my buddy this morning for a quick round before work. They recently have been working really hard to get this course back into good shape. The new greenskeeper has really been making some awesome strides.

Greens:
Greens were punched a little over a month ago and have come back very nicely. It is nice to have receptive greens on this course compared to the rock hard greens they were before the aeration. We were out making dew lines so they rolled a bit slow; however once we got to 18 it had been mowed that morning and was still relatively slow but not horrible.

Fairways:
The fairways are in great shape right now with a few bare spots from where water has pooled and the grass has died from cart action. It seems they are letting them grow out a bit as they were a bit longer than usual.

Bunkers:
Was only in the greenside bunker on 11 but it was pretty hard packed and wet.

First time playing the Vineyard at Escondido on Monday, 4/30. Joined up with couple from NJ at 12:37pm for an enjoyable round on a cloudy, 2-club windy day. Must say that I found the course to be a fu... Continue »

First time playing the Vineyard at Escondido on Monday, 4/30. Joined up with couple from NJ at 12:37pm for an enjoyable round on a cloudy, 2-club windy day. Must say that I found the course to be a fun lay-out with plenty of water holes on the front and a bit on the back, too. Tight-ish driving holes throughout. Was driving the ball well, and hitting 13/14 fairways on the day did help my enjoyment of the course!

Teeboxes were level, and nicely green. Other than having a foot in a divot or two on the short par 3s, don't recall any un-level tees.

Fairways were really nice and lush, with no bare spots that I recall. A bit longer than I would prefer, mostly good lies and decent roll prevailed. Rough grass along the fairway and near the greens were pretty consistent, about 2-3 inches and were only a bit penal. One of my playing partners did lose a golf ball in it, however.

Was in one green-side bunker on the 3rd hole (hidden behind the green) and the sand was just fluffy enough, and made a sandy - miracles do happen.

Greens looked great and were very green upon approach. Held shots well. They are about 93.7% healed from whenever they were punched recently (GK has a 'good to go' green rating on them), with fairly inconsequential hole remnants still visible. Greens looked faster than they were. Other than hole#2's pin placement on a slippery crown near the front of the green, the rest of front-side greens were mostly 'slow' to medium-slow. On the back nine, the greens were a bit faster, I'd say mostly 'medium' speed. I think the elevations and undulations on the back help the greens drain quicker.

Overall, I highly recommend the course right now, given the $ value and overall conditions. if the greens were a bit faster, I've give it top marks overall. Really is a fun layout.

POP was 4hrs 15mins, with the front 9 taking only 1hr 50mins - the cart GPS system warned us that we were not on pace, we should've taken 2 hrs!?! I found that message funny. The group in front of us bogged down on the back 9 for 5 holes - they were playing the blues and should've been playing the white tees. They did pick it up on 14th hole after they noticed two holes in front of them were wide open, so it could've been worse. Only saw a marshal on #16, and by then they were moving OK.

Played the Vineyard sunday, 7:45am and was walking off 18 around noon. I know some people have complained about pace of play, but lately, we haven't had an issue, and I'm a gigantic complainer when i... Continue »

Played the Vineyard sunday, 7:45am and was walking off 18 around noon. I know some people have complained about pace of play, but lately, we haven't had an issue, and I'm a gigantic complainer when it comes to PoP.

That being said, the greens are in great shape. Excellent job to the grounds crew. Everyone seems to be repairing pitch marks for the most part - but I have to say, they are doing a great job at keeping the greens in almost excellent condition.

Fairways are ok, and we haven't encountered any issues with bare spots or mud. We did play the day after rain, and the course seemed to have drained quite well. Tee boxes are in good condition, and can probably be attributed to the wideness the crew has spaced the markers.

All-in-all, good value.