An absolute Sunday delight this past weekend getting to play the Rancho Park men's club Tournament of Champions at the fabulous Ojai Valley Inn course. I had only played here once before and my memori... Continue »

An absolute Sunday delight this past weekend getting to play the Rancho Park men's club Tournament of Champions at the fabulous Ojai Valley Inn course. I had only played here once before and my memories of it vastly under-appreciated the true quality of this amazing track. In terms of layout, setting and challenge, it's an A+ ... there's absolutely no mistaking this course's quality not just in terms of design and terrain, but also its strategic challenge and the fun factor. It's just a great time and a really tough but ultimately rewarding set of holes. It's not extremely long (I played from the blue tees) but it does require a ton of accuracy on the target holes and the ability to hit both fades and draws depending on the hole. But the setting is just outstanding so you're often lost in the beauty of it all. All that being said, unfortunately there were a few issues on this particular day that I got out there. The POP was an absolute nightmare, and of course I know that I was playing behind several groups from the RPMGC. How it got that bad I will never know or understand, but we finished the 'front' nine (we started on hole 10) in three hours and fifteen minutes. It was pretty agonizing but had good company and a terrific setting so it could have been worse. All in all we finished at around five hours and forty-five minutes - not ideal. Carts were fortunately very plush and responsive, we had cart service all day at various intervals and the GPS works well, but I definitely still recommend a range finder. Greens were absolutely flawless - super fast and there are some crazy false fronts and other tiers you'll have to navigate and be at your very best to do so. Fairways had mostly good coverage with a few thin spots here and there, while the bunkers appeared to have ample sand from what I saw all day. The rough was very thick in spots but very playable in others - just depends on the hole and the shade factor. What wasn't great? A lot of the tee boxes were very sandy/dirt and made it difficult, especially on the par 3s. Really need some work there. But yes, overall this is an absolute gem of a course and makes you really feel like this is what golf was always meant to be as you meander from hole to hole. It's a timeless classic that still holds up and you should never pass up an opportunity to play here.