Finally made it out to the River Course at Alisal after years of wanting to play there, and I definitely came away feeling like it was worth the wait. It's set in a gorgeous area and there's no shorta... Continue »

Finally made it out to the River Course at Alisal after years of wanting to play there, and I definitely came away feeling like it was worth the wait. It's set in a gorgeous area and there's no shortage of beautiful holes.

The only downside was playing it in a work event scramble tournament, so now I'm more motivated than ever to play a real round there in the near future. It's a very fun layout with lots of twists and turns but nothing really too gimmicky whatsoever. There's a bit of a parkland feel to many of the holes but you never get bored or feel compartmentalized by the terrain.

The facilities in the clubhouse are very nice, but the driving range is far from adequate. It's tiny and not much fun to have to wait for a long time when warming up for one of the few stalls to open up. But really, after that there's not too much to complain about.

I found the course probably in its worst possible condition after all the recent heatwaves and still found it to be really playable and engaging. No, the fairways currently are not pristine and carpet-like, but they're most very good with a few thin spots here and there. The rough is very thick but still playable, however there is a lot of tree debris at present to make finding your ball rather difficult in spots.

The tee boxes were all in good to very good shape, while absolute top marks went to the white, fluffy sand bunkers that were an absolute joy to hit from. It's been a long time since I've played bunkers this good and it was a real treat finally to be offline! The greens were also in really good shape - none too tricked out or fancy - just solid and true, rolling medium-fast and holding shots well. Really great.

Cart service came around plenty of times, but then again that might have only been for this event. I won't talk about POP because again - it was a scramble. I am though very content to have finally seen the grounds here firsthand and will make it a point to get back out here very soon when conditions are even better after some autumn rains.