Joined mark_6m, GDR23 and rgm2525 Monday 2/13 for an awesome day of golf at Sandpiper Golf Course in Santa Barbara.

Now is the time to and likely the rest of this Spring to go play Sandpiper GC. W... Continue »

Joined mark_6m, GDR23 and rgm2525 Monday 2/13 for an awesome day of golf at Sandpiper Golf Course in Santa Barbara.

Now is the time to and likely the rest of this Spring to go play Sandpiper GC. With all the rain the cool temperature turf for this time of year is looking stunning. The greens are running fast and smooth. Fairways lush with good lies. Rough lush just off the fairway playing 2 to 3 inches and easy to escape from. But if you find the secondary rough mind as well start a search party for your ball because it is deep, at least a foot, thick fescue. I love it when they have the secondary rough long and untamed like it is now. Fits with ocean cliffs ambiance. The visuals are gorgeous and it puts a big premium on hitting a good drive. Bunkers are in OK shape, better than in the past and very playable. Well cared for they just could use some better sand. Tee boxes great shape.

IMO – given the bucket list reason to play the course is 6 to 7 fantastic ocean holes 5,6, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14. Holes 10, 11 and 13 are absolute have to experience golf holes. Now with the golf course in super shape its another reason to go for it.

My favorite time to play Sandpiper GC is in the late afternoon. Just give yourself time to finish 18 holes within 30 minutes of sunset because it sets right there over the ocean. The patio has beautiful views and the food is very good.

Always a pleasure to play here. Highly Recommended.

Enjoyed Sandpiper GC yesterday, being a Magical Monday with an early afternoon tee time. Played with Johnny, Ron, and Gary. We played it from the Golds with wind speeds between 5 - 15 mph. An incredi... Continue »

Enjoyed Sandpiper GC yesterday, being a Magical Monday with an early afternoon tee time. Played with Johnny, Ron, and Gary. We played it from the Golds with wind speeds between 5 - 15 mph. An incredible Monday!

The course was in very good condition and was very green. You can see the benefit the course received from the recent rainfall. The course was beautiful! As previously reviewed, this Ocean Front Beauty has a course layout that is top rated, and currently conditions are also rated very high.

I note the following:

Tee Boxes: Level and lush, no damage
Fairways: Green and lush, no damage
Greens: Green, medium to fast, no damage – recently Ninja Needle punched, which did not affect putting as greens were smooth. Speed 11 and held shots reasonably.
Sand: Reasonably maintained, both soft and hard. Had no issue with the two bunkers visited.
Rough and Waste Areas: Tall rough and waste areas are very penal on stray shots. Rough and waste areas that surround fairways was so brutal, you will likely lose your ball even if you are 1-2 feet in. This feature really made this a tough course on this day. It was Carnoustie Status rough!
Driving Range: Excellent grass range with the most beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean you can wish for. I can hit golf balls here all day. The hitting grass turf was also perfect.
Practice Putting Green: Excellent condition, but faster than course greens as it is very slopped.
POP: 4.75 hours – no wait, we just enjoyed pacing ourselves as we were not holding anyone up.

The course is an ocean style track with several holes running along the Pacific Ocean cliff line, remaining holes are inland with most offering beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. The course offers a few elevation changes and blind shots that keep things interesting. The layout is very scenic and an overall very fun playing track.

This course requires reasonable accuracy off the tee into midsized fairways that are lined with heavy rough; along with waste areas, trees, or cliff sides. Greens tend to be medium in size and run medium to fast, often breaking towards the ocean, and usually held good shots. Both greens and fairways were strategically bunkered for protection. Course plays a bit longer due to the heavy marine layer, play shots 5-15 yards longer than normal yardage this time of year.

Snack shack offers food, snacks, and drinks. Perfect service received. Service received at Pro Shop and Bag Drop was also perfect. Pro Shop is also very nice. We started on time and noticed 1 Marshall on the course.

This course is strongly recommended. No doubt a 5-Star Experience! One of the best golf courses you will find for the dollar in California. Very grateful to have this course within 2 hours of me!

Walked the golds this afternoon 2/13/23 under cloudy skies around 60 degrees on a cooler day with a club breeze. Played with buddies John, Ron and Mark with a POP of 4 hrs 45 minutes. Great group of g... Continue »

Walked the golds this afternoon 2/13/23 under cloudy skies around 60 degrees on a cooler day with a club breeze. Played with buddies John, Ron and Mark with a POP of 4 hrs 45 minutes. Great group of gents. Great friendly staff , nice grass range and very sloped putting green that you can also chip on. The greens as usual were in very nice shape would say close to an 11 on the stimp with a very small Mico punch that did not effect putts at all. Holding irons nicely. Don't want to be above the hole here is the constant theme. Rating these beauties a 8.5/10. Fairways mostly lush coverage, few muddy spots closer to chipping areas. Good to great shape rated 8/10. Tees level, lush and in very nice shape 8/10 Was not in any bunkers but they looked raked and firm. Rough just outside of cart paths super lush and thick us open style rough. Lost ball areas abound outside of the paths. Really adds challenge here and is visually stunning. One of my favorite courses in California. Love me some Sandpiper. Amazing views of the Pacific. Highly recommended

Walked the golds with my buddy Mark teeing off just before noon today 12/19/22 under cooler temps and at times maybe a club of wind. Course played long today with cooler temps but overall was really n... Continue »

Walked the golds with my buddy Mark teeing off just before noon today 12/19/22 under cooler temps and at times maybe a club of wind. Course played long today with cooler temps but overall was really nice weather! Joined by two nice singles Ryan and Patrick. Pop was 4 hrs 30 minutes. The sunsets at piper are quite spectacular and today did not disappoint. We walked but still noticed great customer service by cart staging attendants and pro shop staff. They have a grass range and one of the most undulating putting greens you can putt on.

The greens here are just fabulous and always the star of the show here! Rolling a 12.5 on the stimp. Putting pure as glass. Must stay below the hole on most all green complexes here. Most complexes here are large in size. These are some of my favorite surfaces to putt on anywhere. Rating is a solid 9.5/10.

Man the fairways have come in nicely since my last round here which was mid September. One member we played with stated they overseeded some before the big rains. Fairways were very lush for December and rated a solid 8/10. There were some muddy areas of the fairways just before the greens in the chipping area.

Tees solid. Level and lush and in good shape. Rated 8/10

Was not in any bunkers but they looked firmer and raked.

Some of the rough is returning from the rains in between holes. Most rough was lush, muddy and could be a good lie, muddy lie or lost ball all within a couple yd radius. Rated 7/10.

I love the layout and beautiful scenery at Sandpiper. Many ocean views and 10 through 14 is a beautiful stretch of golf.

Highly recommended for beautiful quick greens, lush conditions and a beautiful scenic course on the ocean.

Desk locked for weeks GKer mark_6m invites me to a late afternoon round at Sandpiper on Thursday (10/27). Not the time of the year I normally play Sandpiper knowing conditions are at its driest there ... Continue »

Desk locked for weeks GKer mark_6m invites me to a late afternoon round at Sandpiper on Thursday (10/27). Not the time of the year I normally play Sandpiper knowing conditions are at its driest there before Fall rains and winter grasses start filling in. No matter to me. I’ve always felt 75% of enjoyment I get from playing Sandpiper is the ambiance of playing golf on the high cliffs of the Santa Barbara coast. But mostly it means a lot to me when I can take up a GKer on an offer to play golf. Thanks Mark!

Under gorgeous weather with a light breeze and the good company of two UCSB professors who joined the day was fantastic. Greens true, fast and firm. Very challenging and a blast. Fairways, dry with thin coverage, awesome for big tee shots but bring a good iron game for tight firm lies. As far as the rough other than some shin high patches of fescue, mostly thin, with some bare areas on the most outer areas … LOL … give it three months once the rain comes with cooler weather and that rough will be Jekyll/Hyde-thick-nasty. Bunkers are well groomed and consistent but thin and very firm so be careful on your first sand shot. Tee boxes all in good shape, lush, firm and cut.

My suggestion is if you see a beautiful afternoon in the forecast for Goleta, CA consider teeing it up at Sandpiper then hang out on their patio for a spectacular ocean sunset. Then if you’re lucky enough you might get a front row seat of a rocket launch over the ocean. I videoed all my Ace Cams, the Sunset and SpaceX Launch and posted them on to my @greenskeeperorg - Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok accounts. Really cool stuff. Check it out. Thanks :)

Played here for the first time yesterday, after hearing great things about it. It did not disappoint. The course conditions are nothing to write home about – just average from tee to green. But the vi... Continue »

Played here for the first time yesterday, after hearing great things about it. It did not disappoint. The course conditions are nothing to write home about – just average from tee to green. But the views are AMAZING.

There are ocean views on at least half the holes. In fact, of the few ocean courses I’ve played (Torrey Pines South, both Half Moon Bay courses, Los Verdes), this has the most. The weather was perfect—sunny, warm, not overly windy—and from what the starter said, it’s like that most of the time.

The greens were fine, just noticed several unrepaired ball marks. All greens break back to front, and NOT necessarily toward the ocean. Very fast above the hole. Fairways, rough, and tee boxes were all average. Wasn’t in more than one bunker, but the one I was in was wet/muddy (at 2:30 in the afternoon), and I saw a large puddle of standing water in another bunker later in the round.

High price tag of $135 for weekend twilight, but it does come with a cart w/GPS and a (very small) bag of range balls (hitting off grass). The course conditions aren’t worth the price, but the views ARE. Especially if you’re like me, and don’t live up here. Certainly worth adding to your bucket list.

Rode the golds on a bday round at one of my favorite tracks in socal under windy conditions for the front nine and the wind dying some on the back nine. Weather was chamber of commerce SB weather arou... Continue »

Rode the golds on a bday round at one of my favorite tracks in socal under windy conditions for the front nine and the wind dying some on the back nine. Weather was chamber of commerce SB weather around 75 for a high. Thanks to Kyle and his professional staff for a great day out on the links. My 2nd time playing here this calender year. The practice facilities are nice with a beautiful sloped putting green which you can also hit short pitches to. They also have a grass range which is nice. I have eaten here before and their burgers are good. Cart barn staff and starter were friendly. We got off right on time. Carts had GPS, two Sand fill bottles and comfortable seating. The greens here are super slick and terrific. You come and play these greens if you really want to know where your putting and chipping touch is. I would say downhill putts were a 12 on the stimp. Very little ballmarks and still receptive on iron shots with spin. The green complexes themselves slope mostly from back to front and its a must to stay level or below the hole. Rating these greens a solid 9.5/10. Fairways for the most part had mostly all green and lush lies. Nicely padded. Rated 8/10 Tees were mostly lush and level and in good shape. Rated 8/10 Was in one bunker greenside 14 that was easy to splash out of. The bunkers have a brownish color to them and a clay like texture. Rated 7.5/10. The biggest difference that I saw today from past rounds were they removed many trees and cut down major areas of rough between holes like 15/16.right of 17 and many other areas of the course. I'm assuming this was done to speed up pace of play?? Anyway playing well always helps but had a blast today. I just love this golf course and with LA Purisma being semi close if I lived up here those two would be getting my business all day. Highly recommended.

Hadn't played here in over 20 years but finally made the trip back up the coast for a Monday afternoon tee time. Turns out I remembered nothing about this course at all so it was like playing blind. P... Continue »

Hadn't played here in over 20 years but finally made the trip back up the coast for a Monday afternoon tee time. Turns out I remembered nothing about this course at all so it was like playing blind. Played as a single and paired up with two very nice ladies, also playing for the first time. Playing from the silver tees, noticed the tee boxes were in very good shape. Found the majority of fairways and found them all in good shape as well. Brown spots of course but the drought being what it is, not surprising. Still had very good lies to hit from. Greens looked like they'd been punched recently but they rolled well and fast. Bunkers were pretty poor; some areas were just mud, while others were thin. It was a beautiful day, winds were calm and the views of some of the holes were breathtaking. POP was about 4.5, cart girl came around a couple of times. No ball washers on the course. Carts themselves have a nice GPS system in them but some blind shots await you on the back with elevation and doglegs so it makes things interesting. Had a great time and definitely find Sandpiper a good value for a summer twilight round, especially on weekdays.

Late review #2 from my sister's visit was Sandpiper on 2/24. Cool, very clear conditions in which the mild starting breeze built to two clubs and died the last few holes to finish in calm. There have ... Continue »

Late review #2 from my sister's visit was Sandpiper on 2/24. Cool, very clear conditions in which the mild starting breeze built to two clubs and died the last few holes to finish in calm. There have been recent reviews and this is consistent with them in that the overall conditions are very good right now with very fast, true, challenging greens. Of note, the bunkers tended towards the thinner/firmer side and there seem to be more extensive areas of rough that have been allowed to grow to an evil, ball-devouring length. The exception to a nice outing was some kind of work site (irrigation?) going on right in the middle of the par-5 fifth fairway. As one had to play around it, it was pretty disruptive — multiple workers, parked vehicles, fear of hitting one of them, etc. — but I'm pretty sure that was a one day (or less) thing. Otherwise, a beautiful course in good shape. Recommended.