Sandpiper Golf Club

Sandpiper Golf Club: Member Reviews

7925 Hollister Avenue
Goleta, CA 93117 • (805) 968-1541

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Goleta, CA (93117)

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Humidity: 47%
Wind: S at 7mph

Sunset: 7:13 pm
green Sunrise: 6:54 am

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Sandpiper Golf Course

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31. Briggslaw

Posted: 06/08/21 3:58p
Member Since: Aug 2, 2018
From: Thousand Oaks

Made the drive up to Sandpiper for the first time in about 15 years. Can’t believe I didn’t try it again sooner after moving to Thousand Oaks, this course is well worth the drive.

First, the course makes extremely good use of its seaside location. After the first few holes and until the last few, every hole is either on or along or starts or ends with a great view of the ocean. In this respect it is better than Pelican Hill or Trump National and certainly Monarch Beach.

The course starts with some bland holes, but quickly gets to the waterfront and the fun really starts on the back 9. Several very memorable holes, many challenging but not unreasonably so—this is not a difficult course but it does have its challenges and rewards course management. When the wind is up I am sure some holes are quite difficult. Nice practice green for putting and chipping, the range is small and often closed, so call ahead of you plan to warm up or practice there.

Next, the fairways and greens and tee boxes are in excellent shape, the greens are true and on the fast side with some very subtle downslopes that can make for long second putts. Some of the fairways are truly lush, others not as completely so, but overall in very good shape and the ball generally sits up nicely. Tee boxes are fine. Everything else on the course is left to nature. No frills in the surrounds, which sometimes give off a shabby vibe, but then you see that they simply devote time and care to the playing areas and let the rest be cared for by nature. They even use natural sticks from the grounds to mark the tees and to hold up ropes for GURepair areas, a really subtle but fun natural touch. The bunkers have average sand and not much depth, so beware too steep a sand swing. The “clubhouse” and pro shop are very basic, again no frills, very understated for the spectacular property. Excellent service from checking in to cart barn.

The course is walkable, but only for the hearty; there are several severe elevation changes and wind would make it a real slog. But it is doable, no long treks from green to tee.

This place is 100% about golf. This is surprising given the neighborhood, and delightfully so. Anyone can have fun on this course and make a decent score, but still some good challenges for the better player. I can’t wait to return, but tee times need to be booked well in advance. I expect to start making my own plans earlier because this place is well worth the drive.

All Reviews by Briggslaw

15 Likes.

Rated
9.1 Conditions

32. mark_6m

Posted: 05/24/21 12:05a
Member Since: Feb 19, 2007
From: Los Angeles, CA

Enjoyed Sandpiper GC 2 weeks ago with a Monday afternoon tee time. We played it from the tips and wind speeds were under 10 mph. An excellent Monday!

The course was in good condition and is greening up from winter conditions. The course layout is rated a 4.5 out of 5, conditions are rated a 3.0 out of 5. I note the following:

Tee Boxes: Level and generally lush, no damage
Fairways: Greening up and at times tight, no major damage
Greens: Green, medium to fast, no damage
Sand: Reasonably maintained, both soft and hard
Rough and Waste Areas: Tall rough and waste areas are very penal on stray shots
Driving Range: Closed for reasons unknown to man - very lame
POP: 4.5 hours - waited briefly on 6 holes

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 blinds shots that keep things interesting. The layout is very scenic and an overall fun playing track for a decent golfers.

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 always held good shots. Both greens and fairways were strategically bunkered for protection, but not excessively. Course plays a bit longer due to heavy marine layer, play shots 5-10 yards longer than normal yardage.

For no justifiable reason, this course has had the driving range closed for over 1 year, absolutely silliness and beyond lame. One practice putting green remains open, so visit a driving range in the area prior to playing, they are all open.

Snack shack offers food, snacks, and drinks.

Service received was really good. We started on time and noticed 1 Marshall on the course. If your willing to pay the full pop on the green fee, this course is recommended.

All Reviews by mark_6m

11 Likes.

Rated
6.8 Conditions

33. t8fish

Posted: 12/09/20 3:17p
Member Since: Jan 31, 2006
From: Altadena

This is late and will be short. I played Thursady 12/3, paired up with another single for the front and finished the back nine alone. Teeing grounds are fine. Fairways are wintery — multicolored, tigh... Continue »

All Reviews by t8fish

7 Likes.

Rated
6.7 Conditions

34. anothersurfer

Posted: 11/19/20 7:59p
Member Since: May 9, 2016
From: San Clemente, CA

Played Sandpiper for the first time last week- got in back to back rounds on 11/13 & 11/14, and absolutely loved it!

Standard Covid practices in place, but everything seemed safe and was run well. ... Continue »

All Reviews by anothersurfer

11 Likes.

Rated
5.6 Conditions

35. Scottccm25

Posted: 09/23/20 9:00p
Member Since: Jul 22, 2020
From: Santa Clarita

Played Sandpiper today from the Golds which is there blue. Overall the course was in good shape. The greens were pretty quick. We had the first twilight time at 200 PM. We finished in about 4 hours. T... Continue »

All Reviews by Scottccm25

8 Likes.

Not Rated
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36. roarksown1

Posted: 03/14/20 6:28p
Member Since: Jan 6, 2013
From: Playa del Rey

Best conditions I've ever seen at Sandpiper currently despite the heavy rains that came down the last few days. It always seem that the ocean holes are in fine condition, but they slack a bit on the i... Continue »

All Reviews by roarksown1

10 Likes.

Rated
7.5 Conditions

37. Alex326

Posted: 03/14/20 5:05p
Member Since: Nov 20, 2015
From: Monterey, Ca

Played Sandpiper yesterday during my match with Roarksown1. Due to morning rain the range was closed and it was cart path only. Had I known, I would have brought the hand cart and walked as this course could easily be walked. Still it was nice to be able to chitchat with Rob as we tend to do A Lot during our rounds. There was a threat of rain all day but it held out for us and though it was cloudy it actually wasn’t too cold.

Check in was flawless and they offered to send us off early if we wanted. As is the usual with this place, the course was in excellent condition all around. Greens are the odd grass (that Blackhorse/Bayonet use as well) which have some brown coloring to them when looking from a far but it doesn’t affect the performance what so ever. Greens rolled at a medium to medium fast pace and most were two tiered with a good amount of undulations. Enough that you paid close attention throughout the day but not so bad you felt beat up after the round.

Naturally with the recent rain the greens were soft and receptive to approach shots.
No issues at all with the tee boxes. Level, lush and divot free.

Fairways were also well kept. Nice hitting surface all around with only a couple minor wet spots here there from the recent rain. There wasn’t much roll out on the fairways. The first cut of rough was very manageable in that it was only about 1-2 inches thick and very lush. I always had a great lie from the first cut. The second cut was much taller and presented to serious challenge. After that and it was no mans land where you were happy to find your ball (Rob) but most of the time it was a lost ball (Me).

The layout is a mixture of a few things. Flat, straight and long parkland style, to some tricky dog leg holes with great ocean views and also some great imaginative routing down to the beach and back up top along the ocean. Of course there are a number of other ocean holes that play along the ocean to make this track enjoyable.

Without a doubt it’s a highly recommended course.

All Reviews by Alex326

7 Likes.

Rated
7.9 Conditions

38. livegolf

Posted: 02/01/20 7:13p
Member Since: Sep 20, 2008
From: Dallas, TX

I played here last week with a friend and this was our first experience playing Sandpiper. We both enjoyed it! I lived in Northern California for years and always wanted to play here, however it was a... Continue »

All Reviews by livegolf

11 Likes.

Rated
8.0 Conditions

39. JohnnyGK

Posted: 12/20/19 9:06a
Member Since: Dec 30, 2002
From: Thousand Oaks

Reading Sal’s review and reflecting on my experience with Garth’s group it’s pretty humbling. Joined up with Garth for the round, previously played with him and the Gold Coast Golf Association in Marc... Continue »

All Reviews by JohnnyGK

15 Likes.

Rated
7.9 Conditions

40. sbarajasjr

Posted: 12/20/19 7:30a
Member Since: Dec 11, 2009
From: San Diego

Played here yesterday (12/19) with the Gold Coast Golf Association of Ventura County. Johnny GK made a very special appearance and was recognized by the GCGA president Garth and may have been one of the most popular people out there as plenty of other players and few GK members said hello to him. It was a full field with two teams on every hole of this 10AM shotgun start on one of the most perfect days (weather-wise) I have ever seen in some time; almost no wind, a nice low to mid 60 degree temperature, and bright sunny skies. Shotgun ran well as it was nicely organized and players seemed to do a good job of keeping up (including our group) and pace was right around 4.75 hours with zero waiting. On to conditions...

Tee boxes: Perhaps the weakest feature today, and that's not a detrimental knock on Sandpiper as everything today was well above average. However, knowing that, a handful of tee boxes were not level and a bit chewed up. This very well may have been that it was a shotgun start with most everyone playing the silver today at some point.

Fairways: Cut tight and offering a fair amount of roll. Didn't end up in any divots so people were doing a good job of filling them. Had great lies all day to mess up my shots and the fairways today were particularly sparking and visually pleasing.

Rough: In some areas, the nasty fescue grasses were punishing (I believe 16 was one where we spent some time looking for TWO lost balls in the group). The more traditional rough was still quite penal at times, not insanely long, but I am certain it humbled quite a few people today.

Bunkers: Was only in one bunker today (amazingly) and it had ample sand, that was closer to beach sand than the stuff you see on the Tour. One member in our group was practically living in the stuff and he had no issues getting out, so I use that to gauge conditions and consistency. Rakes were lacking at times.

Greens: The highlight of the round. Everyone at warm-up was chit chatting about them and saying "quick as glass", "crazy breaks". I must not have listened as I had 40 putts today, including a comical adventure on #11 where the pin was placed in one of the most ridiculous placements I have ever seen. Suffice to say it wasn't the only crazy pin placement today; it was truly bordering on unfair with the speeds of those greens. Quick greens are one thing, but pin placements where you tap the ball and it run 60 feet past is just silly. I know some guys are glutton for punishment but not a 14 handicap like me.

ETC: The staff out here was great. Welcomed at the parking lot and clubs carried to my cart. Well organized outing due in part because the staff worked hard to get everything right. Cart attendant came around a handful of times during the round. Stopped at grill during the turn, however they were quite backed up. Still managed to get some small items; fairly priced for the area. Carts were basic with no cooler or GPS. Facilities on the course could use some TLC, but functional. Layout is fantastic with the ocean holes rivaling Torrey in terms of panoramic views. Amazing rate today of $89 for a wonderful course. Conditions are great if you can make it out!

All Reviews by sbarajasjr

18 Likes.

Rated
7.9 Conditions

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Playing Conditions
8.08
Great

Course Statistics
140 of 2,333 Overall Rank
Value
Layout
Service

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PRACTICE FACILITIES

- Driving Range (Grass)
- Practice Chipping (YES)
- Practice Putting Green (YES)