Played today in the GK/Golf Moose collaboration event at the exclusive and timeless Saticoy Club. What an absolute gem of a course. This is a course that can challenge members day in and out. The Bel... Continue »

Played today in the GK/Golf Moose collaboration event at the exclusive and timeless Saticoy Club. What an absolute gem of a course. This is a course that can challenge members day in and out. The Bell family designed a lot of amazing tracks, but this course has to be one that made them proud. The peacefulness and calmness is what lots of golfers dream of when they are looking to join a club, a Zen course. Those members know they have it good. As far as the course goes, it is very well maintained. Perfect tee boxes, amazing fairways, and challenging greens. I struggled with the greens today, they aren't that fast but reading the break was completely frustrating(the members know). The traps are tough but probably could use a little more sand in some of them. This course, for all you will read and hear about it, lived up to the hype. It is challenging but not unfair. A fun day and a gift to play. Thanks to Johnny for all you do. This will not be forgotten, and I hope we get the chance to go at it again. If given the opportunity to play The Saticoy Club, it is well worth it, do not let that moment slip.

First let me say thank to Johnny for setting this up. I had not been to this course in 20 plus years. What incredible views. The course is beautifully maintained, tee boxes and fairways were perfect ... Continue »

First let me say thank to Johnny for setting this up. I had not been to this course in 20 plus years. What incredible views. The course is beautifully maintained, tee boxes and fairways were perfect not a bad lie anywhere. But get in the rough and say goodbye to your ball. The greens were fast and true. The bunkers were maintained with just enough sand and bounce to give a fair shot and I should know I was in several of them. Don’t miss this course it will challenge you on every hole.

Played 9-15-21 with John, Rob, and Alex in the afternoon with great weather, getting around the course in a little over 5 hours. Tee boxes were in good shape, level, good coverage, and cut tight. Fai... Continue »

Played 9-15-21 with John, Rob, and Alex in the afternoon with great weather, getting around the course in a little over 5 hours. Tee boxes were in good shape, level, good coverage, and cut tight. Fairways were in really nice shape, green and lush with minimal roll out and great lies. Primary rough was in good shape, cut a few inches longer than fairways and easy to hit from. Outside of that you were either in two foot high lost ball territory or up on a hill amongst the trees. Was in a couple of greenside bunkers that had a good layer of well groomed sand. Greens were in really good condition, rolling medium pace, semi-soft, and smooth. Overall course is in really good condition. Always a treat to play this course. Staff is very friendly and helpful. Love the layout and atmosphere of this Bell design. If you get a chance to play here do not pass it up.

Teed it up at The Saticoy Club with GK Gurus on Wednesday as well has playing my GK Cup 17 match with roarksown1. If you ever get a chance to play this historic Billy Bell Sr. design, go for it. The l... Continue »

Teed it up at The Saticoy Club with GK Gurus on Wednesday as well has playing my GK Cup 17 match with roarksown1. If you ever get a chance to play this historic Billy Bell Sr. design, go for it. The layout is a masterpiece in traditional beauty demanding length, a fantastic short game and positioning shots. I’d like to emphasize positioning shots because on EVERY shot, on EVERY hole there is a place in the fairway and greens you want to be and a place you do not want to be. You are not always awarded for hitting fairways or greens in regulation. And if you are not in the right position be prepared to be able to shape shots around huge mature trees or face diabolical putts and pitch shots. That to me is the essence of great layout and test of golf. You need to bring ALL of your game and mind to play well here.

Conditions excellent, especially considering the harsh drought this year. Greens, normally around 12 speed were running around a merciful 10 speed. However most of the time they are lightning fast. Smooth and holding shots. I pleasure to play. Fairways had lush bermunda turf full coverage with little roll out, making an already long course play longer. Primary rough was lush with some thin areas and God forbid you find the 2 to 3 foot high secondary rough because its likely going to a lost ball. Bunkers in super shape, consistent high quality sand and groomed.

I’m super excited about the upcoming Golf Moose/Greenskeeper.org outing I’m running here on 10/4. Its sold out but I would looking into getting on a waiting list by contacting Golf Moose.

Check out the photos I just posted.

Highly Recommended.

I played this gem on Wednesday, 9/15/21 as part of a Guru event, playing with Nate, Gary & Alan. We had a great time with plenty of laughs, even more help finding balls, and sympathy all around as th... Continue »

I played this gem on Wednesday, 9/15/21 as part of a Guru event, playing with Nate, Gary & Alan. We had a great time with plenty of laughs, even more help finding balls, and sympathy all around as this track is a challenge.

The staff was very friendly & helpful. The Pro Shop was very welcoming and pointed out areas we may need to visit or use as well as thanking us for coming by. The snack bar was nice a swell.

Onto the course. This is a classic 100 year old course that honestly reminded me of earlier years playing some classics back east. Large well positioned trees all around, beautiful views, deep and well placed bunkers and ample fairways keep you on your toes all day. It seems as though the first 7 or 8 holes all played uphill, but there are scoring opportunuites out there. Large green complexes are fair but difficult to figure out at points.

The tees were flat and showed few ball marks. The fairways were in great shape with great coverage. The bunkers were in nice shape as well. I thought the true test to the entire course were the approach shots. Greens accepted shots very well but had a number of false fronts, were large so you could have a 50 footer as easily as being tucked tight, and had many subtle but serious breaks, especially if putting across them. Downhill putts wee quick and uphill putts were difficult to get to the hole. You really need to be on your game here!

With the exception of Winged Foot, which I played some 30 years ago, I don't remember playing such a challenging course. It's beautiful, well maintained, with a great atmosphere, but at the end you'll feel like you've just tested everything you've got. I look forward getting back there one day, but if I don't, Im happy having had the chance. Thanks again to Johnny for setting this up!

Hopped on a plane to head to So Cal to join the others for the big showdown at The Saticoy. I had never played here before so I was looking forward to seeing what the course was like, plus it got me... Continue »

Hopped on a plane to head to So Cal to join the others for the big showdown at The Saticoy. I had never played here before so I was looking forward to seeing what the course was like, plus it got me out of the triple digit Vegas heat.

I arrived early and had lunch at club. I sat inside in the dining room that overlooked the 18th and 9th greens. I was treated great by staff and the food was delicious.

After a change of clothes, I greeted the others and hit the range for a few warm up shots. The range is on mats and elevated. It’s a scenic place to warm up and check your ball flight but don’t try to dial distance in as there’s a 40’ drop to the ground below.

First tee is also elevated which helps tame the 400+ yard opening par 4 hole. The rest of the front nine is ho hum in my opinion. No disrespect to the course designer (Bell) or the club but nothing excited me on the front nine after that opening hole. And no it wasn’t because I played poorly. I played worse on the back nine and quite enjoyed that part of the layout.

As I eluded to, the back nine is where the course comes alive. Multiple elevation changes and a nice mixture of long holes, short ones and dog legs in both directions. Back nine has some nice elevated views of the orchards below as well as being blocked in from the wind (not all of it) by the canyons and mountain.

Greens were fast and rolled fairly smooth. Being that we didn’t finish until 6:30 PM the greens were starting to show some daily fatigue. The green did kick my tail a bit but a lot of that was me just trying to get out of the way of the players in the match. Being that we were already “on the clock” and my score had already ballooned, I didn’t take a whole lot of time reading the greens or dialing in pace.

I will say that there are some subtle but nasty breaks that come into effect on short putts.

Fairways were in good shape throughout. Nice surface to hit from and mostly green with only a few brown spots here and there.

Tee boxes were level with good coverage and only a few daily divots on the par 3’s . Me and bunkers aren’t getting along right now and yesterday was no exception. But it had nothing to do with the quality of the sand traps. Very acceptable with a decent amount of sand on top of a somewhat firm base.

Our group WAS the Pace of Play issue. With the semi finals match on the line and the four of us shooting a combined 50 strokes over our handicap (that’s 86 over par) it’s not much of a surprise that it took us over 5 hours.

So, bottom line on the course. That’s a good question. For me it was more about hanging out with the GK’ers than the course itself. I would not drive 3 hours each way, pay the extra plane ticket fee (for changing my flight), plus the $95 parking fee in addition to the course fee just to play this course again. BUT, if I lived close by and had the opportunity to play it then absolutely, the back nine alone is worth it.

9/15 guru outing paired with John, Alan, and Nate a great group to play with mutually providing humor, sympathy and empathy on what proved to be a tough day on a demanding course where marginal shots ... Continue »

9/15 guru outing paired with John, Alan, and Nate a great group to play with mutually providing humor, sympathy and empathy on what proved to be a tough day on a demanding course where marginal shots were punished and bad shots were executed. The course is aesthetically pleasing with very mature trees and the layout being fit into the available terrain. The result is a parkland setting that welcomes you with what appears to be ample fairways and inviting greens. However the warm fuzzy feeing is short-lived and the grind begins. The fairways are lush and healthy being well maintained with almost all divots filled providing excellent lies but quite often limited roll. Also many are predominantly uphill and even the flater ones have an up hill approach to the green proper. The adjacent rough is cut to about 2 inches and mostly playable. Beyond the adjacent area there are some 2 foot high patches of thick grass where recovery is doubtful. Bunkers filled with a fine grained compacted sand. Tees level and lush. Greens have diabolical slope very fast from above the hole and requiring an extra club from below the hole. And then there is the break from the side hill. Condition is really good but oh my. Overall Saticoy provided a memorable experience even though I was battered and ego bruised by the end of the day. But I would return as the overall experience of this 100 year old classic has to be part of the pain and joy of a golfers journey. A big thank you to Johnny for making itn possible and also to the staff for the warm welcome. . Not sure why my rating came out 7.9 more accurately 8.5 ish

Had the distinct pleasure of playing in our GK Guru (and subsequently GK Cup) event at The Saticoy Club yesterday afternoon and it was an experience to remember. This is a classic 1921 Bell design tha... Continue »

Had the distinct pleasure of playing in our GK Guru (and subsequently GK Cup) event at The Saticoy Club yesterday afternoon and it was an experience to remember. This is a classic 1921 Bell design that winds its way up and down a prominent hill overlooking the agriculture fields between Ventura and the coast. There are some wild views, but even more wild golf shots to manage!

It's a very challenging layout but it's not as tight as I was expecting when I was preparing for it. There are always options off the tee and if you're hitting it relatively straight and with the proper distances, you'll be okay. The course's main defenses though are many - a lot of deep, strategically placed bunkers, uneven lies all day, some wild elevation shifts, some DEEP patches of rough that may as well be OB, and of course some very tricky green complexes that confounded my putting game all afternoon.

But the layout itself is a true treat and you'll feel transported back in time to a true classic. The course conditions are great all across the board, with great lies in green fairways all day and manageable rough just off the fairways (avoid the deep stuff!). I managed to avoid all bunkers except for one but it was perfect, and I heard the same all day from Johnny, Alex and Ron with whom I was playing. Tee boxes (we played from the blues) were in very good shape, and the overall aesthetic was just top notch.

POP was an issue at over five hours, but we were the problem without a doubt. Plenty of ball searching in the rough areas took a lot of time, and working out the putts on these complex greens seemed to take more time than it should have, but we were simply enjoying the surroundings as well and trying to take it all in. It's simply a stunning patch of land to be privileged enough to experience and it's a place I will always hope to play again.

The staff I met was very helpful and the practice areas were just fine and suited to whatever needs you might have pre-round. But the ultimate summary here is pretty simple - the layout is the star. Every hole is a fun adventure that just gets you excited for the next one, and the next one never disappoints. My favorite hole? I think it has to be the downhill par 4 15th. You just need to see that one for yourself, so if you get the chance, make sure to make it happen.

Played course for first time yesterday. I'd always heard it was a tough course so I spent time doing research. Their website (https://www.thesaticoyclub.com/) has videos done with a drone of every hol... Continue »

Played course for first time yesterday. I'd always heard it was a tough course so I spent time doing research. Their website (https://www.thesaticoyclub.com/) has videos done with a drone of every hole along with playing tips. I also used Google Earth to view the course and measure things like how far it was to doglegs and identify hazards that might not be noticed from a tee box. I like to describe some courses as 3-D which means there's a fair amount of hills, up/down tee/fairway shots, etc. This course is very 3-D. The first hole is even a tee shot from top of a hill. There's also many uneven lies on fairways. The range is even hitting down to level maybe 100 feet down so forget about figuring out how far you hit your clubs. Members can go to the range of Saticoy regional course a couple miles down the road to figure that out or Sterling Hills course range not far away either.

The course was in great shape as you would expect a private course to be. Greens rolled nicely and quite tricky to read on several holes. Traps had plenty of good sand and I found myself in a bunch of them. The rough areas have much growth to hide your balls if you end up in them. I lost several that way, to be honest. It wasn't a good golf day for me but I can't blame it on the beautiful weather nor lack of good information I found. The course sits up in the mountain fairly high so you get ocean breeze and it was in our face on several tee shots and fairways. Everyone in our foursome was playing it for the first time and described it as a beautiful but very challenging course. My rather out-of-shape 68 year old body was very worn out at the end of the round even though I did some yoga before the round to stretch.