Diamond Bar Golf Review

Diamond Bar golf course is not a well rated course. Multiple holes are bordered by the freeway. The course took 5 hours and 45 minutes to play. I took that all in stride and decided to play it anyway.

What I found was a course that had some really interesting holes. Say the 9th hole for example. A completely uphill par 3 to a green that seems like you are trying to hit to the top of a volcano.

The greens can be absolutely perplexing with their slopes and the pin positions were devious to say the least.

Every once in awhile you tuned out the constant freeway noise and could focus on the majestic mountains surrounding the course.

These elements are great but the sum of the parts are too lacking. Parallel holes, the constant drone of the freeways, the terrible course management allowing for almost 6 hour rounds. Diamond Bar suffers from too many defects to be recommended to a golfer. That being said, there are some elements that would be great cornerstones in case the course was ever renovated.

For more info on Diamond Bar, check out this link: https://www.diamondbargolf.com/

Riviera Photo Essay

Riviera CC is one of the top golf courses in the world. Top 100 has it at 37th in the world and you won't hear me complaining about that ranking. I have attended the Genesis Open several times and each time makes me want to play The Riv more and more. 

The first hole (above) gives you the classic golden area California open with a huge downhill tee shot and an hourglass green. I have had dreams about hitting that tee shot into the upper atmosphere to start my round at the Club.

I am always amazed at the severity of the greens here. There are some where placement is key and misses are death (death by bunker that is).

To me, the back side of the course (where the infamous 6th and the above 16th reside) is some of the most fascinating. You can feel the history back here with these ghost trees and immaculate greens.

I just love this shot. It goes to show that if you miss at the Riv in the wrong place, you are in for a world of hurt.

This was George Thomas' favorite hole and I can see why. The strategy off the tee, the bunkers mirroring the swales of the land, it is fantastic!

This is perhaps my favorite fairway bunker in golf. It is just an outrageous monster of sand rising out of a sea of green.

The Riv is a course that I have seen in person multiple times but never have had the good fortune to play. If I ever got the chance, I would enjoy every second and then beg to play 36. It is that good a course and can be played over and over again with boring a golfer (truly, a high compliment!).

For more info on Riviera, check out the link: http://www.therivieracountryclub.com/

Chester Washington Review

Chester Washington resides deep in the heart of Los Angeles and driving over miles of concrete you wonder how there is a golf course in these parts. However, CW does a lot with a little and smushes together a fun executive course in a highly urban setting.

The course starts out alternating par 4s and par 3s but one of the most impressive features is the width of the fairways. While holes may run parallel to each other as typical parkland courses do, the routing gives you confidence to take several different approaches to the greens.

This hole on the front side is a great example of using width folded into the routing. You can flare it out right or challenge the trap to the left with a semi-blind tee shot. CW is constantly giving you looks like this which really makes it fun off the tee.

The highpoint geographically on the course is also the highpoint of the round with both the 7th and 9th holes playing over water to a downhill sloping fairway which then rises back up to some tricky greens. It really is a beautiful sight.

Unfortunately the back nine can't keep up with the front 9 as the holes lengthen but conversely become less interesting. While the routing gets pretty vanilla, the greens keep up their treachery. While they don't have swales and rolls they do contain devious breaks which keep you on your toes.

I would say the biggest downside to CW is that several holes border active streets and you really never get that serenity that golf can offer. That being said, the course is solid, especially the front 9 and if you are in need of urban golf, CW will give you all you want and more.

For more info on Chester Washington, check out this link: https://www.chesterwashington.com/

Sand Canyon Review

Sand Canyon has had a tough time of it recently. It was known as Robinson Ranch, home to 36 holes of mountain and canyon golf that was knocked off its perch due to one of California's recent wildfires. Thankfully a new owner thought it was worthwhile to resuscitate the course making it a 27 hole course divided into Mountain, Desert and Valley.

I played the Desert and Valley courses, which is apparently the preferred routing from everyone I spoke to. As you can see, the course is a bit tight, there are definite choke points off the tee and the scrub is very scrubby. Apparently Mountain has this is spades along with rolling topography and the Desert and Valley are a bit more mellow.

What Sand Canyon is doing is the vanguard of desert golf in the American Southwest in the near future. The course is all about the minimum amount of turf, with everything else being allowed to brown out or be scrubified. Exhibit A is this par 3 below, only the tee pads and green are green.

Sand Canyon reminded me a lot of Moorpark Country Club and Silver Oak in Nevada as both force driver out of your hand on several holes given that washes and drainage are nestled right in landing zones. My driver was working well so I took on these features a few times but for the most part, was content hitting fairway woods and irons on several holes.

My favorite hole on the Valley 9 was the ninth hole featuring a tree right in the middle of the landing zone with the hole leading up to the clubhouse. I loved this hole!

The "back 9" was the Desert 9 and it offers more of the same, tight holes, forced carries, etc., just on slightly flatter terrain. It has a real Scottsdale vibe to it.

2 great things about Sand Canyon were the mountain views and also the pace of play. We were so spoiled with the pace of play on the front side that we were grumbling when we came in at 2:15 on the back which I suspect most public golfers would take.

The downside for Sand Canyon is that because of the routing, it is really a target course when it doesn't need to be. Cut the course to 18 holes tighten up the routing, take out the trees to really open it up to the desert and then you are talking.

Overall the course is in good shape and with each course making its way up to the clubhouse it is a nice way to close out a round at SCCC.

For more information about Sand Canyon check out the link: https://www.sandcanyoncc.com/

San Dimas Golf Review

You can't help but get a small George Thomas vibe when you go around San Dimas. There is the classic elevated tee box on the first hole. The course winds it way along a canyon with houses on top also reminiscent of Thomas' designs in SoCal.

Somehow Dan Murray in the 60s put in hints and shadows of golf's golden age into a rather straightforward parkland golf course. As I went around the course, I kept wondering how great this course would have been as a 12 hole course.

 
The routing is very accordion-like with multiple greens and tee boxes folding in on themselves because Dan just didn't have the room and need to get to 18 holes. There are really interesting holes like the third hole which features a bling shot, water on the left and an amazing downhill second shot so the bones are there for this puppy.

The greens are where the course really shines. Sure they were punched the day I was there but the sloping was something to behold and there was definitely a wrong side of the green.

San Dimas falls down where many SoCal public courses do, tee times. The course was packed with a tournament and 8 minute tee times thereafter. The routing only causes more backups with a short par 4 starting hole a par 3 and then a short par 5 third. Packed tee sheet, poor course routing leads to a very long day.

I would love to see this course get a makeover and get those bones to shine, it could be a really special place.

For more info on San Dimas check out this link: https://www.sandimasgc.com/

Rio Hondo Golf Club Review

Rio Hondo is owned by the City of Downey and is a muni in name only. The course is in fantastic shape during the middle of the Summer here in LA with the fairways rolling green and true, the sand fluffy and pace of play pretty good (I will take what I can get in LA).

The course is definitely a parkland track with trees suggesting the routes but they aren't thick enough to stop you from trying to scramble back into the fairway. In fact, the course has a wide open feel despite having several holes running parallel to each other on each of the 9s.

The superstar of the course is the bunkering like our friends on 17 above where huge tracks of land contain sand and make the player really think about where they should hit the ball. The course is kinda on the shortish side and is rather flat so a lot of the challenging is positioning your shots in the correct place and avoiding the fluffy stuff if you can.

The course also has an insane amount of water, several ponds disrupt the proceedings including the "classic" SoCal par 3 over water 7th hole. The course is slightly compressed in on itself as several holes meet up near greens or stretch themselves around each other, which is very reminiscent of Hacienda and several other SoCal tracks. However, in a true testament to Rio, you never feel claustrophobic and the trees and fencing help keep everyone from being on top of each other.

Rio is also pretty cheap and given its quality this is a real deal here in the Southland. In terms of architecture, Rio mostly delivers. Some of the par 3s are a little too straightforward and there is a bit too much similarity between holes it would be interesting to see if a small refresh, with tweaks to landing areas could turn this course from very good to great.

Rio doesn't seem to be mentioned much in the conversation of quality SoCal public tracks but that is the fault of the reviewers, this is a really solid track that offers a fun public golf experience and many courses in SoCal can't say the same.

For more info about Rio Hondo check out the following link! https://www.riohondogc.com/

The Haze Of Knollwood

Where am I? Everything seems to hazy and all I can discern is the smell of cut grass and trees waving in the wind. Suddenly the number 5 jars me to my senses. 5, 5, 5 it repeats but what does it mean?

Could 5 stand for the 5 hour and 15 minute golf round I just played? Could 5 stand for the number of fivesomes I saw out at Knollwood "Country Club" on a recent trip there? Most likely 5 is the number of working synapsis I had firing into the void after a mind numbing round of Los Angeles golf.

Whatever is "wrong" with the game of golf was on full display at Knollwood, a former country club whose best days are far behind it. The whole property seems to be infected with an uncaring mange, buildings are dingy, the course is hairy and golfers seem to mirror the neglect by not raking bunkers or fixing pitch marks. My round was only snapped out of it's lethargy with a passing motorist yelling at me "golf is for fags".

I certainly can forgive Knollwood for its maintenance issues. All of us should be thankful that anyone is running a golf course at all nowadays and if they focus on maintaining the course, so be it.

I can also forgive the routing which put me in my fugue state to begin with. A guy can only play to so many uphill greens in a row before he starts to go insane.

I also can't blame Knollwood for sending out fivesomes in 8 minute increments. They clearly have people willing to cast their sanity easily into the wind to play there so why not jam up the course with as many people as it can handle?

However, when you add all of this up, compounding interest of bad choices, accruing daily, you wonder when the golf mortgage note finally comes due. When is enough enough? When do golf courses start to see the value in repeat customers actually wanting to come back rather than putting golfers through the mill, without a care whether they come back or not?

Also, how dare Knollwood actually have a tremendous 18th hole?

Embanked left side of the fairway, amazing undulations on the right leading to, you guessed it, an uphill green full of challenge. The land and the course cannot escape its destiny, it is surrounded by houses and the grass choices are what they are but the 18th shows you what the course coulda been. It coulda been a contender.

Sure I have a choice, I could join a private club. Much like parents now have a choice to send their kids to charter schools or private schools. However, is that really the best choice? The public school system is only as strong as its weakest link and it is continually being weakened by charter schools cherry picking. Public golf courses should be making it easier for golfers to want to play there and are the problems inherent in the system better if those with means to go private do so?

New golf course construction isn't necessarily the answer either. Bandon, Sand Valley and their ilk are very expensive. The par 3 revolution that people are trumpeting are expensive as well (The Preserve at Bandon is at least $75, the Sandbox at Sand Valley is at least $45).

Knollwood is golf's deranged present. What the future will be is up to us. A place like Winter Park in Florida may be one way to go. Instead of 18 terrible holes, redesign it with 9 sustainably intriguing holes (well, that is, until we lose Florida entirely due to costal erosion but that is a story for another day).

For more info about Knollwood, check out this link: https://www.knollwoodgc.com/

Mountain Meadows

I consider myself to be reasonably in shape. Sure as I approach middle age I am carrying a little extra baggage but I feel like I haven't lost too much spring in my step. I always try to walk a course if I can so when I pulled up to Mountain Meadows and saw the back tees were 6600 yards, I am like "no cart for me".

Well MM takes the "mountain" in its name seriously, I walked up hills and downhills with very few level lies and by the 11th hole I was a tuckered golfer. I was so pooped that by the signature par 3 13th hole (hit over a ravine, into the wind, 230)

I had a mini swing-meltdown and was wondering if I should beg my playing companions if I could hop in their cart. However, just then the cart girl (I hate that term BTW but just using it for convenience until I can think of another one) came by I had chowed down on kit kats and Gatorades. That seemed to do the trick as I went 1 under the last 5 holes.

Aside from my travails, the course itself had a nice mix of short par 5s, long par 4s and a variety of par 3s to keep a golfer on their toes.

The bunker complexes were in great shape with a subtle design to them that really framed the greens well (and many of the vistas were framed by OTHER mountains which added a nice touch).

The course is definitely one where local knowledge is appreciated as there are either several blind shots and not a lot of yardage markers so you need to play there several times to figure out what to hit and when.

The greens were recently punched but rolled nicely and given all the undulations in the rest of the course, I was glad to have rather flatish greens to navigate once I finally got there.

I liked Mountain Meadows as it really packs quite a punch in a small amount of space. That being said, I might want to take a cart next time I am there :).

For more info on MM check out the link: https://www.mountainmeadowsgc.com/

El Prado Golf Review

El Prado is a fascinating track deep in the heart of Chino offering 36 holes including the Creek course which I checked out the other week.

Sure the fairway and the rough are two sides of the same coin. Sure the sand is hard and offers little relief. However with the mountain views seemingly surrounding the course and the aforementioned creek coming into play on the back 9, El Prado offers a picturesque round which was super enjoyable.

Also tumbleweeds, lots of tumbleweeds.

The front side is pretty straightforward and the backside it really picks up with multiple creek crossings at various points on par 4s and 5s which brings a lot of strategy into the mix.

Where the course may lack in terms of length, it makes up for in challenging greens with subtle breaks. They also have a small footprint so much like a Nicklaus course which necessitates a precise second or third shot.

Perhaps one of the most picturesque holes is a reverse cape hole which from the back tees is quite the challenge.

If the conditioning of the course was a little bit better this would be a pretty sweet track. If you ever are in the Chino area you should definitely check it out!

For more info on El Prado, check out the link: http://www.elpradogolfcourses.com/

Eaton Canyon Golf Review

Tucked into a nook of Pasadena between the mountains and the city lies a surprisingly good 9 hole course run by LA County. Eaton Canyon isn't going to wow anyone with its sub 3,000 yardage and flatish greens but the routing is fantastic, taking you over hill and dale. Well placed bunkers and beautifully framed greens will have me going back again for sure!

What comes to mind first is how the greens are framed. Often elevated from the fairway and ringed by trees, almost every approach shot is pretty as a peach.

The star of the course is the 4th hole, which is a downhill, kinda blind-ish par 4 that frames the mountains and the city.

The greens roll true albeit a bit slow and while flat, present a decent challenge. If they put a little undulation into the greens this course would be a real beaut.

Every once in awhile you run into a course that surprises you and Eaton Canyon's elevation changes will keep you on your toes in a good way and well worth a visit.

For more information on Eaton Canyon check out the link: http://parks.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpr/ThingsToDo/Golf/Eaton_Canyon_Golf_Course