The Vineyard at Escondido

Had a great day. Checked in a little early and relaxed a bit taking advantage of the bar and restaurant amenities. Course is in great shape and carts are well maintained. Tough track with water, hazards and other challenges. Front nine is fairly flat, but has some doglegs and carries over water and hazards to make it challenging. Back nine also has similar challenges but has more elevation changes also. Overall a tough course, but alot of fun to play.

The staff at the check-in desk had a bad arrogance and borderline unprofessional

We had the first tee time of the day at 5:20am, unfortunately we had the staff cutting us off on about 6 or 7 tee boxes and moving the markers; the bad part was that some of the tee box markers were moved literally about a foot!! We even thought at some point that the worker was messing with us. A lot of the sprinklers kept going off in front of us, some of them the staff kept turning them on even when they saw we were coming. On hole 10 we even had to time the sprinklers to get to the fairway from the tee box so we wouldn’t get wet.

Then, at hole 12 (par 3) a worker picked up the pin and started trimming the green, so we had to wait close to 10mins.

We also didn’t enjoy the fact that they let people start at the back 9; 2 of us are decent players, but most importantly we respect etiquete and try to keep up or keep it going so people behind us don’t have to wait on us, even when we play bad. The 3 of us, with one beginner, finished the front 9 in 1hr 50mins, again, no one in front of us, so it’s normal we went faster than normal (even playing bad: 10, 12 & 17 over on first 9 holes), however, we get to the back 9, and there were 3 separate twosomes on the 3 holes ahead of us, not only is bad enough they’re playing separately, they were SUPER slow. The pace of play on the back 9 would’ve tracked for a 5-hour round, as it took us 2hrs and 28mins to finish the back 9.

The course was super muddy, greens were saturated, soft and extra slow; but also a lot of grassless spots and fairways under repair.

It may be just a morning thing but definitely not an enjoyable round at all.

Great course for $50 cart included! Many picturesque holes, though the bunkers need sand (currently all dirt) and they need more restrooms throughout the course. Fairways were a bit patchy and dry but sustainable. Greens were slow-mid fast at around 1 PM. Back 9 is gorgeous! You’ll spend some time taking photos and videos (mind the turtles).

Course in good condition except the bunkers are like concrete no sand and very compacted

Good conditions and not crowded, able to play at own pace.

I’ve played 3 courses in SoCal in the last 2 weeks and just like the others, the Vineyard needs more water. My major complaint with this course is the sand traps are hard as rocks, if you’re not going to maintain them properly, remove the lips so we can putt out of them.

Great course but the green speed were just unbeatably slow…!