Strawberry Farms Golf Club

Very challenging yet forgiving as well. Great water holes. Overall great experience.

The Good: Strawberry Farms is one of the most heralded public courses in the Orange County area and for good reason. Very interesting, visual impressive layout with nice mixture of valley views on front nine and then elevation vistas around a quarry on the closing nine (and no houses!). Excellent Par 5's, good diversity in Par 4's, and several solid Par 3's. Greens putt very true. Clubhouse is excellent with full restaurant, bar, patio and banquet room. Practice area includes range, multiple putting greens, and short game area. Pace of play is great and staff is very friendly. You can book prepaid rounds at discounted prices, making it a solid value for a high priced metro area.

The Bad: The recent droughts have not done any favors for the course conditions, which are average at best. Driving range only allows irons, which is an annoyance. While check-in and clubhouse service is top-notch, on-course service is lacking. Course layout is not for the high handicapper as most errant shots are gobbled up by marsh or forest areas just off the cart path. Course significantly limits when you can drive carts. Peak season rates are too high given course conditions.

The Verdict: Strawberry Farms is a fun, enjoyable golf course and one of the best in the OC. Needs condition improvements and more focus on the golfer experience to be a premier public option.

Best Hole: Without question, the medium length Par 4 10th. Amazing view of the quarry and a drive that must carry water and navigate a sliver of a fairway.

This course was ok, but in my opinion, way overpriced considering the conditions, grooming, etc. I've played all around Orange County and San Diego County, and I've played courses that charge more than Strawberry Farms. I'm not speaking on price alone. I just feel that the value here is not that good. For this price, conditions should be much better. Fairways were average. Greens were OK. It seems like they are priced more for the corporate clients. Businesses that are in Irvine, who take clients golfing, where cost isn't so much of issue. That's my feeling. If you want to play some good golf at a fair price, I wouldn't golf here. I'm not planning on going back anytime soon.

Im a 10 year industry fellow, I've worked at many top golf courses within my 10 year stint and I'm an ex-NCAA golfer so I've seen a few courses in my day. I was very excited to play here for the first time as I've heard great things about Strawberry Farms.

Staff is great and facility is decent but the course itself is an absolute dump. Fairways are awful so if you're playing it down, you can expect to be upset. Greens are quick and that Poa in the afternoon gets extremely bumpy so you cant ram the back of the cup on those 4-footers so overall, this combo alone makes it not worth the money. This course reminds me of poorly maintained Military course although I've been a LOT better Military tracks then this. Definitely not worth the price for green fees. There's a lot better value with other courses in the area.

Lots of rain forced cart path only rules which made having a cart worthless, course was tough but fair, we were matched with a local women who was running between shots making things uncomfortable

Played 2/8/17. Had my best score ever at Strawberry today, but I'll try not to let that taint my review.

This course is sad. Great layout. Great staff. But the conditions are borderline pathetic for a high-end course. The fairways are mega-shaggy, perhaps as shaggy as any I have seen ever. All over the course, the grass turns into weeds into bare spots into clumps. Play the ball up everywhere, because you will get terrible lies all day. The greens are generally nice, but quite bumpy.

I thought that after all the rain for two months I'd see a green course with healthy grass. Not here. I hope they turn things around, but for now I cannot recommend it at any price.

Well maintained considering the recent rain. Greens could be slower.

Nice course, greens in very good condition, much par 4 and quite challenging. A bit pricey .

Played Strawberry Farms for the first time on a late Saturday morning. They were still asking for $110-125 for times around 11am. Greens were perfect. Tee boxes pretty nice. Very fun course- amazing pace. Waited a bit to get started, but after a couple holes, never saw the group in front of us. Staff was amazing. Scenery is nice. Just a bit expensive... but that keeps the hackers away. Definitely coming back!

I lived in this area for about 20yrs and always wanted to play Strawberry but knew i could not play there because of the high prices. First off I had a good time mostly because I finally found a reasonable rate. Im a little conflicted on how to rate because 1) it was raining when we got there so there was not a lot of people out (it was a hotdeal so its hard to cancel those...) I think we saw 8 people out on the course. Thats why i couldn't rate the pace of play, it only took us 3.5 hours to play but there was no one in front or back of us due to the rain which stopped after the 4th hole (lucky us :)

It was an ok course some holes were narrow 2 or 3 of them got me but for the most part I think I was able to keep my drives pretty straight so I shot in the low 80''s. I think it would have been a different story if i was spraying my shots 3 birdies help me out too.

Course Conditions were ok greens were nice fairway were average but i think the grass was dormant so it looked brown.

I dont think its a $200 per round course but maybe thats they're way of keeping the crowds away. Since I finally got to play this place once I dont think I will play here again because I cant afford to pay $$$ for a nice course, dont get me wrong it was nice its just I much rather play 3 times somewhere else the one time i can play here... im not knocking strawberry like i said its nice...so maybe if I can find a $40-$50 hotdeal i'd be all over it.

Try and hit it straight and have fun!!

Not worth the price. If this course was in the Inland Empire it would be 40-50$. First time playing this track, and I will spend my money elsewhere. Greens were in great shape, but the rest of the playing conditions were just average. I understand the weather has not been great, and it is December, but for the cost it should be better maintained. There was recent rain, so I won't hold the standing water against them. Plenty of other ground under repair. If you're looking to golf in the OC you aren't going to get better conditions here just because you paid a higher rate. Course layout is cool, secluded from streets and neighborhoods, plenty of environmental hazards to find lost Pro V's! Would not play here unless it was free or if I knew the conditions were great.

We don't play here too often but we found a great rate on Golfnow. We were able to get out early and played by ourselves. We enjoyed the natural surroundings and appreciated that it wasn't filled with homes. Since the greens had recently been aerated, we expected to have more 3-putts than normal, but that

didn't take away from the enjoyable experience.

The golf course gets over watered in the morning giving you mudballs throughout the day. There's no map on the scorecard or on the GPS in the golf cart. There are many blind shots that you have no idea where the hole is being played. A number of tee boxes are not flat. At the turn there are no quick food amenities. You have to go into a restaurant and order a meal. That is silly. It took us over five hours to play this course.

I enjoyed playing this course. The staff was friendly, helpful, and went out of their way to see your needs were met. The practice fssacility was near the clubhouse, and easy to find. The driving range had practice mats, which isn't something I care for.

The course itself was challenging, but a fair test for most golfers. Several holes made you think seriously about club selection and others about placement.

The pace of play slowed a little after about 11 holes, but generally moved along. This course was a good choice.

I like this course a lot but the greens sometimes are horrible. Apparently nobody fixes their ball marks and the staff doesn't either. If they can get that under control I wouldn't have a problem with it. Also, the price is high for this course. I can't get myself to pay almost $200 a round for prime time, not worth it at that point. But apparently it's an automatic extra $100 for a course if its in Orange County, all the courses over-charge but people still seem to pay it (grew up in south Florida where you can play a course like this for $50). Over-all I like the course, it's very tight but if you aren't spraying it around its a good course to score on. Not something I would play every weekend, maybe like 1-2 times a month.

Greens fast on the course, but practice green slow. The bunkers are all redone so the sand is plentiful. Did not look like the staff raked them I the AM. Overall, very nice layout and a good test of golf.

Played the Blues (6276/70.9/128) as a 4some with Micheal, Frank and Rodwin in 4H, 45M. The weather was 80ish and clear with little wind.

Dave's recent review was spot on. Greens disappointing, the rest of the course okay to good. I enjoy this course, tough but not overly tough. You have to keep it on the short stuff here. There are numerous holes I usually play well and numerous holes that routinely kick my butt on this layout.

Most tees were lush, but several could use leveling. Many tees needed divot repair today.

The Bermuda fairways were mostly lush. Much better than my last few visits here, they were good to play out of today.

The Bermuda rough has decent coverage for a grass and weed mixture, thick and punitive in spots.

The traps mostly have good sand, decently maintained.

The greens were mediocre. A few sporadic bare spots, firm and sometimes bumpy. They putted medium slow & held approach shots well. There is more and more poa annua on these greens and they do not putt nearly as well as they did last winter. Probably about 50% bent and 50% poa annua, which causes noticeable speed and texture differences as you cross patches of different grasses.

Everyone encountered provided excellent customer service. Beverage cart out making the rounds. Standard GPS on carts to the front, middle and back of the green only. Recommended = Yes, but only if you can get a deal, not worth rack rate.