Strawberry Farms Golf Club

I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the course is. Many of the reviews are critical of the fairways. I found the fairways generally good, tees very good and greens excellent. You're playing in valleys so don't see or hear traffic. Pretty remarkable for being in Irvine. Staff was friendly and competent. We could have used a course map book because many of the holes have some hidden surprises.

This course is challenging but fun. Unless you hit it straight most of the time, bring extra golf balls because you'll need them. Fairways are narrow.

Played for first time here with a friend with tee time at 7 am to beat the heat. Course is in excellent shape in the middle of summer. Fairways on the front nine were soggy due to heavy watering in early hours. Greens were good. Bring mosquito repellent as the nearby reservoir is the perfect breeding ground for insects. This is required Especially on the back nine holes that wrap around the reservoir. Feels very humid as soon as sun climbs higher. Bring enough water.

The views on the back are nice. Some holes are narrow and you need to be straight from the tee not to loose balls.

On the front nine there are large environmental hazards (along fairway and greens) that you should stay away from as there is no way you will recover your ball.

All in all a fun course to play, but try to find a good deal as general rates are on the higher side.

Fun experience with family and friends but getting stuck behind a slow foursome...not fun...!!!!! Marshal did eventually come out and move them along...but only at the 16th...

Excellent experience. Check in was easy, staff friendly and finished in 4 hours!

My wife and I decided to play here as we needed to be inOC for Lunch with friends. Very easy access off the I405 freeway. Lovely buildings, nice restaurant and great pro shop. Staff were outstanding -- friendly, humorous, quick. When we saw how efficient the starter was in keeping the first tee flow, we anticipated a great game. Par on the first hole cemented that feeling. Then when we drove from the first green to the second tee, we saw the group ahead of us was just finishing their drives. That happens and the the groups spread out. By the fourth hole there were 4 (yep 4) groups on the same hole. One on the green, one waiting to hit to the green, us on tee and the group behind us sitting in their cart waiting for us. That summarizes the flow for the day -- I have a hard time playing in a rhythm when it is like that.

The course has some narrow fairways with little chance to recover an errant shot (take extra balls and be prepared of a penalty or two). Fairways were in good conditions for the most part and the greens were fast, yet soft. Unfortunately it appears that few golfers carry a tool to fix their pitch marks on the green -- sad. I spent a little time doing that. Greens required some careful reading and placement of your approach to avoid really challenging putts.

I am not sure we'll be making the drive back anytime soon, but if you are in OC this is a course worth considering, just be careful of the flow.

Played with a couple of club members and the few issues they shared, with the course was the multiple patches of ground under repair as well as certain parts of some fairways always having dry areas and the bunkers have been in better shape in years past. Despite all that's said I loved my time there.

course is way overpriced for the condition. Most fairways were under repair with course workers everywhere. Several fairways closed to carts. Also never saw promised beverege cart.

Slowest play I've ever experienced at a "higher-end course" and the price...

I've been interested in trying this place for sometime. My assumption is that when a place charges $175-$125 for a round is must be something really special. The course was nice, the amenities were nice, staff was AWESOME but the green fees are way too high. They are not competitive with other Orange County courses, not even close. These prices are appropriate if there are ocean views and/or impeccable conditions. Neither of which Strawberry Farms has. A friend of mine told me that that place was hurting for business, now I know why. $90 is the most I would pay for this place (and that's pushing it), and that is for an early morning weekend round. $75-$85 is more appropriate. They are pricing themselves out of the market.

My first time playing this course. I played early and most of the course was damp with the sprinklers were being used on several of the holes. This course is tight with a lot of environmental areas. You must hit your drives in the fairway or its bye-bye ball. It definitely will take a few tries before one unfamiliar with the course learns where they must hit the ball. The greens and traps are well taken care of. The fairways are in pretty bad shape and all holes are roped off for much of each hole. The course was trying to maintain the fairways, probably damaged from drought conditions; however, it's apparent that the players are not replacing their divots. I repaired maybe 100 divots and there were 100s more to be repaired. Sand was plentiful.

Because much of each hole is roped off, most of the time you could not use the cart to determine the distance to the green. I expect players were not happy walking back and forth to their ball and their carts and thus, the divots were left out of frustration. Poor excuse, though.

My problems resulted due to an early tee time. Each hole - all 18 - had one or two maintenance guys doing something. I was oblivious to them. Two greens keepers were playing tag heavily watering the greens and fringe area and then replacing the position of the hole. Others were sweeping and manicuring the traps. All were oblivious to me. After waiting on each hole, I finally hit my shot hoping I would not hit them. Out of fear that I would hit them, some of my shots were errant. After several holes in and no marshal in sight, I was not pleased. When I finished with my round, I did go in and let the front desk know how upset I was.

The staff was very friendly and courteous. I stayed and had breakfast. The food and service was very good.

I personally didn't like the layout of the course, not with all the environmental areas and roped-off areas. Either you hit a good drive or you have a lost ball, simple as that.

Good dill, everything is good.

Great Greens

Fairways a bit rough

Great advantage form the Women's tees for the ladies.

Staff was courteous and helpful.

The fairways needed work and reseeding.

Good course in Orange County, very friendly staff all around.

Fairways are in rough shape due to the drought but the greens were in great shape to make up for the fairways.

Tough but fair course that helps after playing multiple times.

Fairways in poor shape, ground under repair everywhere. Fairways roped off in some cases 150 yards from green, makes extremely difficult for senior player. Many fairways roped off for no reason, have played one other time encountered the same thing. Was assured that the roping off of fairways would not be an issue. It was an issue before the end of the first hole and continued through to the last hole. No worries - never playing again.

The course was fun to play. It played fair, not to difficult but it had some tough tight par threes. I will come back and play again.

Fun and challenging course in good condition. Staff always friendly. They moved our time up which was nice. Finished in 3 hours for 3 golfers. I consider this my home course. Also. Great food and considerate golf cat people.

Man, there's nothing more frustrating than booking a round at a nicer course, driving an hour and then only finding out about the punched greens as you walk on to the first green.

Since this is the third or fourth time that GolfNow (and the subsequent course) has failed to use their "Aerated Greens" alert, maybe it's on me for not calling ahead to every course I'm interested in booking to check the status of the greens. Seems like we should be able to address this issue since, you know, it's 2016 and we have the technology.

The course itself was in decent shape but dried out, which is to be expected right now.

Course was recommended by a local friend. The greens fees here are pretty steep for a public course so we were expecting it to be in spectacular shape. We were sadly disappointed. Let me be more specific...

Tee Boxes:

Green and lush and mown to a correct height. However, several were uneven and worse several were sloped. Basically prepare to start from uneven lie on several tee boxes.

Fairways:

The fairways are fair in generous in outline. Anything good about the fairways stops there. I literally felt like I was in a cow pasture. I don't think they had been but in days. There were several areas under repair...and worse, several that should have been so marked, and weren't. Uneven, bumpy, dissimilar or invasive grasses everywhere. Shame. This course could easily be a Top 25 So. Cal public course if the fairways were in good shape. They weren't even in "fair" shape. They were downright horrible.

Bunkers:

Sand is thin and compacted. Hard to hit true bunker shots here. Play them more like hardpan shots, no splash shots.

Greens:

SUPERB! Great design, wonderful tiered effects on many and true roll on every green we played. Fantastic greens were the saving grace of this course the day we played. Considering everything above it was comforting to know that once you hit the green you were going to be rewarded with consistent speeds and accurate roll.

Amenities:

Range, Pro Shop and 19th hole are all adequate here. Certainly will get all you need out of all three.

Staff:

Friendly, attentive and helpful.

Pace of Play:

Was good. It wasn't fast, but for a public course, it was better than many.