Cinnabar Hills Golf Club - Lake/Canyon

I really enjoyed the lay out of the course along with their amazing vistas.

Please note I was playing Crystal Springs, Burlingame, CA which I thoroughlly enjoyed but Golfnow has taken off all the Hot deals for this course.
This is very disappointing.

I have recently tried calling Golfnow, NY about retaining some specials that have been promised to me without success.
My birthday promo in May was rained out & GN told me they would issue a replacement Birthday promo but have yet to hear back.

The greens tend to be a little firm, Not real receptive to good iron shots. But all in all a very challenging but fair course.

The only reason it did not get 5 star is because they had me play Canyon course (9-hole) twice. It appears Mountain and Lake were reserved for a club tournament. I wish it was disclosed beforehand - maybe it was (in fine prints somewhere which I missed reading before I made the purchase). I would have still gone ahead - but to come to know that at the golf shop just minutes before teeing off took some of the sheen away.

I have played here many times. I like Cinnabar's rugged terrain, its quite off the beaten path location and its challenging but fair layout. Lots of intimidating tee shots but with good sized fairways and greens to support, your less than perfect shots. One of the best around.

We always enjoy Cinnabar--gorgeous, interesting layout.

We play Lake and Canyon.
Too much up and down and difficult for beginner.
Mid-High course but beautiful.

Cinnabar is and has long been my favorite course in the Bay Area! There were some condition issues yesterday. The bunkers were inconsistent, not well conditioned, and a few really needed to be re-turfed aroun the edges. There could also be a much better replay rate.

The fairways were lush, and the greens were fast and true.
We played all 3 nines ( the last one was free), and loved the variety. I've played a few of John Harbottle's designs, and this is my favorite.

First time playing this course. I really enjoyed the experience. I would definitely play this course again when I'm back in the area.

Love this course, greens are firm and fast. Beautiful views and 3 very different nines. One of my favorite courses in the bay area.

I'm not one to harass golfers, since my take is that we are on the course to have a great time. However, there should be common courtesy extended when there are golfers in front and behind you, such as: don't take a mulligan on every hole; don't spend 10 min looking for lost balls, don't tee off on championship tees if your handicap is over 20, and play ready-golf on the weekends. This is probably the only course I ever played at where I think having a marshal is necessary, not to harass people but just to maintain a decent pace where one can play a round within 5 hrs.

I love playing Cinnabar... well, mostly. The course is beautiful and the variety of the course is excellent. I would have given 5 stars if not for being hounded (via the cart GPS) by the staff to speed up. We were a foursome of 90s shooters and weren't keeping up wit a threesome of low handicappers in front of us. For this we were getting messages on the GPS the whole round. We finished in 4-1/2 hours, while pulling away from the group behind us, on a very challenging course. That was apparently not good enough. Be prepared for tour speed greens here, takes some serious adjustment.

Driving 30-40 minutes to the outskirts of Almaden Valley would seem like a reasonable investment of time to experience country club golf. For the most part, CBH meets that expectation and I continue to give them $600-$800 per month in revenues as proof.

That said, I would like to offer the following suggestions:

1) Add more water stations on the course, especially for afternoons during the summer months. Previously, when the carts included ball washers and coolers, this request was not as important because we were offered more choices about how we can stay comfortable and hydrated.

2) Beer carts should offer sleeves of golf balls and gloves for sale and a broader mini bottle selection.

3) An excellent "touch of service" would be to offer iced hand towels to cool off after an afternoon round. The cost to implement would be minimal and it would allow your staff to gain immediate feedback from your players about course conditions, overall experiences and suggestions for improvement. (See Wailea courses on Maui for feedback on this service = invaluable for a excellent customer experience in hot weather).

4) With the high visibility children's programs, you might consider an Easter Egg type of search of the range boundaries to pick up old and wayward balls from holes #1/#9 on Mountain. In parallel, Callaway is looking to make a push at many driving ranges for more exposure to their golf balls. Ask Callaway to replace the worn out Pinnacle balls (and the smorgasbord of lost/damaged balls) with new Callaways, in exchange for banner placements and access to driving range customers. Offering a coupon to range customers to use at Costco to purchase Callaway balls would be on return on investment for this vendor. WE NEED NEW RANGE BALLS!!!

5) The slopes of the tee areas on the driving range are not level. It is difficult to work on your game effectively from a downhill/sidehill/uphill lie which all are prominent all over the range. Coyote Creek's range business is 2x of CBH and once reason is that their facilities are more conducive to perfect practice. It would not be that expensive to grade the tee area to offer at least one swath of level tees. Even the turf mats are uneven.

6) Hungry and thirsty golfers will spend more time and money in the lounge if the (female) servers were more attentive and took more pride in their appearance.

Played the Mountain and Canyon combination in the afternoon. The pace of play was good, but could be slower if players hit into trouble and have to spend time looking for balls. Plenty of trouble to be found on this course.

The course was in great condition. Our only complaint was that the greens did not hold well hit balls. The greens were in very good condition and putts rolled well, but just would hold shots. So, you need to try to hit well short of most pins and plan on some roll.

Would definitely recommend the course.

Unless if you can afford to play Pebble Beach everyday, You can not find many courses better than Cinnabar Hill to play everyday. Even when me and my buddys go on golf trips to play the top 100 courses, we still use Cinnabar Hills as our yardstick. Golfwise, probably half of the top 100 courses we have played are not as good as Cinnabar Hills. At $50-60 golfnow prices, this is a steal.
Cinnabar Hills is always in excellent conditions. The holes are well designed to give you a lot of challenges but also very fair. You always have places to lay up if you need to. The views are really nice as well. Best view is at the tee box of the Canyon 9th hole.
One improvement the course should do is that they probably need to put some OB stakes at the left side of the Canyon 9th hole. I have seen players delibriately try to hit to the Canyon 1st hole fairway in order to get on the green in 2. This is very dangerous to the players playing the 1st hole.

From beginning to end, this was a great day of golf and fellowship. The course was in good shape, the holes challenging but not so much that enjoyment couldn't be had, the scenery great, and the food in the clubhouse very good. Overall, a very satisfying experience!

Cinnabar hills is one of the best tracks in South Bay Area. The course is very challenging. Not super long, but can play much longer and tougher in the wind due to the hilly-ness. No two holes the same and every hole is unique. Bent grass greens are some of the best for public course on a regular basis. Course is always maintained very well. Practice facilities are great and every putting green (3) allows chipping (yes, every course should allow this, but say no shag bags). Practice greens are same speed as course and are very undulating to help get a sense of the course greens. Range is good and allows you to hit off grass half of the week. Food and clubhouse are great place to eat with outdoor patios that look over the course. One of the best golf facilities in Bay Area. Prices are reasonable.

Enjoyed the overall experience and would definitely recommend this track to advanced players.
Many holes required accurate tee shots to put you in good position for an approach. 3 wood off the tee instead of driver on a few holes would have put me in better position.
Greens were fast but true. Putts reacted to slight almost imperceptible slopes.
The food was much better than most and the full bar was appreciated.
Wish I lived closer so I could plan more often.

The terrain of the course is ridiculous. There is a par 4 that is straight up the hill with a flag pole that is at least 9 foot tall because you would not see the green otherwise. Even with a tee shot of 200 yards you do not reach the fairway. The greens are in good shape but hard as a rock and fast as lightning so you cannot get puts close.The greens are large so you often three putt. They forgot that golf is supposed to be fun.I would not play this course again even if it was for free.

Love the way the 3 different 9 hole courses are with elevation changes, to angles of approach, real challenging par 3's. Great vista's