Monarch Bay Golf Club - Tony Lema Course

We asked to get a marshal after the front nine took almost 3 hours. That didn’t help. We had to confront the group ahead of us for slow play. Who takes 5 min to 3-putt!?

I have always liked this course over the years, however it was not so good this last time. Tee boxes and fairway in poor condition. Pace of play was terrible as we literally waited on every shot up to 5 minutes. 10th hole is a par 3 and they were backed up with 3 groups as we finished the 9th. I had to walk off. Marshals do nothing to help the pace of play.

Come to Monarch Bay

There is something for every type of play. Large range executive course and the main course. Lots of wind on this Linz course but that’s what we play for is the thrill of the challenge. This is a must play Bay Area location. Stay at a local hotel. You have everything you need as a getaway.

I was amazed how flush (grass) the fairways were .. Other than a few "unkept" maintenence tee boxes, the course is in great condition .. I enjoy playing here ...

Got put into a 3some with just a single ahead of us so we finished in 3.5hrs (Wed afternoon round). I wouldn't ride in a cart here because they are trying to geofence the par3s but the cart shuts of on random Par4s if you try to drive on the fairway. No signs indicating cart path only on those Par4s where this happened which was a little annoying. Greens were fantastic and somewhat quick.

Pace of play was really slow throughout most of the day .. Only saw the MARSHALL once... 🫤

We only seen the MARSHALL once .. Informed him that the 4-some in front of us SLOWED the round down... it was more than 5 hrs to play ...

I drove an hour to play this course I have played a dozen or so times before just to arrive and find out the greens were sanded and punched was not pleased especially since golf season had just started when they should have either done this before warm weather and or not had done it at all

Everything was very good or excellent; however the greens were recently punched which was a surprise. I'm looking forward to playing the course again with smoother greens.

-Tee boxes: TRASHED! This is one of the most disappointing things about this course.

-No starter. Even though it wasn’t terribly busy, it was a little chaotic.

-Carts geocaches to disable on certain holes, but not just the par 3s or heavily worn spots like you’d expect. Entire fairways on some (par 4/5) holes were not accesible by cart. No signs or other warning of this. Frustrating.

-Despite the incredible amount of recent rain, the course grass looked in very I’ll health. For such a beautiful setting right on the bay, the course was hideous.

Pros:

-Very forgiving course, with open layout… you can often hit a clean 2nd shot off the neighboring fairway.

-Fun and challenging course design.