Olivas Links Golf Course

A Marshall is desperately needed to pace the play. The foursome in front of us had two open holes ahead of the hole they were playing. They were playing from the blue tee-boxes and they were terrible. They took way to much time looking for lost balls.

We were looking on here for a course to play as we always do and came up with this little gem. Its like a parkland/Links course well links due to the wind from the sea. It has great challenging holes and it's not a very long course but mid to low handicap players should play from the champ tees or the tips. Great condition and the greens were nice a quick, shame others don't know how to repair pitch marks but I've seen worse at other courses. Also you can get a semi tractor in the parking lot although a little tight in the driveway. One more thing Walk don't Ride, it's a nice easy walk.

Weather changes fast. Cold windy day !

I played this course on Friday May 6. I arrived at 5:50 for my 6:20 am tee time. The pro shop is a trailer, but the staff was very nice and accommodating. The young man told me I could go when I was ready. I stretched some and swung a couple of clubs to loosen up and decided to go ahead around 6:15. There was a walking 2-some and a riding 2-some in front of me. I had to wait on every tee box (even though I was playing 2 balls).

The course is pretty wide open. Because it's a links style course, there are not many trees lining the fairways. However, there are a lot of Natural Preserves lining the course that you're not allowed to enter. But the F/Ws are very generous. The greens had just been cut and rolled very fast, but very true. They had several valleys and ridges. It was important to get your ball on the correct level or you will have a very challenging putt. Pick your line, commit to it, and control your speed.

The course was very pretty and very well-maintained. While you didn't get any ocean vistas, there were some holes that overlooked the various fields.

For a weekday the pace of play was rather slow. Lots of waiting.

Played the Blacks (6818/73.0/130) as a 2some with Dana in 3 1/2 H 1st out on a GN "Hot Deal". The weather was clear, in the 70's and calm.

The tees are lush, immaculately maintained. All the par 3 tee divots had been recently sanded/filled.

The fairways were nice overall, recently punched but did not affect play. Fairly lush, firm, mowed down, with a few GUR areas.

The rough around the fairway is mostly lush and in spots lost ball thick/tall. Farther off the fairway is mostly hardpan with patches of lost ball rough.

The traps were nicely maintained with good quality sand.

The greens are probably 95% recovered from their recent aeration. Firm, smooth and medium speed. A usual challenge here is the amount of players who do not fix ball marks. Even a few weeks out of aeration, we were fixing 6-10 a hole and barely making a dent.

Excellent course to walk, very flat. The customer service is always good here. No frills pro shop is in a trailer, minimal food available onsite. NO GPS on carts, usually no drink cart. Excellent grass driving range complete with a good chipping and sand practice area that they have expanded to include a separate chipping area off to the side of the chipping green. Huge putting green that is usually very comparable to the course. Exceptional value, especially for the conditions.

First tee time of the day at 6:45, went out as a single and played in 2 hours and 25 min. Course is normally in perfect shape, however they just punched the greens and were punching the fairways during the round. Slightly disappointed with that aspect of the morning, but it has to happen at some point. Management could've offered, as a courtesy, a free drink or small bag of range balls to accommodate the less than desirable course conditions.

All of that being said, Olivas Links is one of my favorite layouts in southern California. You won't be disappointed. The greens are demanding, hit it in the wrong spot and you'll be 3-putting. Challenging par 3's that require different clubs to each. Par 5's that are reachable if played correctly. The wind will blow, strong at times, so be prepared.

The temporary clubhouse is getting old, hopefully they have plans to build something more permanent soon. Never stuck around for an after round drink, which I normally would do each and every time.

Fun and challenging! They had punched the greens, but they were still playable. I will play it again.

Seems to be in British golf course. Very nice However the course yardage were made for seniors, even black tees. Watch out 16 holes. The trees on left side of fairway block your second shot.

Fairways and greens are in very good condition.

Coupled with perfect weather, Olivas links is a great and different challenge than any other course in the area

I love this course! Challenging and always in great condition!

Played here on a friend's recommendation. We were paired with two regulars/locals and enjoyed the course. It is in good shape for drought conditions and the greens were challenging.

The pace of play was the biggest downfall. It was beyond ridiculously slow. Over 5 hours! We waited on the tee on all but one or two holes and on every hole for our approach shots. Several groups of college kids in front of us. I think they were playing for either a pint of blood or to the make the Ryder Cup team. We did not see a single ranger all day and the locals asked them twice politely to speed it up to no avail. Finished ( barely) and in the dark.

Would play here again only if we were assured of finishing before I collect Social Security.

Hi,

We just played Olivas Links and its always tough when you know the weather can change after you have booked a round. This was one of those times. We had drizzle almost all day with about 40 minutes of blue sky from 9:40 until before 2pm. Rain gear was a must. The ball picked up a lot of water when putting which made condition a bit slower.

Still Olivas was in good shape and they had the traditional pin locations.

Course was in good shape considering the lack of rain fall thiS summer. Recent rains helped soften the course. Greens in great shape.

Greens were 5 out of 10. Not fully recovered from the punching, and they are kept moist and spongy, very soft, rolled slow and bumpy. Very disappointing. Some of the pin placements looked like they were purposefully placed in the worst place on the green, to save the rest of the greens for something else? I mean you start on the first green and you're surrounded by ball marks, old and new that had not been repaired or recovered, along with traces of the punching, and the greens had not been rolled. The only green I can remember being OK was the 16th, where it actually rolled true and took the break. All the other ones were bumpy and would keep the ball going straight and not let the break take it. The fairways had been painted green, which made my pull-cart wheels and the bottom of my golf shoes totally green too. Most of the black tee boxes were uneven and covered in sand. I'm glad I got a good deal for $40, because I would definitely not pay the rack rate of $65 for these conditions and the POP at 5 hours teeing off at around 10:30am on a weekday. I guess it's a muni, and this is as good as it gets. They can make the place slick, but then hackers would complain about how hard it plays and won't come back, so they have to keep it this way, I guess. Really disappointing though. Have the fairways gotten even wider recently? I think so. I wish I could play these courses in tip-top shape just one time, that's all I ask. But I think they would have to cancel play for a month to let the greens recover for them to be flat and slick. If this is the average conditions of this place, I would only play it for the discount price during the week. It's not worth it any other time. No marshall was seen the whole day, no cart girl. Waited on practically every hole. We were a foursome but we were good about playing when ready, but I guess that made us catch up all the time. No starter and no bucket to wet the towel on the first tee. They had cleaned up the driving range targets and put astro turf greens out there, and that looked good, but had to hit off mats today, which was disappointing when you saw how nice the grass range looked.
Just remember this place has no clubhouse (still! How many years has it been?), just two motorhome shacks, one for the shop, office and snack shop and one for the toilets.
I recommend you give it a month, go somewhere else for now.

Was up in Ventura for other business, so got in some afternoon golf @ Olivas. The weather was clear in the 70's and a little breezy. Other than a H.S. girls golf team, there were not alot of people teeing off late afternoon. POP excellent, barely over 3 hours.

The tees are lush, immaculately maintained. All the par 3 tee divots had been recently sanded/filled.

The fairways were very nice overall. Lush, firm, mowed down, most shots in the fairway sat up nicely with a few GUR areas.

The rough around the fairway is mostly lush and in spots lost ball thick/tall. Farther off the fairway is mostly hardpan with patches of lost ball rough.

The traps were very nice, well maintained with good quality sand.

The greens are firm and medium fast. I have seen them faster here, but still nice overall.

The customer service is always good here. No frills pro shop is in a trailer, minimal food available onsite. Excellent grass driving range complete with a good chipping and sand practice area that they have expanded to include a separate chipping area off to the side of the chipping green. Huge putting green that is usually very comparable to the course. NO GPS on carts, usually no drink cart. Exceptional value, especially for the conditions.

Played the blues (6530/71.6/127). Played with Kviser & RGM2525 Friday afternoon. The weather was perfect, 70ish, little wind. POP was 4H, 30M as we occasionally waited.

The greens had lots of ball marks. However, they still putted well once you fixed the ball marks, firm & medium fast.

The traps were good, well maintained with good sand.

The fairways were VERY lush, mowed down with decent coverage. A few marked GUR areas, but excellent overall. Some of the best fairways I have played in awhile.

The rough around the fairway has been shaved down. In many areas. the native grass that used to be knee deep is now just ankle deep or dead. Nicely maintained for a links style layout, you will get a combination of hardpan, lush grass, native weeds and deep native rough that will test you because you never know what to expect.

The tees were in very good shape overall, nicely maintained & lush. All the par 3 tee divots had been recently sanded/filled.

The customer service as usual was excellent, we got off on time. The layout is less challenging now that the lakes are dry and much of the native rough is mowed down or dead, quite a difference from 5 years ago. Excellent value, especially for the conditions.

This is a course I like to play most, the prices are OK, fairways are greener then most courses. The greens were in great shape. Play after twilight can be a little slow on Fridays. Great value for the price to play. If you have not played it you should you may become a fan too.

Played the Blues (6530/71.6/127) as a single twilight on an excellent discounted deal through Teeoff.com for $17.99 with a cart in 3H. The weather was overcast in the 70's with little breeze.

I have never played @ Olivas when there were fewer people out than this afternoon, parking lot over 1/2 empty. Teeing off on #10, I was never within a hole of anyone the entire round, often playing 2 balls. I had planned on avoiding Olivas for awhile, then read the GK update that said only yellow alert vericutting, not red alert punching. Perhaps the general public did not get the memo?

While the greens were lightly sanded and vericut, they still putted decently. Better than the Brookside greens a month after aeration that I played yesterday. Give them 7 days and they should be excellent. Medium speed, a little bumpy at times, but better than expected. While the greens were not as good as normal, the rest of the course was outstanding. We are talking PGA West or Indian Wells in high season immaculate conditions.

Nicest tee boxes I have played on this golf season. Lush, immaculately maintained. All the par 3 tee divots had been recently sanded/filled. I almost never rate anything a 10 on GK, but these were a 10.

The fairways were excellent overall. VERY lush, firm, mowed down, most shots in the fairway sat up like they were on a tee. Anything close to questionable was marked as GUR. The only bad place was where it looked like there had been a water leak on #1 which had produced a flood, so much of #1 fairway was marked off.

The rough around the fairway is mostly lush and in spots is lost ball thick/tall. Farther off the fairway is mostly hardpan with patches of lost ball rough.

The traps were very nice, well maintained with good quality sand.

The customer service is always good here, they sent me out 15 minutes early. Excellent grass driving range complete with a good chipping and sand practice area. Huge putting green that is usually very comparable to the course. NO GPS on carts, usually no drink cart. Exceptional value, especially for the conditions.