Valencia Country Club

Rode the Blue/White combo tees (6508/71.9/131) in slightly more than 4.5H with Gary, Pedro and Matt. Super fun group to play with. Thanks to John for setting up and Valencia C.C. for having the guru's out. Clear skies with temps close to 100 and muggy made me not mind the breezy conditions as much as I normally would.

Classic Robert Trent Jones, Sr. design. Had not played here since it was public in the mid 1980's and was surprised how little I remembered many holes. They have definitely flipped the 9's since I played here last. Mature trees line the fairways and the green complexes have hosted PGA Tour events, so that tells you all you need to know.

Tees lush and close to immaculate except for several par 3's that were pretty chewed up. The had recently resodded several tees that looked like lush fairways.

Speaking of lush fairways... they were excellent to play from. Good cushion underneath, really liked the way irons played off these. Firm with good run out.

Rough was thick but not super penal like I remembered. We were all advancing balls up around greens where I remembered playing where if you found the rough, it was punch or wedge something back in play.

Traps were well maintained and looked great. However, they did not play as good as they looked. More firm that the average player is going to want to see around the greens but the quality sand was very good. Need a good churning to make them less firm greenside.

Greens... absolutely loved the way these large greens rolled. Only 1 green on the back had a significant amount of ball marks. Medium fast and firm, they were excellent. The chipping green on this course rolls better than any green on 75% of the courses out there. We had a few tight pin positions, but you could survey these greens and see potential pin positions where they could be almost unplayable if they wanted high scores.

Customer Service was excellent. Cart gal around several times. Snack stand open with a good selection at high prices with excellent service. Pro Shops guys were friendly and on the ball. Complementary range balls on a very good practice facility. Complementary ball markers and bottled water were a nice touch as well. Well worth the play, highly recommended.

Wonderful track with amazing greens. Very challenging course with even the shorter holes posting a tremendous challenge. Pro shop staff amazing. All the staff very friendly. If you get a chance to play, don't miss it.

This is the third time playing this course (reciprocated from my home course).

The fee is high for the value of the course. They're still trying to live off of yester year's fame.

The staff at the pro shop at check in was not friendly at all. There was no courtesy of a country club starter. Salutations weren't in the call that morning. Almost to the point of uninviting. People in the area also had an air of arrogance. No friendly 'good morning', not even to fellow members.

The course is in decent shape, but certainly not what I would call a well manicured golf course. Again, the course is living off of yester year's fame. The back nine gets pretty boring - back and forth feel. The course even backs up to what looks to be an apartment complex.

This might have been a course of couple PGA tournaments, but then again so was Rancho Park. I'd say save your money and try the course across the street.