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We were out early to beat the heat and the weather was ideal during our round. At a time when many local courses are dry, the use of recycled water keeps this course in good condition. The tee boxes are large so that the staff is able to move the markers regularly to prevent any one area from becoming warn as you will find on many courses. Both nines are very different in slope and character and it is a nice layout overall, with a nice driving range and practice areas. The only negative was the abundance of gnats which were a bigger annoyance than the occasional mosquito.

Had not been to Wood's Valley in a few years so thought we'd give it another try. What we found is that like a lot of other courses in the area, water is an issue as evidenced by fairway grass that appears to be very thirsty along with hard/tight lies and a few bare spots.
A winter as dry as this one has been and the cost of water makes it very tough on operators of many local courses. Of a more positive note, the greens are good to excellent as are the tee boxes, and the staff is excellent, so we'll be back.

Overall, I think this is a pretty nice layout despite the fact the fairways are lined by houses. The designer did a nice job of leaving the course open enough that the homes are not squeezing the fairways. I would rate this course higher if they would so some work with the bunkers which lack sand and drainage. Some have puddles in them and hitting a ball of hard packed and wet sand is no treat.

Most of the courses I play are of a lower quality with correspondingly lower green fees. That said, this is a first rate course and once in a while I enjoy treating myself to the experience. As a senior golfer whose distance has gone down over the years, the white tees are suitable to me which is to say the greens are generally reachable and a two-putt will result in a par. What we do each year is book a stay and play reservation at the nearby Borrego Springs Resort where a room for the night and two days of play on a very course/layout for $219 for two guests. During our stay we get in a round at the more upscale and beautifully maintained Ram's Hill where the rack rates for a round are a little high for us compared to the "hot deal" offered by Golf Now. . .

I've long enjoyed playing Mt. Woodson and it is always a treat that my out-of-town guests look forward to. The greens have healed nicely from being punched and the tee boxes and fairways were fine. They are in the process of adding very good quality sand to some of the bunkers, but have many to go to complete the job. As a senior golfer who has lost some distance, I appreciate the fact that the white tees are placed so that all greens can be reached in regulation. The staff was friendly and the menu plus full bar in the "Stony Mountain Grille was above expectation. .

I keep coming back because this course is a good value for the money and getting better each week. Maintenance staff has done a great job of rehabilitating a course that was in disrepair and going downhill fast. That said, course ownership/management can and in my opinion should make some expenditures that will pay dividends down the road. The simplest is to get some ball washers out there as those that are present are generally broken or out of water, The second would be to fix the drainage issues that exists in most of the bunkers and then add some decent quality sand. Thirdly, they need to recognize the importance of senior golfers by adding senior tee blocks, which is no more than picking up 36 rocks, painting them silver or gold and placing them on existing tee boxes. On the longer hole they could be placed behind the ladies red blocks and on the holes more realistically reachable for seniors, ahead of the white tee blocks. Accommodating senior golfers in this way will result in less wear on the white tee blocks. Kudos to the friendly staff in the office and especially the maintenance folks who are doing a great job of turning around the condition of this enjoyable layout which just needs a little more TLC.

Given the rash of course closures and declining condition of Eagle Crest I have feared it would be next on the chopping block, but I'm beginning to see some hope. Grounds keeping staff deserves a good deal of credit for their efforts to improve playing conditions of this course. Greens that have always been pretty good IMO are even better and over the last month or so the tee boxes have improved as well. Repair and adjustment of the irrigation system has improved fairway conditions from poor to fair.
In short, it seems that course conditions are better and should continue to improve with rain projected for March and longer photoperiods to improve turf growth.

The negatives however are pretty significant. While some bunkers have been improved, the majority have not due to both a lack of drainage in many that have standing water and and absence of sand or sand that is of poor quality.

Yet another detail that is overlooked is the fact that most ball washers are missing and that the few that remain are broken (as on #2 tee), or out of water. This is a matter of course management needing to pay more attention to detail and devoting some money for replacements.

As a final note, they can make the course more attractive to senior and/or short hitters by painting rocks silver and using them as tee box markers placed to the rear of the ladies red tees or ahead of the white tees on the standard tee boxes. No need to for a separate tee box - just 36 more rocks which are free.

The mean age of golfers has grown steadily older and along with that their distance off the tees. Generally, they don't want to play from the ladies tees but are willing to take a "senior" tee to help make up for their steadily increasing distance gap, which in turn gives them a chance to reach greens in regulation and post better scores.

The good news is that for the most part the greens are great, fairly fast and with a true roll, but then again I have always liked the greens here over the course of many years. That is the good news. The not so good news is that the the rest of the course is in rough shape, but I knew that going in, so I made this strictly a practice round without keeping score as I really needed to figure out distances with a new set of clubs and an off brand rangefinder (Tec Tec Tec) that worked great.. The course, which has a nice layout needs a lot of work to bring back bare fairways, overhaul many of the bunkers and improve the tee boxes. The small maintenance staff appears to be doing the best they can, but they are not magicians. In order to bring this course up to the standards it opened with, a major overhaul involving significant investment in staff and materials is in order.

That said, it is a great practice course and good value as such, but not a course to show off to your friends.

I enjoyed my round and can recommend it to others as long as I let them know what they are getting into. The shop staff and course design/layout is excellent, but the course conditions are as poor as any course in the area making it fine for a practice round but lousy for a serious game. They have recently changed maintenance contractors, but that is not the real issue as course maintenance needs more than a tune-up, it needs an overhaul as a result of long deferred upkeep and maintenance. The bunkers have long needed sand replenishment and many have serious drainage issues such as the one on nine that is a pond. The irrigation system is faulty, resulting in significant areas of the fairways such as number 1 and 3 having bare dirt where turf should exist and most have large brown spots. Even some of the tee boxes are in very poor shape. Most water features are overgrown with cattails. The greens are fair to good. Despite all of these negatives and because there is so little traffic, it is a good place to work on your game if you understand that many shots are going to require that you bump your ball to get some grass under the ball and this includes many of the primary landing areas. Sadly, and like many courses in the area, it needs more work than the economics of the situation will support. If you go there without understanding what you are getting into relative to course condition you will be disappointed with everything but the friendly and helpful staff.

Like any other course that is not pumping from wells or using reclaimed water, it is clear that the course would be in much better condition overall with more water.

On the other hand, the tee boxes and landing areas are green and getting water and the greens are outstanding which is a tribute to the staff.

Carlton Oaks is a good course that I have played off and on for over 20 years. Within the last five years there have been much needed upgrades to the restaurant/bar, pro shop, lodge office and related landscaping. Unfortunately, It appears the money for these improvments came out of the budget for course maintenance. The greens are good, but the rough immediate to the fairways and cart path is overly grown in and some of the waste bunkers are particularly grown in. These changes may simply represent a change in maintenance philosophy toward those areas. The tee boxes are generally dry and hard and in some cases crowned unevenly. Some sections of fairway are dry and sparse of turf and at the same time there are irrigation valves that are leaking and wasting water. The layout is excellent and although a bit long, I love this course and rate it a good value at twilight rates, but overpriced at standard rack rates. If they give as much attention to course maintenance, including the rebuilding of some tee boxes and a better irrigation system, Carlton Oaks will again be a top notch track.