Sandydad2

The course has many blessings and some challenging golf holes as it roams the east bay hills on the south side of Oakland.

I found the range to be a disappointment when you can't hit any club longer than a 6 iron...

Fairways and some greens exhibited bald spots. Rough was in fact penalizing and placed a high premium on hitting fairways. The greens are for the most part, small by comparison to more contemporary courses.

Around the tee boxes for #3 and #12 is a snack shack that brings the pace of play to a stop as golfers stop to have fabulous burgers, dogs and sandwiches...

A few holes have elevation changes so drastic that you are hitting at a flag or pole... Fair warning, if you have trouble hitting your targets, it will be a long day for scoring.

I used this as a tune up for a more difficult course and think it was a good test.

I have played this course many times and had no seen it as dry as it was in December 2013. Fairways were dry and fast... in some cases bold. The greens were fast but in pretty good shape. Some work being done around the course kept us guessing...

I have played this course over 20 times and it can be a beauty or a beast. Fall 2013 sees the course in one of its better conditions. This is greatly improved from earlier this year.

With some fabulous panoramic views along the hilly track, the east course at Blue Rock Springs is a beauty at this time.

Willow Park once hosted professional tournaments but that course is a memory. The narrow fairways and shot making to score are both features you will see if you play the course. Overgrown tee boxes, fairways that are at the same time bald, soggy and overgrown, not to mention ruttled and uneven and greens that need work all exist here. The beauty of this rustic gem is in the hilly surroundings. The flat course sees northern CA hills surrounding it with deer and turkey roaming the grounds making it visually pretty. Course staff was extremely nice and worthy of note.
I was dissapointed in the condition but realized that I got what I paid for.

Deer Ridge golf course offers the challenge of target golf on a course that is not long in the hills of Brentwood.
The course has almost no practice facility so warming up is better done at its sister course Shadow Lakes.
If you can hit the fairways and greens, negotiate the hills and winds, you can be rewarded with a solid score.
I like the course for its challenges but the fairways and greens are showing bald spots in July.

My golf buddy and I selected the Tony Lema course at Monarch Bay as our club is playing a tournament there later this year.
The early morning start was gorgeous and with the San Francisco Bay lapping nearby, it is quite pretty.

Overall, the course was in good shape with some bald spots in the fairways. The greens were in decent shape with 50% of each green having been recently aerified. The portion that had grown in was in very good condition. Bunkers had nice sand in them and the rough was rough... In some cases, links style rough.

As long as you can hit the ball straight and know how to play in the wind, this course can be fun. As the starter advised, "take an extra club." That advice held us in good stead all round long.... Moist air, winds of soft conditions, you need more distance here.

I have been playing this course for ove 13 years and it continues to evolve.
The course offers challenges to all levels and is kept in beautiful condition. While a sister course to Rancho Solano and share the same ownership and management, the course is quite differnt and most golfers state they prefer Paradise Valley.
The clubhouse offers a great restaurant and bar, one of the finest around.

The Northstar golf course is is a course of two faces. The front nine takes you out into the meadows with just a flavor of Alpine trees while the back nine is target oriented mountain golf.
Just when you think the course offers you a blessing in the form of flat to gently undulating holes with great views of the Truckee meadows and basin, you hit the 10th hole.
From there, the difficulty is magnified as the tall pines line the fairways and undulations turn into something much greater.
I have always found the back nine to be a great measure of how good a golfer's game is. Play the back nine at bogey level and you are a better player... The lower the stronger a player you are.