Links Course at Paso Robles

The fairways and tee boxes neet water. The greens were smooth and true. Enjoyed playing there.

Rode the Blues (6622/70.9/112) on a GN "Hot Deal" in calm, overcast conditions around 55.

Layout is fun with with five par 3 and five par 5's, par 72. Starts with two straight par 5's and later have two straight par 3's on the front. Three par 5's and three par 3's with only one par 4 through 7 holes, very unusual. Numerous dog legs and some of the largest greens I have ever played on keeps the layout interesting. Greens are some of the flattest you will ever play, but you could have 100' putts on numerous greens here.

Tees were all over the place. Some almost immaculate, some thin, some maintained like the rough. Mostly level with few divots, but many were hard to get a tee in the ground they are so firm.

Fairways were usually decent. Mixture of grasses and firm.

Rough also a mixture of grasses with mostly lush coverage. The secondary rough has been removed and is quite punitive because it plays like a plowed field, clumps of unlevel dirt.

Most of the sand traps were long ago removed and are now HUGE grass bunkers. You can clearly see where the traps were with steep faces. Very challenging to play out of even with grass because it is thick and clumpy. The few sand traps remaining looked okay.

Greens were surprisingly good. Very moist, they held irons well. Medium to medium fast speed and mostly smooth.

Quick and efficient check-in, the people here treat you great. I played 2 balls and only saw a couple of other golfers out there. Pro Shop is a trailer, no Starter, Marshall or Drink cart. The gas powered carts do not have GPS. Course marked every 50 yards old school. Playing conditions much improved from my last visit here. Still rough around the edges, but perfect for some on course practice after a long layoff. If you do not expect too much, the layout can be fun. Have to avoid going in the surrounding vineyards OB, but with no water and little sand, this isn't a very difficult course even from the Blues.

Greens in perfect condition. Fairways normal Links course.

I play here on Hot Deals typically 20 times per year. Great course to raise confidence in your game. However, a few pitfalls will present themselves. First and foremost is the fact that the green fees should all be in the $20-$30 range with a cart, and that's without any Hot Deals. Can't ever justify paying their normal fees. Secondly, they treat GolfNow customers like pariahs. You will be teamed up with fellow GolfNow strangers regardless of the typical "Ghost Town" occupancy. Also you may be forced to ride in a cart with a stranger (even with "b.s" Covid concerns), or you have to separately pay for your own cart (even though you have cart included as part of your GolfNow purchase). They definitely have some form of "buyer's remorse" for teaming up with GN.

Definitely don’t judge a book by its cover; that’s the appropriate phrase here. The golf shop gal was friendly and helpful, informative and knowledgeable. The course looked shabby, but played quite well, especially around the greens, where I was able to chip out of fluffy, pliable grass. The greens rolled true, and the fairways were good enough to have a fun time. Get out early in the Summer, partly because of the heat and partly because there might be a crowd later. No snack bar and not many trees on the course (plus no real sand bunkers or water features).

Management has become quite strict about Hot Deals players. Despite the fact the course were virtually empty, they insisted that my friend and I play together with the two others players that had afternoon Hot Deal reservations, or pay more. They had not done this in the past. As a forced-together foursome, our pace of play was much slower that when we played as a twosome.

This course used to have the best greens on the Central coast. Now they are like putting on fringe grass.

The Links offers great views and nice course as long as you stay in the fairway, the rough is dirt and weeds. Usually not that busy and you feel like you have the place to yourself.

Enjoyed the course but hot deal was double the usual prices for some strange reason.