Cottonwood Golf Club - Lakes Course

For a intermediate golfer, this course is an excellent setup at a very good price. Fairways and greens need a little work, but greens did play a lot better than previous times I'd played here.

Cottonwood Lakes is a fun course to play. It's not the best maintained course, but I like the layout and the pace of play.

Horrible pace of play. Marshall nowhere to be found. Everything was dead. Tee boxes not mowed. Putting greens not mowed. It was cheap.. You get what you pay for.

For the price we payed, you can't beat it. It's a great course in good condition. Staff is nice, courtious, and friendly. The cart girls are awesome and great. Food is good there too. In 1963 the coure was used by the PGA tour before moving to Torrey Pines, so i enjoy playing there with my friends. Fivesomes are ok. They're cool like that.

The course was not maintained. Tee boxes had overgrown grass 4-5 in tall, worms on every green

Cottonwood is an average course on it's best day. Anyone who gives this course a rating above 3 stars is delusional. That being said, in the current condition it's a one star course. Again this is another course in San Diego that you get what you pay for. It's very cheap to play here. Just a course to mix into the play list. With cheap courses you get golfers that don't play much golf and are usually hacks and very slow players. Basically out there to drink, smoke pot that take day off work. These are the type of golfers who also ruin course play. They don't fix their ball marks on the greens and severely slow the pace of play.

Cottonwood does a horrid job of maintaining the course and it shows. The greens are by far the worst in San Diego. Bumpy, holed covered slow greens that are muddy. The fairways are thin which is common in San Diego but also have many holes and dirt areas. I find that I have to lift ,clean and place my ball on most holes. I shouldn't have to be penalized when I'm in the fairway. The bunkers are a mix of dirt and some sand mixed in with weeds. They're never ranked and always seem to be wet and heavy.

The driving range is trash. The balls are old, ragged, bald and just not fun to hit on the range. When you can hit a draw and fade on one shot, well that just says it all. I don't even bother to warm up before I play here anymore. I haven't bought range balls in well over a year.

This is another course where the starters and marshals are a bit useless. Don't even know why they're at the course. They rarely pair groups up. When you have 5 or 6 groups in a row that are all 1some and 2somes something is wrong. I played here about a month ago as well and came up on two 5somes and an 8some on the back nine of the Lakes. Yes an 8some!! Skipping holes isn't fun, I just left. /:

What else...Umm the food is average junk food. Cart girls are hit and miss as far as seeing them. They are always nice as well as the rest of the people who work at the course. Never had an issue with any of the employees.

With all this negativity with this course I will still continue to play here. Not often but I will have it in my play list once a month or so. Why? Because it's cheap and easy to get on. When I do play here it's typically a day I don't wish to play golf and find myself bored at home. So I come here last minute on whim.

Greens are extremely bumpy and spongy. Doesn't help that the mud hens are very much in play.

I lakes that we came early and they sent us out

Lakes course on the greens little beat up but playable, they told us at desk that Ivanhoe was closed for the day & in the middle & end of our round we did find players on the Ivanhoe.

They totally lied to us......

I made a pre paid tee time and entered the wrong date. The pro shop let us play and ask me to call GolfNow. They made it right!! Thank You both for making my senior moment right!!

Got the $10.00 hot deal other wise it no deal at all. I was stuck behind a 5 some. Then gave up a hole to pass them only to get behind a set of 4 school kids taking lessons. Gave up another hole to pass them . Other than that , it was a fun challengeing course.

Greens needed work.. Ball marks all over. Fairways in decent shape. Super Value and great pace of play

They put out a group of 5 in front of us. I hate that. Sometimes it works because the group knows to play fast. However usually it creates a back up. When did courses, and players, start to think it's ok to put out more than a foursome. If I have 4 friends that want to play, someone is out of luck. This round was SLOW, and no one ever came out to check on the 5some. It will be awhile before I go back to this course.

1st time playing here, I had read the previous reviews, so my expectations were low. Played the Blues (6597/70.5/121) Friday p.m. in 3.5 hours playing as a single. $22.50 including cart in 100 degree, windy weather on a GN Hot Deal. Easily a 2-3 club wind on the back nine.

Overall, I found the conditions of this course better than advertised, but still mediocre. More interesting holes on the Lakes than the Ivanhoe. Several of the actual lakes were dry or at least low, but I can see why it is named the Lakes course. This place would have some teeth when the water hazards were all filled to the brim. Carts are no frills, no GPS or even divot mix holders. Fairways are not well marked, definitely bring GPS! Additionally, no course layout on the scorecards, and the holes zig zag and there are a decent amount of doglegs where prior course or local knowledge would benefit greatly. Clubhouse & restaurant were clean, well stocked and the customer service, from the pro staff to the restaurant to the ever present cart gal were all top notch. However, as warned, the condition of the course was lacking in almost every area.

The front 9 condition was comparable to the Ivanhoe course. The back 9 had many holes that were hardpan a good portion of the hole, much worse condition than the other 27 holes here. The only redeeming quality of the back was 2 excellent par 3's over lakes, one severely downhill that played 237 from the blues, then a 205 yard island hole.

The tees did not look good overall. Mostly Kikuyu shaved close, the par 3 tees were poorly maintained, many unfixed divots and numerous back 9 tees were 4-5 different grass/weed mixtures.

The fairways were mostly thin but had OK coverage.

The rough was a combination of sometimes hardpan, occasionally lush & mostly thin.

The traps were poor. The green side bunkers were hard and crusty. I did not even make footprints the one I was in, just a spot where my divot was.

The greens were mediocre, definitely not nearly as good as the sister Ivanhoe course I played this A.M. Often bumpy, medium speed but receptive to holding irons. I was short the entire round after playing the much quicker Ivanhoe greens earlier. These greens not only have issues around the edges where the Kikuyu is running into the green, they have a few bare spots and MANY areas where multiple grasses, including crab grass come into play. Also lots of unrepaired ball marks

Both the location (within 15 miles of my in-laws) and the price made this worth a look see. Having played here, despite a decent layout, I would come back only if the conditions improved tremendously.

If everyone fixed their ball marks and divots it could receive a higher overall rating

Played right after a tournament, so I played fast. Very windy. I use to say that for as much play as the courses receive the greens are very good. NOT anymore. Sadly the greens are not up to par.

Also be prepared to lose a ball or two. The Cottonwoods are dropping their leaves and even balls in the fairways are hard to find,

The layout of this course COULD BE AMAZINGLY if only they cared for it... I understand there is a drought in California but come on.... Everything on this course was in bad condition. Greens were the worst I have ever seen. Looked like whoever cut them COULDNT CARE LESS about them.... Sad to see how even the signs around the course were in bad conditions, the paths, the bathrooms, no water.... Just awful! Unless they put some effort into caring for the place... Save yourself the time. Really could be a gem

I love this course! It's a great (re) design and plays very fair with some really great holes. Pace of play is extremely fast, my son and I usually play in 3 hours and that's taking our time. Staff is usuall very friendly, especially the guy statue carts and the starters. Beverage cart girls are friendly, overall great value for the money. Only downside is the water shortage is starting to hit the course, and while the greens are usually quick this last time they were a little slow. Regardless for the money it can't be beat and is quickly becoming our favorite "value" golf course in San Diego.

Course was in excellent condition and well taken care of. The views are amazing and pace of play was good.

It was a fun and great experience playing at cottonwood-the lakes. But the course conditions need to really step up. All the leaves on the course make it super hard to find your ball, and the greens have dead and dirt spots that make it very bumpy for putting.