Time for a more detailed review of my experience at Barona Creek.
Disclaimer: My appreciation of this course might be somewhat limited by the fact that I did not play well - in fact, I played very poorly, particularly for the first 4 holes. This doesn't affect how I liked the course, just my memory of certain holes as I struggled to find my swing. My poor play might also affect my evaluation of the strategic nature of many holes as I was playing from decidedly non-strategic locations.
Per Ed's recommendation, I played the back tees - probably close to the distance limit for me at 7088 yards. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to walk (I played on a very busy Saturday morning), and found it to be a very walkable course.
Overall impression - excellent. The turf was in great shape - fairways were green and tight, but not at all soft - there was plenty of bounce and roll. The rough was pretty deep and thick, but this actually helped in spots, keeping your ball from rolling into worse trouble. The greens were in excellent shape - quick without being stupid fast. On these greens stupid fast would certainly lead to mega-putt greens (as it was I had 4 three-putts). When you're from the South, you love to see the wide open countryside, with the golf holes rolling across the hills in the distance.
Specific holes:
I liked all of the par 3's.
#3 - how can you not like (or like the challenge) of a 260 yard par 3 (that was playing 279)?! When you stand on the tee all you can see is all that native grass, but there's actually a lot of room down there, particularly short of the green.
#7 - a tough hole for me as it is uphill and against my preferred ball flight (a fade). A nice safe shot to the middle right of this green was not the play - I was fortunate to 3 putt to the back left hole.
#11 - a cool looking hole. I loved the varied terrain around this hole - bunkers, trees, rock outcroppings. It was playing to a very difficult hole location, in the very front, pinched between the bunkers (I found the left one and nearly made my sand save). Guy I was playing with (a 4 handicap that shot 72) nearly aced this hole - hit a towering iron that looked like it was coming down in the hole. His ball mark was about 6 inches from the hole, and his ball rolled about 3 feet past ..... and he missed the putt.
#16 - another beautiful hole, this time because of all of the ragged bunkers surrounding it. Like #11 the hole was in the very front left (of course I found a bunker, this time the right one).
I would like to play #11 and 16 again with different hole locations - it must be fun to try and work the ball to the middle or back right.
For dramatic views, I loved the downhill tee shots on #6 and #15. The most spectacular drive, though, I thought was #13. It was so cool to stand on the tee and see almost nothing but native grass everywhere, except for a thin ribbon of fairway angling away to your right, and then the green out there way, way to your right. How far right do you go? How much of the gunch do you try to cut off & still be able to clear the creek and the rough? The second shot on #13 is interesting, too with the creek winding towards you down the middle of the fairway, forcing you to choose between laying up left or right of the creek (this same strategy seemed to be repeated, though on #17 (creek) and #1 (tree).
#4 was a tough hole - the middle bunker is very deceiving from the tee. You can't tell how far back it runs - it looks like you can fly it from the tee - not even close for me (I wound up in the native grass island in the middle of the bunker
).
I thought the uphill par 4's were of good length - none felt like they were too punishing. #5 was a good driver with a semi-blind approach shot. I like the blind drive on #12 - I don't know about the course tips to not hit driver, though. For me from the black tees, there was plenty of room over the bunker. #14 is a great looking hole - irregular fairway, bunkers, big rock outcropping. You could hit a lot of different clubs off the tee here. No way I can reach this with driver (319 uphill), but I hit driver & had a little sand wedge approach. The green had some great slopes that funneled the ball towards the hole.
#18 is a long, tough finishing hole. The hole was all the way back on the small shelf. The 4-capper I was playing with was -2 on the 18th tee and doubled to finish even - mostly because he put his 3rd in the back right bunker, then couldn't hold his sand shot up on the shelf - it rolled 40 feet past the hole.
There weren't any holes that I didn't like. Definitely a course that you could play better after a few laps, learning carry distances, slopes on the greens, etc. My one beef - on cart-centric courses like this you are completely dependent on the GPS. No yardage books, very few yardage markers on the course. I don't mind eye-balling distances, but on a completely unfamiliar track, particularly with a lot of contour, it's difficult. I found myself asking the guys in the carts to swing by and give me yardages.
A minor quibble - I thought the sand in the bunkers was too white. One of the course notes even bragged about the "Augusta white bunkers." Given the desert canyon surroundings and the somewhat ragged bunker shapes, I thought the contrast was too stark. I would have preferred to see sand that was a more natural color for the area.
Andy