I played an interesting mix of Los Angeles and Palm Springs courses the last few days.
Los Angeles
Rustic Canyon - I thought it was a lot like Wildhorse with a figure 8 routing and tilted up a canyon. Terrific golf, terrific laid back atmosphere to the place and a great staff at the course.
The only hole that seemed goofy to me was the 7th, 340, uphill, wash angling right to left around 22 degrees and the green heavily defended on the left. I half shanked a 4 iron next to the wash off the tee and wound up in a much better position than those that hit a good tee shot, even though I had about 200 yards left to the green. It seemed to me that this hole would play better if it was shorter and carrying the wash was a real option (perhaps it is for long hitters). Did this hole get altered by the mudslide?
Angeles National - Some interesting holes and concepts, but very narrow with slopes feeding shots into the desert. I actually would prefer to see some containment if a course is going to be this narrow. I have to think play will always be slow here. A four handicapper in our group lost 9 balls while having a bad day. A twelve lost a dozen.
Palm Springs
Bighorn Mountain - seemed a lot like other Arthur Hills desert courses. In terrific shape with a lot of holes I have seen before.
StoneEagle - One of the most unique courses I have ever played. Very steep site. Because the fairways blend together, your view from the tee is often of a lot of grass with bunkers, rock areas and canyons sprinkled all over the place.
A lot of room off the tee, but very interesting driving because of the desire to be aggressive with length and line.
The greens represent the true test of the ideal espoused by many on this site of sacrificing speed for interesting contours. It will be interesting to see how it is received over time because when playing it once, you can hit a pretty good iron shot and be left with an impossible two putt. By the same token, it is really fun to use the slopes on the green to feed shots to the pin. In addition, when putting the longer grass on the green creates some grain that definitely has an impact. When combined with the slopes on the greens as well as the steep nature of the property, it is a real challenge to get it in the hole.
Many of the people we talked with in the area do not know what to make of the course. My guess is that people will enjoy it more and more with repeat play. It is so unlike your typical desert course that it definitely is an acquired taste.
The course was in terrific condition.