Rustic Canyon - is it still there?

[Kalen Braley]

While I've never played it, I was looking at some aerials and the review by Ran and noticed the wash is very prominent throughout the entire course.

First question is how has it held up with all the rain?  Is it still open and have they had any damage?

Second question is, players must hit over the wash on several holes. As its normally dry if you hit in there is it an ESA, or can you go in there and give it a chop out?

Thanks,

[ed_getka]

Kalen,
   ESA-land in the wash area. Hopefully it holds up through this rainy season. They've already had 2 floods in their 100 year flood plain in the last 5 years!

[Jeff Doerr]

From the Rustic Canyon website...I hope it is working!


JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008


COURSE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION

All the aeration and pampering that was done in October has resulted in conditions worthy of any PGA Event. The greens are fast and true and the fairways are like a closely woven carpet. The recent high winds have dried and hardened the greens, but they are holding extremely well considering the recent dry weather.

Work is being done on the wash located to the West of the couse. The wash is being deepened and widened to eliminate any spillover during major rains. Accordingly, the old wash that exists between the third and fifth holes will be filled in to create a low hill instead of a deep wash. This is again our effort to maintain the highest quality of golfing experience for our customers.

[Norbert P]

  Apache Stronghold looked kinda precarious amidst all its arroyos. Any word on it?

[Art Roselle]

I played Rustic Canyon this afternoon and it is indeed still there and in remarkably good shape.  Lunch, golf in 3.5 hours, walking, 60 degrees in January.  All (including lunch) for $35.  Pretty remarkable to have that just an hour from downtown LA.  

[Ed Oden]

I played Rustic Canyon this afternoon and it is indeed still there and in remarkably good shape.  Lunch, golf in 3.5 hours, walking, 60 degrees in January.  All (including lunch) for $35.  Pretty remarkable to have that just an hour from downtown LA.  

Art, beats the weather in Charlotte.  Shoot me an email with details when you get home.  Have a safe trip back.

Ed

[Scott Weersing]

I played Rustic Canyon this afternoon and it is indeed still there and in remarkably good shape.  Lunch, golf in 3.5 hours, walking, 60 degrees in January.  All (including lunch) for $35.  Pretty remarkable to have that just an hour from downtown LA.  

It is a good thing that more people don't know how great Rustic Canyon is. I am also glad that many people don't like links golf and greens which slope from front to back.

Otherwise the course would be as busy at Wilson or Harding at Griffith Park.

[J Sadowsky]

I played Rustic Canyon this afternoon and it is indeed still there and in remarkably good shape.  Lunch, golf in 3.5 hours, walking, 60 degrees in January.  All (including lunch) for $35.  Pretty remarkable to have that just an hour from downtown LA.  

It is a good thing that more people don't know how great Rustic Canyon is. I am also glad that many people don't like links golf and greens which slope from front to back.

Otherwise the course would be as busy at Wilson or Harding at Griffith Park.

It's out of the way location helps (and man is it out of the way!), but I was more than willing to take the drive.  Luckily, I upgraded my rental to a convertable!

What's shocking is that the other Moorpark course gets more play, or at least did when I visited in January 06.  

Also, I feel like non-GCA people will not appreciate this course nearly as much, a divide wider than some other great courses.  I played in January with a guy, and remarked how fantastic a course it was, and how with a facilities upgrade it could be the shining jewel of SoCal golf.  

He remarked that I was crazy, that it was okay for a muni, but kind of ugly and too much wind.  No joke.

[Tom Huckaby]

I played Rustic Canyon this afternoon and it is indeed still there and in remarkably good shape.  Lunch, golf in 3.5 hours, walking, 60 degrees in January.  All (including lunch) for $35.  Pretty remarkable to have that just an hour from downtown LA.  

It is a good thing that more people don't know how great Rustic Canyon is. I am also glad that many people don't like links golf and greens which slope from front to back.

Otherwise the course would be as busy at Wilson or Harding at Griffith Park.

Scott:  it's not that busy?  I hear horror stories about weekends... 6 hour rounds... and greenskeeper.org seems to confirm this. From that, and other friends down there (who don't have the guaranteed first group off each Sunday), I've  sure heard more stories like this than Art's.  I was thinking Art got really lucky playing right after a storm or something... Do I have this wrong?  

TH

[J Sadowsky]

I played Rustic Canyon this afternoon and it is indeed still there and in remarkably good shape.  Lunch, golf in 3.5 hours, walking, 60 degrees in January.  All (including lunch) for $35.  Pretty remarkable to have that just an hour from downtown LA.  

It is a good thing that more people don't know how great Rustic Canyon is. I am also glad that many people don't like links golf and greens which slope from front to back.

Otherwise the course would be as busy at Wilson or Harding at Griffith Park.

Scott:  it's not that busy?  I hear horror stories about weekends... 6 hour rounds... and greenskeeper.org seems to confirm this. From that, and other friends down there (who don't have the guaranteed first group off each Sunday), I've  sure heard more stories like this than Art's.  I was thinking Art got really lucky playing right after a storm or something... Do I have this wrong?  

TH

When I played in January 06, it was a 4 hour round, and the course was very light (1230pm tee time).  But I guess the hype was going to catch up to the course at some point.

[Tom Huckaby]

Justin - the hype was flowing big time in January 2006.

Rustic received a LOT of awards....

GCA played our annual King's Putter event there in 2004...

So this is not a recent phenomenon.  My impression was the course has been packed for a long time.  I was really just wondering if for some reason this had fallen off recently... I can't imagine why it would... the course is freakin' great, and relatively cheap... and sure it's out of the way for LA folks, but there are a gazillion golfers in San Fernando and Simi Valleys and parts north and west for whom it's close....

Just curious, that's all.

TH

[Scott Weersing]

I played Rustic Canyon this afternoon and it is indeed still there and in remarkably good shape.  Lunch, golf in 3.5 hours, walking, 60 degrees in January.  All (including lunch) for $35.  Pretty remarkable to have that just an hour from downtown LA.  

It is a good thing that more people don't know how great Rustic Canyon is. I am also glad that many people don't like links golf and greens which slope from front to back.

Otherwise the course would be as busy at Wilson or Harding at Griffith Park.

Scott:  it's not that busy?  I hear horror stories about weekends... 6 hour rounds... and greenskeeper.org seems to confirm this. From that, and other friends down there (who don't have the guaranteed first group off each Sunday), I've  sure heard more stories like this than Art's.  I was thinking Art got really lucky playing right after a storm or something... Do I have this wrong?  

TH

The course can be busy and slow on weekends.

I played on a Saturday in January 2007 and played in 4:15. It is faster if you play earlier.

The course has no marshalls (I have never seen one), so pace of play is up to the players.

[Tom Huckaby]

Scott - gotcha.  Go read greenskeeper.org for the horror stories I mention.  I just had heard a lot of that, more so in recent years.  Thus Art's story was curious to me.

TH

[R_Paulis]

It would be interesting to compare amount of rounds played per month over the course of a year. Less daylight would reduce the number of rounds but I'd guess even SoCal "winter" causes the casual golfer to retire the clubs for a few months.

Being among the first off in Spring or Fall means a few very cold holes at RC until things warm up. First off in Dec and Jan and you gotta really want to play. That canyon is COLD!

[J Sadowsky]

It would be interesting to compare amount of rounds played per month over the course of a year. Less daylight would reduce the number of rounds but I'd guess even SoCal "winter" causes the casual golfer to retire the clubs for a few months.

Being among the first off in Spring or Fall means a few very cold holes at RC until things warm up. First off in Dec and Jan and you gotta really want to play. That canyon is COLD!

I dunno, I got a pretty bad sunburn.  It wasn't hot, and it was VERY windy, but I was ok (a little chilly, I guess) in shorts and a short sleeve polo shirt.  The guy I was playing with was wearing shorts and a wind jacket.

[Kalen Braley]

Good to hear Rustic came thru OK after those storms last weekend.

As for those "chilly" a.k.a cold LA mornings...well nothing like a bit of humor to keep me sane and get me thru the winter as the snow keeps stacking up.  

[R_Paulis]

From the Rustic Canyon website...I hope it is working!


JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008


COURSE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION

All the aeration and pampering that was done in October has resulted in conditions worthy of any PGA Event. The greens are fast and true and the fairways are like a closely woven carpet. The recent high winds have dried and hardened the greens, but they are holding extremely well considering the recent dry weather.

Work is being done on the wash located to the West of the couse. The wash is being deepened and widened to eliminate any spillover during major rains. Accordingly, the old wash that exists between the third and fifth holes will be filled in to create a low hill instead of a deep wash. This is again our effort to maintain the highest quality of golfing experience for our customers.

Is the purpose of filling in the wash to prevent damage to 3rd and 4th when flooding occurs?

Would RC consider returning the 7th fairway extending back from the green damaged in flooding a few years back? I kinda miss the option of going over the wash on the right. Playing a running approach shot is no longer an option with the fairway missing.

Going over the wash was a viable third way to play with the proper pin placement...

[Lynn_Shackelford]

A lot of misinformation going out of here.

The reworking of the wash has nothing to do with the golf course.  The work is being done by the flood control district to allow/make the water drain through the canyon more in the direction of the west, so that it doesn't collect next to the homes at the bottom of the canyon.  Something a lady on the city council who lives in one of those homes not wanting water coming into her backyard.  She is a tree hugger and when the course was being built was very concerned about keeping the native untouched.  Now bulldozers are piling up dirt on top of the native, but I trust her property value concerns takes precedence over her concern for the envirnoment.
As for the course nothing is happening except that they are planning to add some sand on top of the rocks in some bunkers.  Who knows maybe some rakes may appear one day.  Gotta go, I am in my shorts today and teeing off at 7:30.  Not that cold folks.

[Scott Weersing]

With the weather so mild, golfers in So Cal are very fair weather. If there is wind or a chance of rain, then they will not play golf because there will be a good weather day tomorrow.

So often times, Rustic Canyon is busy on good weather days, and less crowded or emply, when there is wind or a threat of rain.

I always wondered why they did not install a flood control channel when they built the golf course like the one at Brookside GC in Pasadena. It would not look good but it would have preserved the 4th and 6th green back in 2005 when there were big rains.

[Art Roselle]

I may have just gotten lucky.  It was a perfect 60 degree day with no wind (at first).  I shoed up as a single at about 12:30 on Wednesday afternoon.  They said they were pretty full, but then managed to pair me up with a couple almost immediately and sent us off the back.  Maybe there was a gap for some reason and the front could have been slow for all I know.

On the back, we breezed around and, because it was so late, there was nobody on the front by the time we made the turn.  In general, it seemed like the pace of play was pretty good all over the course.  It did get very cold and windy once the sun started to go down, but the first 2 hours were perfect.

I agree with the other comments about how non-GCAers might not appreciate the course.  The guy I played with did a lot of complaining about the conditioning,even though the playing areas were perfect.  He also three-putted a lot, which at some point he decided was the fault of the course.  What he failed to notice was the fact that his wife, who was not a very good player, had a great time and probably had more birdie putts than she had ever had in her life (although some of the "putts" were from 100 feet off the green and turned into doubles).  He, meanwhile, took his 9 handicap, never lost a ball, and shot about 95.  That is pretty good praise for the course in my opinion.