Hi all,
I got the chance to play Barona and then Pechanga on Friday and thought I would share my take with you. Barona has been reviewed pretty extensively and I agree with all the other sentiments here. It's a fantastic course which is a joy to play.
On to Pechanga. We grabbed lunch in the clubhouse before we set out for our twilight time. I have to say the food might have been the best thing I got out of Pechanga. First off, the course was in great shape (Barona was too) and the bermuda greens were some of the grainiest I've ever seen but putted great.
I'd played one Arthur Hills design before, Black Gold GC in Yorba Linda. I thought that was a very good course with some very interesting holes. Pechanga has some similarities in that it's built on a hillside for parts of it, but this one got a little crazy. Also, the website advertises that there are 8 miles of cart paths on the course! It is definitely not walkable.
Hole 6, after a long drive in the cart up the side of a mountain, a 480 yard par 4 that drops 150 feet from tee to green and with the prevailing wind is, wait for it, driveable. It's a fun yet terrifying hole that is more about wowing players than challenging them. The last 80 yards of the hole funnel to the green so steeply that the ball will roll down onto the surface on it's own. I hit a drive with a weak fade and just missed driving the green because a divot stopped it.
Hole 7, a 480 yard driveable par 4 is followed by a 315 yard hole that is cutoff by a creek in front of a crazy shallow green. This one is somewhat downwind too but instead of giving real options on the tee shot, it's just a wide fairway split by a tree layup with an iron and a wedge to an unappealing green.
Hole 17, a 245 yard par 3 built into the side of a mountain. The green is like the 18th at Bay Hill's with a thin bunker in front and brush no more than 5 yards off the putting surface front, back and right. Once again, the priority in the design was no doubt to put the golfer in awe of the view rather than make the player think. Also, this one had a drive to the tee that was 3X as long as the hole itself.
There were other holes that had some major quirk as well and I will comment on them if they enter the discussion. Overall, I thought it was pretty interesting that Pechanga charges about 40% more on their green fees for an inferior course. I guess it's about appealing to the consumer and ease of access, but I left with the course falling short of my expectations.