[Jim Johnson]

In early May my wife and I traveled to California and had the pleasure of golfing at Pacific Grove, Pasatiempo, San Juan Oaks, Monarch Dunes, Sandpiper, Oak Quarry, Desert Willow-Firecliff, and LaQuinta Mountain.

Monarch Dunes was our 4th stop on our trip. The course is part of a residential community and was designed by Damian Pascuzzo and PGA golfer Steve Pate. Even though the course is part of a residential community, and houses appear quite often in the photos, we never felt that the houses actually intruded on our experience; we felt that the course was laid out in such a way that it helped produce an enjoyable round of golf.

Yardages are 4,770/5,785/6,342/6,712/7,133. All yardages listed here are from the 7,133 yard tees.

We teed up at about 3:00 so unfortunately several photos are shot into the low sun on various holes.
Onto the course...

Opening tee shot, a dogleg left par-4 of 437 yards


Slightly uphill approach at #1


No pics of #2 (a downhill par 3 of 200 yards).

#3 fairway, 567 yard par-5


Brenda's approach at #3


Looking back at #3


#4 fairway, 423 yards


Tee shot on #5, 400 yards ... long and left was best here


Par-3 6th hole, 255 yards


Tee shot on 7, 440 yards dogleg right


Fairway on 7th hole


Looking back on the 7th hole


Uphill 8th, 490 yard par-5


8th fairway


Rules officials


Looking back down #8


Mundane (boring) looking teeshot on #9, par-4 397 yards


Approach at #9. My ball (in front of flag) landed short and right and rolled close. Fun shot.


Of the 8 courses on the trip, Monarch Dunes fit somewhere in the middle of them. The real estate certainly didn't add to the experience, but it really didn't detract much either. The price was right, and the course was relatively quiet on the weekday afternoon when we were there. One reason I wanted to stop along the way and golf there was to see what their velvet bentgrass greens were like. They are having a battle with them; the practice green probably presenting the best example, with poa spotting all over the green. The 18 greens on the course didn't seem as bad, and where it still looked like pure stands of the stuff, that velvet was oh so smooth and felt awfully nice underfoot. In the photo below, you can note the spots of poa in the velvet. Hopefully they can get it under control in the future.


Back 9 to follow.

Cheers,
Jim

[Jim Johnson]

Tee shot on 10, 453 yard par-4 around the lake; green is left of the left tee marker.


10th fairway


Tee shot on 11, par-4 dogleg left 367 yards


Looking back at 11


Par-3 12th 121 yards


Looking west on the teeshot on 13, par-5 540 yards. The green is to the right of the big tree on right.


Approach on 13


Looking back at 13


Par-3 14th hole, 140 yards


Uphill 15th hole, 560 yard par-5


Fairway on 15


Looking back on 15. Interesting green complex.


Tee shot on downhill/uphill 16th, par-4 of 350 yards


Looking back at 16


Par-3 17th hole, 200 yards


Tee shot on 18, par-4 470 yards


Approach on 18


Cheers,
Jim

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Jim

Nice pictures. 

They will get the poa/bent greens under control.  Soon they will be 80% poa.  Such is the nature of being within 40 miles of the Pacific Ocean.  I have workers on their knees attempting to keep the greens as bent.  It does not and cannot happen.

[Mike Sweeney]

Thanks for posting. I love this section of California, specifically Cambria. MD is not exactly Top 100 looking from the pictures and that is okay as this area seems to an East Coast guy to be the real California similar to NW Ireland being the REAL Ireland. Not perfect, but an awfully nice place to play 18 as the sun sets over the Pacific in California and Atlantic in Ireland.

[Keith Doleshel]

Jim,
Did they reverse the nines?  The only time I played it I remember the nines being the other way around.  Perhaps I'm mistaken.  Wonder if you remember by any chance.  Great pics, I enjoyed the golf course as well as the par 3 Challenge course on the property.

[Jim Johnson]

Keith, they must have switched at the end of last season. I just looked at another thread on Monarch Dunes and Garland Bayley posted a picture of the "9th hole" last September, and that is the 18th hole we played this month.

Which makes me laugh, because I was reading several comments in other threads about their dislike for the front nine at MD, which I just didn't understand - I much preferred the front nine to the back nine - only to realize just now that everybody's referring to our "back nine" as the front nine. Makes sense now.

Way too much water on "their front nine"/"our back nine" for my taste.

In reviewing some other threads on Monarch Dunes, it sounds like almost all of the "dunes" were manufactured; admittedly some definitely look like it. But, I liked the look. And one poster said he disliked the fact that a lot of fairways are quite flat with "dunes" scattered here and there on their perimeter - and I can understand that point.

But overall, we enjoyed it, and we'll play it again if we're ever back in that area (2 x 2 hour flights + 3 hour drive).

Jim

[Sean_A]

Jim

Thanks for the  tour.  The course looks better than I anticipated.  As others have said, it would be nice if the earthworks continued more into lines of play.  Why is there so much water on the back nine?

Ciao

[David_Elvins]

I like the abrupt shapes in the mounting.  Much better than the smooth broad curves you see elsewhere, imo.

[Sean_A]

I like the abrupt shapes in the mounting.  Much better than the smooth broad curves you see elsewhere, imo.

Me too, just wish they weren't so ornamental.

Ciao

[Garland Bayley]

Jim

Thanks for the  tour.  The course looks better than I anticipated.  As others have said, it would be nice if the earthworks continued more into lines of play.  Why is there so much water on the back nine?

Ciao

If you think there is "so much water" in these pictures, you should see their 12 hole par 3 course. Apparently they think the only interesting golf is hit the ball over water. Is it so lucrative to mine golf balls out of ponds and resell them in the pro shop? I just don't get it. How they could ruin such a wonderful sandy site with all that artificial water hazard garbage.

I just played a course yesterday where one of the members told me "we can't get people to join, because of the 9th and 18th holes". Each of those holes has a 100 yard carry over a hazard to the green. So not matter which 9 you play your round is likely to be a disaster at the last hole. The member called them "scorecard wreckers". Rumor has it that they are struggling financially. I don't think putting that butt ugly old 9th hole with all that penal water as a finishing hole is the way to help a property that is struggling financially. They would be far better off draining the ponds and shaping more dunes IMHO.

EDIT: Perhaps I should comment more on the par 3 course. There are some holes on that course without water. Those holes can be a blast, because if you miss the green, you can have some very interesting, and sometimes very difficult recovery shots. But, at least you have a shot. I have never been able to figure out how to hit a shot while submerged in water at the bottom of a pond. The pond holes have taken all the fun out of golf for the less than perfect golfer.

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