I played it in April with James Duncan and its wonderful, almost epic since the golf course is located in a valley on 660 acres. With that said it wasn't ready to play as the zoysia grass needs more time to mature. The greens were only running about a 6 so putting wasn't really possible. I know they've had a summer of play (the course was closed in August) some friends went last week and said its still not grown in enough to enjoy it to its potential. My guess is next year will be much better.
One of the things they did was not build USGA spec greens. As a result you have these large beautiful natural contours like Prairie Dunes or Sand Hills which is something you rarely see these days. I hope it works because even though its located close to the Napa Valley with the vineyards enjoying great soil, this site wasn't blessed with great soil.
Joel:
The zoysia is coming along pretty well after a full season. As of a week ago, there is a good amount of bounce and roll through the fairways and greens surrounds. I putted a few from well off the green (15-25 yards) without much problem, and unlike say the bent surrounds at some places, it wasn't always an automatic putter pull, which I liked. Some spots are "stickier" than others, but I imagine they only get tightened up with time. The greens must have really sped up a lot over the year, as they felt to me to be over 10, even with a fresh topdressing. That felt about right to me too with the amount of contours both big and small.
Brambles is really cool, and I love that they've pushed for something that is both different to most all of American golf yet feels perfectly in place within the rustic NorCal setting. Their patient approach, which is ongoing, is really starting to pay off and only will more over time, especially as they start to devote strong attention to the native areas off the fairways over this winter and beyond. Longterm thinking and dedication toward it is all too lacking these days. It's special to actually see such an approach in action with the envisioned payoffs coming to life along the way.
One last note--soil for growing grapes is not good soil for growing grass, and soil for growing grass (probably) isn't good for growing grapes
. In general, it's the same heavy stuff across the whole region, minus sandy bits along the coast. That said, the fairways at Brambles are doing pretty darn well on the native NorCal clay. Generally seems to be the case with warm season grasses, which are typically hardier and more adaptable to less-than-ideal growing conditions.