I played Rustic Canyon for the second time today, and I'm not sure I've faced more interesting shots, and more shots that took me out of my comfort zone than Rustic. I grew up playing the type of SoCal courses where you had to fly the ball to the green, or else the ball would just be eaten by the sticky grasses around the greens. After moving to the Midwest, even though the grasses in that region allow one to run the ball along the ground, the lush turf has allowed me to keep playing the high loft pitches that were required in SoCal.
But at Rustic, the conditions were perfect. Very tightly mowed fairways, firm turf, and overall a course that doesn't only allow the ground game, but promotes it. The greens were rolling really well, and at a great speed for the contours. The fringe (and some of the fairways) rolled better than a lot of the greens I played as a kid. It wasn't until 16 that I played a lofted wedge pitch of about 30 yards, and while I was afraid that the tight lie would lead me to blade one well over the green, a well struck pitch from that lie had enough spin to stop near the hole for an up and down par. Plus a ton of shot variety, short-cuts off the tee that actually led to very scary angles of approach, especially to a back left pin on 11 after playing down the left side of the fairway. The tight fairways also make it easier to rip three wood off the deck. I was fortunate to play Arroyo Trabuco on Sunday which is kept in similar condition, and both were really fun places to play.
However, probably the most fun thing about Rustic was walking out as a single, getting out with a twosome almost right away, and paying $39 for 18 holes and medium bucket. Well worth the hour drive from Temple City/Arcadia.