Ventura County Golf Course Reviews
Lost Canyons, Sky Golf Course Review (CLOSED 2016)Simi Valley, CA
75.6 rating; 147 slope |
Lost Canyons Sky Scorecard from the Longest Tee Boxes, as of the date reviewed
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Lost Canyons, Sky Golf Course Overview: This golf course was built on land that only Pete Dye could have worked with. There were many good golf holes that provided a stiff challenge, and even a few breather holes. However, even Pete couldn't escape creating a handful of golf holes that were plagued by very hilly, target golf shots. Visually stunning on most of the holes, the pure golf value of some shots was lost due to the penal nature of what happened when the golfer went off line a little or hit a blind shot thought to be good that ended up in trouble, but fortunately, most of the holes were fair. Nonetheless, due to a series of setbacks mostly due to natural disasters (fire, flood, etc.) this course closed in 2016. The golf holes that had strong merit were reviewed below:
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 2: This marvelous par 3 was visually daunting as the green seemed perched upon a cliff. Of course, this was true. Anything left found the obvious manufactured slope and deep bunkers 15 feet below the green and anything long was gone. Hitting the green or bailing out right (but not on the hillside) was a must. |
Similar Golf Course Reviews:
- Moorpark Country Club - Rustic Canyon Golf Course - Tierra Rejada Golf Course |
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 3: This short par four didn't seem short from the tee as the drive had to carry 240 yards over the junk to the fairway. This meant that basically it was nearly impossible to have a second shot longer than a wedge to the uphill green unless something went very wrong.
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 4: This par five had an interesting tee shot that was meant to fly the right half of the tree on the left (assuming the golfer had the distance), but not go left of it. The other alternative was to lay up short of the bunker on the right. The green was tucked behind a second hill up on the right, so any golfer going for the green in two had to take it on faith. The layup to the left provided a better angle to the green.
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 9: The only lake on the golf course was prominently featured on the elevated drive at the ninth. A solid shot easily avoided it, but the tempting play was to cut off a large chunk of the bunker on the right to leave a shorter approach, which brought the lake more into play. The green, like most at the Sky course, had tiers.
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 11: From the back two sets of tees, this drive was long, uphill and nasty with hillside on the right. From the shorter tees, it was a simple dogleg right par four. The green had a large bunker right protecting it and a hillside left.
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 12: Downhill all the way, this par five required accuracy off the drive to avoid the trouble left and right. The green was tucked slightly behind a little hill, where there was more room to the right than obvious from the fairway. Left on the second shot provided the best view, but too far left earned a penalty stroke.
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 14: This par five was designed up against the hills and seemed to flow well along them. The drive had to avoid the large bunkers, hill on the right and junk left. The green was then slightly right and tucked behind a hill. At over 600 yards from the tips, only two very solid shots from a super hero could reach this green in two, so setting up a good approach shot was recommended to the slightly uphill green, complete with a tier.
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 15: This short par four was all about target golf. With a dry creek right of the fairway that was then crossed on the second shot, two accurate plays were needed to avoid penalty strokes.
Lost Canyons, Sky Course Hole 17: Similar to number 2, this par three golf hole was on the edge of a cliff. The difference is that this one was shorter, but the golfer was much higher up so the disaster waiting an errant shot was more evident. Also, there weren't “forgiving” bunkers left of this two-tiered green, just cliff. The front pin placement was docile enough, but the back pin placement, in a single word, was terrifying.
