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 I recently played the Mountain Course at Robinson Ranch in heavy winds. Normally tough, it became pretty unbearable as even seemingly decent shots would end up in trouble. Added some pictures to my review as well. Still like the course even though it doesn't much like me.
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For the second time, I have played the Ike (Eisenhower) Course at Industry Hills and for the second time it bested me, although at least this time I had positive moments, such as a birdie at the 10th hole pictured here. Overall, this course requires the golfer to take advantage of the shorter / quirkier holes and survive the long, brutal ones. I enjoy both this one and the Babe course and find this to be one of the better 36 hole complexes for a full day of golf in SoCal. 
Thanks to the help of several GolfTop18 users, we've hit 25 courses that have been rated / ranked by the readers of this website. We've also added some recently played courses to the list of those that you the reader can rank. Thank you for all your input. Also, I played golf last weekend in crazy wind and my playing partner and I were wondering if the pros would have to endure those 50mph wind conditions. Upon watching the golf tournament at the Plantation Course at Kapalua get delayed multiple times this week, I guess we got our answer. Other than conditions where somebody gets hurt, I think they should play and we should get to watch to see what they do and how they do. I know how I do, but if those pros can shoot near par in brutal conditions, that would be awesome to watch. My best score from the back tees at Kapalua is a respectable 75, but that was with only 1 club of wind. When I played in 3-4 clubs of wind, I shot about 85. 
 Speaking of windy rounds, check out my updated review of the Sky Course at Lost Canyons and my new review of Lost Canyons - Shadow Course. I can tell you my buddy and I played 36 holes in crazy windy conditions. Of course, we hit many more shots than the pros and had a couple of generous gimmies.
I now enter into the busy time of year for my day job, so my golf (and postings) usually slow down until April. I hope I can scratch together a few rounds between now and then, but we'll have to see...  I was afforded the opportunity to join a few fellow golfers for a scramble charity tournament this week at Angeles National and, as usual, my scramble game showed up, which turns my normal swing into shambles. Being the "anchor" hitter, I end up playing a few crazy aggressive shots and, as usual, only about 20% of them work. My normal swing usually suffers as a result and, by the end of the day, I need a few weeks off from golf to recover my conservative mentality. Don't get me wrong, I always have a good time and relish going back to the reckless / mindless type of golf of the average 15 year-old...but it serves to remind me that on the golf course discretion is almost always the better part of valor.
 Last weekend, my buddy and I went out to play Tierra Rejada, a course neither had been on since before either of us had children (let's just say closer to a decade ago than today). Inspired by America's "amazing" performance at the Ryder Cup, we elected to try our hand at match play. We were able to harness some of the finest of Team U.S.A's Sunday mojo and both shoot somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 strokes worse than our stroke play average...each.
However, having lived in Europe for the better part of two years, I was able to reach deep into those roots and pull out a stunning 4 and 3 victory. The stakes you ask? All the change in my center console. The best part, my buddy hasn't paid up and the interest is accruing. At today's interest rates, that should get me another penny by 2014. It is not often that I write something overtly negative as I like to focus on the positive aspect of golf when possible, but look at the picture below... 
I recently played the Links at Victoria and the only thing I could find "linking" any holes together were the large dirt patches throughout the fairways (for anybody who thinks I don't know what Links refers to, please check the British Isles section of this website). This, the eleventh hole, was one of my favorites, at least in memory, but I can't get over just how ugly this golf course has become. Only the holes closest to the freeway (14-17) hold any remnant of a golf course in decent shape. Although never one of my favorite courses, this track has always been challenging, but it's a real challenge to play well when you feel most construction sites are more visually appealing. I hope this course can get fixed at some point.
For the first time in my adult life, I bought a NEW driver. My last driver purchase was a Titleist 983k in 2005, but it was used. I broke it in as Rustic Canyon (pictured above) and I remember hitting my first drive 300, hitting the green in two and walking away with birdie. Since then, many golf rounds broke down that driver so that my best drives were only going 260, and usually were more like 230. I'll admit some of that is a worse swing, but a lot was the club.
So, fittingly enough, this week, I broke in my new Cleveland Classic at Rustic Canyon again. This time, my first drive was only 255, but I didn't hit it well. After 9 holes of very slow play, I started over at around 4pm and then bombed my drive 285. I hit a 3 wood to 18 inches and made eagle (my first of 2012). After that, the new technology kept doing great things by turning bad drives into OK ones and sent me on my way to one of my best rounds on this great course. Suffice it to say, I'm happy with my purchase! The Christmas break means a lot of opportunities golf, as such more photos were added to the Lost Canyons Golf Course review.  One of the best courses close to Los Angeles is this great track in Moorpark. I've played it more times than any other course in the last 10 years. Take a fresh look at the Rustic Canyon Golf Course Review:  |
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