Rustic Canyon Golf Course

Finally made the trek from downtown to Rustic Canyon, and to say I was blown away would be an understatement. One of the best layouts I've ever played and the greens were vicious. Simply couldn't miss long all day and were often penalized short as well. The fairways were wide and easy to hit so very playable for players of all skills levels. Will be back soon!

Of the 11 course I played on a visit to South California in February 2024, Rustic Canyon was easily the best. The hype around is course is real, and well-deserved… it’s all over YouTube if you care for a course vlog. You have a decision to make on every. single. shot. How far you hit your driver doesn’t matter here… how well you place your driver, and approach, and short games shots does. And although it is an incredible challenge, I played the whole round with the same ball.

CONDITIONS: Perfect! Greens, bunkers, tees, fairways, rough, canyon desert surrounds, trees, shrubbery, hazards… all of it is perfect. The road driving in might have been a bit bumpy!

VALUE: Yes, it is a good value! Go play.

LAYOUT: The course meanders thru the bottom of a canyon. It’s awesome. The holes are thoughtfully laid out. Every hole make you think and consider your options. There is a great combination of short and long holes, and you will use every club in your bag. This course is built for walking… don’t take a cart.

FRIENDLINESS: Everyone was helpful in getting me paid up, out on the range, and off the first tee.

PACE: Had to wait on the tee box just long enough to get a yardage and contemplate which shot to hit. No distracting delays, and we were done right around 4 hours (and that was for an 8am Saturday tee time).

DIFFICULTY: Yes, very much! This course will eat short- and long-hitters alike. The greens here were the most demanding I played on this trip. The greens are fast, but not ridiculous. The contouring of the greens (runoffs, buried elephants, distinct sections separated by noticeable undulations) is probably the toughest I've encountered.

Amidst the awe-inspiring natural beauty of this course, business conversations flow seamlessly, fostering a relaxed and open atmosphere conducive to forging valuable connections. The challenging course design parallels the intricate nature of business development, where value, strategic thinking, adaptability, and precision are key.

Rustic is a great layout. More of a links style course. Wide fairways and largely open greens. The greens and aprons are very large. The greens do not hold shots very well, so hit to the front and let it roll up.

The course was recently airiated but is coming back nicely. The greens are challenging, but not as fast as they used to be. It is a fun course to play. I usually play early in the mornings and pace if play is fine. But I played yesterday afternoon and the front was a little slow at 2:20 minutes. But the back was awful. Ninety minutes to play the first four holes and it was getting slower. I called the pro shop but they didn’t seem too concerned about it. In playing there eight years I have never seen a Marshall. They really should have one. I gave up and skipped the last three holes. It would have been at least another hour to finish, three holes for nine holes is not enjoyable golf.

So, Rustic Canyon has gained a bit of a cult following - partly because of Geoff Shackleford and Gil Hanse and partly because of the scarcity of good public golf in and around Los Angeles.

Minimalism takes center stage here. The pro shop, and the course guide for sale in there are both spartan. No pretense, just like the course itself. The architects took what the land, or more appropriately the valley, gave them. Little dirt was moved thanks to an environmentally-sensitive site. Shack and Hanse just unearthed green sites and tee sites and connected the dots. It is a mostly flat course that offers a center line pot bunker or two. That is about as aggressive as they got. And therein lies the charm. In greater Los Angeles, where 80 percent of the nearly 13 million residents are transplants, it would be easy to cave to the temptation to cater to the masses that want to play golf on courses like they remember from far-reaching corners of America. There are no trumped up features. No out-of-place pond, or ghastly waterfall inserted mindlessly.

Rustic Canyon is punctuated by width off the tee that offers varied routes to massive greens that do suggest a line of charm. Those greens offer a lot of internal movement, and at times clefts through the middle of them that can be tricky, particularly the 18th.

On a course with this much width it would suggest otherwise, but RC really is a strategic course, not unlike some of the British blue bloods. I bet it is common to walk off this course after playing it for the first time and wonder how you didn’t shoot 5-10 strokes better. That is the beauty of the course: potential for a lot of benign bogeys if you aren’t careful. The bevy of short par 4s and reachable par 5s scream score ability. But they are also why 5-hour rounds are the norm here.

A tip from the local I was paired with: everything moves toward the front gate, and the fence to the left of the first and second holes. And take 10 yards off any shot that plays downhill toward that gate.

It has been a while since I made the trip to Moorpark to play Rustic canyon and it remained a great experience except for one major factor - the greens were so firm that it was extremely difficult to hold them with a shot from any distance over 120 yards. Other than that, the greens putted well and the rest of the course was in great condition. There are a couple of funky holes on the front side (like #7) but if you play here more than every 5 years I am sure that you will figure out the right way to play them. Too bad my occasional great approach bounced over the back of the green or it would have been a great day on the links.

Played a nice Sunday afternoon round. Got paired up with a good group of guys so we had some nice conversations along the way. Being the old timer of the group I hit from the forward tees. This was perfect to be able to keep up with the long ballers. Course is in excellent shape for being in a 1200 year drought. Greens were fast and challenging as always. Fairways were nice and green with enough carry on the tee shots. Pace of play was a bit long at 4 1/2 hours, which is on average for Rustic. My only complaint was the air conditioner on my cart was broken.

Great Shape, excellent greens. Very tough greens to read.

Wow, the reviews are right, this is a gem of a course! Checked in about an hour before and used the grass range to warm up. Putting green can get a little tight with only a few holes but it was fine to get a little preview of the speed and undulation of the greens.

Course itself is really stunning. A pretty layout nestled into the hills. Conditions in most spots were very good, greens were slower than the putting green, but rolled well.

As a single I shared a cart with another single which wasn't an issue. The twosome we paired up with were great as well. The carts themselves are nice and have GPS and green heat maps.

Playing my first time it helped to be paired up with 3 folks that had a lot of course knowledge and it definitely comes in handy when standing on a tee box to know what lines to take. Didn't necessarily reflect in my score as some OB/waste areas definitely come into play on a few holes but you really need a mishit to go out so I'd say the course is very fair. Wind wasn't much of an issue on this day although I'm sure it can wreck havoc when the Santa Anas blowing through.

The only downside of the round was the POP. Front 9 we went out in 2:10 but the back ground to a halt and took about 3. No marshalls out but the waiting on every hole definitely takes you out of the round a bit. I don't blame the course for being busy but a 5+ hour round is a bit much. There is also cart service which is nice for days when it's hot.

Honestly even with POP (and on weekends it's just become a fact of life it'll be slow) I can't wait to get back and play again!! This course will become addicting as you learn the nuances and angles and the conditions change, a great challenge and a very pretty, fun course. Well worth the trip up from LA and a tremendous value!

I recently played at the Bali Hai course in Las Vegas. After talking about how much I loved that course, a few friends recommended this course to me. And those recommendations were perfect. This course is in similar difficulty to Bali Hai but better. The greens are very big and smooth. Making putting accuracy a must. Many of the holes have random ravines with thick rough. You need to hit the fairways, its one of those courses. But thats what I loved about it. Most LA muni courses are great for learning but not very challenging. This was a great challenge without being insanely difficult.

A wonderful golf experience regardless of how you played. Beautiful course.

I loved this course I have not played in a few years. The greens were really bad so slow made the day a bummer. bumpy and slow. I wont be back

This is, by far, one of the best golf courses I have ever played. It is extremely challenging, for me,
I am a senior and love to play golf. Whenever I feel my game is coming together, I go to RUSTIC two determine the validity of my play.

Rustic Canyon has a great layout and offers challenges and options not found on the typical Southern California golf course. The course offers plenty of challenge for players of our ability. I was particularly impressed by the links style shaving of the grass around the greens. It offers the opportunity to play a variety of short game shots instead of having to flop a wedge on the green. They’re about settle and dramatic elevation changes particularly on the back nine. And while the fairways are typically generous one can see that with a little wind they could be far more challenging. Even without the wind club selection is important as a number of holes have a subtle uphill rise.
Although I typically play in the Inland Empire and the desert this was well worth the drive. The only downside was the pace of play which could have been helped with a marshal on course.

The greens are tricky, but true. When in doubt the brake is down canyon. Course is in great shape. The approaches were softer than in the past. Also, nice walking course. Elevation changes but not too steep.