[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

What bothers me as much as the poor condition is the design of some of these holes.
I played Mira Mesa a few days ago and vowed I will not play it again. Besides the fact that the fairways on the two par fours are in deplorable condition, there are two holes, #2 and #6 where I could not aim my ball at the green. From the back tees, these two holes are literally, dogleg to the left par threes. In order to hit the green, you must hit a ten to fifteen-yard draw. This is absurd. I might be a bit prejudiced because I have been working hard on hitting a baby fade. But, there is simply no excuse for a par three where the ball cannot be aimed at the flagstick.

The ninth hole at Mira Mesa is a 180-yard par three but the green is designed for a short iron. Besides the fact that the green is only 17 yards front to back, the back 30% of it slopes away. I have hit many very good high spinning four hybrids to that hole only to be chipping from the back rough. I get the impression that this back tee was added sometime after the course was completed as it makes no sense to have a shot of that length to such a small green. I also notice that the back tee yardage on the scorecard is from the middle tee.

I have heard that this green was completely torn up and redone a few years ago. I can't imagine what the people who did the re-design were thinking.

I will not play Mira Mesa again. That's a real shame because except for these few problems it's a really nice track. As much as I hate the idea, one can always take a preferred lie on the bad fairways, But the two holes where the ball can be aimed at the green are a deal breaker for me. I play golf to enjoy myself. I get enough aggravation with some of the people that I play with who talk while I'm playing, walk on my line, don't fix ball mark or fill divots. I really don't need to be aggravated by holes that are all but impossible to play.

The eighth hole at Silver Lake and the ninth at Hilltop have the same problem. Sometimes, the tee markers on these two are moved far enough to the right to allow the hole to be playable, but there are some days where the holes have to be played for a chip and a putt.


I also noticed this on the sixth hole at Oakleigh. This time it's a par four and there are some palm trees planted directly in front of the middle tee. The ball has to be aimed at the big fairway bunker. If you can not turn it over, you have no play other than to hit it in the bunker.

The fairway of the second hole at Silver Lake needs to be totally dug up and re-done. It will never come back with the patchwork repairs that they are doing. The same for the third at Mira Mesa. The sixth at Mira Mesa may be able to come back with some care but the other's need to be totally redone.

I was playing Silver Lake last week and noticed that they are taking out some sod that it along the woods next to the fourth tee. I had to wonder what is in the minds of the people that are in charge that this is a priority to them while so many other things on these courses need attention.

I also noticed that it appears that they might be cutting the large tee on number six into two smaller tees. This makes no sense from two perspectives. Number one, it takes away area where the tee markers may be moved in order to disperse the wear and tear. Also, mowing two smaller tees will take more time than mowing one large one as more turns will be required and the mowers will have to be raised and then lowered again.