What Is A Scratch Golfer?

Bogie Golfer

There are many golf terms that get thrown around and a “scratch golfer” is one of them.

It’s been apparent to us that even the average golfer doesn’t know what it means.

The most common thing that is gets confused with is a “bogie golfer”; many people think “scratch” means a mess up, making them think a higher score, hence a bogie golfer.

But it’s actually quite the opposite…

A scratch golfer is a “Zero Handicap” player, a golfer that plays on average par each hole. Basically a pro.

So next time someone asks you “If your a scratch golfer?”, odds are you can say… “No.”

River View Golf Course

River View has recently improved the conditions of their tee boxes and greens. The dogleg lefts and rights can be very tight; when in doubt… pick your straightest club.

River View’s 15th Tee Box

River View Golf Course

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CartWith GPSDriving RangeDiscounts Available

Original 9 Holes at River View Golf Course

River View in Santa Ana, CA. is a 60’s era, full size 18 hole golf course with a par 70. Initially built as a nine hole course in the early 60’s, it was expanded to a full eighteen hole course approximately ten years later by adding the back nine.

It is now owned and operated privately by two local families, and has a steady flow of golfers who call this their home course. The course runs along the Santa Ana River Bed and is tucked away from of the urban sprawl, located in a neighborhood of modest single family homes.

Par 70  
  Total Yardage Range/Slope
Blue
6,190
68.4/120
White
5,776
66.9/118
Red
5,350
 67.8/114

The course has leagues for Men, Women, Senior’s, Junior’s and also offers a summer golf camp for junior golfers Monday thru Thursday. Contact the pro-shop for league and complete details. There is also a Men’s and Woman’s Pro onsite who offers lessons for golfers who are just beginning, freshening up, or trying to lower their handicap a few strokes.

9th Tee Box At River View River View Driving Range River View Driving Range

The steep terrain and tree placement makes for a challenging course. The river bed flowing down the middle of the course would make for challenging conditions in the rainy season. Updated directional signs to show what hole are which direction is a necessity for a new golfer to this course. The tee boxes are very well maintained, greens were good to excellent condition and the fairways were just beginning to burn out from summer months with brown starting to appear.

Cell Phone Backgrounds

River View Golf Course Cell Phone Background River View Golf Course Cell Phone Background

The amount of dog legs, blind holes and blind fairways at this course exceed the most golfers expectations,
yet I was always able to find my ball. Although this course is perfect for day tournaments, I could see where a glow ball tournament could deter some people. I would like to add as a personal note this course is great if you’re golfing on a budget or you just want to play a quick 18 holes; the pace and price are fantastic at River View. The putting green is one of the best in Orange County.

River View Santa Ana, CA Riverview Fairway Confusing 8th Tee Box at River View
    Key Points:

  1. Cart has GPS mapping system
  2. Very thin fairways out there, so keep ‘em straight
  3. The flag poles are all about 18 inches taller, remember that when judging distances
  4. The course can be very confusing driving from hole to hole, make sure to follow the signs
  5. Probably the best practice putting green around
Riverview Golf Course Riverview Golf Course River View Restaurant
River View Restaurant River View Alcoholic Beverages River View Restaurant Quick Snacks

Their clubhouse offers breakfast and lunch and the prices are very reasonable. All sandwiches, burgers and sides are $4.25 or less. The course offer draft and regular canned beer for $2.50, and a cart girl on the 9th hole offers a variety of beer and regular drinks on the weekends.

River View also offers a lunchtime range special 7 days a week which consists of a Med. bucket of range balls, choice of sandwich and a drink for $7.75

Birds at River View Golf Course

River View Golf Course

1800 W. Santa Clara Ave.

Santa Ana, CA. 92706

Ph: (714) 543-1115
Official site: River View Golf Course

See all our “Ty Rated” golf courses

River View Golf Course Cell Phone Backgrounds

A few of us played River View Golf Course and there have been many changes since the last time we had played there.

As always the customer service was great, and we were especially impressed with the conditions of the tee boxes and greens.

He are a few images cropped to be cell phone backgrounds:

River View Golf Course Cell Phone Background River View Golf Course Cell Phone Background

We will be adding our review of River View Golf Course to our SoCal Golf Courses page, and Golf ETA will have a full detailed review available for their members.

How To Mark A Hole-In-One?

This is a question that doesn’t come up often, but still something good to know. But, we are not really sure…

To the best of our knowledge it goes as follows:

How To Mark A Golf Scorecard
Hole-In-One = TRIANGLE
Eagle = DOUBLE CIRCLE
Birdie = CIRCLE
Par = Nothing
Bogie = SQUARE
Double Bogie = DOUBLE SQUARE
Triple Bogie = TRIPLE SQUARE

 

Most of us average golfers are used to mostly bogies, and doubles; with the occasional par, any even rarer birdie. But every once in a while someone in your group gets an eagle or the ultimate, a Hole-In-One, now you know how to mark you card. Hopefully with better handwriting than ours.

Black Gold Golf Course

Once you arrive you see the beautiful driving range to your left, lush green grass and easy bag drop. In the clubhouse we were greeted very politely and we were quite impressed with the customer service.

Black Gold’s 18th Green

Black Gold's 18th Green

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GPSBucket Of BallsDiscount Card

Black Gold Golf Club is located in Yorba Linda, California, not too far out of the way for anyone in Central or Northern Orange County. Ty Daniel’s has rated Black Gold as one of the nicest golf courses in Orange County. For an average bogie golfer, this course isn’t too hard, but bring extra balls, you might need them.

Par 72
Range/Slope
 
Total Yardage
Men’s
Women’s
Black
6,756
73.1/133
 
Blue
6,439
71.6/130
 
White
6,045
69.8/125
 
Gold
5,564
67.3/118
73.7/135
Red
4,937
 
70.7/127

The conditions of the tee boxes, fairways, hazards, and greens were excellent. A lot of nice golf courses still have unleveled, sloped tee boxes, but at Black Gold they were very flat and level. The greens had good angulations, but seems to putt much straighter than they looked. The times we have played their the greens were very fast, and quite hard, you could get a lot of roll out of a chip.

18th Fairway At Black Gold Black Gold Tee Box

There was a lot of wildlife to look at, rabbits everywhere, and some beautiful hawks, but we were warned not to look for lost balls since rattlesnakes are very common. Even if it’s just “OB” and you can see it, it’s best to leave it and not try to reach or go climbing in the woods only to get bitten.

The hazards can be very intimidating, the placement and size can easily come in to play on every hole. This isn’t as much of a “Target Golf Course” (where you have to land in a target every time or you’ll be in the rough or worse) as Coyote Hills in Fullerton, but it’s close.

A Pond At Black Gold Black Gold White Tee Box

Overall we will definitely being going back to play again, the views and mountain side tee boxes and fairways are just amazing. The fairways are open and forgiving but still very easy to loose your way.

    Key Points:

  1. Cart has GPS mapping system
  2. Very little shade out there, so stick close to your cart
  3. Don’t waste too much time looking for a lost ball, just drop a new one
  4. You can’t bring your golf cart into the parking lot, so use the bag drop area
  5. Bring your camera, you’ll regret it, if your forget it
  6. And like many OC courses, bring extra golf balls ;)
Black Gold Fairway

This course is pricey prime time, but worth it. To fit the budget they have great twilight deals so make sure to pick your tee time wisely.

Black Gold Golf Club

One Black Gold Drive

Yorba Linda, CA. 92886

Ph: (714) 961-0060
Official site: Black Gold Golf Club

See all our “Ty Rated” golf courses

San Dimas Canyon Golf Course Open House Casino Night

San Dimas Canyon

Open House & Casino Night

Thursday, July 23, 2009

6:00pm-9:00pm

Join us for Complimentary Admission, Hors d’oeurves and prizes. While you experience what San Dimas Canyon has to offer with our Banquet Room, Brand New Ceremony Site and Bar.

Meet vendors and get creative ideals for your future events.

For more information call:

(909) 599-7459

No RSVP required

2nd Glow Ball Golf Tournament at Coyote Hills

There will be a Orange County Glow Ball Golf Tournament on November 19th (11/19/11).

Orange County Glow Ball Golf Tournament 2011

Friday March 6th 2009

Coyote Hills Golf Course just had it’s second "Glow Ball Golf Tournament". Tee-off was at 6:30pm on a night with a 3/4 Full Moon.

You might think…."How Can You Play Golf at Night?!?"

Well, you sure can , and it’s very fun!

As said, this was the second glow ball golf tournament Coyote Hills has offered. The first glow tournament was also very fun, but with a few minor changes, the second one was just that much better.

As you can imagine there are many random variables that you run into when playing golf in the dark!

    We the feedback they got from the first one, they implemented some changes:

  • In the first tournament they placed red glow sticks in the middle of the fairway tot help you see your line. But it was very hard to judge a distance.
    • So this time they placed:
      • 2 red glow sticks at 200 yards from pin
      • 1 red glow stick at 150 yards from pin
      • 2 red glow sticks at 100 yards from pin

    This really helped give you a a much better distance on your approach shots.

  • There was a hot chocolate and coffee stand at the 14th tee-box to warm you up.
    • What a great idea!
  • The first tournament had blinking lights at the top of each flag. But they are very sensitive and would turn off.
    • To help fix this, they better explained how the blinking lights on the flag were turned on and off, and on top of that they added a glow stick to the top of each flag as well. Just incase…
    • It really Helped!!

As the first tournament was laid out, it was the same…

    $55 Per-Person

  • 2 Man Best Ball
  • Scramble Start
  • Buffet Dinner
    • First tournament was Italian food theme.
    • Second tournament was Mexican food theme.
    • Both were excellent!
  • Small Bucket of Driving Range Balls
  • Tee-off at 6:30pm for the back 9 holes

It wasn’t dark enough to get a good photo of the ball at a tee shot, but some of the greens were dark enough to show the ball moving, below are two examples of the glow ball as it was putt.

What kind of golf ball did you use ??

The type of glow ball used was the same in both tournaments so far. A clear hard plastic ball with a glow stick that goes in the middle approximatly 1 1/2 inches long.

We thought the ball seemed to play longer this second time, maybe because it was a bit colder, hardening the ball somewhat.

This tournament was fully booked a week in advance, with a long waiting list. If you plan to go the next one make sure to sign-up early.