I’m in love. Golf love.

Rustic Canyon (website) is an amazing links-style course nestled in the Simi Valley/Moorpark flatlands. What is so amazing about it? Let me count the ways:

The front nine and the back nine feel complementary, but genuinely different. A lot of really top-notch links courses, when you round the corner to the 10th, make you feel either “ho-hum” or like you went to a different planet.

The course was built to take advantage of the natural features of the land, resulting in a great relationship with area preservationists and environmental groups, AND enormous cost savings for the builders and for you, the player. This place is still around $50 including cart and I like it better than most $100++ courses.

Links golf is just so much fun, especially with the design of this course. Wide green run-ups (30+ extra yards of putt/chip combo surface on most holes), wide-yet-challenging fairways, well-placed but entirely fair hazards, and the natural bumps and valleys of the land offer beginning and advanced golfers a really fun day.

Everyone complains about the course management (the pro shop, cart shack, and snack bar all leave a lot to be desired) — but the course itself and the greens are in awesome condition and beat the pants off courses that even cost twice or three times as much.

Pace of play is nearly perfect. Both times I’ve played Rustic Canyon, I think I ended up waiting for about 30 seconds to a minute at each tee box. Just enough time to pick a club, stretch a bit, and consider your tee shot.

Overall — it’s challenging without feeling “unfair.” Some premium courses — for example, the nearby Lost Canyons and the snooty and asshole-laden Angeles National — just beat you down unless you play like Tiger. Rustic Canyon feels like the kind of course that will challenge any golfer. A scratch golfer would probably end up shooting a very good score, but would still have an incredible day of play.

    I highly recommend Rustic Canyon golf course.