Without giving you a dreary blow-by-blow, occurrences over the last year or so have pounded me pretty hard. While I think I’ve done pretty well keeping my chin up and looking for a bright side most of the time, I had admitted to myself that I most likely wouldn’t be surprised by anything ever again. Happily, I have been proven wrong by an unlikely source. I’ll try to just let that stand on its own and not worry that it’s probably only the “happy” angle that caught me off guard. The happy surprise was Elkins Ranch Golf Course.

Elkins Ranch is a course in nearby Fillmore, CA, where locals go to sneak in a round at a full length golf course without paying a fortune or expecting the biggest challenge or best conditions. The course is literally on property owned by ranchers and its conditioning and patrons never seemed to be their biggest concern, if you know what I mean. All along, though, people have traveled far and wide just to enjoy one of the finest cheeseburgers in the county if not beyond. The golf course? Not so much. Like I indicated – we kept it on our rotation for its affordability, friendly service and change of scenery. Well, I just played there on Saturday and have never seen it looking so good! The greens were always in decent shape but the fairways and the rest of the course left much to be desired. This time, the fairways were beautiful, the rough was actually rough and separate from those fairways and the greens were in terrific form. There are still those holes where you might should don a hardhat due to the proximity of the adjacent holes, but that’s Elkins and you go there knowing that. I was so appreciative of the course’s conditioning that I could actually appreciate the challenge it presents by its design, which is interesting. I never really noticed that before because hitting from patchy, holey fairways is difficult enough that I never had the time or inclination to consider the thought behind the architecture.

I’m telling you, if you haven’t played Elkins in awhile, get out there soon. I don’t know if it’s the economy forcing them to focus on their golf business instead of their ranch or just a newfound interest in the golf side, but this place is looking and playing fine! I never planned on blogging about Elkins Ranch so I didn’t have a camera with me. I guess you’ll just have to trust me on this. Check it out! And don’t forget to order their famous cheeseburger at the turn.

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