Rancho San Joaquin Driving Range

There are plenty of bays available, though it can get a bit crowded during peak hours. The longest I’ve had to wait was about 20 minutes—not too bad. The facility also offers a solid chipping and putting area. For $79/month, their membership includes a large bucket of balls each day and discounted green fees. This has become my go-to spot for practice.

Every time I practice here, I lose my footing and keep missing balls, so I must completely change my swing to compensate for the terrible mats. The worst thing is that many older individuals practice here, and bad things could happen if they slip. They evened up the pricing for the membership for newer members so they can replace the mats once and add artificial grass on the range, but they did nothing after that. Even the short game near the range hasn’t changed, I can tell because it still looks very low quality. Also, one of the bad qualities of this practice area is that too many people come to Rancho, at the peak of the operating hours, two or even three people line up for one spot on the range. They even line up for spots with slanted mats, making practicing harder. Also, since only a few people carpool with each other, some people are in places that don’t even exist, and people are still looking for spots to park and drive around the parking lot. The worst thing is that Irvine plans to close down Oak Creek and replace it with houses, so even more people will come to Rancho as a last resort, since this is the cheapest option in the area. So, as a person still trying to improve, do not come here if you are a beginner or even an advanced player. Arguably the worst practice area I've been to.

Their turf gets worn out very quickly with the amount of people being there. During the busiest day, it can take like 30-40 minutes for even a spot to open up. Also the putting green and the chipping area need lots of improvement.