From all the photos posted on this thread, it doesn't seem like such an aesthetically pleasing course.
Course was in great shape. Fairways are like carpet, very healthy. Are you talking about the way the holes look or condition of the course? I agree it doesn't have that lush green look but you're not going to find that in most parts of California, except maybe the desert. Going to have a bit more "natural" look.
The grass is Kikuya, which will stay green longer in the fall, and green up earlier in the spring. Like bermudagrass it will go dormant in the winter. So the brown you see is just dormant grass. It's also courser than bermuda.
EDIT: I'm checking out this cool feature on pgatour.com called "interactive course map" that is basically a google map of the course with little icons showing who's where on the course. I notice something I consider to be kind of unusual ...
Between the 1st and 2nd holes there appears to be about 75% of another hole. It could certainly just be a practice chipping and pitching green, but it seems to also have a couple of hundred yards worth of fairway. Maybe that's all it is and these are the kind of amenities I'm missing out on by not belonging to a prestigious club like this.
That's the first hole where the tee looks like it's just outside the clubhouse, then #2 runs parallel to it and back to the clubhouse. In between is a practice short game area and pretty close to where the media center was. The driving range is to the left of #2. So from top to bottom, #1, short game area, #2, driving range.
