baw12

Based on other reviews I read, I was expecting more of a picturesque course. Nothing special though.

Driving range off mats and very busy! Most people there not actually playing the course.

Round very slow. Waited on every shot. Greens inconsistent.

Practice range:
- Not enough green grass to hit off. Need to move ropes throughout the day.
- Hitting slots too crammed together. Need to be spaced out a little more. Gets pretty busy as it serves the Stadium course too.

Pace of play:
- 10 minute delay to start
- 5+ hour round
- No Marshall

Course:
- Layout is awkward requiring strange back and forth through the golf community.
- Signage is poor in a couple of spots
- Every single hole/fairway surrounded by homes
- Fairways relatively narrow requiring fairly straight shot (or OB in someone’s house).
- Massive long and deep bunkers on every hole (both in fairways and around greens).
- Most of the greens narrow and/or elevated and require extreme precision approach shots.
- Greens speed medium
- A few challenging water holes

Overall impression:
- I think these courses (stadium and Niklaus) are very popular due to the yearly PGA Tour event. Everyone wants to play where the pros play. However, the course is too difficult for most golfers, especially if it’s your first time. That’s probably why rounds are too slow.
- In terms of beauty or uniqueness, I didn’t find it to be anything special. It actually felt contrived. My least favorite course out of 6 others I tried on this trip.

Breathtaking course nestled in the Ojai mountains. Not long, but shot making is the emphasis. Greens are quite fast but true.

A couple of things to be aware of:
- construction going on along the 9th and 18th fairways. They are building stuff.. On 9 this can be an issue on 2nd shot left side. On 18 it’s the drive and right side.

- 16 is a spectacular par-3. Most misses in any direction will result in OB, hazard, or bunker. It’s the 4-handicap but IMHO it is the hardest hole on the course and should be handicap-1

Pleasant round on a beautiful Summer Day. Will definitely test different parts of your game off the tee, in the fairway and especially around the greens. Chipping and putting from above the pin very hard. Some course familiarity should help with right club selection (to minimize these instances).

A little on the slow side, but that’s to be expected on a Saturday. Especially when people are playing the wrong tees or not prepared with an extra ball when their 1st shot goes into the water (LOL).

A couple suggestions for management:
- fix up the hitting nets. In pretty bad shape with bad balls, no tees, no targets. That can’t be that expensive.

- The gas engine carts are very noisy. Its a shame to have to hear that against the beautiful natural sorroundings. Every golfer announcing themselves on each hole/shot. Electric carts would be much quieter (and cleaner).

Played there a couple weeks ago. Due to a very slow outing/reunion ahead (with many non-golfers) our round was painfully slow and finally had to quit after 14 holes. The Manager (EJ) asked me to leave my info at the front desk as he wanted to invite me back to play again. I was never contacted though. I tried to reach out to him via his contact info on the website, but did not get a response to that either.

Shameful service. And as far as outings, I get it. They bring in revenue, but don't alienate the regular golfers. Lock the tee times after them or for the entire day. It's not that complicated.

As far as the course itself, the front-9 and back-9 are like completely different golf courses. Quite strange. The back-9 is significantly longer and harder. There is a small netted range for warmup, but its in bad shape with bad balls/mats and no tees.

I have played here numerous times, but not my first choice. Just nothing special and the 294 Expressway (very noisy) is your OB left on a few holes.

I never putt well here either. Not sure why.

Good size range though and restaurant if that’s important to you.

This is a par-70 course. There are 6-7 par-4s that play very long. I prefer a more balanced layout.

Driving range is smack in the middle of the course and range balls scattered all over several adjacent holes. Ugly.

Restaurant patio is right behind 18 green. Gets in your head. Too much club or blade it and oops..

Not trying to nitpick here, but was impossible to turn left back on to Lake when going home. They really need a traffic light there. Way too much traffic in each direction.

I was expecting a painfully slow round and not so good course conditions. Was pleasantly surprised though. Great pace (on a Saturday morning) and course wasn’t too bad. I was told by the locals though that we got very lucky with the pace of play. Actual grass on fairways and greens very reasonable and on the faster side. Teeing off on 18 provides for a nice Mountain View. I Played another LA Muni Rancho Park in the past and Harding is much nicer and in better shape.

The good:
Breathtaking ocean views from almost all holes. Just absolutely beautiful course.

The bad:
The golf. Extremely penal course and basically target golf. ALL errant shots and even not so errant shots will be swallowed up by the thick and long stuff. Lost balls and penalties pile up quick. Expect to shoot 10-15 strokes higher than usual.

Public golf in LA is in a very sad state. Ok, got that out of my system.

Paid $93 (including some warm up balls) to play here on a beautiful summer day in December.

Website did not work so had to book over the phone.

No bag drop. No starter. Aside from one guy driving around in a cart that told me what cart to use, I didn’t see anyone else helping manage the golfer traffic. Nobody around at all when round was over either.

Tee’d off 20 minutes late (2 groups behind).

Not enough drinking water. Needs to be water station every few holes on this kinda dry/dessert course.

Course not in good condition. Fairways hay color and almost non existent (super tight/thin). These extremely tight lies made ball striking challenging and chipping very difficult. Greens inconsistent. Some very fast. Some slow. Did not run true.

Surrounded by scenic mountains, but ..

I got a heavily discounted price and decided to try out course. It is not worth $300 though. That's just crazy.

I arrived early hoping to shake off some rust at the range. I was told by Starter that I only get one small bag of balls. I told him that was kinda stingy for a $300 golf course (nicely). He then said to me that I did not pay $300 so.. to which I replied I am really glad I didn't. He then said that he we was just the messenger and to talk to the people upstairs at the club house and that they want you to pay if you want more.

The driving range grass was unmowed and underwatered thick bermuda. Most of it was already destroyed as well by previous golfers.

There are public walkways/trails interspersed everywhere for the general public to have access to the ocean views. We had various kids making noises on one hole and then a couple having a fight on another and then random traffic on other holes.

Pete Dye course which will beat you up if your swing is not on. Greens are very fast and pin placements mostly very hard. Several approach shots require course knowledge or ball bye bye.

I would come here to enjoy the views on the public trails and play golf elsewhere. Save your $$

I played Stadium and Norman as well and this was my favorite course. The back-9 in particular are very scenic with several holes nestled up in the mountain foothills.

The view from the restaurant is spectacular. The range is nice and plentiful. Chipping and putting areas as well.

Club up 1-2 clubs on everything.

Highly recommend.

The listed difference between back tees (blue ~6500) and middle tees (white ~6000) is only 500, but difficulty level is disproportionately more.

There is very little room for inaccurate shots (essentially target golf). Fairways are very tight and trouble(mangroves, homes, streets...) lurking everywhere (particularly on front-9). Errant drives will almost always lead to penalties. Ball will either be gone or found, but nestled within large exposed tree roots or rocks (not playable).

Many large bunkers on every hole. Expect multiple sand shots over the course of the round. The sand is actually a cement/rock/mud like mixture. Even if you hit the green, the ball often rolls into the traps.

In Summary:
Only course around so it's here or no golf. My advice would be to play the whites and leave driver in bag (unless you are low single digits). If you want a lower score, play conservatively.

This is a nice (and challenging) course overall, but the day I played the greens were virtually unplayable. Pretty much like putting on carpet and extremely slow. I am sure they recently top dressed them and I get the need, but nonetheless my round was sorta useless.

The course provides numerous challenging holes with many bunkers and water. I mainly picked it due to the short cab ride from the strip (in Vegas on business)