Every now and again we all test the definition of insanity like a child repeatedly putting their fingers in a power socket. Well, that was Knollwood yesterday. Don't get me wrong, the course is in fine (enough) shape. Typical ball mark damage, traps great and tee boxes somewhat beat up and not level. But our tee time was 11:40am (GolfNow - $41 deal) on a Saturday. So we were expecting five hours. We actually teed off at 12:25pm and then waited another 5 mins after that to get to our tee shots because they were out of carts. Even with that, we got to the second tee to find two groups waiting. We made the turn at 3:40pm, which to repeat, was 4 hours (!) after our scheduled tee time and 3 hours 15 mins after we hit our first tee shots. Incredibly the back played in 2 hours and 30 mins, presumably because some people quit. So a five hour/45 min round plus the 45 mins made it a 6 hour/20 min round. Take into account the 20 min drive there from home and the 40 mins early arrival to putt and hit balls and Knollwood cost me an entire day yesterday. Needless to say, nobody played well. It's worthless hitting balls when you're already tight again on the first tee. I'm not happy.

Off today at 8:36a with DrinkSmokeGolf (new-ish to LA - great guy) and two buddies of mine. Finished in about four and a half hours. Not bad for a Saturday morning. Tee boxes and fairways were above average for a city course. Having played Angeles National and Sand Canyon in the past two weeks I'd definitely rather hit off the fairways at Santa Anita than either of the other two right now. Found three traps and all had plenty of sand; not necessarily consistent but there was always enough under the ball. Had some minor issues with the greens. I don't blame my poor putting on the greens but they were very much on the slow and bumpy side. SAGC has, in not too distant the past, had lightning greens and falloff areas; not the case today. It was tough to get uphill putts to the hole or have downhill putts run out. All in all, it's a somewhat minor criticism. Had a good time with good company. Never saw a drink cart (I don't remember them having one on prior visits) and didn't eat (from recollection the food is ok). Will probably wait another month or two before coming back out.

Time: 2:00pm 8/13/16
Rate: $45 via GolfNow

Four of us went off at Moorpark at 2pm and finished in an even four hours. Nobody in front of us all day and we lost the group behind after 4/5 holes. We played the Creekside/Ridgeline nines. Tee boxes were good to very good. Fairways were mostly good on the Creekside. Ridgeline was a little more spotty with #1 specifically being a lot of Ground Under Repair.

They punched the greens a week ago (hence the GolfNow deal) but I had looked on GK and didn't see an alert (It's possible I missed it). But generally, the greens ran fine if not a little slow. I bet they're lighting when perfect. I was surprised that I had to fix 3/4 ballmarks on every green. You'd think with rates typically north of $100 that people would fix ballmarks. There were a few GUR spots on the greens too but we never were close to the,

Most of the fairway divots were exploders and unfixable...a fact which was a bummer since the seed bottles on the carts were empty. Service was very good. Saw the drink cart three times and the starter was very friendly. Range was the mats today but it looks like the grass is open most of the time.

Tee Time: 6:12am 6/4/16 (started on time)
POP: 4:30
Rate: $51 incl. cart (GolfNow)

Got out as a twosome this morning joined by another twosome. It's Knollwood so POP is what it is. I usually think starting before 6:30 means a 3-3:30 round but to be fair there was a marshal out there and he told the group in front of us to speed up on the 12th hole and they did. Nice to see the marshals working hard.

MAN, this place is in nice shape right now. Greens were immaculate, although I found/fixed three fresh ball marks on every green which had obviously come from the 3/4 groups that went out earlier than we did - come on guys! But man, they rolled medium fast and true! Didn't find a bad lie in the fairway all day either. The rough was a bit more hit or miss but no bother at all. Only found one trap but my buddy was in a few and they were exceptional. Sand is spectacular and really well maintained.

Layout is friendly to the duffer. Lots of friendly rolls and kicks from banks along the boundaries. Very score-able if you're playing well. If they could ever get the POP under 5 hours on average I'd play it once a month instead of once every three. If I'm up at 4:45am to play golf, I better not be waiting anywhere past the first couple holes. But the conditions really helped!

GolfNow deal as a single for $125 this morning. 7am tee time that actually became 7:40 with a frost delay. POP approx 3:20 playing with three other vacationers.

Tough to give the greatest review because of the frost making the first 6-7 greens hard as rocks and the whole course playing super hard and fast. Start to finish here goes. Staff was cool; directed you the right way etc. Practice area was very good with perfect grass range that was very much in line with fairway conditions at the course. Same goes for the practice green. The course itself was in about 8/10 shape for the time of year. No major tee damage and very little ground under repair. I was a little stunned at the amount of bad ballpark repair, not unrepaired , improperly repaired. It's clear the green staff comes out every morning and cleans up people's messes. Doesn't impact putts more than mentally.

Only solid issue I had with the place was the inconsistency in the amount of sand in the traps. None were bare but some had super fluffy sand and some were really hard packed. I was in 5 of them and never knew what I was getting. We're all spoiled though. The Scots would tell you don't hit it in the traps to begin with because you never know what you're getting. Anyway, I'll probably hit this track again in a warmer month. 40 degrees all day w/ a 15-20MPH wind was brisk.

Look, in my opinion, this is the best designed public layout in LA. It has more strategy in it than 99% of courses. You need to pick what clubs and angles to play off the tees on 12/18 holes to give yourself flat enough lies to attack the flags. And if you do that correctly, you'll score. I want to say that up front before the negatives.

But today...man...today. Had a 12pm tee time on a $45 GolfNow deal. We didn't finish. Ugh. The course is 6300 yards. Finishing on that routing should be no problem before 5. Got through 16 and it was too dark to see (at 5:15). No marshals anywhere. We actually did get out 15 mins late because they ran out of carts and were holding and shuffling people around to accommodate (note: I could walk or ride, I don't care but nobody ever asked).

And, almost even worse, there were more brown spots and dry lies than I've ever seen here. Many of the wonderful little gullies were bare, and as you might guess, that's where a lot of balls finish. Very disappointing. The tees were overseeded recently and it was basically like teeing up on dirt. They'll probably be fine in a month but it just added to the annoyance. Traps and Greens were just fine. They hold shots as they should and ran at medium pace (certain times of year they can be lightning here but not today).

I won't quit after one bad experience because for a thinking golfer it's a great place but I won't forget the agonizingly slow play and off-brand conditions I found today.

My buddy got an online deal for a twosome for $109 and we paid for the third at full rate ($100) and split the cost. 1:16pm Sunday 10/11/15. Went out right on time and in the car driving home at 5pm.

Tee boxes were good, level and pleasant. Fairways were super lush and everything all the way up to the greens was Grade A. Staff was very friendly and we saw the drink cart 3-4 times (super important in 100 degree heat). Also thought the putting green was fantastic and range was super serviceable. Tom the starter is a great guy.

BUT...and a big but...maybe it was just the afternoon on a Sunday...but the amount of ball damage on the greens was pretty absurd for such a nice place. I had to fix old ball marks in my line on nearly every green (I fixed 3-4 others each time too). I know from watching the wedges I hit react on the greens that grass has a tendency to pop out of it's pitch mark instead of plugging, making it harder to fix...but not impossible. The unmarked putts on the greens rolled very true but they were too far and few between for my taste. I'll be back because it's a fun place but maybe play a dawn patrol time to avoid that nonsense.

Hansen Dam as a twosome (joined by another twosome) 9:15am 10/10/15. $40+cart ($12). POP 4:45.

Greens have healed just fine from the recent punching. Tee boxes here are all pretty darn level and the fairways are fine. Traps are pretty consistent for a muni. Two issues. 1) the amount of standing water in the fairways in places (and on a couple tees) was plain strange. I'm sure they're using recycled water, but the greens staff should really watch out for that kind of waste. Even after noon when the watering had clearly stopped 4-5 hours ago it was present. 2) The greens are so spongy. With the kikuyu surrounding the greens and no real fringes you basically can't run balls onto the greens or play running wedges. Best way around here is to play your yardage to the hole and carry it all the way there. Hansen is a good (albeit less inspired) alternative to Wilson and Harding on a Saturday since it'll take an hour less.

Played just after the rain ended today which meant a 2:45 18 for my buddy and I. Didn't see another golfer until the 13th tee (not coincidentally when my game went south). Greens are in phenomenal shape in advance of the Burbank City Amateur in a couple of weeks. Fairways played pretty well too aside from the mud balls from the rain. I was very impressed at the newly leveled tees on #'s 6, 9, 11 and the reclaimed back tee on 13 (that extra 15 yards changes the hole for sure). Found one trap and they're always pretty good here, today was no exception. Still some light work around the course (#7 springs to mind). Overall, it's a good time to play it. They usually punch right after the City Am.

Drove down from Burbank to play here this morning because nowhere else had a tee time earlier than 7:30 and I needed to get back around noon. So I saw a 7:08am time and grabbed it. Pretty big mistake from a time standpoint. We didn't see off until 7:40! How do you get half an hour behind that early?! Was stunned. Then after a five hour round, I wasn't back in Burbank until 1.

We played River/Pine and the conditions on the River were just fine. Greens had been punched maybe a month ago but no real impact on putting. The Pine had clearly been punched less than two weeks ago and we had to implement the two putt rule. Other than that, conditions were fine. No serious tee damage and lies in the fairways were fine. Rough was patchy. Traps were actually pretty good with enough sand.

Overall I had a decent time and scored well but the time thing was bananas. I play before 8 on the weekends because I hate five hour rounds. Between the lateness and five hours, I'll probably be staying away from here.

Played CMCC Los Lagos for the first time on Saturday. It's quite a drive from Burbank but an OC buddy wanted to play it. Paid $52 walking and it's a very easy walk even though it plays fairly long. I have to say that I really liked the layout. No really beat up tees and aside from too many unrepaired ball marks on the greens (I fixed a lot) I was pretty darn impressed with the course conditions. Pace of play was an issue, which I was prepared for from prior reviews. About 5:15 with a 10:30am tee time. Two group wait on every par 3. Probably waited 25 minutes on the 7th hole (long par 3). Tough wait to hit a long iron. I don't think it gets too much play. I just think the layout is tricky to keep pace of play up. For example, the 4th hole is a 180 year par 3 coming on the heels of a short par 4. Then there is another short par 4 before a reachable par 5 and then a long par 3. That type of sequencing is always going to lead to speed issues. I bet the waits happen in the same places after 8am every weekday too. That said, I'd go back. The layout was a nice mix of holes and when you're walking, POP is less of an issue because you get a few breathers. Only real drawback was almost chipping in for eagle on #6 and then missing an 18 inch birdie putt coming back but that's my own d%mn ed fault. HA.

Tee time: 9am Saturday 2/1/14
POP: 4:40
Fees: 55 incl cart (I think - had to split cart and pay cash to playing partner)

Well, I never thought I'd say this, but I had a good time playing Griffith Park on a Saturday. First, get this, they were running early! We teed off 5 mins before scheduled tee time. Second, we finished in under 5 hours. If I play Griffith it's usually Harding because it's almost always faster but my buddy had a later afternoon commitment so we took Wilson as a twosome at 9am. Got paired with a married couple that wasn't very good but picked up when they were hacking around a hole (I have no problem playing with bad players as long as they know they're bad and pick up when necessary).

The greens were quite nice for Griffith. Ran fast and true most of the day. 1-2 club wind out there but we had a great time. Fairways were pretty consistent for this time of year and had no major issue with tee boxes. Rough was patchy and usually resulted in a good lie.

But here's the headline of the day. A guy playing behind us told us, on the traditional 3 group backup on the second tee, that city course play is down. He said you can now play GP and Rancho on the weekends in 5 hours or less. That was huge news to me. I know golf is struggling a bit but I fully plan on trying to play Rancho (tied with Santa Anita for my favorite muni layout) sometime in the very near future. I almost never go near those places on the weekend because of the stupidly long rounds. Didn't see a marshall all day (good since they never enforce anything at city munis) but it seems the traditional waving on Par 3's has gone the way of the dodo. Thank god because it's ALWAYS slowed down play and now instead of constantly slow it's accordion-like (which is much more pleasant to play).

So, for the first and maybe last time ever, I played Wilson in under five hours and couldn't have enjoyed it more unless I actually played good!