My playing time and driving distances have been limited for the past two months dealing with medical issues so Harding got the call this past weekend for my now weekly round at best. It's my only time... Continue »

My playing time and driving distances have been limited for the past two months dealing with medical issues so Harding got the call this past weekend for my now weekly round at best. It's my only time really out of the house right now and I'm definitely only riding but it's been a blessing to at least still be able to play some terrible golf until I'm back to 100%. Harding is in pretty good shape right now overall as you're going to find decent to good fairways throughout the course, and even a few lush areas, but also some thin. You're basically going to get a little bit of it all right now from tee to green. Rough is totally manageable and the tee boxes are level but not always well kept. Bunkers are a bit on the grainy side but playable. Greens were rolling pretty decently as well with not too many ball marks or other deficiencies, but there were some greens that showed evidence of some recent punching, depending on which side of the green you landed on. But for the most part they ran true at medium to medium-fast speeds and held shots well enough. POP was great for the first nine and then we caught up to the group in front of us who slowed things down quite a bit, but nothing to get too excited about. We were a twosome and were joined by another twosome, playing from the blue tees. No cart service around is always a bummer but the good part on Harding is that you reach one of the best snack shops around SoCal at the 8th hole junction. On a hot day that makes a major difference! All in all good times at Harding despite my poor play that seems to be the norm right now, but I'm going to get back at it and improving again soon enough!

I didn't have a tee time but got the green light from the missus to play an early round on Father's Day June 19. Showed up at the course at 5:25a, checked in with the starter to put my name on the li... Continue »

I didn't have a tee time but got the green light from the missus to play an early round on Father's Day June 19. Showed up at the course at 5:25a, checked in with the starter to put my name on the list, and it turned out that there was an opening at 5:40 on Harding, so I was happy. Good thing that spot was there, because there was a big tournament rolling through at around 6:30 and otherwise I think I would have been out of luck. The conditions on Harding are really good right now. Fairways and greens are quite lush, and the greens especially are rolling really nicely with medium speed. As the day went on and the sun started shining, the greens got a little faster and more tricky. The rough was quite long and penal in spots, which is a little unusual for Harding, but it added some challenge to the course. The coffee shop is doing a soft opening right now, so I was glad to stop in post-round for a little breakfast and coffee. Great service there and the food was great too. Definitely recommend heading out there.

Got a late but great 9:50am tee time on Memorial Day at Harding and expected it to be a very long day out there, but my buddy and I actually moved pretty well all afternoon and finished the round in a... Continue »

Got a late but great 9:50am tee time on Memorial Day at Harding and expected it to be a very long day out there, but my buddy and I actually moved pretty well all afternoon and finished the round in about four hours and 20 minutes.

We both walked the course and played from the blue tees, paired up with another twosome of youngsters. We started on time and off we went.

I was actually surprised to still see signs of aeration on a few of the greens, but for the most part they rolled well, medium-fast speeds and held shots with no problem. The fairways were in good shape but with a few thin areas and some water-logged sections that were problematic. Bunkers were a mixed bag but nothing that Kapalua would be jealous about. Some of the rough was actually quite thick and did require some competent club selection, while the tee boxes were mostly okay but some were quite beat up.

Always a fun time at Harding and today was no exception despite a poor round on the scorecard. The layout is pretty direct without too many bells and whistles, but some of the greens are definitely on the smaller side and there are a few with some serious slope to them as the course's best defense. But again, it's certainly not all of them so you're going to get plenty of good scoring chances out there.

It was a warm but windy afternoon so it made for some interesting calls out of the bag, most of which were quite off, but that was my fault, not the course's. For a $42 walking fee, it's more than worth it and even got a nice POP out of it on a major holiday. That's good, clean livin'.

Got a morning time on Mothers' Day and got paired up with a brother twosome and another single. Hadn't been to Griffith Park since pandemic so was startled by check-in system, which did go very smoot... Continue »

Got a morning time on Mothers' Day and got paired up with a brother twosome and another single. Hadn't been to Griffith Park since pandemic so was startled by check-in system, which did go very smooth.
Walked the blacks and was pleased by the conditions. Greens were a bit slow and putts were still be effected by recent aeration. Was in a couple of bunkers and there was a 50-50 chance on the quality of sand. There were few rakes to be found and that contributed to plenty of footprints left. Fairways, tee boxes and rough had decent coverage, but greenside rough/fringe were in well above average for coverage.

POP was great. Finished around 3hr 45min and didn't wait at all after hole 6 par 3. The group trailing us was at least a hole behind by the time we got to hole 6. Overall a great day with cool weather!

Played Harding this morning with a good friend. Right now, for a City course, it’s in terrific shape. They punched the greens a couple of weeks ago and they are running medium fast and true. Most b... Continue »

Played Harding this morning with a good friend. Right now, for a City course, it’s in terrific shape. They punched the greens a couple of weeks ago and they are running medium fast and true. Most bunkers in decent shape and that goes for the tee boxes. The fairways and rough were as good as I’ve seen in awhile. Played in under four hours. I believe they are punching Wilson’s greens nest week, so give Harding a try. Great morning.

Able to complete my goal of playing both the Griffith Park courses back to back. I can remember walking 36 as a younger person and it was never an issue, but Father Time has made doing this something ... Continue »

Able to complete my goal of playing both the Griffith Park courses back to back. I can remember walking 36 as a younger person and it was never an issue, but Father Time has made doing this something of a challenge. I must admit I was rather tired by the time I finished. I think it was more the waiting around on the second 18 than the actual walking/playing.

I thought Harding's greens were much faster than Wilson's and generally had better coverage in the fairways. Overall the course was in much better condition than the last time I played here. Kudos to the maintenance staff, because I know they get a lot of play on these two course and unlike many of private clubs which close on Mondays for maintenance, they never close here, yet are able to keep conditions pretty good. While I prefer Wilson, Harding is a bit more "friendly" for me to play. While a LONG day, it was totally fun being able to play old style golf again, carrying my bag, walking in this park like setting under great weather conditions. Worth the drive, the effort and the cost!

Played Harding on Sat 3/12 in a Tourney. Tee time 9*10. POP was ok for a sat mid-morning at 4*30.

Some Tee boxes were a bit uneven & beat up, but not terrible.
Fairways winter thin, but consisten... Continue »

Played Harding on Sat 3/12 in a Tourney. Tee time 9*10. POP was ok for a sat mid-morning at 4*30.

Some Tee boxes were a bit uneven & beat up, but not terrible.
Fairways winter thin, but consistent cover, lot's of runout.
Bunkers decent.
The Greens, WOW Fast! Balls rolled nicely, but don't be above the hole. Great shape. One exception was the 5th hole, a Par 3. Hole placement was on a slant & the ball couldn't stop near it. There were more 4 putts than anything else, some folks had to pick up after numerous putts up & 20' roll back off the green.
Collar areas are good. The rough was cut low, not penal unless you reached a mishmash of bunchy grass or weeds. Still, not bad.
Overall, the course is in really nice condition. I recommend if your able to get a Tee Time. (Aeration in about a month.)

Rode the Blues (6423/70.1/118) with Brad, Frank and Jimmy mid day. 4H, 45M POP, the 4some in front of us was SLOW!!! But excellent weather, around 90, calm and clear plus being in a very fun group to ... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6423/70.1/118) with Brad, Frank and Jimmy mid day. 4H, 45M POP, the 4some in front of us was SLOW!!! But excellent weather, around 90, calm and clear plus being in a very fun group to play with made the pace seem better than it was. First time I had played here in about 40 years, remembered almost nothing about the course. Classic old school tree lined layout. Fun course to play. Tees were pretty beat up, lots of divots and bare ground. Not close to well maintained. Fairways semi lush and generally decent to play from. Rough mowed down low and inconsistent. Could have lush, thin and hardpan areas with a few feet of each other. Was glad I did not find a sand trap. They looked rough, not well maintained. Greens very nice. Medium fast and receptive to holding irons and pitches. Numerous holes you had to be very aware not to get above the hole. Carts had GPS but no divot mix bottles. Two tier driving range that was adequate. Well stocked pro shop with no frills customer service. No on course services except a snack stand at the turn. Recommended.

Played here yesterday, 8:40 tee time. Good weather and the course is playing nicely. It seemed like the tee sheets were open because there was ample parking and I did not see a lot of people milling a... Continue »

Played here yesterday, 8:40 tee time. Good weather and the course is playing nicely. It seemed like the tee sheets were open because there was ample parking and I did not see a lot of people milling about: range, practice putting green, food area all wide open. Pace of play was right around 4 hours with no waiting. Check in was quick. The carts have gps and bluetooth if that's your thing.

Fairways and rough: A nice mix of kikuyu and Bermuda grass, mostly kikuyu though, and it was all mowed nicely. Rarely was there a bad lie, except maybe in the occasional fairway divot as there was no sand bottles on the carts.

Tees: We played the white tees, but one in our group played the blues. All seemed level and had decent coverage of grass. Hole 13 tees were under some GUR/topdressing with the blues moved back and the whites moved forward.

Bunkers: I was in one and it was basically a thin layer of nice, light colored sand over hard pan. They all looked good, though.

Greens: Medium fast and soft. No bad areas observed. It looked like the hole locations had not been moved because they were mostly shaggy around the edges; budget cutbacks? IDK. I fixed a few ball marks here and there as I encountered them. Most were fresh and easy to fix.

Overall experience is good and the area is classic LA muni golf. The grounds crew must be working hard because all of the large trees on the course could create a lot of litter, but none was seen. Good work there. Other than that I had no real expectations of exceptional customer service; just municipal employees doing their job and little else. There is some covered outdoor seating near the food truck/snack bar. I did not order anything, but it smelled good. Lots of beer selections as well as the typical soft drinks and waters.