From 4/29/24

The Oaks at Valencia is a well-designed golf course that offers a variety of golf holes that are fun, interesting, and challenging. The course is built onto a scenic mountainside that features views of localized mountains and housing. This gorgeous course features large mature trees, strategic bunkering throughout, large waste areas, and several elevation changes. Be ready to hit up and down hills when playing here!


The Oaks places premium on accuracy off the tee as you are hitting into narrow to mid-sized fairways, and into small to medium greens from the fairway or on par 3s. The course defends itself with specified landing areas off the tee, well positioned bunkers, medium length rough, and fast sloped greens. There were a few doglegs and some blind shots with significant elevation changes. This course always requires the execution of quality golf shots, as being offline here introduces difficulty to achieve recovery, as there are hazards or OB on every hole. The course played slightly longer than its yardage, and fairways provided limited to medium roll out on drives and approaches with wind speeds between 10 mph to 20 mph on this day.


The course is very well maintained and in overall very good condition. The course layout is rated a 4.1 out of 5, conditions are rated a 4.4 out of 5.

I note that 16 of 18 holes are rated 4.4 or better for layout, however, the two par 5s on the back nine are a bit interesting in a not so good way due to odd elevation changes, blind shot requirements to odd landing areas that include unconventional green locations. This would be OK for one par 5, but not for both par 5s on the back nine. These two holes are the primary reason the layout rating is down to a 4.1. Thank goodness the remainder of the course is pretty awesome!


I note the following:

Tee Boxes: Level and green, no damage. Condition very good.

Fairways: Green, lush, and defined from rough. Grabby with limited rollout. Condition very good.

Greens: Green, medium-fast in speed, on the medium to firm side, and tricky to read at times. Speed about a 11. Condition very good.

Sand: Maintained with heavy consistency. Condition above average.

Rough: Maintained and defined, about 3 – 5 inches. Condition very good.

Waste Areas: Maintained with overgrown nature that offered little to no recovery potential. Condition very good.

Driving Range: Incredible driving range! You are hitting off an artificial turf surface down into a valley with an incredible mountain backdrop. This range was as good as it gets for the location and ran out at over 320 yards. I noted classic yellow range balls that flew well and were in very good condition. Love the Driving Range experience here!

Practice Area: Chipping area present was very nice, and the large putting green was in great shape and perfectly set. Conditions excellent on both. Speed of the practice putting green was consistent with the course's greens.

POP: 4.75 hours – very limited wait was encountered. We paced ourselves accordingly.

Other: Noted a nice golf shop, high grade.


This is a great golf course without a doubt, that requires a solid golf game to score. I loved this track and hope to be able to play it again in the future. Fully Endorsed!

Thank you Johnny and GreensKeeper.org, Golf Moose, and Vivid Golf for this Awesome Outing!

Ok so first time playing here so I don’t have a baseline to see if this is better than normal, but it’s in great shape except for one thing. 90% of the bunkers are terrible. The ones that aren’t small lakes look like they’ve never seen a rake. POP was terrible in my opinion. Played on a Monday and waited on every shot. 5 hours is way too long for this course. Never saw a Marshall the whole day.

Ok now for the good stuff,
Tee boxes pretty level, but grass was thin at times.

Fairways were in great shape and lush. Didn’t see any drown spots or severe divot damage some spots were a little soft.

Greens looked and rolled great with very few divot damage and they rolled very fast (which I prefer). Hole 13 though needs something done, if the pin is left of center and you are above the hole it will not stay on the green. Just a bit unfair.

Rough was good, they were mowing it while we were playing, so I can image it’s deeper on the weekends but was still playable.

Overall nice track with elevation changes and if the wind picks up it can get tricky. If you’re a long hitter some hole will play a little short but putting in play is a must as the oaks trees and doglegs place a premium on putting the ball on the proper side of the fairway. All in all I’ll be back and would recommend this course for golfers of most skill levels.

Weekend round with Mattias at Rec Park and found the course to be in pretty good shape overall. The weather was not as nice as hoped for but luckily the course conditions were good enough to overcome that.

We had a 1:20pm tee time and played from the blue tees. Ordered online with carts late but we both walked and were happy with the starter who gave us the walking rate and didn't lock us in to the cart rate - well done. Driving range is pretty odd but functional. Very old mats and balls.

Fairways were in good shape with the occasional thin areas out and about. The rough was not thick enough to be penal but there are a few areas to get in trouble here. Bunkers were pretty thin and didn't look too great, while the tee boxes were mostly okay - flat and level. Greens were running very inconsistently from hole to hole but in good shape in terms of coverage. There are few tricky greens here but most are pretty manageable. Lines and shots held pretty well but again, inconsistent speeds made them more difficult than they should be.

We had cart service come around a few times which was great, but the POP started off amazing as we never waited on a single hole until the par 4 6th where everything came to a grinding halt and we were two groups behind. This lasted throughout much of the rest of the round which was disappointing after such a nice start. Ultimately we played in just under five hours.

Rec Park is certainly the most 'Muni' of all the Long Beach courses but it's still fun on its day and I would give it a recommendation right now.

Played today @8am, I was happy to hear that it had recently re-opened so was wanting to get out before the crowds started booking. Nice POP with no just had to wait on tee for 5 mins for the threesome to clear but after that was smooth sailing. As others have said, price is a little steep for a 9 hole but I’d play again just not rush to go back. They kept 8 original holes from the course and I had to figure out which hole was which for yardage since no golf app has the new layout

Based on an old layout where the front 9 (first tee) was along the hotel. From there I was able to track it. So for those that are wanting to play and still waiting for apps to be updated. Here’s the layout and you can use the yardage from “The Grint” app.

New Old
#1 #17
#2 #18
#3 #1
#4 #15
#5 #14
#6 #2
#7 #13
#8 #12
#9(new hole not existent in old course)cut trees down and uses 11th hole green. It’s a par 3 so go based on yardage sign.

Overall not bad but like I said if I wanted to play a quick round on a good layout I’d come back but not rushing.

First review now that TopGolf took over. Too far away for me to usually play, but I had to take my daughter to a book convention in Santa Monica, so I had a few hours and tried out the new Lakes at El Segundo, adjacent to the new TopGolf. TopGolf owns it, and the entire complex has been redone to match TopGolf.

I will say, it far exceeded my expectations. It is a small Par 3 course with 10 holes. The longest hole plays 150, and most are in the 80-110 range.

I expected that due to the location, the course would get tons of play, and also lots of beginners. True and true. It was packed, and probably half of the players I saw had not likely been to a course more than a couple of times.

What I didn't expect was a course in great condition. Greens were great. Rolled very smooth, a hair on the slow side. And shockingly, they were not covered in ballmarks. Even though all these 100 yard holes probably get pounded daily, I would only find 3 or 4 marks to fix on each green.

Not much to say about fairways and rough for a Par 3 course, but everything else was fine. Bunkers looked nice, but I didn't get in any.

Although we were 20 minutes late starting, the marshall quickly saw a slow group on #2 and talked them into playing a scramble to move it along. And that worked, things moved great after that, and we were done in 1:20.

TopGolf itself looks fun - not really my thing though. TLAES though is a fun way to practice your wedge game and putting. Really nice putting green and chipping area as well.

I played 5/3 with a 2:30 start, the day after 24hourgolf so I'm just going to add a couple of comments to his review. Pretty much in agreement with his take, the only exception being the greens. A day can make a difference and since he played AM and I played PM, I think the better part of two days did. I didn't find the greens soft. And while they can get quicker here, they were running at what I consider a nice reasonably quick pace. I assume the pace will be increasing with time. Bottom line, the course is in nice shape right now.

A side note on service: it's consistently good here — pleasant and well organized. When I was paying up with Julius, I asked for a hand cart and he threw it in at no cost. Seems like a small thing but I appreciated the unexpected gesture and felt appreciated as a customer.

Played today May 3 for the courses' grand reopening. Kinda expensive to play, but the conditions are EXCELLENT right now. The tee boxes are nice and flat with nice grass, fairways and 2nd cut are perfect, bunkers have nice soft sand and the greens rolled slow, but true. PAR 35, Blues 3100, Whites 2900 and Reds 2600 yards. Our 4some teed off at 2:30 and finished at 4:15.

Opened today. 9-hole course and 6-hole par 3. The par 3 will be lighted at night. The 9 holes are 8 original holes from below the hotel and a new finishing par 3 9-hole. Blue 3100 white 2900 red 2600. The par 3 is 460 yards and they made the old #10 an island green on the par 3. The 9 holes are in nice shape from tee box to green. You can check the website for prices which IMO are too high as they don't include a cart fee. For an early AM 9 before work walking or a twilight 9 after work walking seems the best value. You can buy a Sr card for $50 which gives 20% off which seems like a lot to me. Building new clubhouse across the street from Top Golf. Temporary building there at present. No driving range or putting green and old clubhouse is not in use. It's definitely a nice 9-hole course but IMO overpriced. If you want to play another 9 to make 18 you have to pay a reduced rate for that. To crowded and busy to take pictures but check the website for the gallery of pictures. Two former Alhambra employees Jonathan is the GM Luke is the assistant. Good customer service. BTW they charge a 3/% for CC charges. And last but not least real sand in the bunkers finally.

Played this AM. Nice 3 H POP. Greens are healed from aerating and have had their first cut yesterday. Still soft and slow but other than that they look great and no doubt will get better the next days and weeks. Tee boxes clean/level. Traps have had some work but alas lazy players don't rake after they play. Fairways lush and provide good lies and decent rollout. Great customer service as always.

Played this morning. County courses are strickly enforcing that the time between 7 and 9 is not for Sr players. Before 7 and after 9 here its $23.75 to walk, $39.75 w cart with a Sr card and $60 w cart for general public play. Personally $60 for this public course is to much. IMO not much has changed at this place. The big change is old #9 over the water and up the hill is now #3 over water and a nicely designed par 3. Go through the tunnel and play 4-9 and then play the same back 9 as previous. 6803 B, 6407 Blue, 6059 W and 5618 R. The fairways are all new and at the moment are what I would call tight lies and plenty of roll out. Lots of new sand traps that have "heavy" sand at the moment and I found them not to my liking at present. Very little rough on the course and what is there is playable. Greens are all new, large and at present are somewhat slow but in really nice condition. Tee boxess all new and level. Our POP came in at right on 4 H. Good customer service in the shop and a very nice snack bar and lounge. Carts all new but w/o GPS. I am not sure I will go back as the traffic on the 60 is horrendous both ways and the noise from the freeway and the construction noise is a bit much for my taste. Two issues come to mind. With as many Sr players the time from opening to 7 AM is a short window to obtain a tee time. And I can't see anything but a 5 H or more POP after 9 after seeing how crowded it had become when we finished 9 and even after finishing at 11 AM. No doubt its a welcome addition to the golf fans in and around San Gabriel Valley but I think I will pass.

Walked the blues around 2pm 4/29/24 with my buddy Matt under perfect weather scoring conditions around 70 degrees with at most at times about a 10mph breeze. Pop was 2 hrs 30 minutes on the front. Two super senior groups only played 9 holes and we flew around walking the back nine in a hour 15 minutes for a 345 total pop. Had not been out here since early August. The course after the rains is simply amazing.

Super lush wildflowers blooming sometimes between head and waste high in the native areas which with the lakes full of water and the Fairways and rough lush and green makes this place so special.

Greens were firm on downhill putts and chips and very receptive to irons holding like darts. They rolled really well today. Did my share as we had time on the front to fix an extra 5-7 ballmarks a hole. Rating the greens a solid 8/10.

14 Fairway was being resodded and I'm sure will be nice like all other Fairways we encountered. Rated 8/10

Tees nice and level. Rated 8/10.

Rough lining the Fairways in great shape. 8.5/10

Big fringes here medium firmness, puttable and in nice shape.

Was in left Fairway bunker on 7 that was raked perfectly for a Fairway bunker. Didn't encounter any greenside bunkers but they looked to be in good to great shape.

Looking forward to many summer rounds out here when the valleys heat up and the conditions only get better at Olivas.

Highly recommended

Got a chance to play the Stadium course today with Billy and Mike before it closes for renovations on Tuesday. I forgot how challenging and fun this course really is, and my goal is to try and play here at least 10 times a year but I digress and on to the review.
We teed off as a threesome at 2:45 because Mike played earlier in the day as Billy and I didn’t and we played in 4:15 so not to bad for a Monday afternoon as the course was very busy.. As I haven’t been here in a while, there are multiple trackman stations if one wanted to use them and practice facility is expansive from chipping and putting to basically whatever you wanted to work on. At the 1st tee the sign says greens speed was 11 and after playing I believe it. For the most part course was in great shape seeing how they are closing it for some time, tee boxes all level, which is probably the most level thing on the course, fairways weren’t overly narrow and were decently wide but the trouble lies when you push the ball a touch here or there because it ends up in the drink even if you slightly miss your target. Bunkers are nice and compact easy to hit from, greens rolled very well, missed some by an inch but none the less excellent speed and consistency. We all played from the white tees and really had a great time and lots of fun. One thing I remember was they use to have GPS in the carts to tell yardages but not anymore it’s just a speaker for music to play, so that would be my only complaint. I would say a great time was had by all as we visited Ernie’s restaurant and if you are in the area it’s highly recommended