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.

Played here yesterday (May 26) at 7:40am. The last time we played here was about 7-8 weeks ago, just before they aerated the greens, and I was very impressed with the layout and conditions of the course. Yesterday though, we could tell the greens still need more time after the recent maintenance. The greens were very bumpy and the surfaces were dimpled like a golf ball, so putts would not hold their line and would immediately start to hop up and down once they left the putter face. Many putts would abruptly change direction when losing speed as they were approaching the center of the cup. This was true on a majority of the greens except for a few. It was interesting because the speed of the greens wasn't necessarily slow either, so you knew you needed to hit putts hard to hold the line but there was a lot of risk in blowing the putt way past the hole if you missed -- an interesting wrinkle from a strategy standpoint I guess. I'm not an expert on greenskeeping, but given how green the greens actually were, it would seem like they just need to "flatten" the bumps and it will be all good. All other areas of the course were great (the rough is VERY lush and penal, so beware), and the staff here is so friendly and welcoming that it was a pleasure to be out on a beautiful SoCal morning playing golf. I'll probably give it a couple more weeks and give this course another try.

Played Penmar on Monday 5/16 with a buddy of mine from out of town. Just looking to enjoy some no-stress golf to start off the week. Originally had a tee time as two-some at 6:30, and when we showed up to the course, it was completely empty. We checked in with the starter, and he let us go right to the tee and play as two, which was nice since my buddy doesn't play often and didn't mind the "privacy". The course is in decent shape, with the highlight being the greens. Pretty firm greens that rolled very nicely (even fast? for Penmar mind you). The tendency at Penmar is to want to read too much into putts, so mostly just want to keep em straight and they will tend to go in. I found the fairways just slightly disappointing, as I remember times when the fairways here were perfectly green and lush, but yesterday there were a lot of brown patches out there. That being said, the fairway lies are pretty much perfect so not much to complain about for hitting golf shots. But just aesthetically, it's been better. The tee boxes were very chewed up, but that never really bothers me. We finished in about 1hr 40min, and we were taking our time. Overall, Penmar is almost always a great place to play and get some practice in. My buddy was impressed, and said we'd come back when he's in town again. Probably do an afternoon round so we can grab a few beers and food at the pub, which I've had before and recommend highly.

Played Hansen on Sunday 5/1, because I love this course and wanted to see how the greens are healing after aeration about 25 days ago. Unfortunately the greens are not that great right now. It's playable, but not anywhere near as good as they usually are. The holes from punching are still somewhat visible but getting better, but the sand is still quite prevalent at the surface and the grass itself is somewhat long and makes for some very slow putts. With the grass on the greens being as long as they are, the grain of the grass plays a significant factor which is not normal for Hansen. There were also a couple of holes (#9 and #12) where the front part of the green was soaked by the sprinklers and had a large section with standing water (6:10 AM tee time mind you, so perhaps that was evaporated by later in the morning). Oh and the blue tee boxes were very chewed up, but that doesn't really bother me that much.

On the bright side, the fairways were in great condition overall, so was nice to hit approach shots from good lies. The greens being as soft and sandy as they were, they are very receptive to approaches -- just tough to make birdies with the greens in this shape unless you're right on top of the hole.

Pace was decent (sub 4 hours) but could have been better if the first group wasn't so slow. They picked up the pace after about 7 holes. No one behind us all day. Beautiful weather didn't hurt either.

Again for those who don't mind, it's still playable right now. But for those who are pickier, I would wait a couple more weeks.

Played Lakewood for the first time ever yesterday (4/27). Teed off at 8:10 into some breezy and overcast conditions that gave way to some sun by mid-morning. I enjoyed the layout of the course, with the mix of holes and combination of tough par-3s, mixture of par-4s and birdie-able par-5s. Bunker placement both off the tees and around the greens really makes you think about your shots which I liked. The pace started off very slow with a group two spots ahead of us really slowing everyone down. I believe the group in front of us called the marshall, and we saw the marshall speed over to the problem group and speak to them by the time we finished #3. From then on, the pace was amazing and honestly our group was falling behind. But awesome to see the marshall deal with the problem so swiftly. We finished in 4h:15m, and it could have been a lot faster if not for a slow player in our group.

I would say the course conditions right at the moment are a combo of good and just-ok. The fairways are decently lush for the most part, the rough had some very wet and very dried out spots but mostly grass, and the tee boxes were good.

Most of the detail in this review will be about the greens which are playable right now, but I wished I had some hints before the round. They had punched their greens about 3 weeks prior (23-24 days), so I was most curious how they would look/play. The greens are just ok at the moment, and probably will get better in the next couple weeks. They were very soft and receptive to approach shots, but the layer of grass itself was somewhat thin and "loose" in the sort of way that if you dragged your feet a bit you'd definitely risk dragging up the turf. There were also very narrow vertical lines on nearly all the greens that are visible up close, which made you worry a bit about how they would affect the line of putts. The greens were quite bumpy and if putts were hit with too little pace, they would bobble left and right a decent amount. Chip shots hit with spin will just die with no release when they hit the green too, so beware of that and I recommend chipping with PW or even 9-iron if you're close to the putting surface to get the ball rolling out to the hole.

I was in 2 bunkers all day: the front left bunker on #3 had nice fluffy damp sand, and the front left bunker on #8 was not-so-great damp compacted sand. So probably kinda hit and miss with bunkers, but I was only in 2 of them so take it fwiw.

Overall, I'd like to come back and play Lakewood again, and if you keep in mind how the greens are playing right now, I'd recommend it to others.

Played the #2 course this morning at 6:10. My first time since aeration a few weeks back, and also since they re-opened the green for hole #12 (par 3). The course is in the best shape I've ever seen it. Fairways are lush, and the greens are pretty close to perfect. Greens were holding most shots, were very smooth and putts were holding their lines very accurately. Bunkers had adequate sand, and tee boxes were just fine. The new green on #12 definitely looks a little different from all the other greens, was a little slower, but it seems like there are fewer tiers on the green than there used to be, which made two-putting a lot easier than before. It looks like they shortened the green a bit from the back side in order to get rid of that back tier, but those who play this course more regularly would know better. The rough was quite long and penal, as it probably should be. Anyways, highly recommend playing the Nay course right now.

First time playing Chester Washington this morning (Wed 8:04 start), and can't believe I waited 20 years to play it! Definitely will put this course in the rotation. The course is incredibly lush and green at the moment, and I really enjoyed the layout of the holes and the feeling of history around the course. Check-in with the starter was smooth and friendly. Hit a warm-up bucket before the round, and I like the range and the feeling of confidence you get from hitting to a slight downhill field. With how lush the course was, I would say that the grass was pretty long across the board -- especially the rough. Tee boxes were in great condition with slightly longer grass than my preference but still great. Fairway grass was pretty much perfect and great lies could be expected whenever hitting the fairway. The rough was CRAZY deep at times, and if you don't pay attention to wayward drives, you will spend a long time looking for your ball and will be lucky to find it. I lost a ball on 17 after my approach shot went short and left -- thought I had tracked it all the way to where it stopped in the rough, but once I got there, I spent 7-10 minutes searching with my group and just could not find it. The greens were interesting -- they look bumpy and spongy to the eye, but they roll pretty true. A touch on the slow side. I had an amazing 26 putts this round, so I guess they can't be all that bad! I give the greens a 7/10, but they are going to punch in a few days so take that fwiw. The pace wasn't great for a mid-week morning round -- about 4.5 hours. We were stuck behind some slow groups, but honestly I think the long rough was slowing everyone down because we could see groups just wandering around searching for balls and eventually giving up. So cutting the rough might be a good way to speed up the pace. :-) Still enjoyed the round and the conditions at this LA classic muni.

I played the back-nine on Brookside #1 this morning, so this review is specific to the back. A heads up that as I was checking in, the guy at the pro shop was mentioning to another customer that they are going to punch/sand the greens on Tuesday/Wednesday in 2 weeks so that would be 3/29-3/30. I didn't catch specifically whether he was talking about course #1, but since I believe they punched #2 a couple weeks back, I have to assume he meant #1.

Today, the course was in really great shape. The fairways are very green and lush unlike most public courses right now in SoCal. The greens were pretty much immaculate aside from the usual ball marks, etc. and they are running with really good speed and holding lines super well. Rough was fairly long, lush and penal. Not much to complain about with the tee boxes nor the bunkers. The back-nine took maybe 1 hour and 50 minutes, and we teed off as the second group at 6:50.

Played San Dimas last Saturday March 5. Teed off at 5:45 with barely any daylight. Course is in decent shape. The star of the show are the greens which are like a very smooth carpet, hardly any blemishes on most holes. On my feet, the greens felt slightly spongy which fooled me into thinking they were slower than they are. The greens are actually quite fast, and on some spots you think the ball is going to come to a stop, but the ball just slowly leaks away several more feet. But once you get used to it, the line and speed are very true. The fairways I found to be a little patchy and brown in certain spots. The layout is a little funky and being on the side of a hill gives you a number of tee shots where you aim for one side of the fairway and hope it won't roll off the other side of the fairway. Pace of play was very good (about 3:50), and two of us were walking. The pro shop is under construction so check-in happens in a portable building. Overall I recommend it if you don't mind the cost which is just slightly high imo.

Played Los Verdes on Wed March 9 at 10:20. Beautiful day for golf on such an amazing piece of land. Hard to believe these views are available on a muni, but it is SoCal. Course conditions were very good for the most part. Seems that they sanded the greens a bit, but it really did not affect the line and most putts were very fast, leading to many 3-putts in our group. No punching fwiw. Fairways were mostly green and mostly lush. Fairly windy most of the day so that's another factor that makes the course challenging. Pace of play was very good, very rarely saw the group in front or behind, and finished just over 4 hours which isn't bad for mid-morning on a busy course. If you can find a tee time, I will almost always recommend Los Verdes and right now when the weather is good, it's a must-play.

Played Balboa on Sat 2/26. Tee time was 6:20, but it was so cold they actually pushed the first tee time (6:10) back by 10 minutes as a quasi frost delay. The loudspeaker said to go ahead and tee off a couple minutes before 6:30, so no big deal at all. The pace was incredible the whole way through, which is unusual given that I'd expect to run into back-niners somewhere around hole 13 or so. Basically no one in front of us the whole round, and we only saw the group behind us a couple of times. Other than the frost on the ground for the first 7-8 holes, conditions were good for a round at this time of year. Greens were in great condition -- again the frost was challenging for judging speed but rolled great for line, and then by the latter half of the round were pretty much as good as you can get for a city muni. Fairways had decent coverage, slightly to mostly brown but spongy and very playable. Bunkers had good sand. They are working on some of the tee boxes, so a couple holes had tees pushed up a bit. Overall I like this course to work on the game and build up confidence -- not overly challenging, but not just a driving range. A number of holes favor a cut teeshot which is something I've been working on. A word to the wise on 18: if it's a blue pin, be advised there's quite a fall off on the back right part of the green which basically makes for a green that slopes both back to front but also left to right. I always forget about that part because it's not very visible from the approach. Better to aim for the left half of the green on the approach and let the ball gently release to the center. If the pin is front or middle, then the hole is much easier -- just be short of the pin and it's an easy birdie try.

Played this morning (Thurs) at 8:20 for the first time here in about 6 years. I forgot how nice the clubhouse is -- the overall feeling you get when you walk up to the pro shop is like a resort course, not a muni. Range mats are in very good shape so it's nice to warm up before the round and work up some confidence. Very friendly and fast check-in. Conditions overall were pretty good -- the greens were the highlight, very smooth and rolling nicely, maybe slightly on the slow side. The fairways are very firm, mostly brownish or pale green, some bare spots but most lies were decent enough. Having not played here for such a long time, I forgot the layout of the holes, and I was struck by how challenging the sight-lines are for many shots. Particularly the tee shots always felt tight, and the humps in the fairways obstruct your view of the landing areas that would be prime. So a lot of times you're hitting and hoping you end up ok. On #9, we really didn't realize there was water in play from the tee shot, which might have been a good thing in the end. Overall I'd recommend the course.