Wow! What a change a month makes! Woodley is in very good condition right now, the best I've ever seen this course.

Greens were beautiful. Green, well taken care of, few ball marks. Ran true, medium/fast, no bumps, no damages holes.

Fairways were actually fairways. First time in Woodley Lakes History! The same grass, actual grass coverage, rough/fairway distinction, green, lush. Unbelievable. Complete shocker.

Rough was actual rough. It could have been better, but beggers cant be choosers, right?

Tee Boxes were all level, lush. Some were soggy, I guess they watered a little extra since its been extra dry lately.

Sand was only negative. Unfortunately, I was in the sand more that David Fricken Hasslehoff yesterday, so I got to know them well. Different conditions in every trap. First trap, sand was wet and hard packed. Second trap was light and very fluffy. Club slid right under ball. Same inconsistancy throughout the course.

$22 to walk on weekdays. $28.50 weekends. Finnished in 4 hours. Great day to be on the course.

Play Woodley soon. The conditions wont last.

Played on Sunday 5/20 at 7:40 a.m. Course is in excellent condition. Kudos to the superintendint and maintenance crew!!

Greens are in fantastic shape. Best Muni greens in LA County. Rolled true, fast, minimal ball mark damage. It was a very damo morning, but the greens showed no signs of running slow or bumpy.

Fairways are in remarkably good shape. You would hardly notice that the course is located next to a DAM, and in a flood basin. A tad soggy in the morning, but hardly any bare areas, consistant coverage with consistant grass.

Rough was good. It could have been more challanging, but otherwise in good condition.

Traps played very true. Sand was consistant throughout the course. Drained very well.

Tee Boxes in great condition. Lush, level, even.

Truly an enjoyable round. I played well, shot 1 under my index, but I can't remember having a more enjoyable round. Fun layout, not too long, but not too short, lots of elevation changes, especially on the back 9. Staff is very friendly, from the starter, to the guy in the proshop, to the waitress and cook in the resteraunt, to the women running the snack shack.

Hansen gets overlooked because Rancho and the Griffifth park courses get more play, and its not in the greatest neighborhood. But the conditions were outstanding for a municipal course. Well worth the value at $28.50 Greens fee, and $5 for a "Bag Boy" hand cart. Very nice course to walk.

Course was in even better condition than last week. Greens ran very smooth. Rough was very lush and sand played well. Only downer is the fairways are really taking a beating from the dry conditions.

A word for DeBell Management: I have no problem with women golfers. I think it's great that everyone and anyone can get on a golf course on the weekend. But use some common sense please. 85% of women hit the ball shorter than men. Now, I'm all four walking four-somes of women at 9:00 on a Saturday, but please don't bunch them all up together. It causes such a back-up its unbelievable. Now the women in front of us were good. They hit it straight, were good putters, etc... but they just didn't hit it very far, and we waited on almost every shot.

The single that paired with us was the president of the mens club. He told us that the reason they were switching the nines was to speed up play. Said they tried it and it sped up play by 20-30 minutes a round. Reason being, 1 is a long par 4 straight up hill with small green that not many people can reach in 2, and than the 2nd is a short par 5 that is VERY reachable in 2. Causes a huge back up on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th tees. Aesthetically it works great. 18 (the former 9) is a great finishing hole, and will make it easier for folks to clear the green as the clubhouse is right there.

Played twi-light on 5/5/07. Got a great rate through click4teetimes. Course was in good shape. Greens were nice, but too many unfixed divots, tee-boxes could be better, but things are looking good as almost every hole has divot mix now. Fairways,traps, rough all good.

Now the bad. Started at 3:00. Would have finnished in no problem except for a couple of things. 1) Marshalls completely useless. The groups in front of us were hitting 2 balls a hole. I have no problem with hitting a provisional, or an occasional mulligan, but on the 10th hole, the guy hit a drive, walked to his cart, put his club away, got in...and than turned to the other guys and said "1 more!?!" They all told him to go hit another one. WTF!!! 2) The freaking cart died!! I literally had to push the cart up the 17th and 18th holes. 3) The freaking sprinklers came on, when it wasn't even close to dark. So there I am, pushing the cart through the sprinklers, my father steering, with guys hitting 2/3 balls a hole. Man, the staff really needs to get it together.

Played on Thursday 5/3/07 at 8:40 a.m.

Kudos to the greenskeeper at Encino. He's doing a very good job with what he had to work with and the course was in fantastic shape!

The Greens, having been punched 3 weeks to a month ago still have tiny holes, but the don't really affect the roll. Balls rolled very true. Only complaint was speed, you really had to mash an uphill putt. Greens on 16/17/18 could use a little work, but it's purely cosmetic.

Fairways are in very good shape. Atypical for a city course, the fairways have very nice grass coverage. Same problem as Woodley, with the flood basin and inconsistant soil, but Encino has taken care of the fairways nicely.

Rough was actually rough. It was fin to play a city course that penalized you for missing a fairway. Rough was deep in areas where it should have been, and light were it should have been. Greenside rough was tough, but not impossible, leaving you with some decisions regarding strategy.

Traps and Tee Boxes were the only downers. Traps were wet, it was very difficult to get a decent lie, a consistant lie out of the sand. Tee-Boxes had been punched, leaving some clumps of dirt, but the grass coverage was still very good, and it affected play barely, if at all.

Very nice bang for the buck here at Encino. Still a step below Rancho, and possibly the Griffifth Park Courses (I'll let you know when I play Harding on Thursday) but still in very good shape. Will give you an enjoyable, challenging, but not frustrating round for mid-high handicappers, and some good work for the low handicappers.

Customer service was top-notch, starter and cart concessionair were very nice, and the resteraunt serves a variety of good food. Bring your own water though, $2 for a bottle at the snack shack?!?! Whats with that?

The course should be in peak condition this time of year. Instead, It's in some of the worst shape I've seen it in. What happened?

Played Thursday 4/19 and Saturday 4/21. Hey it's my local course, Come On!

The fairways were in absolutely abysmal shape. Inconsistant coverage, different types of grass. Strange, because we got heavy rains Friday, and they drained VERY well. They weren't muddy; just complete garbage.

The Greens are taking for ever to recover. Maybe this is because the greens are so big? I don't know, but they were still sandy and bumpy, 3 weeks after aeration.

Rough is non-existant.

Tee boxes okay. Groups need to take care of them. Use the mix they give you!!!

Traps a little wet, but not muddy. OK after the rains.

Overall, I enjoy playing Woodley. It's a fun place to knock around the ball. It's long, with some challenges, some water, and some interesting holes. It's cheap, easy to get on, the staff is very friendly, nic practice area...only they put so little effort into it. I agree with my father (barkinesq). If they put half the effort into Woodley that they put into Rancho, Wilson, Harding, the Course would be in fantastic shape.

BTW: Really slow round on Thursday, Nice pace on Saturday...What?

played Sunday 4/15 with barkinesq and our usual 3rd.

Course was in good shape, especially considering the play it gets. The only LA city course were you can actually make a distinction between the fairway and the rough. The course isn't considerably long, but its a fun course. Every hole presents you with an interesting situation, be it an interesting lie, approach shot, lay-up, etc.

Fairways were a little thin, but very green and very few bare areas. With the rough grown out a little, you were really rewarded for hitting the fairway. Traps were in good shape. Greens had been aerated about a week, week and a half prior, and have recovered VERY nicely. Were still a little sandy and slow, but they weren't bumpy and they rolled true.

Fun course for the history and layout. Pace was fast, considering it was 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. $40.25 a person, with cart. One of the better deals in LA.

If they gave the other LA City courses have as much attention as they gave Rancho, there would be a plethora of golf courses in great conditions to play for cheap all around the greater LA area.

This is a really fun golf course. Bring every club in the bag. I think I teed off with my Driver, 5 Wood, Hybrid, 4 Iron, 5 Iron, and 6 Iron when I played there on 4/7, and that was just on par 4s and 5s.

Greens have recovered nicely from Aeration in mid-late March. Still a little shabby and a few bumps, but balls still rolled true for the most part. Fairways and rough in typical SoCal muni condition. Some nice ares, some bare areas, lots of roll. Traps were a little too fluffy (I'm talking about you #15!!!) but still played well.

The staff has improved since my last visit. Starter was very courteous, helping us pay quickly, get a cart, and he even let us out as a 2-some because it happened to be dead at the moment.

Only negative...Tee Boxes were absolutely abysmal. Maybe it has to do with the fact that a lot of people use Irons on a lot of holes, but still, they were very unlevel, lots of bare spots, not including divots, and muddy. Just doesn't make sense.

Still had a good time. Will definately be back, especially for $43 including cart at peak weekend times.

*hint* Lots of times available on click4teetimes.com. Early afternoon times available and inexpensive, all including cart. Check it out before booking with course.

A little dissapointed in the staff here. They said they aerated the greens on Monday, so we were expecting the greens to be sandy. But they were aerating some greens while we were on the course. 17 and 18 had temp. greens because they were literally punching and laying down sand as we played. Unfortunate too, as the greens here are always in really good condition.

Oh well, still an enjoyable round. The rest of the course was in decent shape. It has been really dry here, and today it wa svery humid, so the course maybe played 15-20 yards longer per hole. Because of dryness fairway and rough werent in fantastic condition. But still playable and enjoyable.

Wait 2 weeks before you play here. Greens should be back to tip-top shape by than.

Played 3/31 with barkinesq and two others, and needless to say, I'm not as generous.

Overall, course was in pitiful shape.

Greens: Like putting on my garage floor. Forget about any ball sticking. On one par 3, I hit an iron into the green, and when I went to repair a ball mark, there wasn't one. The greens were that hard. Putting was even more difficult. Two puts on the same exact line moved completely different. Some greens broke towards the water, some broke away, some didnt break at all. And forget about judging speed. I'm all for challenging greens, but this was ridiculous.

Fairway: Slightly better than the greens. Many bare spots, balls rolled forever. Un-filled divots.

Rough: Nonexistant most of the time, very un-manicured the rest. Again many bare spots and unfilled divots.

Traps: Only consistant part of the course. Traps played true most of the time.

Tee Boxes: Abysmal. I'd say about 13 or 14 were pretty unlevel. One tee-box had NO grass. Teeing off was an adventure.

Yeah, I had a good time. I very rarely have a bad time playing golf. Played with some funny people who kept things lively. But this course should not be in such poor condition this time of year. For all the flack American Golf gets, they do a pretty decent job keeping up their courses. EC is not an AG course and the management company completely neglects it. It COULD be a pretty fun course to practice on and have fun, but it's kept up horribley.

Positives? Yeah, it was only $34 with cart on a saturday morning.

Don't bother with this course unless the conditions improve. And even than, their are much better courses for a fraction more money close by.

With my reservation card, I was able to call in Friday Night fir a Saturday tee-time at 11:45. Awesome!!

Course is in some of the best shaoe I've seen it in. For a Muni, its outstanding. Greens played very smooth and consistant. Nothing too tricky, some minor ball mark damage, but very smooth rolling.

Fairways were in the best shape I've ever seen them. Most areas were pretty lush. Fairways were nicely green. Only downer was some areas were a little muddy. It had been unusually warm for march the prior week, so I guess the maintenance guys watered. It turned out to be low 70s-high 60s so some areas never really drained that well.

The rough was actually challenging. Woodley is pretty wide open, so its hard to get in a lot of trouble. But a lot of holes had some deceivingly thick rough.

The traps were in good condition. Not wet, not too fluffy. More importantly the 2 traps I were in played exactly the same.

Tee boxes were in great shape. All level, some divot damage on the par 3s, but nothing too unusual. All lush and no bare areas to throw you off.

Customer service was fantastic. The marshal really went out of his way to help us out. It was quite windy and some palm branches were falling on the course. I saw him at least 6 or 7 times picking up branches on different areas of the course. He even pointed out suspect areas to us and holes where we should keep an eye on the trees just incase a branch falls. Np cart person, but the snack shack back of #6 green and #7 tee was open and the women was very nice and helpful.

Most of all, play was consistant. People actually were cogniscant of their surroundings. Group infront waved us up, we waved group behind us up, it was a really smooth moving round. Long? yes, close to 5 hours, but there was no long wait on any hole, and the other players were pretty good about keeping things moving.

Cant beat the price, $28.50 to walk on a weekend, $3 for a nice Bag Boy hand cart. Reservation card was $20 and worth every penny. I'll be back many times.

Played 3/17 with my father (barkinesq). The staff at the front desk was very helpful, they let us know that they were running 15-20 minutes behind, and pointed the way to the putting green, driving range, coffee shop. Sure enough, we got out at 10:30 with a 10:05 tee time.


Now the Good: The course was in absolutely fantastic condition. Phenomenal shape. Fairways were green and lush. Rough was green and existent. You really payed when you missed a fairway, and believe me, I missed a lot of fairways. The greens were in excellent shape, and the traps played very true. The design is a lot of fun, and Knollwood tests every facet of your game. Plus, this may be the best deal in SoCal...$40 for green fees and cart weekend morning.


Now the bad: Play was ridiculously slow. They allow walking fivesomes, which can be a major problem weekend mornings. Some of the players here have no grasp of the concept, and end up taking time reading 4 inch putts, while your standing on the fairway with 2 groups on the tee behind you. Now I'm all for concentrating and playing your best and by the rules, but pick it up when you see that you're holding up 3 groups. Marshalls were non existent on the front 9, all over the back 9.


An idea for the Knollwood staff: Have a martial stationed permanently on the 6th green. This first par 3 is one of the main causes of all the backups and because of the huge backup at #6, the carts waiting to tee off actually come into play and are quite distracting on the shot into #5 green. There should be a marshall on the green making it mandatory to wave up the next group if the 7th tee is occupied. I get that most courses will be slow weekend mornings, but by the 5th, 6th, or 7th holes, most course open up so that there is very little waiting until 16,17, and 18. Not so at Knollwood. The only marshall who was constantly around was a guy named Dennis, who was very helpful.


Besides the 5 hour round, which would have been MUCH longer had we not had our 3rd player leave at #12, and the group infront of us's 4th player left, so we joined at #13 into a 5some and finished quickly. If the groups had stayed the same, theres no doubt it would have been a 6+ hour round.


So besides that, the course is definitely worth the money, the course is beautiful, fun, challenging. Just be ready for a really long round on weekends. I'll definitely be back.