First time back at Wilson in exactly one year and just the second time in the last four years ... and of course saved it for my worst round there since 2019 under the sweltering summer sun.

My fri... Continue »

First time back at Wilson in exactly one year and just the second time in the last four years ... and of course saved it for my worst round there since 2019 under the sweltering summer sun.

My friend and I rode obviously, playing the white tees and with an 11:15am tee time, paired up with two others. Did I mention it was hot? This was especially brutal on Wilson because of course there's no cart service and you don't reach the snack shop until the 11th tee box.

The course looks and plays dry thanks to the summer heat that's pressed down on SoCal for the past month. There is also a fungus growing on a lot of the greens which might explain the punch marks in the middle of August - that's rare, right? Pin positions were also as diabolical as possible which I didn't even think they could do on Wilson's greens, but other than that they actually rolled pretty consistently despite the clear work done on them.

The course is playable for sure, but it's seen better days. Riding carts over the fairways and other areas feels like taking a dune buggy out after a WWI trench battle - it's rough out there. Take your Advils and be prepared for that wild ride.

Fairways have better coverage on the back nine (14 and 16 remain tremendous holes) but you can feel the thin and dry just about everywhere. Rough is fine, bunkers played okay and the tee boxes were a little short of good - level but very beat up in some cases.

One thing of note regarding the driving range - you can (at least currently) NOT use a credit card to get range balls, so you have to get your code from the starter. This was frustrating for me because whenever I play at Griffith Park, they always advise you to first check in 15-20 minutes before your tee time, so I went straight to the range this time, only to find out now I had to go to the office anyway. Minor gripe but an annoyance at the time.

In summary, Wilson is playing just as you would expect right now with the current weather conditions. I would certainly wait until things cool down again and the place gets a chance to fix things up.