Played a twilight round at Angeles National this week with a buddy taking advantage of his free birthday round. I was excited to get back to ANGC and test my skills for just the second time, but came ... Continue »

Played a twilight round at Angeles National this week with a buddy taking advantage of his free birthday round. I was excited to get back to ANGC and test my skills for just the second time, but came away even worse off than the first time on this very difficult and challenging track.

This Nicklaus design is simply tough. The carries on the par 3s can be daunting, the tee shots on the long par 4s unnerving, and the bunkering all across the board makes for requiring some pretty accurate bombs from the start. On top of that, some of the green complexes are brutal and highly unforgiving. Bring A game here or forget about leaving with a good feeling. There are maybe three 'easy' holes on this course so beginners should go elsewhere if you want to have any fun.

I am always surprised at a high-end golf club to see the greens and bunkers left so scarred, but that's exactly what we found this week. Unraked bunkers (some with a few rocks in them), and ball marks on almost all of the greens. This isn't a knock on the staff there, but the players who are paying a premium price and not treating the golf course accordingly.

But when the ball marks were fixed, the greens were in good condition - medium fast and slightly bumpy but totally fine. Again, tough to judge the breaks here more than the speed. The fairways were mostly tight but generally had good coverage. This course sits in the middle of a hot valley in a hot part of town so keeping it green must be tough. Lush I would not call it, but fairways are good. Tee boxes are fine, but bunkers are a little thin for what you would expect here. Rough is nice and lush but many areas with wood chips to avoid and the general mayhem of the natural areas surrounding many of the holes. Bring a lot of balls!

Disappointing on a hot afternoon not to see any cart service either, but maybe that's because we started later in the day. And there was also a nearby fire so helicopters kept on buzzing the lake on hole 18 to collect water. That was interesting.

Played in a charity scramble at Angeles National this past Saturday 6/24 with a shotgun start at 12pm. I haven't been to ANGC in a while, and was happy to see conditions are quite good right now. They... Continue »

Played in a charity scramble at Angeles National this past Saturday 6/24 with a shotgun start at 12pm. I haven't been to ANGC in a while, and was happy to see conditions are quite good right now. They have put up fences around the green on 18 to handle the major coot issues they were having. No coots to be found this time.

Tee boxes are nice and lush and level, with no major divot damage. The fairways have nice coverage, but the lies are tight and firm. The rough around the greens was nice and lush, about 2" long and very playable. Sand traps were in very nice shape, and were a pleasure to play from. The greens still haven't completely healed from their punch about a month ago, and are still a bit bumpy and slow. They are nice and lush, and very accepting to well struck shots. I'd say they need another week or two, and they'll be in great shape.

I would definitely recommend Angeles right now, especially if you can find a good deal online...I still feel like the full rack rate is a bit steep.

Decided to play here for twilight (12:30pm) on a weekday recently. Pace was deplorable even for twilight. 3hours to play 9 holes. Tee boxes were fine, some thin and some thick, not very consisten... Continue »

Decided to play here for twilight (12:30pm) on a weekday recently. Pace was deplorable even for twilight. 3hours to play 9 holes. Tee boxes were fine, some thin and some thick, not very consistent, but mostly level. Fairways had brown spots galore but it was still playable. Rough areas were cut very short but had random growth spots here and there. Bunkers were consistent and had plenty of sand. Lots of foot prints though. The greens were not good. On the slow side for this course and very bumpy. It felt like they haven't cut/rolled it for a while. Overall, the condition wasn't on par with this premier course and the rate they charge. I've played it in much better shape than this. That along with the ridiculous PoP was a huge disappointment.

Played ANGC on Wednesday afternoon 2/9/17. Weather was perfect and service was good. Played with the afternoon rate of $65. I was joined with a very nice twosome and a single. Pace of play was fine at... Continue »

Played ANGC on Wednesday afternoon 2/9/17. Weather was perfect and service was good. Played with the afternoon rate of $65. I was joined with a very nice twosome and a single. Pace of play was fine at 4 hours 15 minutes, with very little waiting on any hole. Overall the course is in good winter condition. Except for a couple of the par 3 holes, the tee boxes were lush and level. Greens were quite fast and rolled smooth. They were mostly firm but did hold well hit shots nicely. It was a difficult day of putting as many of the pin locations were on or near slopes. The two traps I visited had very nice soft sand. The fairways and areas near the greens are very tight. The fairway grass is not very green (typical winter grass) and is thin. Although if you were in the fairway you would nearly always have a good lie. This is a fun track and quite playable right now.

Played today, using the over 55 discount ($65, including cart). The course is in decent condition, with only one very saturated area just left of 17 green. As far as all the recent rains go, the cours... Continue »

Played today, using the over 55 discount ($65, including cart). The course is in decent condition, with only one very saturated area just left of 17 green. As far as all the recent rains go, the course must drain rather well. The fairways and rough were mostly dormant Bermuda grass, cut low most everywhere. Great rollout on poorly hit tee shots, but tight lies as you approach most greens. Tees were mostly lush and level. Greens rolled fast and true with very subtle breaks. There was plenty of soft, white sand in the few bunkers I was in today. POP was about 4.5 hours, okay for a holiday of sorts (to paraphrase the previous reviewer). Go out and play, Monday and Tuesday are reduced rates for 55 years or older and nearby residents.

Played here yesterday in cold weather at 7:30am. We finished in 4.5 hours which was great since it was a holiday of sorts. They did not charge us holiday rates which was great and even gave us the sen... Continue »

Played here yesterday in cold weather at 7:30am. We finished in 4.5 hours which was great since it was a holiday of sorts. They did not charge us holiday rates which was great and even gave us the senior discount. Customer service is always great here due to the great personalities of the cart guy and Stephanie the starter on the tee. With all the recent rains you would expect the course to be real green but the fairways are dormant right now but they play great. The tee boxes were level and very nice and the bunkers were consistent. The greens are always good here. Other than a few unrepaired ball marks they rolled true and smooth. I always like returning to ANGC for its consistency in maintaining conditions above average and love the course layout. Get out to play it soon.

Found a Golfnow hot deal for $20 on a Monday at 12:45. Scooped it up and got excited to play Angeles, as it had been awhile since I've been out there. Absolutely love the track and the test of golf it... Continue »

Found a Golfnow hot deal for $20 on a Monday at 12:45. Scooped it up and got excited to play Angeles, as it had been awhile since I've been out there. Absolutely love the track and the test of golf it puts forth. That's the good part. Now the not so good. Granted I didn't pay the rack rate of $65 for the time I played, but the condition of the greens was to be desired. The bumps and thinness of the grass on the green was kind of a bummer. I realize they can't make people fix their ball marks without having someone monitoring every green, but wow was it bad. The speed was fine but between the ball bouncing after hitting mark after mark,it became very frustrating. I wouldn't pay the top dollar they're asking for this place, unless it was in pristine condition, like say Goose Creek where I played recently. It's unfortunate, because it's close to where I live and like I said I love the track, but if I'm going out there again, it's going to have to be a hot deal again.

Played my free birthday round at Angeles National with a friend and two of his buddies, and really enjoyed the course immensely. It was my first time to ANGC and I simply loved the layout and the vari... Continue »

Played my free birthday round at Angeles National with a friend and two of his buddies, and really enjoyed the course immensely. It was my first time to ANGC and I simply loved the layout and the variety of long and short holes, along with the tremendous mountain scenery and really good conditions. The fairways are currently in that dormant yellow stage, but they play very nicely no matter the color. The rough is a deep, verdant green though, which makes the contrast very stunning indeed. The greens are super tough though - fast and so many tricky slopes and undulations - couldn't catch up all day, but nothing but good things to say about their condition overall. I found the bunkers to be in fine shape - nice, fluffy sand greenside, and thinner traps to hit out of cleanly from the fairways. And the tee boxes were all in excellent shape. Loved the variety of tee boxes as well to choose from (we played the blue tees). There's not a lot of elevation at ANGC to worry about, but there are plenty of difficult shots and carries that will eat your ball supply if wayward. The native areas are in play on pretty much every hole so you must be very clean and precise. The course is definitely fair though. Fair, but very tough. The very fast greens also make approach shots something of an adventure every single time. And some of your second shot carries will make those palms sweat! Free is a pretty great price to pay for this place - thanks for the hospitality. But I will definitely be rewarding ANGC with my actual hard-earned money in the near future - it's very much worth it and I want a chance to redeem myself on those greens and shoot a better score. POP was great although I did feel bad for the threesome behind us as my crew, despite my hints to speed things up, were very deliberate on every shot and simply took too long to get moving. I'll do better next time to be more vocal, but we were approached by a marshall starting the back 9 (actually the front 9 for us as we started on 10) and did pick up the pace thankfully. Not much more to add than that, but I really wonder what took me so long to get out here other than fear of a really high price and a course that would simply beat me up. Now that I know I can handle this track, the price worries me less. It's worth it. Really nice place.

Was practicing out here and decided to give it a go. Got out for a "twilight rate" of $90. LOL. 2:00 PM on a Sunday and the course was completely dead aside from a few people playing a tournament. Pac... Continue »

Was practicing out here and decided to give it a go. Got out for a "twilight rate" of $90. LOL. 2:00 PM on a Sunday and the course was completely dead aside from a few people playing a tournament. Pace of play is phenomenal. Waited maybe two times and did not wait until hole 16. Santa Ana Winds were blowing 20-30mph absolutely whippin through the canyon which made the longer holes on the front nine extremely tough. Tee boxes are nice and seem to be getting more water than the fairways. Fairways are bordering baked out. One notch above hardpan. Greens were ok. Maybe 9 on the stimp and got much slower as it got later in the day. For the price I really wasn't impressed. If you are going to charge this kind of rate you better be watering the fairways sufficiently and cutting your greens TIGHT. Most of the holes are the same look. Heavily bunkered in the landing areas with desert hazard surrounding the edges of the holes. It is a good test of golf and great place to practice but I am not coming out here again unless they lower their rates or offer significantly discounted golfnow rates. As others have mentioned I am not sure how a property that is this expensive to maintain can sustain itself unless they figure out how to drive traffic up.