The greens are really bad, super bumpy and overly soft.

The greens are really bad, super bumpy and overly soft.

I have been playing this month in rain and wind and soggy conditions at Chester. Even though during these times a golf ball will not roll very far, I consider Jan. 2023 to be a time where a premium is... Continue »

I have been playing this month in rain and wind and soggy conditions at Chester. Even though during these times a golf ball will not roll very far, I consider Jan. 2023 to be a time where a premium is placed on accuracy off the tee. Chester is no different. With little leeway for maintenance crews to mow the grass before the next rain, the rough is very penalizing. It is easy to lose your ball taking lost ball 2 stroke penalties if you spray it too much. Chester boasts very small greens. I hit 7 greens the other day but I felt I hit the ball fairly well. Don't let the par 70, 6200 yard course fool you. This course is sneaky tough. I will play here a lot this year. 1. It is close 2. Its not diabolically crowded like Los Verdes. 3. It is in better shape than Alondra and most certainly Victoria, or "Victimoria" of methane gas. 4. You need imagination and touch around these tiny greens.

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 cour... Continue »

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.

Having found an earlier tee time late in the week, three of my friends and I opted to take the 8:20am tee time at Chester Washington on Saturday to try and have more of the day free after the round th... Continue »

Having found an earlier tee time late in the week, three of my friends and I opted to take the 8:20am tee time at Chester Washington on Saturday to try and have more of the day free after the round than our original 12:20pm start time. It was a wise choice.

We got off and running a little later than our scheduled tee time, which is pretty par for the course here, but found the course to actually be in better shape than normal so that somewhat made up for the eventual five hour POP. We were all walking but definitely had many holes to wait for the group in front of us, who of course were hamstrung by the group in front of them.

As for the course though, conditions are better than normal here with the exception of the recently punched greens which are still a bit bumpy and in need of some healing time. They're manageable though and should be fine in a few weeks.

The rest of the course was quite more lush than usual, including the fairways and rough, but of course you'll always find a few burned out or thin spots out here. The tee boxes were mostly level and serviceable, while the bunkers still had some standing water in a few of them and were a little less fluffy and grainy than past visits.

No cart service on a busy Saturday is always a check mark against this place as it has an incredibly inconvenient snack bar that tends to keep players waiting much longer than they should at the turn. It's just never a smooth transition if someone wants to grab a bite or a drink before heading to the 10th tee box.

But overall it was still a better than average experience at C Dubs and, as long as your general expectations are held in check, you should have a nice time here in the near future, but give yourself an extra hour or two at the end just in case.

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... Continue »

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.

Monthly golf group opted for Chester Washington this past weekend and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the course conditions, but certainly not with the tee-time organization or the amenities pro... Continue »

Monthly golf group opted for Chester Washington this past weekend and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the course conditions, but certainly not with the tee-time organization or the amenities provided.

We had a 9am start time but when our group of 16 was all there and ready to go at that time, we found out that group teeing off had an 8am tee time, so they were a good hour behind schedule. They figured out a way to get us going about 45 minutes later, but of course the damage was done and it was slow going throughout the day.

It was also a disappointment with all that crowd to not see any cart service whatsoever all day, especially with one of the most inconveniently located snack bars of any golf course in SoCal. So you were truly 'on your own' out there for the better part of a five hour + round.

In terms of the actual golf course though, it was nice to find some quick-running greens that rolled really well - not the usual spongy, slow affairs you normally find here. The fairways were also in pretty good shape with good lies most of the day, but definitely some thin areas out there. Rough a mixed bag and the bunkers were definitely on the thin/hard side, but playable. Tee boxes pretty poor all around and beat up, but level and even.

I would actually recommend a round here if you're going for the basics and get a decent midweek time where you won't likely be starting an hour late, but just manage your expectations here and you should be okay.

Played course on 10/27/2021. Based on the condition of various other courses played over the past month I would rate this course at 5.5. Greens for the most part have recovered from recent punching ... Continue »

Played course on 10/27/2021. Based on the condition of various other courses played over the past month I would rate this course at 5.5. Greens for the most part have recovered from recent punching and just need to be cut rating would be a 6.0, fairways at 5.5 with some bare spots, sand traps do need sand rating 4.5, and tees were currently being reseeded in some areas rating 5.0. Play moved fast with little waiting on tees and fairways. The Wednesday morning round took 4-4.5 hours. Starter and cafe people were pleasant and helpful. Overall experience was enjoyable for a busy golf course.

As tee times continue to be a tough get sometimes, I was happy to snag a 9:40am tee time on a Saturday at Chester Washington this weekend with three friends, hoping conditions had improved since my la... Continue »

As tee times continue to be a tough get sometimes, I was happy to snag a 9:40am tee time on a Saturday at Chester Washington this weekend with three friends, hoping conditions had improved since my last visit.

Luckily, the greens had - to an extent. They were a little smoother, a little less squishy and rolled a little better than before, but are still very bumpy and there were a few that had quite a bit of damage on them that made you rethink where you could drop your bump and runs. Aside from that though, the rest is still a mess.

Tee boxes are so shaggy and unkempt that you might as well be lying three in the fairway, while the bunkers are very thin and grainy and you'll often have to decide whether to hit a standard bunker shot or try to chip it out of there.

But the absolute worst nightmare is the Torrey-esque rough currently on display here. I'm not sure if it was an homage to the US Open, or someone just forgot to put 'mow down the rough' on the daily checklist. It's absolutely brutal and plays terribly. I'm all for a nice bit of rough to add to the challenge, but this was far beyond that.

On top of that, the round took around five and a half hours with no cart service to be seen anywhere for the entire day. And all that for a bargain price of $60! Not a chance it was worth that on this visit, but that's where we are right now with SoCal golf sometimes. My friends concurred that CW will be off the rotation list for a while until I read some other reviews that are showing it's made some improvements.

Played at Chester Washington yesterday with an 11:40 tee time. I got a cart and we played from the blue tees for a pricey $60 for what you're getting here. Surprisingly there were plenty of carts avai... Continue »

Played at Chester Washington yesterday with an 11:40 tee time. I got a cart and we played from the blue tees for a pricey $60 for what you're getting here. Surprisingly there were plenty of carts available and POP actually moved pretty decently for most of the day, with a few pile-ups here and there.

The layout at CW is fine enough - it's not going to wow you at any point, but it's still a decent challenge with small greens, some elevations at the end of the front nine, and tough shots from non-perfect lies. Get used to it.

The greens however are the biggest issue. Ever walked on one of those pool covers when the pool was full underneath? That's what the greens at CW feel like when you walk on them. Spongy barely begins to describe it. So while they are quite receptive to shots in this shape, they also are pocked with tons of ball marks, have amazingly inconsistent speeds (mostly slow), and your ball can turn on a dime en route to the hole with so many lumps and bumps. Really poor.

Fairways are okay but you're going to be battling with thin lies almost as often as you find good ones. The rough is quite thick and grabby in most areas of importance, while there were also plenty of bunkers that were muddied or even had standing water. The dry ones were about a layer short of being good. Tee boxes were mostly okay, being flat and had decent enough coverage. The least of my worries here.

No cart service all day and a very inconvenient snack shop at the turn. Carts are also as basic as you can get. I've seen this course in much better shape and hope that it can return there soon.