Snuck out for a solo round at De Bell in Burbank this weekend after finding a single time online the night before. I played from the blue tees and joined a threesome with a 12:00 tee time. If all went... Continue »

Snuck out for a solo round at De Bell in Burbank this weekend after finding a single time online the night before. I played from the blue tees and joined a threesome with a 12:00 tee time. If all went smoothly then finishing should have been no problem, but we had some very slow groups in front of us and essentially were the last group to finish with enough light - barely.

It was my first time back to De Bell in four years and of course I was quickly reminded why. The front nine is such a bizarre set of holes and when you're not simply perfect then it gets incredibly frustrating quickly. Luckily the back nine is a little more traditional and saves the round. It would also be more enjoyable despite the quirks if the conditions were great, but that's simply not the case.

The greens don't appear to have been rolled in quite some time so that led to lots of slow, bumpy putts and even some greens that had large cuts right through the middle of them. It's up to the player to adjust to some degree, but the degree of inconsistency from green to green is just deflating at best. Fairways were also in mediocre shape with many large dirt areas starting off each fairway, so any miscues were highly punished. Rough was okay in areas but mostly non-existent as there's OB on all sides here. Bunkers get top marks though as they were very fluffy and easy to play from - great job there. Tee boxes? Meh.

No cart service and no GPS on the carts, while the driving range is simple but more than adequate. The pro shop is well appointed and there's a very nice restaurant and snack shop on the upper level - no complaints about that aspect of the course at all.

But ultimately, I'm reminded again why I rarely come back to this course. I did at the very least enjoy my best-ever score here, but that's not saying much.