Played on 3/3/13 with an 11:44 tee time. They were on time and our foursome went right out. Greens: Extremely firm. They weren't holding any shots, even full wedges. They were also running pretty ... Continue »

Played on 3/3/13 with an 11:44 tee time. They were on time and our foursome went right out. Greens: Extremely firm. They weren't holding any shots, even full wedges. They were also running pretty fast. Tons of unrepaired ball marks and a number of bare areas. Fairways: Very thin with numerous bare areas and some areas with pretty bad divot damage. Some areas with clumps of different grass. Tough to get a good lie. Rough: Very spotty. Some lush areas but mostly bare areas. The areas with trees had many exposed roots. Areas that should clearly be allowed to grow out, especially for the sake of POP, were even more bare then usual. Balls just kept rolling and rolling. Also difficult to get a good lie. Tees: Usually the worst part of this course, they were in decent condition. Some areas with bad divot damage, but it looks like they had been leveled recently. Bunkers: Good sand coverage. Nice and fluffy top layer with a little firmer sand deep. POP, etc.: Pace was 5 hours exactly. Front 9 with all the short par 4s played much longer than the back. Customer service was very good, from the starter to the restaurant to the cart girl who was around numerous times and always asked if we needed anything. Driving range is kind of small as you hit into a mountain and there aren't an abundance of stalls. Putting green ran a little slower than the actual greens. De Bell is like an ex-girlfriend you can't get over. I keep telling myself "this will be the last time" but something always brings me back. Most of the time I come back because this course keeps getting the better of me when I know it shouldn't. A few bonehead shots will really wreck you here and leave you with a final score much higher and not really indicative of how well you play.

Played 2/24/13 with my regular foursome. $47 for a Sunday morning, not bad! POP was the only major negative I have about the day/course...5 1/2 hours is a bit much. As stated in previous reviews, a... Continue »

Played 2/24/13 with my regular foursome. $47 for a Sunday morning, not bad! POP was the only major negative I have about the day/course...5 1/2 hours is a bit much. As stated in previous reviews, accuracy is critical on this very tight course. I leave my Driver in the bag most of the day, only hit it twice. Not only do you have to get the ball in the fairway on this very short course, you have to be on the correct side of the fairway. There are numerous low hanging trees and limbs that force you to play a lot of different shots. I like that. The greens are firm and very fast right now. Getting balls to hold is definitely a challenge. They are very fast, rolling smooth and true. Lots of 1-putts on my card this day :) Bunkers are full of fluffy sand, very nice to play out of. The fairways aren't bad...dormant with some divot damage, but not bad. The tee boxes are mostly level. Some of the boxes were pretty beat up, but I was always able to find clean grass so it wasn't a big deal. Overall, De Bell is a challenging little course that's absolutely worth playing...if you can handle the slow pace of play.

Played Feb. 22nd in what turned out to be a 5+ hour round. Course is in ok shape. Greens rolled decent most of the time. A lot of pitch mark damage. Fairways thin & patchy at times. The older tee... Continue »

Played Feb. 22nd in what turned out to be a 5+ hour round. Course is in ok shape. Greens rolled decent most of the time. A lot of pitch mark damage. Fairways thin & patchy at times. The older tee boxes are really unleveled & chewed. Sand quality is like the rock quarry Fred Flintstone worked in. Got a great deal on C4TT for $22.50 with cart. Good customer service.

Played a morning round with GKers Moneysworth and Fear on a warm Friday. As earlier reviews noted the greens are the best part of this course. Very fast today, smooth, and few ball marks. Nice, especi... Continue »

Played a morning round with GKers Moneysworth and Fear on a warm Friday. As earlier reviews noted the greens are the best part of this course. Very fast today, smooth, and few ball marks. Nice, especially for a muni course. Downhill putts on many holes could run off easily. The speed could easily be 10+ on a stimp. Tee boxes were decent. Some were a little unlevel, but not overly so. Everything else in between (fairways/rough) was dormant kikuyu and bermuda. A couple of protected areas of rough near the trees had some green, lush grass. Mostly, though, it was tight lies everywhere. Most of the traps were okay with an adequate amount of brown sand; the left fairway bunker on the third hole was a bit nasty with small rocks abounding. There was a temporary tee on four due to some tree work going on. Pace was a bit slow at around 4:45. Good value with a 2 for 1 discount.

Played today. Greens are the best part of this course, even if they are REALLY nasty. Only a few bare spots around the edges and pitch marks were kept to a minimum. Don't let the yardage from even ... Continue »

Played today. Greens are the best part of this course, even if they are REALLY nasty. Only a few bare spots around the edges and pitch marks were kept to a minimum. Don't let the yardage from even the blues fool you because I sure got beat up playing here for the first time. Course DEMANDS accuracy and perfect putting, otherwise you are doomed.
Fairways were patchy in terms of the different types of grass/little flowers that were growing. Fairways were a little long and still slightly muddy even though we haven't had rain for a few days now. Rough was not patchy at all-well kept throughout and cut at a fair height. Sand was a different type than what I am used to playing from-more like what you'd see at the beach but it was fine to play out of.
Like I said, accuracy is a premium because there is very little room between the edge of the fairway & most of the hazards/OB areas. Course was not designed very well in terms of that it's easy to get hit from an errant shot on the previous hole while you are on the next tee box not looking, but its setting is great.

De Bell Golf Course Review
Burbank California Golf Course Reviews

Pleasantly surprised - in spite of everyone and their mother being out playing with their new toys from Santa, course moved along at a good clip even though it was packed.

Conditions were above par... Continue »

Pleasantly surprised - in spite of everyone and their mother being out playing with their new toys from Santa, course moved along at a good clip even though it was packed.

Conditions were above par I would reckon for this time of year. Fairways have some different growths on them and are mainly semi-dormant. Tees are the usual grab-bag with a lot of damage on the shorter holes. Although I didn't visit it, the sand looked full and well conditioned throughout.

Highlight were the greens. In spite of the wet and sub-normal temps, they were fast and true with nary a bump in them. Still, they were receptive to well struck shots (and little to no ball-mark damage). None of the typical muni sponginess was apparent in their growth. Just pure and smooth.

It really is one of the course's best defenses - if you know this place - when the greens are quick as any putt of any length from above the hole is a nightmare. Watched my partners putt 3 different times from the top level of #11 all the way off the front from short-ish putts above the cup. Almost Augusta-like in its severity at times. Good fun. (watch out for errant hacker balls though!)

JUICY, very juicy. A wee bit water logged right now. However, still playable. Fairways patchy at times. The greens were tightly mown and rolling fine. Front nine greens have many un-repaired pitc... Continue »

JUICY, very juicy. A wee bit water logged right now. However, still playable. Fairways patchy at times. The greens were tightly mown and rolling fine. Front nine greens have many un-repaired pitch marks. The back nine seems to be when people remember they have a divot tool. Tee boxes…well…in a word...crap. But that is the norm here on the mountainside.
Pace with twitchin' in under 4 hours.

De Bell Golf Course Review
Burbank California Golf Course Reviews

Played out here this afternoon and was able to avoid the rain for the most part (a few drizzles here an there). I had a GolfNow time for 11:20 ($39 with cart). I got there early and it didn't seem too... Continue »

Played out here this afternoon and was able to avoid the rain for the most part (a few drizzles here an there). I had a GolfNow time for 11:20 ($39 with cart). I got there early and it didn't seem too busy out, so they sent me out right away with a twosome. We teed off around 10:45 and finished around 3:30, though the pace really didn't seem that slow. We played the first 6 holes without running into anyone, then hit a log jam on the 7th. After that it was slower going. We ultimately joined with the twosome ahead of us on the 12th hole.

After reading the previous review, I thought this course was going to be in terrible shape, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is by no means immaculate, but for a muni course in late November, I can't complain about the conditions. It was fairly green out there with muddy/soggy patches and bare/dead patches throughout the fairways and rough. Most fairway lies I had were good. The rough very thick and punishing in some areas, especially with it being so wet out. The greens were not as bad (in my opinion) as the last reviewer made it seem. There were a few bad patches here and there, but for the most part they were very nice and smooth, running at medium speeds with some hard-to-read breaks as apparently everything "breaks toward Burbank." The tee boxes were very chewed up. They had a number of the blues on the front nine moved up and with so many lay-up iron shots off the tees here, they get pretty badly beat up. The tee boxes on the back nine seemed to be in better shape overall, though still not great. Wasn't in any bunkers, so no comments on the sand.

I normally like tight, short and hilly layouts and DeBell definitely falls in that category. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, though. A few holes here are a bit too funky even for me, and it's definitely more challenging than the total yardage would suggest because of some tight layouts, hilly terrain, plenty of trees and severe doglegs. Local knowledge definitely helps here if you have a good strategy on each tee. Feels more like an executive course at some points with most of the par-4s being very short and all the par-5s under 500. However, four of the par-3s are pretty long and challenging, so it's an interesting mix of holes. If you really have control of your shots, are willing to play "smart" and can shape your shots in both directions, you can have a lot of fun on this course with plenty of birdie looks. But if you are off your game just a bit, this course will get frustrating real quick. The latter describes my round.

I really did like the setting in the little canyon. Unfortunately, many of the best views of the city were obscured by the storm clouds today, but it is definitely one of LA's more scenic tracks.

The course was in the worst shape I've played. Fairways were dry, with lot of thin and hard pan areas. The greens had a lot of damages, mostly small spots in clusters. I could see how the greenske... Continue »

The course was in the worst shape I've played. Fairways were dry, with lot of thin and hard pan areas. The greens had a lot of damages, mostly small spots in clusters. I could see how the greenskeeper tried to set up the pin placements at all the best spots though. The tee boxes were the worst part. The course doesn't call for a driver on most holes, and I had a hard time finding a decent lie to hit my irons/fairways woods. The tee boxes were severely damaged with almost no grass.

Pace was great, especially for a late morning round. Took us (3some) just under 3.5 hours.

De Bell Golf Course Review
Burbank California Golf Course Reviews