Played 5-3-16 early morning walking as a single in a little under 3 hours. Tee boxes were in okay shape with some divot damage on short par fours and par threes. Fairways were a mix of nice lush green... Continue »

Played 5-3-16 early morning walking as a single in a little under 3 hours. Tee boxes were in okay shape with some divot damage on short par fours and par threes. Fairways were a mix of nice lush green grass, some thin brown areas, and some small bare spots mixed in. Rough is all over the place from being cut real short to some areas of between 2 and 4 inches and a lot of bare spots. Bunkers looked to be in descent shape. Greens were in descent shape with a few of them still showing signs from being punched, rolling medium/fast and holding shots real nice.

Played 2-12-16 for $22 walking on there canyon club early morning in 3 hours as a foursome on the front and a twosome on the back. Tee boxes were a little thin but mostly level. Fairways were mostly d... Continue »

Played 2-12-16 for $22 walking on there canyon club early morning in 3 hours as a foursome on the front and a twosome on the back. Tee boxes were a little thin but mostly level. Fairways were mostly dormant and a little thin but descent to hit from. Rough was a mixed bag of dormant thin lies, thick rough, and some bare spots. Was in one fairway bunker that was a little thin, with some small rocks in it. Greens were in good shape, a little firm and rolling fast, with a few that looked like they had a thin layer of top dressing which didn't effect them. Have seen the course in much better shape, but for me it's still fun(frustrating) to play.

Back to De Bell for the first time in a year and a half thinking that time had better prepared me for the mayhem. Wrong! Nine penalties later, the nightmare was real. There's simply no room to be wayw... Continue »

Back to De Bell for the first time in a year and a half thinking that time had better prepared me for the mayhem. Wrong! Nine penalties later, the nightmare was real. There's simply no room to be wayward on this course. Length is nice, but secondary to accuracy at De Bell. And even then you better be putting well, too. Our 4some paid $55 (standard rate + cart) for a 9:20am tee time on Sun from the blue tees. Driver only required on 4-5 holes maximum, so I was actually quite surprised the tee boxes were in pretty good shape. Fairways are typical of current SoCal conditions - mediocre, dried out, dormant, bit of green. Rough is rough - unwatered, long, plenty of debris around. And of course lots of OB on every hole. Greens are and remain very tricky at De Bell, however they are in good condition and rolling true. Holding shots? Not so much. Saw many a ball mark in a nice spot on the green, but then found the ball downslope on the fringe. Imperative to keep ball below the hole here - so many downhill putts running away for days. Oh yeah, the sand was poor. Luckily didn't see any of it but bunkers looked very thin with plenty of debris in them as well. No cart service to be found but the grill and clubhouse are very nice. POP was around 4:45, but we weren't really pushed all day - you just spend a good amount of time with a 4some looking for balls. Some great views up high in the Burbank hills as well. Overall, despite the rough round, I do look forward to trying my luck here again, but I'm in no rush. Maybe with another year of improvement I'll finally feel like I can escape De Bell with a decent score. One last thing - the GK.org CDF rates DeBell at a 70.0, while a far easier Chester Washington rates a 70.7. Not a chance that DeBell isn't far more difficult. This should be adjusted.

Conditions are fair at best, overall. Greens - which are usually a highlight here and typically much-above-muni-average - have not healed very well since aeration 5 weeks ago. There are plenty of sand... Continue »

Conditions are fair at best, overall. Greens - which are usually a highlight here and typically much-above-muni-average - have not healed very well since aeration 5 weeks ago. There are plenty of sandy spots still, and a fair amount of bobbles too. The upside (if you like it this way) is they are lightning quick, so much so that several putts above the hole were downright unplayable. Set up with your back to the hole, hit it up hill slowly, then watch it dribble back to the hole, then beyond and sometimes back off the green. 2 feet tap-ins from above the cup would end up 15-20 feet past. Interesting.

Fairways are a grab-bag of green stuff, burnt stuff and weeds. They were cut very tight with lots of roll. Rough was hit or miss and kikuya is always fun to chip out of around the greens. Was in 3 bunkers and they all had good sand coverage but littered with smaller stones throughout.

Tees are usually rough given all the iron play they see here with short par 4's throughout. That said, tees #3 (par 4), 6 (par 3), 11 (par 5), 12 (par 3 over mountain) and 14 (par 3) were all recently flattened and re-sodded. While the turf has fully to take as of yet, the flatness of the surface is much appreciated I am sure.

To end, my usual warning about the toughness of this course - it's a little track that punches much above it's weight. 12 holes have OB or hazards close in on both sides; the other 6 have OB or hazards on at least one side. This makes for the equivalent of 30 water hazards to contend with. It would be like playing in a lake peppered with green fairways for you to aim at. One swing from calamity all the time.

Have at it.

Played 11-20-15 early morning joining a threesome and finishing in 3 1/ 2 hours, walking. Tee boxes were in descent shape, mostly level with some divot damage on short 4 pars and 3 pars. Fairways had ... Continue »

Played 11-20-15 early morning joining a threesome and finishing in 3 1/ 2 hours, walking. Tee boxes were in descent shape, mostly level with some divot damage on short 4 pars and 3 pars. Fairways had mostly good coverage with a few thin and bare spots. Rough was hit and miss with short, long, and bare areas. Went into two sandtraps both of which had nice sand, with one having some small rocks in it. Greens were in good shape, most have healed from punching with a couple that are in the shade needing a little more time to heal. They were rolling pretty smooth and fast and holding shots well.

played Sat PM. tee time 1120 but was delayed due to a tournament in the morning. teed off 1145 and finished 4:45. Tee box were stacked 2-3 groups at the beginning and eventually eased after a few h... Continue »

played Sat PM. tee time 1120 but was delayed due to a tournament in the morning. teed off 1145 and finished 4:45. Tee box were stacked 2-3 groups at the beginning and eventually eased after a few holes. Still, 5 hours for debell is too long.

Conditions were ok. Greens were recently punched so you still see the signs of maintenance but rolled pretty decent. Fairways for most part was good except #3.
didn't go into the bunkers but looked ok and decent conditions.

saw the marshall a few times but not sure how effective they were as there were a few groups that were falling behind.

while DeBell is a fun course to play, it might be awhile before we go back.

After reading positive reviews, we purchased a Groupon for De Bell. Maybe we hit it on an off day, but the conditions were poor, the pace of play atrociously slow (two groups backed up nearly each ho... Continue »

After reading positive reviews, we purchased a Groupon for De Bell. Maybe we hit it on an off day, but the conditions were poor, the pace of play atrociously slow (two groups backed up nearly each hole). Didn't even finish 18 holes before it got dark. At least we hadn't payed full price. Some fairways were pretty lush but others patchy. Greens had recently been punched so still very bumpy and full of pitch marks. Chipping around the greens was hit or miss. Some holes did have beautiful views - that's the one positive I can say.

This is one of the best kept public courses you will find in SoCal..especially in this drought California is having. I used to work here as a kid in the early eighties and I have not seen it in bette... Continue »

This is one of the best kept public courses you will find in SoCal..especially in this drought California is having. I used to work here as a kid in the early eighties and I have not seen it in better shape. This course makes you hit the shots. You have to find the fairways and stay below the pins. Play the course the way it was drawn and think old school with it being a Billy Bell design.

Played just after the rain ended today which meant a 2:45 18 for my buddy and I. Didn't see another golfer until the 13th tee (not coincidentally when my game went south). Greens are in phenomenal sha... Continue »

Played just after the rain ended today which meant a 2:45 18 for my buddy and I. Didn't see another golfer until the 13th tee (not coincidentally when my game went south). Greens are in phenomenal shape in advance of the Burbank City Amateur in a couple of weeks. Fairways played pretty well too aside from the mud balls from the rain. I was very impressed at the newly leveled tees on #'s 6, 9, 11 and the reclaimed back tee on 13 (that extra 15 yards changes the hole for sure). Found one trap and they're always pretty good here, today was no exception. Still some light work around the course (#7 springs to mind). Overall, it's a good time to play it. They usually punch right after the City Am.