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.

Lately, it seems like I'm following Nickesquire around playing courses either with him or right after him ... I think we're on the same wavelength. So, naturally, I'm out to De Bell (which I play onc... Continue »

Lately, it seems like I'm following Nickesquire around playing courses either with him or right after him ... I think we're on the same wavelength. So, naturally, I'm out to De Bell (which I play once a year with da Boyz) just a few days after he and RGM played it. Their reviews are spot on for this course, I can only add my own views for Saturday when I played. We teed off a bit late and finished in 4.5 hrs. Cart girl was around as was the marshal, good to see. Greens rolled at a decent medium pace with a few bumps to throw an occasional ball offline. I agree that the Kikuyu rough can be difficult to chip out of, but that's Kikuyu for you. Never in a bunker, looked okay and no complaints from my playing partners. As mentioned in many reviews, it's a tight course right off the start, especially that front 9 (2-4 are uber tight). Course knowledge and accuracy off the tee are essential to score here, otherwise you end up wondering how you got a 6 on a 295 yard par 4. For me, De Bell once a year is okay mostly cuz it's a tough drive to Burbank. That said, if it was closer, I'd still wouldn't play here too often ... it's a course that takes the driver out of your hands just a bit too much. Recommended ... if you enjoy target golf.

Played 9-30-15 afternoon with Nickesquire for a $15 cart fee special in around 3 1/2 hours. Tee boxes are what they are at Debell, short four pars have a lot of divot damage while long four pars are i... Continue »

Played 9-30-15 afternoon with Nickesquire for a $15 cart fee special in around 3 1/2 hours. Tee boxes are what they are at Debell, short four pars have a lot of divot damage while long four pars are in pretty good shape. Fairways were in nice shape with an occasional dry area. Rough was around 1-2 inches off the fairways, and anywhere from 1-4 inches around the greens. Sandtraps looked to be in descent shape. Greens were in real nice shape rolling medium/fast a pretty smooth. Overall course is in very nice playable shape.

Played the Blues (5608/68.9/122) with RGM2525 for $15 including a cart through a course E-Mail promotion. We played through 2 groups & finished in 3H, 30M on a hot, fairly still afternoon. The layout... Continue »

Played the Blues (5608/68.9/122) with RGM2525 for $15 including a cart through a course E-Mail promotion. We played through 2 groups & finished in 3H, 30M on a hot, fairly still afternoon. The layout is quirky, tight and very hilly, the holes are constantly up/down. The course is carved out of a mountain with tremendous views of Burbank, Glendale and downtown L.A. Older course that has never been modernized (lengthened) and likely never will due to space constraints. There are many blind shots, even a par 3 where you can not see the green or the flag hidden over a hill. It would take several rounds to get a feel for this course. Where to aim and how much club to hit off different tees because of fairways that are often severely up/down hills that then slope to sidehill lies. Miss the already narrow fairways by more than a few yards and there is a generous amount of OB, red stakes and barranca waiting to add penalty strokes to your score. Accuracy is definitely a premium even though there is no water on the course. Local knowledge on numerous greens, where to aim over blind areas and how much club to hit off numerous tees is essential to playing well here. The tees were poor overall, many were thin and needed divot repair. Probably because it is a shorter course, there are many more tees chewed up with divots that you would expect on par 4's and even par 5's. The fairways and rough were about 50/50 lush/thin but had good coverage overall. The sand traps were playable, average. The greens are very small and also VERY severely sloped on numerous holes. The greens were the best part of the course, firm, medium fast and they putted relatively smooth. Very few straight putts, be ready to aim outside the hole to way outside the hole on even shorter putts. The kikuyu aprons and the rough close to the greens are treacherous to chip over/through even though they are not that high. Short = yes, but this is far from an easy course. The slope rating is too low in my opinion. Longest 5608 yard course I have ever played because depending on the hole, you may be hitting a short iron, a middle iron, a long iron and only occasionally a driver off the tee on par 4's. You need to be able to accurately curve balls in both directions to be able to play longer clubs on many of these tee shots. The customer service was excellent, they got out out soon after we arrived. Mediocre range, mats and cannot hit longer clubs. Fun, scenic course that seeing it for a 2nd time allowed me to trim 7 shots off my 1st attempt. However, I would be hard pressed to ever shoot a great score here.

Played on September 20th with a 1:00 tee time after receiving an email from them for a free round of golf. (only had to pay for the cart fee). Went out as a threesome with 2 friends of mine. POP was r... Continue »

Played on September 20th with a 1:00 tee time after receiving an email from them for a free round of golf. (only had to pay for the cart fee). Went out as a threesome with 2 friends of mine. POP was right around 3 and a half hours, probably due to the fact that it was way to hot to be playing golf.

The tee boxes were chewed up on most of the holes, due to the par 4's needing layups to get around the doglegs. Fairways were in good shape with decent to good coverage in most all areas.

The rough was a long in some areas, and almost hardpan in others, but then again it's supposed to be penal and that is what you get for straying of the fairway.

The greens had some ball marks, but for the most part putted true. As others have stated, it's best to be below the hole on this course otherwise you could be in for some three putts.

I wasn't in any sand but one of my partners was and stated that it was so hard you almost had to pick it clean with can make for a tough shot.

A good time was had, not a big fan of the course as it is a little to quirky for my taste, but have a event for a friends school so wanted to get back out here to get some sort of knowledge before playing in the event. Beverage cart wasn't seen at all, and considering it was over 100 degrees out that is a big disappointment in my book.

Will be back for the event in a month, but it might be another 10 years before I make it back here with all the other courses in the area.

Back swinging clubs (poorly) after a 2 month hiatus. De Bell are flattening and re-sodding tees #6 (par 3), 11 (par 5) and 14 (par 3) which should be a welcome relief as these were either amongst the ... Continue »

Back swinging clubs (poorly) after a 2 month hiatus. De Bell are flattening and re-sodding tees #6 (par 3), 11 (par 5) and 14 (par 3) which should be a welcome relief as these were either amongst the least level (11) or the most beat-up on the course. Temporary tees on each of these holes meantime. Also, fairways were recently verti-cut and de-thatched. Even still, they were nice and green with a good pad under the ball and preferred lies throughout.

Rough was juicy and difficult to judge (as is the case with kikuya grass). Most greens had nice grass coverage although a couple had hex plug repairs on the edges. They were soft and putted very slow by De Bell standards so much so that putts that usually won't put the brakes on were pulling up short of the pin. Just a few bobbles here and there. Wasn't in any sand but it looked a bit iffy - crusty, with lots of pebbles.

That said, for the money this was a well-conditioned muni, in the main. I still think it's the hardest regulation course under 6000 yards in the wider area. 12 out of 18 holes have a hazard or OB close in on both sides, while the other 6 have a hazard or OB on at least one side. It would be like playing a course with 30 water features to negotiate. One bad swing and you are done. To that point, I score almost 4 strokes above my overall GK score-tracker average on this track, in spite of its modest length.

POP was surprisingly good for a Sunday morn with virtually no waiting after the second hole.

Played today with GKers Wangster and mswhsu. Decent course conditions if you can handle inconsistent rough, hitting less than driver, a few blind shots, side sloping fairways, and less than perfect sa... Continue »

Played today with GKers Wangster and mswhsu. Decent course conditions if you can handle inconsistent rough, hitting less than driver, a few blind shots, side sloping fairways, and less than perfect sand. Hey, it's an old course, and an odd course, winding its way beneath the old iconic Castaways restaurant in Burbank, CA. Well, at least we got it for the $15 cart fee only. POP was right at four hours. Some tees were being redone. That is, they were being completely leveled and reseeded. The greens were soft and rolled smooth. Not too fast, maybe an 8.0. The fairways were very decent to hit from with lots of good coverage. Rough tended to be somewhat thick, but there was someone running a gang reel around 11 greenside. Hopefully, he will eventually make his way around the course. We saw the beverage cart about three times. The customer sevice when I arrived was mostly detached and disinterested as I was the first to show up. The guy did not want to check me in until the rest of the party arrived.

DeBell - you and I are much alike. We are getting old. We both are getting bald in places that we shouldn't and we are growing too much stuff in places that aren't helping. We used to be better gro... Continue »

DeBell - you and I are much alike. We are getting old. We both are getting bald in places that we shouldn't and we are growing too much stuff in places that aren't helping. We used to be better groomed but it's hard to stay well groomed when you get old - too much work. We don't look as good as we used to and we're not as friendly as we once were. Most of your friends seem to be old too - they've known you and put up with your flaws. Are you letting your rough grow long to stop the ball from going out or to punish shots not in the fairway - or are you just getting lazy? Oh sure, a few years back you has a crisis and got yourself a pretty little clubhouse and parade it around on your web page. It's nice - you also have some nice views and of course your namesake par 3 - it's great. But you seem tired - forcing people to hit irons on various par 4's and listening to them curse as another ball is lost seems to be wearing on you. When the wind blows all your old trees creak painfully. Maybe you should lie down for a while and rest. After my round - I needed to.