Played Encino on Tuesday June 5th. The course has greened up considerably since the last visit about a month ago. I continue to enjoy this course, as it seems more than a simple up and back muni.
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Played Encino on Tuesday June 5th. The course has greened up considerably since the last visit about a month ago. I continue to enjoy this course, as it seems more than a simple up and back muni.

The tee boxes in were mostly good shape, some tee markers were on unlevel ground which always bothers me. The condition of the grass was fine though.

The fairways and rough have gotten much greener over the past month. The rough being in much better shape. With lots of lushness on many holes. The fairways were a bit patchy on some holes, with plenty of clover growing in. The length of the grass was level throughout, and the patchiness never really bothered any of my shots.

The bunkers on the course are in very poor shape. I am glad to have only visited one, but the others I viewed throughout the round were very thin, and compact. Especially the fairway bunkers.

The greens ran medium speed and were fairly smooth on the whole. Lots of leaves and debris on the greens though, which was a hassle to clear prior to any putt.

Overall the course is in decent shape, and as always you get what you pay for. The pace of play was excellent at just about 4 hours, we never had to wait on anyone. But it was a Tuesday afternoon, not exactly prime hours. Will be going back again soon, as I enjoy this layout, and it serves as a good confidence boosting course.

Encino Golf Course Review
Encino California Golf Course Reviews

Played Encino for the very first time today March 23rd. Went out at 248, and was in the car at 7, so just about 4 hours. The pacing on this course seemed to be much better than my prior experience a... Continue »

Played Encino for the very first time today March 23rd. Went out at 248, and was in the car at 7, so just about 4 hours. The pacing on this course seemed to be much better than my prior experience at Balboa. Having said that, I enjoyed this course much more than Balboa. I thought the holes were much more varied, and made me think a bit more than Balboa. I found myself enjoying it much more than my past round at Balboa.

The tee boxes on the course were pretty good overall. As usual the par 3s were a bit beat up, but I was still able to find a decent spot to tee up from. They were all fairly level, and fair.

The rough on the course was much better than I expected, it was fairly lush on most of the holes. It was not nearly as spotty as the sister course. You could definitely tell where the fairway ended and the rough began. I think it was definitely helped out by last weekends rain. The fairways were rather thin though, and patchy on some holes. They were really a mixed bag, some were very nice, especially the approach on several holes, I even considered putting a few times.

The greens were not the best, they ran rather bumpy. Essentially every single one, you could watch your ball jump and bounce on its way to the hole. The speed would be considered medium to slow. Did not notice un-repaired ball marks though, so that's always a good sign.

Overall the experience was pleasant, I enjoyed this routing and layout more than the Balboa course, and will find myself returning here soon.

Encino Golf Course Review
Encino California Golf Course Reviews

Late review. Played on Christmas day. Got there early 30 min early, and no one was on the course. Just went and teed off, and no one said anything! What a way to celebrate Christmas!

Course is in f... Continue »

Late review. Played on Christmas day. Got there early 30 min early, and no one was on the course. Just went and teed off, and no one said anything! What a way to celebrate Christmas!

Course is in fair condition. Fairway is mostly dry and yellow grass, with some areas green. Same for the rough. Greens were in great condition, rolled true at medium speed. Got in the sand once, and it was in ok condition.

Finished the round in just over 3.5 hours walking. We took plenty of time on the green to enjoy the empty course!

Encino Golf Course Review
Los Angeles California Golf Course Reviews

Course was in decent shape; nothing special. Biggest complaint was gnats that were almost intolerable on some holes as they seemed most interested in flying into golfers' eyes.

Course was in decent shape; nothing special. Biggest complaint was gnats that were almost intolerable on some holes as they seemed most interested in flying into golfers' eyes.

Played on 6/4/11. Played in 4.5 hours, which I think is pretty good for a muni on a Saturday. The greens were as good as they can be for this amount of play. Overall a good course in great conditio... Continue »

Played on 6/4/11. Played in 4.5 hours, which I think is pretty good for a muni on a Saturday. The greens were as good as they can be for this amount of play. Overall a good course in great condition.

Played Sunday 5/22. Tee time was 30 minutes prior to twilight rates. Worth it to pay extra because there was no one in front of us and no one went out behind us for half an hour. A 4 hour round! Unhea... Continue »

Played Sunday 5/22. Tee time was 30 minutes prior to twilight rates. Worth it to pay extra because there was no one in front of us and no one went out behind us for half an hour. A 4 hour round! Unheard of at an LA muni on the weekend. Judging by the parking lot, it was not a busy day at the Sepulveda Dam Rec center. The greens are nice and roll true. The fairways are pretty thin, often leaving your good drive on hard pan. The course is still recovering from the flood damage. On the plus side, the traps had new sand in them allowing you to play a real sand shot. Beverage cart came around twice. They were offering 50% off for replays.

Just as a heads up, as posted below, Encino is playing all 18 holes. I have to say that considering the pictures that were posted at the LA Golf Facebook page, the groundskeepers performed a miracle. ... Continue »

Just as a heads up, as posted below, Encino is playing all 18 holes. I have to say that considering the pictures that were posted at the LA Golf Facebook page, the groundskeepers performed a miracle. The course was in fine shape. The only semi-bad area was near the green on 5 (green was fine) and between the tee and green on 6 (par 3 so who cares?). The LA Golf site still has aeration on May 2 but it was, indeed, done on the 19th. Some of the greens have come back to 90% or better and some are still a bit bumpy. In a couple of weeks the course will be perfect. Get out there while people still don't realize it's open.

Per City of LA, Encino is now back to full 18 holes as of today.

Per City of LA, Encino is now back to full 18 holes as of today.

Confirm gaspard27. Course is playing only 16 holes -- 7 Front/9 Back. You skip 5/6 and move to hole 7.

Greens recovering from Aeration. Very bumpy and slow. They should come back fine so lon... Continue »

Confirm gaspard27. Course is playing only 16 holes -- 7 Front/9 Back. You skip 5/6 and move to hole 7.

Greens recovering from Aeration. Very bumpy and slow. They should come back fine so long as folks FIX THEIR DIVOTS. Aerated greens is no reason NOT TO FIX YOUR DIVOTS. Course though is in poor shape. They have weeds growing out of bunkers. Sand in bunkers are thin. Fairways reasonable, tee boxes are reasonable.

My complaint is in the restaurant/snack shop at the clubhouse. $3 for a bottle of water is rather excessive. The server in the bar told me to ask... how much for two beers and a tequilla? So I asked. $86. LOL. His reasoning, course only playing 18 holes (even less now) so place is quiet -- no business. You know if you're going to make the few pay to keep your doors open, who will stay if you gouge them like that? They have a lot of non golf folks parking in their lot. Why not cater to that lot? Advertise along the running/bike paths? I mean come on... $3.00 for a bloody bottle of water? LA County ... I won't be coming back anytime soon. And to think I put up with the non-resident rates before.

Otherwise course was quiet. Played as a single as I whipped around the course playing twilight (and 7 holes at $12.) I could have made the turn and finished because the crowds were light and plenty of sun left. Just bring your own beverages.