Played again last Sunday, 12/19/21, with fellow GKer, danoemi, her husband and one of their buddies. 8:30 am tee time, sub 4.5 hr. POP. Customer service, as the kids say, "Meh." As I checked in as the... Continue »

Played again last Sunday, 12/19/21, with fellow GKer, danoemi, her husband and one of their buddies. 8:30 am tee time, sub 4.5 hr. POP. Customer service, as the kids say, "Meh." As I checked in as the fourth of our group, the starter asked if I was the fourth. I said yes, but he was looking at the guy behind me in line. Hey, I'm short but not that short! He seemed confused as I tried to scan my player card and I had to tell him a second time that I was with the 8:30 group. Whatever. The walking rate is $47 with a senior card.

Greens: Good overall. Soft and medium to medium-fast roll. A few ball marks to fix. There was occasional bumpiness, but not bad. It definitely appeared that someone ahead of us was dragging their feet at times, though.

Fairways and rough: Decent coverage and a nice greenish tint considering it's nearly winter and it's almost all kikuyu grass.

Tees: All tee boxes looked level and mostly had good grass coverage.

Bunkers: The sand looked well groomed and I found only one bunker on Hole 9 greenside. It was a thin layer of soft, nicely groomed sand over hard pan. Noemi seemed to have no problem getting out of the two bunkers she was in, so I assume it was all decent. Well, I skulled it. The other guy who hit into this same bunker as me went easy and left it in on his first try. I'm not sure what's worse.

Overall impression of the course is it's in fine condition for a popular muni. It was not too crowded for a Sunday; I question this as it's very difficult to get a tee time online. Makes you wonder if we are getting gas lamped. Nice GPS on the carts, although I did walk. It's a nice walk at about 7 miles total, with a handful of small hills. Decent bloody Mary at the bar. No beverage cart. I can recommend this course.

Played a GK18 match with BNaso on a gorgeous Sunday with a late morning start. POP was less than 4.5 hrs, and conditions were well above average. Good coverage on green fairways. Tees boxes were 7/10.... Continue »

Played a GK18 match with BNaso on a gorgeous Sunday with a late morning start. POP was less than 4.5 hrs, and conditions were well above average. Good coverage on green fairways. Tees boxes were 7/10. Greens were still healing from recent aeration, but the punched holes were small and they rolled quite well. Bunkers were decent, with a dirt/sand consistency. Course had a lot more going for it than I expected. I’d play again for $57 with cart on a weekend morning. Don’t go out of your way, but if you have a reason to make the the drive you’ll enjoy the round.

Played the Dam on Sat 11/6. I've probably played it more than any course, so it's not new to me. For those that haven't played, it is an LA City course in Pacoima. Gets less play than the Encino cours... Continue »

Played the Dam on Sat 11/6. I've probably played it more than any course, so it's not new to me. For those that haven't played, it is an LA City course in Pacoima. Gets less play than the Encino courses. I think it's a good test of Golf & a fun course. Some Tee boxes had been punched & fertilized, not a problem finding a good spot, more visual. Fairways are very good, didn't see bare spots. I think recent cooler weather & rain has helped. Rough is usual Muni mix of slightly higher fairway grass giving way to grass/weeds mix. Greens were great, med speed. They are large greens, so lots of room for imperfect shots. Like most courses there are more ball marks than there should be... Collar areas were mowed down, & in good condition allowing my shanking partner to putt from 10 yards off at times. Greenside Bunkers are mostly fair with just a bit of softsand on top of hard stuff. Fairway bunkers looked harder. Overall really nice condition for a muni!! POP was slow, it could have been because of a brutal low morning fog. So bad that one couldn't see more than about 70 yards at 8*30 tee off. Fog lifted shortly after, but pace was killed. 4:40. I would like to support the Restaurant, but it's little more than a snack shop. I believe it opens at 8 or 8*30 so early birds bring your own Java. Most of it is closed off. No bar area anymore, no TV's . We wanted to have a couple beers & lunch, but watching football wasn't an option, so we went elsewhere. Customer Service was fine, Shark Experience GPS & Bluetooth speakers in carts. I'll be back.

Played yesterday with fellow GKer, danoemi, her husband and one of their buddies. Sunday, 9:10 am, 4.5 hr. POP. Decent customer service. I walked for $47, I think.

Greens: Good overall. Soft and m... Continue »

Played yesterday with fellow GKer, danoemi, her husband and one of their buddies. Sunday, 9:10 am, 4.5 hr. POP. Decent customer service. I walked for $47, I think.

Greens: Good overall. Soft and medium to medium, fast roll. Lots of ball marks to fix. There was occasional bumpiness, but not bad. It could have been someone ahead of us dragging their feet.

Fairways and rough: Decent coverage with some overly wet areas. The further off the fairway you got, things could get sketchy for your lie, but that's usually the case with most golf courses. It's almost all kikuyu grass here; it's thick enough to hold you ball up most of the time but you could end up in a divot and get a poor lie.

Tees: We played the whites. Those tees are up a bit; I would say it's playing where the forward tees were before they went to four separate tees. All tee boxes looked level and mostly had good grass coverage.

Bunkers: The sand looked well groomed and I found only one fairway bunker early on. Others seemed to have no problem getting out, so I assume it was all decent.

Overall impression of the course is it's in fine condition for a popular muni. It was not too crowded for a Sunday, maybe because it was Halloween. Check in was quick and the starter seemed pleasant enough. Nice GPS on the carts, although I did walk. It's a nice walk at about 7 miles total, with a handful of small hills. Decent bloody Mary at the bar. No beverage cart seen. I can recommend this course.

Friday, 10/15/21, 12:00pm, our L.A. group had couple of tee times and we made a practice round out of it. It was a busy sunny day and a warm 80 degrees that made for a four hours and 20 minutes pace ... Continue »

Friday, 10/15/21, 12:00pm, our L.A. group had couple of tee times and we made a practice round out of it. It was a busy sunny day and a warm 80 degrees that made for a four hours and 20 minutes pace which wasn’t that bad but there was nowhere to go.
The greens looked good although were quick and it was nicely rolling smoothly. The fairways were pretty nice and lush as well. The bunkers were a little inconsistent but they have sand. The rough was healthy although it wasn’t that penalizing. The teeing grounds were good and lush with some wear from the day’s play on par three.
Good customer service. Carts have GPS.
It was a very good day and it was very nice to play Hansen Dam with good playing conditions.

Teed off at Hansen as a foursome at 8:40am on Monday, 9/27/21. Finished in 4 hours and 15 minutes. It was a decent pace of play, with only minimal waiting. Overall, HD is in good shape. The fairways a... Continue »

Teed off at Hansen as a foursome at 8:40am on Monday, 9/27/21. Finished in 4 hours and 15 minutes. It was a decent pace of play, with only minimal waiting. Overall, HD is in good shape. The fairways are mostly green and lush, with a few thin areas here and there. The rough is a mix of semi-thick and sparse rough. The thicker lies could be a bit of a challenge to hit from. The other lies were usually benign. Tee boxes were good on some holes and very chewed up on others. But, there was no problem getting a tee in the ground. I was in two fairway bunkers, and they had adequate, firm sand. I was not in any greenside bunkers so I can't speak to their condition. The greens were mostly smooth and medium speed. We ran into some occasional bumpiness, but nothing too bad. I do recommend the course for play.

PokerGuy0826 (John) and I played a 11:40 GK match at Hansen Dam Wednesday, 7/7 with another two-some. All are conditions are good. Teeing here is never an issue — level with adequate or better coverag... Continue »

PokerGuy0826 (John) and I played a 11:40 GK match at Hansen Dam Wednesday, 7/7 with another two-some. All are conditions are good. Teeing here is never an issue — level with adequate or better coverage. Fairways were in good shape with good lies. The par-4 fifth hole had more than its share of burnt and thinner patches relative to the rest of the course, but otherwise I just didn't notice too much of that. Rough was OK, generally not long and mostly playable. Missing the fairway within reason didn't usually cost you anything. I was in one bunker, it was in decent shape and I escaped without any issues of note. Green-side areas were generally good for chipping. The greens showed small trace holes from aeration but putted fine at a medium pace. I say that as someone used to mixing up my courses, many times munis, and adapting to pace where medium or medium quick is a good minimum. The holes suggest there is some healing left and perhaps hope for more quickness eventually. John struggled with getting the ball to the hole often because he had been playing better and quicker greens more regularly lately, so there was an adjustment factor for him which is understandable. So be advised. I misjudged some longer putts and gagged on a few short ones, it was me, not the greens. The day was warm but tolerable with some breeze to offset the heat. Pace was somewhere around 4.5 and it was our group's pace because we really only had any kind or wait at all on two holes. No cart service but the cafe section is now open to grab drinks and food. A solid muni in solid shape. Recommended.

Played a weekend round with three buddies back at Hansen Dam this weekend and enjoyed a very fun, warm and revealing round. We played from the black tees this time (which were almost all matched up wi... Continue »

Played a weekend round with three buddies back at Hansen Dam this weekend and enjoyed a very fun, warm and revealing round. We played from the black tees this time (which were almost all matched up with the blue tees for some reason) and all walked with hand carts. Easy check-in and a decent driving range adjacent to the starter's office. We had a 12:10 tee time. First thing that absolutely needs to be said - the greens currently at Hansen are the best and fastest they have ever been. I have never seen the greens here roll so pure, so quick and so true. It was a real treat but so unexpected that I had a pretty terrible day statistically speaking as I must have rolled far past the pin on at least 10-12 greens trying to catch up to them. But yes, they're great right now. Long may it last. The rest of the course is also in good shape, but not as great as the greens. Fairways are mostly good with a few thin lies here and there, while the rough can also be a mixed bag, especially when you're down amongst the big trees on the front nine that bisect the course. Tee boxes were in good shape with flat areas and easy access, while the bunkers seemed a little hard but I managed to avoid all but one for the day. Pretty fun little layout at Hansen and wildly improved with the current course routing. There was no cart service all afternoon, but the snack shop at the turn is open and has everything you might need. I would definitely choose to go play Hansen now if in the area to take advantage of the greens.

I walked the blue tees at Hansen on Monday, 6/7/21, with an 11:30am tee time. The first few holes were played in a chilly light rain. It remained cool and cloudy for the remainder of our round. I like... Continue »

I walked the blue tees at Hansen on Monday, 6/7/21, with an 11:30am tee time. The first few holes were played in a chilly light rain. It remained cool and cloudy for the remainder of our round. I like the layout at Hansen better than any of the other LA City courses in the SFV. Usually, the conditions here are also better than the other courses. But I'm afraid the drought, lack of watering and proper maintenance, have reduced the quality of this course. The tee boxes are very chewed up, with many bare spots and difficult to get your tee in the ground on numerous holes. The fairways are about average for the typical LA city municipal course. There are substantial areas of decent green grass, along with bare and thin areas. There was very little run out on most drives. The rough is either much like the fairways or it is somewhat long and thick. I had a few lies just off the fairway that were difficult to advance. The two sand traps I was in had decent and adequate sand. The greens were quite slow and somewhat bumpy on many holes. Some were smoother and less bumpy. I found it difficult to hit it hard enough to get to the hole. The same is true for chip shots. The greens are a weakness of this course right now.