Played Harding on March 9. First official tee time out at 5:50, played as a single with a couple other singles who were really nice people. Conditions-wise, I've had some really bad experiences on co... Continue »

Played Harding on March 9. First official tee time out at 5:50, played as a single with a couple other singles who were really nice people. Conditions-wise, I've had some really bad experiences on courses in LA recently due to all the damage and sogginess that the massive rains have caused. Today the conditions were really, really good after a few days of dry weather (finally!). The fairways were in good condition and were finally give some normal rollout and distance. The greens at Harding were near immaculate -- maybe the best I've ever seen and I've played the course a lot over the years. They are running really fast, pretty hard although mostly receptive to approach shots, and on some greens it was hard to even find any ball marks on the greens, so people must be doing a really good job of fixing them or a really bad job of hitting them! Anyhow, who knows how the conditions will be with more rain coming in, but I felt very fortunate to have played in the small window before the next rains arrive.

somehow snagged a last minute time for saturday at 10:30. arrived about an hour prior and warmed up at the 2-story range. then onto the large practice green before walking over to the first tee. Was p... Continue »

somehow snagged a last minute time for saturday at 10:30. arrived about an hour prior and warmed up at the 2-story range. then onto the large practice green before walking over to the first tee. Was paired with 3 great gentlemen and we walked the course and I was glad i did as it was such a beautiful day and it was great getting to know my playing partners better.

since it was my first time playing it was great to have course knowledge but it's a funny thing about not having the baggage of prior rounds and just being able to swing freely. probably had my best day ever driving the ball! and since i found myself in the fairway all day i can note that i was hitting off good lies. the course seems to have benefited from the recent wet weather. the course itself is fairly straightforward and forgiving with minimal trouble, though on this day the greens were fast fast. definitely a challenge.

there is also a snack shop on the course that is in the middle of a few holes that has a good selection of refreshments.

the other interesting thing to note were the black/blue/white tees were all grouped together. I believe the course ultimately played as a combo between white and blues but it seems like they're letting the tee boxes heal.

the one downside would be the pace was brutal. wound up about a 5.5 hour round! still, the course and the surrounding griffith park scenery makes this a course i'd definitely like to play again

Played today 11/30. The overall conditions remain consistent with the previous review from 2 weeks ago. The reason I'm writing this review is because they closed and moved all but three or four of t... Continue »

Played today 11/30. The overall conditions remain consistent with the previous review from 2 weeks ago. The reason I'm writing this review is because they closed and moved all but three or four of the tee boxes to the Yellow tees. Yes, Black, Blue and White. I guess they are trying to repair the main tee boxes right now. I don't know why they can't rotate the repair to maybe 6 boxes at a time so they don't have to move ALL of them. Harding is usually a fun change of pace from Wilson but today played like and Executive course under 5000 yards. Outside of the par 3's I didn't hit many approaches outside of 120 yards. My friends mom enjoyed the layout but the rest of us...not so much. I wish they gave us notice of the course changes before we played. It just wasn't that much fun. I spoke to the pro shop guys after the round and they said it may remain this way for another week but I doubt it. I'm thinking another 2-3 weeks in the least. I'd recommend calling first or just wait. If you like Debell, Vista Valencia or Almansor, now is the perfect time to get on Harding.

Twilight round at Harding this past week with a friend who got a late tee time online. While there are no more 'free' rounds after accumulating points with an LA City card, it is still nice to get the... Continue »

Twilight round at Harding this past week with a friend who got a late tee time online. While there are no more 'free' rounds after accumulating points with an LA City card, it is still nice to get the hour earlier twilight time pricing which meant the round was crazy inexpensive for a quality golf experience. We played from the white tees and took a GPS-ready cart. Smooth check-in and off we went. Course is in very playable condition right now overall with just a few areas in need of some attention. A few of the tee boxes were pretty beat up, but that seems pretty standard right now. Bunkers were okay - a little too thin, especially with a ball right up against the edge with little option to hit a traditional bunker shot. Fairways had good coverage overall with some thin areas to navigate. Greens were actually in pretty nice shape and rolled smoothly at medium-fast speeds. Held shots well and weren't too cluttered with ball marks at this particular time. Did see a few greens with some damage off to the sides and one hole I was even allowed to move my ball as there were some deep pock marks in the grass immediately in the path of my putt. Best part of the day was the absolutely perfect four-hour POP, which is always surprising in LA but certainly welcome. Things moved smoothly all afternoon which was fantastic. Certainly not at its very best but you won't really be disappointed if you book Harding right now.

My playing time and driving distances have been limited for the past two months dealing with medical issues so Harding got the call this past weekend for my now weekly round at best. It's my only time... Continue »

My playing time and driving distances have been limited for the past two months dealing with medical issues so Harding got the call this past weekend for my now weekly round at best. It's my only time really out of the house right now and I'm definitely only riding but it's been a blessing to at least still be able to play some terrible golf until I'm back to 100%. Harding is in pretty good shape right now overall as you're going to find decent to good fairways throughout the course, and even a few lush areas, but also some thin. You're basically going to get a little bit of it all right now from tee to green. Rough is totally manageable and the tee boxes are level but not always well kept. Bunkers are a bit on the grainy side but playable. Greens were rolling pretty decently as well with not too many ball marks or other deficiencies, but there were some greens that showed evidence of some recent punching, depending on which side of the green you landed on. But for the most part they ran true at medium to medium-fast speeds and held shots well enough. POP was great for the first nine and then we caught up to the group in front of us who slowed things down quite a bit, but nothing to get too excited about. We were a twosome and were joined by another twosome, playing from the blue tees. No cart service around is always a bummer but the good part on Harding is that you reach one of the best snack shops around SoCal at the 8th hole junction. On a hot day that makes a major difference! All in all good times at Harding despite my poor play that seems to be the norm right now, but I'm going to get back at it and improving again soon enough!

I didn't have a tee time but got the green light from the missus to play an early round on Father's Day June 19. Showed up at the course at 5:25a, checked in with the starter to put my name on the li... Continue »

I didn't have a tee time but got the green light from the missus to play an early round on Father's Day June 19. Showed up at the course at 5:25a, checked in with the starter to put my name on the list, and it turned out that there was an opening at 5:40 on Harding, so I was happy. Good thing that spot was there, because there was a big tournament rolling through at around 6:30 and otherwise I think I would have been out of luck. The conditions on Harding are really good right now. Fairways and greens are quite lush, and the greens especially are rolling really nicely with medium speed. As the day went on and the sun started shining, the greens got a little faster and more tricky. The rough was quite long and penal in spots, which is a little unusual for Harding, but it added some challenge to the course. The coffee shop is doing a soft opening right now, so I was glad to stop in post-round for a little breakfast and coffee. Great service there and the food was great too. Definitely recommend heading out there.

Got a late but great 9:50am tee time on Memorial Day at Harding and expected it to be a very long day out there, but my buddy and I actually moved pretty well all afternoon and finished the round in a... Continue »

Got a late but great 9:50am tee time on Memorial Day at Harding and expected it to be a very long day out there, but my buddy and I actually moved pretty well all afternoon and finished the round in about four hours and 20 minutes.

We both walked the course and played from the blue tees, paired up with another twosome of youngsters. We started on time and off we went.

I was actually surprised to still see signs of aeration on a few of the greens, but for the most part they rolled well, medium-fast speeds and held shots with no problem. The fairways were in good shape but with a few thin areas and some water-logged sections that were problematic. Bunkers were a mixed bag but nothing that Kapalua would be jealous about. Some of the rough was actually quite thick and did require some competent club selection, while the tee boxes were mostly okay but some were quite beat up.

Always a fun time at Harding and today was no exception despite a poor round on the scorecard. The layout is pretty direct without too many bells and whistles, but some of the greens are definitely on the smaller side and there are a few with some serious slope to them as the course's best defense. But again, it's certainly not all of them so you're going to get plenty of good scoring chances out there.

It was a warm but windy afternoon so it made for some interesting calls out of the bag, most of which were quite off, but that was my fault, not the course's. For a $42 walking fee, it's more than worth it and even got a nice POP out of it on a major holiday. That's good, clean livin'.

Got a morning time on Mothers' Day and got paired up with a brother twosome and another single. Hadn't been to Griffith Park since pandemic so was startled by check-in system, which did go very smoot... Continue »

Got a morning time on Mothers' Day and got paired up with a brother twosome and another single. Hadn't been to Griffith Park since pandemic so was startled by check-in system, which did go very smooth.
Walked the blacks and was pleased by the conditions. Greens were a bit slow and putts were still be effected by recent aeration. Was in a couple of bunkers and there was a 50-50 chance on the quality of sand. There were few rakes to be found and that contributed to plenty of footprints left. Fairways, tee boxes and rough had decent coverage, but greenside rough/fringe were in well above average for coverage.

POP was great. Finished around 3hr 45min and didn't wait at all after hole 6 par 3. The group trailing us was at least a hole behind by the time we got to hole 6. Overall a great day with cool weather!

Played Harding this morning with a good friend. Right now, for a City course, it’s in terrific shape. They punched the greens a couple of weeks ago and they are running medium fast and true. Most b... Continue »

Played Harding this morning with a good friend. Right now, for a City course, it’s in terrific shape. They punched the greens a couple of weeks ago and they are running medium fast and true. Most bunkers in decent shape and that goes for the tee boxes. The fairways and rough were as good as I’ve seen in awhile. Played in under four hours. I believe they are punching Wilson’s greens nest week, so give Harding a try. Great morning.