Fun Saturday round at La Mirada today with Kassper7 and another friend. We were paired with a fun twosome and moved pretty well throughout the day despite being a fivesome, and also around a fifteen m... Continue »

Fun Saturday round at La Mirada today with Kassper7 and another friend. We were paired with a fun twosome and moved pretty well throughout the day despite being a fivesome, and also around a fifteen minute delay before teeing off.

My most recent memories of La Mirada were of dried out fairways on the high ground, and aquatic wastelands in the low-lying areas like holes 6 and 16. This place drains terribly and often the conditions suffer because of it. But today was definitely a much better experience.

If current conditions are not the best I've ever played here, then they're very close to it. Fairways have plenty of lush areas with the occasional thin spot to be found somewhere on just about every hole. Rough is not penal, but the tee boxes are just in okay shape overall. Bunkers fluctuated from hole to hole, but some were quite thin and required a chip out over a sand shot. And yes, the greens were in good shape. Not great, but quite good compared to trips past. Certainly not fast, but pretty well maintained if not just a bit lumpy and requiring a bit of a press.

Always enjoy the up and down layout at La Mirada and find it quite fun and relatively challenging. When the conditions are good and the round doesn't take you six hours (which it did not today), this is a super fun place to play. Glad to have come back.

Played with my monthly group at La Mirada on Saturday, 6/1/19 at 9am on a cool, cloudy day without much wind. Range on mats and main putting green was closed. One shop guy working hard to keep up but ... Continue »

Played with my monthly group at La Mirada on Saturday, 6/1/19 at 9am on a cool, cloudy day without much wind. Range on mats and main putting green was closed. One shop guy working hard to keep up but a great attitude. Not that busy at that time but clubhouse area was packed as we finished 5+ hours later. We debated during the round about the translation into “golf English” of “La Mirada”. The prevalence of no grass in many playing areas of the course led us to think it could mean “the bare dirt”. Based on our experience today, we all agreed that it could mean “the bad lie”. All holes had scattered or large bare areas where the ball could rest in a multitude of flat/ridged/muddy/cratered forms, but bad lies could be had on “grass” or in the non-fairway areas, as well. My experience in the front bunker on #2, where my ball came to rest in a deep trench that looked like it had formed from a dozen golfers blasting out and not raking behind them, led me to think that the translation could be “the ditch”. Greens were the "best" part of the course, fairly firm and not showing many ballmarks, but bumpy and rolling at medium+ speed. Coming here over the years (once per year or less) it seems to me that the size of many greens continues to shrink as American Golf continues to tighten its budgets. Fairways where we found grass were thin and tight, rolling out OK but giving uncertain lies. Rough ranged from bare/thin to more lush in lower areas of the course. Most bunkers had adequate sand (but see above!) but it was often very wet and/or packed. We played the Blue tees and they were OK, but frequently pushed well forward of the Blue plates, especially on the par-3s. OK for a slow casual round.

Played LM on Friday morning. Walked on at 8am with no issues. Check in was smooth and first tee was well organized. The course is getting a little rough around the edges. Tee boxes had good coverage, ... Continue »

Played LM on Friday morning. Walked on at 8am with no issues. Check in was smooth and first tee was well organized. The course is getting a little rough around the edges. Tee boxes had good coverage, fairways were hard and fast if you had any side spin on the ball you were in the rough. The rough was a mixed bag. Traps were very inconsistent with hard pack sand, wet sand and good sand coverage. Greens were healthy with good coverage, they were bumpy and had quite a few unfixed divots.
POP was 4.5 hours, there was a marshall on the course moving people along. Pack your patience and you will have a good day.

6:00am tee time on Monday. Arrived at 5:30am - what a zoo ! People EVERYWHERE ! Waited a few minutes after they opened the door to the Pro Shop, then waited to check in. It was 5:57 before we ... Continue »

6:00am tee time on Monday. Arrived at 5:30am - what a zoo ! People EVERYWHERE ! Waited a few minutes after they opened the door to the Pro Shop, then waited to check in. It was 5:57 before we finally paid and I asked if they were running late. I was told, no they're on time ???? So asked "Does that mean we can walk to the tee and hit off? " No response. I think the guy got the message because he then called our name a few minutes later as 3rd off, so we actually only teed off about 15 minutes late.

The greens were the best part of the course. Rolled well, very soft and receptive, but too slow for my taste. Fairways were not good. Lots of areas which were very thin/sparse. Bunkers were very wet, but playable.

Despite all the people, who actually began teeing off at 5:30, we finished in under 4 hours, which surprised me. Not good for a 6am tee time, but still better than I expected. And for $16.50 hard to complain too much

Teed off Sunday morning at 6:30 and finished in 4.5 hours. I booked a tee time through American Golf website for a single (rack rate but no booking fees). I have not played La Mirada in 6 years and wa... Continue »

Teed off Sunday morning at 6:30 and finished in 4.5 hours. I booked a tee time through American Golf website for a single (rack rate but no booking fees). I have not played La Mirada in 6 years and wanted to give it a play since the last couple of reviews had showed improvement to conditions. A few years back they upgraded the driving range with artificial greens as targets. They also did some work to the bunkers. I noticed the bunker to the right of the 6th green had been removed and maybe the green size was reduced slightly. Bunkers were built on the outside corners of the doglegs on holes 1 and 10. Like many courses some rough areas farther off the fairways have been allowed to go bare or at least very thin in order to save water. They also turned the large practice putting green next to the cart barn into a smaller putting green and chipping green with bunker.

Overall the course conditions are fair to good. The greens rolled with medium speed and held shots but were a bit bumpy at times. The fairways were mostly good with some thin areas. The immediate rough to the fairways ways was decent but thin/bare in spots. The bunkers were in decent shape but a bit wet. The tee boxes were fair to good mostly due to mild unleveness.

Although La Mirada is just over 6000 yards the rolling terrain, small greens, and medium to long par 3s present some challenge. The starter was friendly and did a good job of getting people checked in and calling groups to the 1st tee.

La Mirada Golf Course - Greens punched 03/25/2018

Played La Mirada Golf Course Tuesday 03/27/2018 as a foursome. My friend Bob and I who were scheduled with an 8:57 am tee time, joined a twosome se... Continue »

La Mirada Golf Course - Greens punched 03/25/2018

Played La Mirada Golf Course Tuesday 03/27/2018 as a foursome. My friend Bob and I who were scheduled with an 8:57 am tee time, joined a twosome set to go out at 8am. Dick and Steve were a very nice couple of guys, good strikers. Dick 91 walked the first 9 holes, which created a slight issue for us, and Steve rode in a cart. The guys were great except Dick had who was playing from the whites (the rest of us from the blues) had a habit of going first, then heading off into the line of play. We could get him to look back and move a little, but he seemed far more confident of our skills than we were.

The course has a nice parking lot, with plenty of spaces, and looks freshly paved. The club house and restaurant show the age of the facility but were clean neat, and everything functioned, and was stocked. Bathrooms strategically places around the course were clean, neat and stocked. Carts were basic, clean and in good repair.
Driving Range- La Mirada’s driving range is brand new and is the nicest I have seen at a Sothern California public course. They have adopted water conservation by creating island greens, with fake sand traps, sloped greens multiple pins, surrounded by waste area. Balls hit into the range will naturally roll down the hill to the bottom to be collected by the tractor which features a red and white bullseye target on top of the cab. There is an area for hitting off of grass but looks like most stations will be hitting off of mats. Putting and chipping areas are very nice, and in line with Skylinks.

The pro shop was very nice, they have a sense of humor when calling groups to the first tee, either friendly moving them along Kim foursome balls in the air, or calling the group to the tee as tournament champions. They provide course maps free if you request one. They are very helpful.
We signed up for round on American Golf Players Club at $41 with cart. Greenskeeper course listing showed the aeration date as 4/2 and 4/3, however there is a warning to call the course and verify. I did not do this and the result was a unhappy playing partner as he was paying for the round and putting is both his favorite thing and his strength. We were charged the $31 play all day rate. Lesson learned if greens are important during maintenance season, call and verify.

This is a very hilly course, with the green out of sight from most tee boxes. Trees have been thinned to provide the golfer a better experience. Hills are shaggy, lined with leaves and pine straw so errant balls may be hard to find, or in bad lies. Don’t depend on the slope of the hills to help you.

There were at least three marshals on course and they were very proactive moving people along, and encouraging groups to wave up those on the tee when they got to the greens on Par 3’s.
The tee boxes were in very good shape overall with very little divot damage. Hole 17 was playing from a temporary tee box that was across the cart path from the regular box, extending the hole from 133 yards to 165 yards over tall tree, or under the tree towards a greenside bunker requiring a draw. May tee boxes on this morning were playing back towards the tips.
With the exception of 16 the I felt the fairways had very good coverage, there was little or no standing water, mud or bare spots. 16 runs down a deep valley and was the lone exception featuring all the above, mud, standing water, and bare spots. I dislike the 16th hole as it is blatantly unsafe, and should require a marshal to advise players when the green is clear. After teeing off on a high tee box down into the valley the golfer is faced with a hard dog leg left to an elevated blind green. Most drives are short of the turn, and golfers are tempted to loft the ball up cutting the corner again into a completely blind green. We did have a marshal in the fairway at the dog leg but he was engaged in putting back the cart path guides not controlling on course traffic.

Bunkers were full of new sand and were in fair condition footprint wise. There are a lot of fairway and green side bunkers on this course.
Greens are small, many are elevated and long shots will go down to a valley or the next tee box depending on angle. Long is seldom good here. All greens were punched and sanded, and there were crews out adding sand, blowing sand off the fringe and out of the greenside rough which was thick, and dragging sand. Hardware on course was an issue, but they were observant and did the best they could not to be an issue. The punch job, rolling and sanding were among the best I have seen, but all puts were a crap shoot regardless of length.

We started the round off as a foursome, with one walker. At the turn our walker picked up a cart, on the twelfth we picked up another walker whose twosome had left. He waited for the fivesome of ladies that were in front of us to go past. These ladies can play and we were never held up by them until apparently the 15th hole. I am not sure if what happened was a result of the marshals pushing pace of ply or just bad etiquette, however my partner had pushed his tee shot and was at the bottom of the hill to the right of green 165 yards out. All we could really see from his ball was the tops of the golf carts of the group in front of us, and the ladies when they were on the green. As we approached the ball, the carts weren’t moving to the next tee which was behind us. My playing partner was getting annoyed. About three to five minutes into waiting I took the cart and drove up to the green to see what was going on so my partner could play. As I approached it looked like there was a large dog curled up in the left bunker, with all the ladies around it. As I got close it turned out to be one of the ladies. One of the other three members of our group had hit into them, beaned and dropped this lady. I asked if they wanted me to call 911 they did not. After listening to them complain about our rudeness the three gentlemen we were playing with arrived and the conversation / argument went all Korean and I retreated to explain the hold up to my partner. The lady eventually got up and the fivesome somehow resumed play. We did as well. Due to the language differences we didn’t have a lot of conversation other than good shot. Given the way the lady was when I approached I am amazed she continued on, and hope she sees a doctor just to be safe. On the next hole the walker who had joined us, and the older guy Dick, again decided to walk in front of my place on the tee as I hit driver. Needless to say my mind was not on the last three holes.

Like many L.A. county municipals this course is high volume. It is well maintained, but high volume. Most of the golfers I saw in the morning groups were good, there were more riding carts than walking but almost every group had a walker on this very challenging course.

This course is a bit of a drive from my house, my playing partner is moving to Palm Springs so I don’t think I will be back anytime soon.

Since I had not played here in a few years, wanted to take advantage of the LA County senior card, so booked a tee time for 6:30am Tuesday 1/16/18. I arrived just before 6am and it was pitch black an... Continue »

Since I had not played here in a few years, wanted to take advantage of the LA County senior card, so booked a tee time for 6:30am Tuesday 1/16/18. I arrived just before 6am and it was pitch black and there were already people teeing off ! By the time we teed off at 6:41. (11 minutes behind already) we were the 10th or 11th group out. Since dark ! As we walked up to the second tee box, there were people teeing off on #9. That's insane ! That meant thy played the entire front nine in total darkness ! Given this craziness, we were able to finish in just under 4 hours, which for a 6:30 tee time is horrible, but considering the entire front nine was filled when we started, not as bad as expected.

The course was in decent shape. Not great, but OK. Greens had not been mowed, so they were slow and bumpy, but I could see they could have been good had they been cut. Fairways/bunkers fairly good. Rough was very spotty.

Despite everything, enjoyed by round and never felt like a four hour round (Good company I guess? ) However I now know I will NEVER try to come out early and try to beat the crowds, because they place is ridiculous.

Played Mon Dec 4th at 8:45. I played my very first round of golf here in 1974, shot 126, bent a club on a tree and didn't play golf again for 14 years, LOL. I live in Norco so it was a 2 hour driv... Continue »

Played Mon Dec 4th at 8:45. I played my very first round of golf here in 1974, shot 126, bent a club on a tree and didn't play golf again for 14 years, LOL. I live in Norco so it was a 2 hour drive to the course. Finally got there, check in was fast and friendly. Did not remember anything about the course from 1974. Friends told me it would be a slow round so just relax. We walked and POP was ok at 4:17. We played the blues. I thought the course was in good shape, tee boxes and fairways no issue, was in 2 traps and the sand was soft and plentiful. Greens were very nice, receptive and green, rolled very nice at a consistent speed. The course has several funnel fairways where the ball rolls down to the middle of the fairways, and has several fairways that slope one direction, many dogleg holes and a few holes that play much shorter than the yardage. Course knowledge is a must and the guys I played with helped me allot. I liked it so much after the round I bought the LA County senior discount card. BTW I did beat my 1974 126 score, LOL I shot the best score I ever shot 81 with 29 putts.

Walked on to LMGC at 1pm on Tuesday to take advantage of the discounted green fees that start at noon. Starter sent me right to the first tee and joined a twosome, very nice older couple. Tee boxes ha... Continue »

Walked on to LMGC at 1pm on Tuesday to take advantage of the discounted green fees that start at noon. Starter sent me right to the first tee and joined a twosome, very nice older couple. Tee boxes had good coverage, traps had good sand and rough had good coverage. Fairways were a mixed bag with all kinds of different grasses growing, there was one particular grass that grows in clumps that is very tall and wiry in the middle of fairways. Many dead spots with little to no grass at all, have seen the fairways in much better shape. Greens were a little on the long side and bumpy. Very few unfixed ball marks, greens were holding shots and were medium speed.
Was a little worried about playing an afternoon round but was pleasantly surprised with the POP being a little over four hours.