Tuesday 1/30/2018 – Played Los Amigos in Downey using the GK Coupon. Round, cart, and lunch for $27, after 12:30 pm Monday through Friday. Los Amigo’s seems to be one of the most popular courses in LA... Continue »

Tuesday 1/30/2018 – Played Los Amigos in Downey using the GK Coupon. Round, cart, and lunch for $27, after 12:30 pm Monday through Friday. Los Amigo’s seems to be one of the most popular courses in LA County, especially with walkers. Arrived about an hour early to stretch and warm up. Parking is almost always an issue at this course as it was today, but I found a space. The pro shop is clean and efficient and well stocked in the event your forgot something. The starter was very friendly and helpful. I was playing with my friend Bob, we picked up a large bucket of range balls to split, cost was $10. The driving range is very nice, with a host of good targets, all hitting bays were off the grass. The only amenity that was lacking were bag stands for cart bags. The café was efficient, the hot dog good, and the medium drink of reasonable size. There are a number strategically placed relief stations on the course, all were clean. The course was busy, our tee time was 12:50 and we got off on time as a foursome paired with a very nice and very good elderly couple. They are just about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We were behind a foursome, fivesome that somehow because a six some (slow) and a threesome. As might be guessed every par three was a backup. As a collective group everyone was friendly. My only complaint was that the six some had four very good players, that did not appear to know how to fix a ball mark. The putting and chipping practice areas are really good, spacious enough to accommodate the number of players lined up to get out on course. When we were called up to the tee, there was a fivesome on the tee, a threesome waiting to get off, us, and a foursome immediately behind us, most of us were practicing waiting our turn. That is really the extent of the good part of the round. I like the layout of this course a lot. Some water, dog legs that require accuracy but not extreme distance, and sloped greens that if they had been in good condition might have been fun. All of the tee boxes were beat up, and unlevel. With the volume of play this makes sense for the par threes, however the par 4’s and 5’s was no different. Most of the tee boxes were either rock hard, so much so that I had to use my foot to push down a tee peg (I was working on techniques playing only irons for this round so tee’ing it up low). The conditions of the tee boxes were very different from my past rounds here. Hopefully they will be aerated soon. Fairways were rock hard, and populated mostly with crab grass. Very few areas were covered in what I would call grass. This wasn’t typical hardpan, it was dirt, crab grass, occasional grass and very dry. On the positive side I hit a five iron thin off the tee, and out drove all three of my playing partners going out 230 yards. The roll was unbelievable on all the fairways. Areas to either side of the fairway centerline where for the most part exposed dirt, and crab grass. Rough, there was very little of what I would call rough, you know the 3-5 inch tall grass that makes shots harder. Today that would have been welcome vs. the spidery weeds that passed as rough. It’s one thing to have the grain of the grass go against you, but hitting into a weed surrounded by bare dirt barely covered by another spidery weed joining tentacles made basic chip and bump and run shots a crap shoot. This is primarily what was passing for greenside rough. Bunkers are challenging, most have excellent sand, a few have virtually no sand at all. Overall they are very good. An earlier review said the greens were bumpy. They were, and they are. There is a complete coverage of grass on most greens, they are pretty and greener than the rest of the course, and they were challenging with some wicked ball placements, and slopes. The pin on 15 was on top of a pyramid that broke in three different directions at the pin. But ultimately getting the ball in the hole was as much a matter of luck as skill with the number of bumps. Because the coupon is good for rounds after 12:30 and pace of play is slow, at a little over 5 ¼ hours completing the round is a challenge. We just made it the 18th green before full darkness perhaps helped by a bright full moon. This will likely improve as the coupon is good through March. Downey is a longish drive for me, I live in Mission Viejo. My friend however lives in Lakewood so this is a decent drive for him. Our playing partners and the layout of the course worked together to make this an enjoyable day, on a course that clearly needs to be aerated, seeded and watered. Did I enjoy myself yes, was it worth the money yes, am I going to rush back between now and March, not likely.