Played this AM in POP of 4 hours (should have been 3.5 or less). Would have been faster if the group of 5 in front of us, stayed up with the group of 5 in front of them (had to wait on them to drag th... Continue »

Played this AM in POP of 4 hours (should have been 3.5 or less). Would have been faster if the group of 5 in front of us, stayed up with the group of 5 in front of them (had to wait on them to drag their ass in the fairway and forever to putt - disgusting display in lack of courtesy). Nothing bothers me more, than slow play from golfers who want to play early and then take there d%mn sweet time, ruining the rounds for those behind them. And Los Amigos management (Mike S) if you read this, put a marshal out in the morning to move those lazy butts along PLEASE. No reason for slow play at that time of the day. As for the course? It is in the best shape (IMO) I have ever seen the place. I was impressed with the fairways (green with no brown - yet) with their roll and good lies (even being damp); tee boxes were clean, level and tee receptive; very little rough on the outside of the fairways and what there is, is playable; bunkers were very playable with good sand (in 2 of them); greens were just great. Putted/chipped very nicely and the only ball marks I repaired were my own (outstanding). Customer service was excellent (thanks Gary). We might be back?

Played Los Amigos in Downey on Golf Now Hot Deal at $33 with cart. Tee time was 11:28 am and we got off on time as a foursome pared with the nicest couple I have ever played with and they were single ... Continue »

Played Los Amigos in Downey on Golf Now Hot Deal at $33 with cart. Tee time was 11:28 am and we got off on time as a foursome pared with the nicest couple I have ever played with and they were single digit handicappers which made them fun to watch, as well as play with.

The golf course shares a parking lot with a Juvenal hall, and probation center, making parking tight early in the day.

The course is undergoing some upgrades and repairs that has construction going on near the first tee.

The driving range is adjacent to the first tee, expansive, very neat, mat only. The far fence has collapsed and is at 45+ degree angle, but this effects neither driving nor play.

Check in was straight forward, pleasant and quick. The carts are basic no fills muni standard. Clean, ran well, basket, normal stuff.

Tee boxes were mostly level, thin cover but in good shape. There were a number of divots, but most were not bad, not an issue. Some tee boxes had divot mix on hand, it appeared to be used sparingly. I liked the tee boxes, found them easy to find good footing on.

Fairways are well covered with some thin areas, but none that came into play for me or my partners. The fairways are protected by trees that curve creating doglegs, and fairway bunkers most of which have hit embankments preventing a good recover. Tree limbs often compound the penalty of entering a fairway bunker. Several holes feature doglegs, on three occasions bounded the other side by water. Straight is very useful, as is the ability to shape shots left and right. I found myself using 3 wood and 5 wood to lay up more than any round I can remember.

The majority of trees on this course are older mature trees with significant height and breadth. The ability to flight down and or run the ball improves the ability to recover from the occasional errant shot.

In addition to the trees and fairway bunkers, the 16th hole features a creek crossing at around 220 yards depending on tee, and is the break point on the dogleg with another 160 yards in to the green. There is a small goal post size opening for a person who can shape the ball, otherwise it's a layup.

Quick note this course rewards someone who uses a laser rangefinder. My GPS was helpful, but the rangefinder gave me the information to pull different clubs. I ended up using my driver far less, and for the first time in serious play, using my 3,5,7, woods, and 4 and 5 iron.

Bunkers were in good condition. Topcoat of sand was dry and fine, however I was in two bunkers, on of which had a heavy, dense layer of wet sand just below the surface dry sand, and did not allow an effective sand explosion.

Most greens were well covered, no thin spots, several still suffered from having recently been punched offering very bumpy rolls. Add in pine straw, slope, ridges, multilevel greens and proximity to the pin made a big difference in determining par vs. bogey or worse. Unfortunately there had also been a sunflower seed spitting golfer, and butt tossing smoker out playing today.

Pace of play was awful. Our round took a little over 5.5 hours. From the first tee we were backed up. The two foursomes in front of us often met up on the tee. The pace wasn't so much the pace of the players in front of us, rather they were just over stacked, and spacing was too close. Add to this a twosome directly in front of us, that had one player teaching another player, sharing one set of clubs. Well they wanted to believe they could bomb driver this course won't allow it unless your laser straight. In nine holes that we followed them before they quit, the were straight once. On one occassion my partner hit up to what looked to be an empty green, only to find out they had parked their cart by the other foursome on the tee, and were behind the green out of sight taking several minutes to hit back up onto the green. They were annoyed we had hit up to the green, but it was our second shot into the par 4. They had been hidden that long. Behind us we had a group of walkers who first came over onto our tee box and stood in our view well we tee'd off and his party finished putting out. Then the sent their self propelled push carts over the hill toward our tee box. I am usually pretty understanding but had to correct that, though they still would let their bags chase up on us.

If it hadn't been for Paul and his partner whom we had been paired with the slow pace of play, the tractor aerating a section of fairway in our target line would have ruined an otherwise wonderful to play course, but we clicked as a foursome and it wasn't an issue.

Well the starter was efficient, the snack bar which was only partially open was not. They held us up even though they knew we were continuing on. When we stepped in there wasn't a person there, then as we were walking out she came in. We ordered three dogs and soda's which she started then stopped to answer another persons question on soup, even though we explained we had to get moving. There were no onions, a nearly empty bottle of mustard. (not a great experience).

Bathrooms were clean, neat and modern, and available about every four holes.

Long drive for me coming up from Mission Viejo, but would gladly play the course again. If this is how slow it is on a Monday and how stacked up, I definitely would not play a weekend.

I hadn't played Los Amigos in over 25 years, but after recently hearing that the course had been improved greatly in last few years, I was eager to play and see it for myself. Teeing off a little bef... Continue »

I hadn't played Los Amigos in over 25 years, but after recently hearing that the course had been improved greatly in last few years, I was eager to play and see it for myself. Teeing off a little before 7:00 AM this morning, I'd like to report that I thoroughly enjoyed my round. Although this is not an overly long layout, it requires accuracy and good positioning both on tee shots and approaches to the greens in order to score well. Unlike many L. A./Orange County munis that do not feature doglegs and severely undulating greens, Los Amigos offers plenty of challenges on all aspects of one's game. Because of my long absence from this course, it virtually was like playing a brand new layout which presented an additional enjoyment. The overall course condition was very good, especially for a muni. I only wish that it was a lot closer to where I live as I would definitely like to play it again, but the heavy traffic on freeways even during the so-called non-rush hour periods is a cause for hesitation. An excellent value, especially if you are senior walker with an L. A. County Sr. Card playing on a weekday. Highly recommend it for players of all skill levels.

Saturday round at Los Amigos with three friends this weekend. This is almost always a good course to get back to every few months to see what improvements they have made and shoot a good score. There'... Continue »

Saturday round at Los Amigos with three friends this weekend. This is almost always a good course to get back to every few months to see what improvements they have made and shoot a good score. There's not a lot of peril to find at Los Amigos, with the exception of the final three holes.

They have done a lot of work recently at Los Amigos and there are definitely some noticeable improvements. They've redone the tee boxes on holes 11 and 14 which look great, albeit a bit shaggy currently. The reworked green on 11 is finally working and it's a very tricky, multi-tier challenge that came out very nice. So while some of the holes have some nice features like new tee boxes, others are still rock hard and in need of some love.

The fairways have pretty good coverage - not exceptional carpet by any means, but there are some nice sections and mostly good lies to be found. The rough is often not much higher than the fairways and can often provide a better lie than parts of the thin fairways. The sand, as usual at Los Amigos, is really good. And the greens were a mixed bag depending on which hole you were on as they varied quite a bit, but for the most part they were medium fast, held shots well and rolled pretty true. Quite a few ball marks out there though but nothing too heinous.

Hot day but no cart service. POP was actually better than it felt at just around five hours, which is not bad for this crowded course on a Saturday with an 11:48 tee time. Did see a few groups of six out there so not sure what that was all about - can't imagine the starters knew anything about that (at least I hope not).

So yeah, good time today at a currently slightly above average Los Amigos. I do believe I read that they will be aerating in the coming days so I would check ahead before booking a new tee time there in the next few weeks.

Played at 10am with my monthly club on Saturday, 4/8/17, on a day that started mild and calm, but later got breezier and warm. A morning of mild temps, partly cloudy with minimal wind, morphed into fr... Continue »

Played at 10am with my monthly club on Saturday, 4/8/17, on a day that started mild and calm, but later got breezier and warm. A morning of mild temps, partly cloudy with minimal wind, morphed into freshening breezes and a steady west wind that had to be factored in on all shots. The course was not too busy and we went out close to time behind intermixed groups of 3, 4, and 5. Pace was pretty normal for LA County courses on weekend mornings, and we finished in just over 5 hours.

In recent years this course has had some capital inputs that have resulted in a cleaner look, more open hitting areas, several tees and greens being rebuilt, and an overall improvement in playability and ambience. The 11th green has been rebuilt since my last visit – it is much larger than before. On the 18th green a temporary replacement is coming; the main green will likely be renovated. A sand circle is currently located in the fairway about 50 yards short of the current green for the temporary green. The bathroom after hole 14 has been nicely redone.

Range on grass. There’s a small chipping and sand area near the first tee. The putting green had lots of spike marks, and some wet/soft areas. Great deals on sandwiches available in the snack bar adjacent to the bar – I didn’t even know there WAS a snack bar until last Saturday.

Greens were semi-firm, medium-fast to fast, but bumpy – all of them with a lot of old marks. The greenskeeper apparently had a very bad night on Friday night. The placement of the pins today was the toughest I’ve ever seen at this course – almost all were pushed to the green edges on significant slopes or on a saddle in the green. Combined with the firmness and pace of the greens, this made for a long day of putting. In these locations, there’s a huge amount of movement in the immediate vicinity of almost all the cups. My playing partner’s ball, from below the cup on the 10th green sloping to the right, did a slow-motion horseshoe around the cup and came back toward him – without ever touching the rim of the cup!!

The last few greens very firm/thin, and looked quite dried out. Hole 17 (a relatively new green) had an unbelievable amount of old ballmark damage. Greens here are generally small, although the rebuilt 11th and 17th are much larger than their predecessors.

Fairways were fairly tight, but giving good lies; too bad there were so many unfilled divots. Small colored posts (100/150/200) in the center of fairways are the only distance tools.
Rough was cut short and easily playable. Sand was soft and plentiful in the one bunker I was in. Tees were OK; some were slightly sloping. Several tees have been rebuilt – these are more level, look like they’ve been sodded, and are more lush. The new tee on hole 14 is welcome, as this tee especially needed rebuilding / leveling, as it sloped badly behind a right hander.

Watch out for lots of pine needles in the rough, especially under the big trees. Small tree/other debris can be blowing across greens late in round; you can’t clean it up fast enough to putt beforfe more blows in.

OK for a casual round.

Played yesterday (Wednesday), mid-day. Course is in good shape for a muni. Pace was atrocious. 3 hours for the front nine. Brutal. That's all we could stomach. Left early. Given two free rounds as c... Continue »

Played yesterday (Wednesday), mid-day. Course is in good shape for a muni. Pace was atrocious. 3 hours for the front nine. Brutal. That's all we could stomach. Left early. Given two free rounds as compensation by starter, but don't know if I'll ever be back.

Tee time at 10:55 this morning and was off 15 minutes late. POP front 9 of 3 hours and a total POP of 5.5 hours. On a Monday. Ouch.

Tee boxes on #5, #11, #14 and #15 were either temporary or moved ... Continue »

Tee time at 10:55 this morning and was off 15 minutes late. POP front 9 of 3 hours and a total POP of 5.5 hours. On a Monday. Ouch.

Tee boxes on #5, #11, #14 and #15 were either temporary or moved to a forward box due to the new grass on the back box. Temporary green on #11 about 60 yards short of the actual green.

Not much to add to ringworld's review of conditions other than the greens were playing quite firm (with lots of ballmarks) and be sure to bring a hammer for the tee boxes.

The short review. Conditions above standard. Pace of play abysmal. Back in the day when this course was a dog of a tract I could literally get on quickly and play quickly. Not so nowadays. Condi... Continue »

The short review. Conditions above standard. Pace of play abysmal. Back in the day when this course was a dog of a tract I could literally get on quickly and play quickly. Not so nowadays. Conditions rival that of Rio Hondo it's upper scale older brother of a golf course. Greens held their line and ran with med/fast speed. They held shots well with high arching shots. Green complexes very lush and manicured. Fairways had a few thin areas but definitely not the norm with good to decent coverage. Bunkers well stocked with sand. Tee boxes were flat with good rotation so no thin lies. Pace of play was ... stacked. Course was very busy for a Friday morning. Front 8 took 3 hours to play and we literally gave up after the front 9. No sense in turning it into a 6 hour round. Will be back perhaps during mid week with more suitable pace of play. They are working on a few of the tee boxes but not a problem. Hats off to the crew for their tremendous work at improving the course conditions.

Played on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 a.m. Enjoyed the relaxed vibe at check-in, on the range, the putting green, and the first tee. Started on-time as the fog burned off. I don't recall a bad tee box... Continue »

Played on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 a.m. Enjoyed the relaxed vibe at check-in, on the range, the putting green, and the first tee. Started on-time as the fog burned off. I don't recall a bad tee box, but there are a couple of temporary tees due to course construction -- which is a good thing. New tee boxes are being built on #11 and #14; and there's also a temporary green on #11. Not sure when this work will be completed, but players will certainly benefit from it.

Fairway turf is generally good and the rough is kept pretty short throughout. Ten fairways feature a right or a left turn, so you'll have to give some thought to club and target selection. The greens are in good shape, but roll a little slow. You'll probably find some ball marks to fix in addition to your own, but that's always the case...isn't it? The surprise is the bunkers. Nice, fluffy sand to hit from. Pace of play was about 4.5 hours, perhaps a Marshal could have speeded it up.

All in all, as a walker and muni player, I enjoyed Los Amigos. It's only $30 for the round, it has improved since the last time I visited, and I'll go back again.