Super short review. Teed off Friday 11/15 from the whites. Course is in nice winter conditions. Some odd dirt or thin stretches mostly in out of the way places, the coverage is mostly good. Hit one bu... Continue »

Super short review. Teed off Friday 11/15 from the whites. Course is in nice winter conditions. Some odd dirt or thin stretches mostly in out of the way places, the coverage is mostly good. Hit one bunker and it was OK. Greens were quick side of medium and in good shape. Perfect, invigorating, Cali winter day with spotty clouds, clear, cool air and even a spot of rain. Dug it. Recommended.

Out with first group this morning. Two people wanted to play slower so two of us moved out and had a nice POP of 3 H. No issues with back 9 players either. Check in nice and smooth and great service. ... Continue »

Out with first group this morning. Two people wanted to play slower so two of us moved out and had a nice POP of 3 H. No issues with back 9 players either. Check in nice and smooth and great service. Course was damp from overnight dew and watering but that was the only issue all round. Tee boxes all in good shape. Fairways good coverage but damp so not a lot of roll out. Traps were all clean and playable. Very little rough to deal with outside of the fairways. Greens though damp were firm and had good speed all round. Some of the best conditions I have seen on this course in a long time. Sr rate with County cart $39.75 with cart. $23.50 to walk. Playing early here is the key as I noticed lots of players on the front when we made the turn and lots of players waiting to tee off when we finished.

Friday 9/20, 2:15, me and a buddy tee off from the whites with two singles taking the blues. As SA goes, overall conditions are good and recommended with a few notes. Fairways are mostly in good shape... Continue »

Friday 9/20, 2:15, me and a buddy tee off from the whites with two singles taking the blues. As SA goes, overall conditions are good and recommended with a few notes. Fairways are mostly in good shape but on a couple of holes on the back nine, there are sections roped off where they are repairing/replacing the sod — the 13th and 14th, if I recall correctly. If you hit into the GUR, take your drop and move on as there is plenty of available non-GUR fairway and I didn't see it as a big issue. It is good to see the attention to improving/maintaining the conditions. Bunkers have a thinner layer of soft sand over a firmer base — balls tended to sit up. Greens were not pristine but had no serious issues, ran pretty true at a good medium/quick pace and were fine and fair by my standards. Busy Friday meant a sluggish pace, we got around in something like 4:45 and were probably the second to last group to have enough light left to comfortably finish.

Nice to get back out to Santa Anita, one of my favorite walking courses. Love the setting, and the interesting layout. Greens better than expected. a bit too firm for my liking, but still playable. De... Continue »

Nice to get back out to Santa Anita, one of my favorite walking courses. Love the setting, and the interesting layout. Greens better than expected. a bit too firm for my liking, but still playable. Decent coverage in the fairways. Both bunkers I found had thin sand coverage. Rough was inconsistent. Sure, wish we had some of these old style traditional golf courses in Orange County. Also wish that we had a few courses with senior rates like LA County offers.

Out Friday with a buddy and a single for a 1:33 start, teeing up on the whites. Pretty good experience overall and the course is in good shape. Teeing grounds are mostly level and more green than not,... Continue »

Out Friday with a buddy and a single for a 1:33 start, teeing up on the whites. Pretty good experience overall and the course is in good shape. Teeing grounds are mostly level and more green than not, with a few minor exceptions. Fairways are in good shape. Rough varies from lush to thinner to some dirt areas but is much more good than not. I only hit one bunker which was firm-ish but good. Mostly I found good lies in the green surrounds for short game and the greens are in nice shape, running the quick side of medium, firm and generally resistant to pitch marks. For a Friday afternoon most surprising was the pace. We got around in a leisurely 4.5 hrs, with only brief delays on a couple of par 3's, otherwise mostly open shots ahead and never pressed from behind. Kudos to the mixed foursome ahead of us who moved efficiently when not impeded from the front. Service here is friendly enough and they seem to run it pretty efficiently. Recommended.

Played Santa Anita for the first time in a while this past week and was very pleasantly surprised with the vast majority of the conditions, while the POP left a lot to be desired.

Three friends an... Continue »

Played Santa Anita for the first time in a while this past week and was very pleasantly surprised with the vast majority of the conditions, while the POP left a lot to be desired.

Three friends and I set off with a 10am tee time from the blue tees and found a course with fairways in much better shape than previous visits this time of year, and fast, clean greens that were in really nice shape overall despite the heavy play. The tee boxes are a little thin in areas but flat and level, while the bunkers could use another layer or two of sand as they're playable but a little too much on the thin side.

POP was a serious issue as we had sometimes up to four groups on a hole and the waiting on the par 3s was often excruciating. A marshal came over on the 4th hole asking everyone to wave up the next group, but this was quickly abandoned by all for holes 8, 12 and 15. Ultimately the round took just over five hours which is disappointing.

Was it worth it though? Absolutely. We played a classic old layout in mostly good conditions for just under $40 walking. That's an absolute steal and this course really does challenge you despite its 'flat' reputation. It's anything but once you're in the fairways with some very significant hills and mounding that can make an ordinary shot quite challenging. To this day this course continues to always have my number as I've not once ever broken 90 here. It makes no sense! Alas, we keep trying ...

I live in Arcadia and play Santa Anita often. I played 4/15. Conditions this spring are much better than they were last fall - hopefully this year they have the means to keep it going strong year-roun... Continue »

I live in Arcadia and play Santa Anita often. I played 4/15. Conditions this spring are much better than they were last fall - hopefully this year they have the means to keep it going strong year-round. Greens are never fast and the course gets a lot of wear, but it has good character and an interesting history.

The layout is sneakily challenging. It presents at first as a flat course, but there are lots of undulations - some rather dramatic, such as in front of the 6th green, and across the 9th fairway. These make for uphill and downhill lies, so it’s a great place to come practice those. The staff are great, in my experience, and the ambience is really comfortable - the surroundings (the park, tennis courts and Arcadia High School) make for a nice atmosphere.

As for pace of play, I almost always come at twilight times, sometimes playing less than 18 holes and running up against sunset. At these hours, there are very few pace issues, and I can usually walk the front nine in less than two hours.

Out as a single joining a two-some for 1:22 start on Friday, 4/12. Not disputing 24hourgolf's recent review but we had slightly different experiences. In this case he is the earlier morning guy while... Continue »

Out as a single joining a two-some for 1:22 start on Friday, 4/12. Not disputing 24hourgolf's recent review but we had slightly different experiences. In this case he is the earlier morning guy while I'm early afternoon. As to overall conditions, the course is in pretty good shape. Playing the whites, the teeing grounds were level and covered with the par threes a bit more worked, which is to be expected. Fairways are green and in good shape and the rough mostly green and playable. The bunkers were on the firm side, with the ball tending to perch, not leaving much depth to footprints, but with enough give to be fair play. Areas surrounding greens were mostly good for short game although the fairway lies close to the green were frequently tight for chipping. The greens were pretty clean and short on pitch marks, running on the quick side. I've seen them a little faster but overall they are as good as it gets here. The service was friendly and they made the effort to avoid having me go out as a random single when a scheduled threesome didn't show up. I snagged some leftover balls on the range for an abbreviated warm up and it's not uncommon to find some left as players advance to the first tee. Worth checking before buying a bucket. Where I tend to corroborate 24hourgolf is on pace. It was something around five hours but that is a number that can feel a little quicker if the pace is sluggish but consistent. On the day it was more impactful because of the erratic nature of it. For example, get through the first three holes with no issue and then a three group pause at the par-3 fourth. Better pace after that until another pile up on the par-3 eighth. Same for the par-3 12th. Too much opportunity to sit and get stiff but we're talking about Friday afternoon. I usually find the pace here better distributed and get around in about 4.75 for less. So know what you might be in for, but I enjoy the course and still recommend it, especially as to current conditions.

Played today and I doubt I will be going back. They are really enforcing the 7-9 AM no Sr rate and they are allowing too many 5 somesomes of Seniors who walk from opening to 7 AM. We had an 8AM time a... Continue »

Played today and I doubt I will be going back. They are really enforcing the 7-9 AM no Sr rate and they are allowing too many 5 somesomes of Seniors who walk from opening to 7 AM. We had an 8AM time and it took almost 5 hours to play. To many of the seniors IMO are playing from the back tees on a course that they should be playing the whites and maybe even the reds. And then stopping after 9 and getting food/beverage and slowing things up even further. I certainly understand walking but abhor 5 somesomes walking. And to make matters worse there is no marshal on the course. 4 or 4.5 hours should be reasonable early AM but it seems we have a culture of golfers today, unlike years ago who could give a you know what about anyone else. Course is playable from tee to green but not at the pace one is facing. I would just say play this course at your own peril and if you can get the first or second tee time you are in good shape. This one will not be on my courses to play in the future. I also did not like the customer service in the pro shop either. Seemed like he was doing you a favor by letting you play? This has to be one of the worse LA County run courses.