Played at Woodley Lakes on Friday with kviser so little to add after his solid write-up about course conditions. I found the course to be 'fine' in just about every way. Nothing horrible, nothing spec... Continue »

Played at Woodley Lakes on Friday with kviser so little to add after his solid write-up about course conditions. I found the course to be 'fine' in just about every way. Nothing horrible, nothing spectacular.

The greens were a bit slow and spongy for my tastes, but they held shots well and rolled true enough - just needed to adjust to the speed. Found some good spots in the fairways, but also some thin and some very thin/hardpan. Rough a mixed bag, tee boxes were fine and the one or two bunkers I was in were a bit thin and hard but not the worst I've ever played.

Old carts at Woodley but they do have a decent GPS system on them now, although that feels pretty wasted at a straight-ahead course like Woodley Lakes, but I'm sure it will help anyone new to the course.

Woodley is a great place to get in a confidence round as it's about as flat as any course you're going to play in SoCal and there's really not too much trouble to get into on most holes. Weather was perfect so it was still a very enjoyable afternoon.

Played yesterday afternoon, match play with roarksown1, teeing off at 1:50 p.m. I have not played here for at least a few years, but I do believe that course conditions here have not changed considera... Continue »

Played yesterday afternoon, match play with roarksown1, teeing off at 1:50 p.m. I have not played here for at least a few years, but I do believe that course conditions here have not changed considerably. Lots of roll on thin fairways, not too deep rough, and relatively slow greens. POP was about 4.5 hours. This is one of the flattest courses around and is conducive to walking, although we rode in a shared cart. I picked up a Senior Players Card for $25 and the riding rate was $33. The carts do have a decent GPS showing a color map where you can touch to see yardages; the green/approach view only gives you front, middle, back. No ice chest (there was a hook for one) and no sand bottles. Tees: We played the blue tees, 6564 yards, but who's counting? All tees here are fairly generous and flat. No issues and finding a decent spot to tee from is easy. Fairways and rough: There is a slight difference in the height of the cuts, but not too much. If you hit a fairway, count on some decent rollout. The rough will slow the roll a bit but it's not very penal unless you get unlucky. Your ball will be sitting up much of the time. There are a number of large trees that could block a second or third shot on most holes. Mostly, it is not a problem. Bunkers: No rakes, but it appears that the bunkers had been groomed. The sand looked fairly hard and crusty. A couple were wet at the low ends. Greens: They were mostly slow. Uphill putts really needed some effort and leaving a downhill putt short was a good possibility, too. I think Hole 9 was noticeably faster and looked better that the other greens. Robert said he thinks it's because it is near to and within visual range of the clubhouse. I tend to agree with that. There were only a couple of ball marks that needed fixing here and there but they looked fresh and were easy to repair. Overall, it was nice. The pace was a little slow for my liking, but that's what you get late in the day at a LA City muni. No rakes, no sand bottles, or divot mix on the par 3 tees, no ball washers. The grass is mostly kikuyu and Bermuda, except for the bentgrass greens. Get used to a dull green to brownish color everywhere. A few spots are bare ground, but there's not too much of that. It is hard to lose a ball here and we both played the course using one ball each. LA City has multiple choices and this course is likely to be my number 5 or 6 choice. If you need to get your game back on track, this is the number one place to do it.

Hit Woodley with another single starting at 3:20 on Friday. Overall conditions were OK. Tee boxes were level with good coverage. The fairways are really unsightly to look at — a patchwork of colors an... Continue »

Hit Woodley with another single starting at 3:20 on Friday. Overall conditions were OK. Tee boxes were level with good coverage. The fairways are really unsightly to look at — a patchwork of colors and grasses — but the recent rains gave the grass a little boost and made the turf a bit softer than the hardpan it could have been and the lies were mostly pretty decent as winter lies go. I was surprised at the significant amount of rollout I was getting. There were areas of fairways and rough that had been aerated with big plugs laying about, but they generally didn't impact anything other than clearing some aside on a couple of occasions in the rough. Rough was fairly consistent and only a little more grown in than the fairway — very playable. Missed the bunkers entirely but they looked fairy clean and firm. Areas surrounding the greens were on the tight side, pretty consistent and encouraged putting from just off. Greens were pretty clean and running at a medium pace that felt slower only because the greens here are huge and the putts were frequently from another area code. The course is level with generous fairways and is good for pulling out driver often. I drove it well and struck my irons well enough to break 80 if I hadn't had one of my worst putting days in a long time. Too many looong first putts leaving too much second putt added up to seven three-putts. The size of the greens is a factor unto itself but i failed to adjust. The pace was very good and we got in 18 with a couple of holes worth of light to spare — a cautiously hoped for bonus. Not the most visually interesting course, but as a Hail Mary tee time, it fit the bill and I enjoyed it.

Teed off as a foursome at Woodley Thursday 11/5 at 6:30am. Breezed through the course. Never waited on a shot. Took 3 hours to finish the round. Overall, the course is in average muni condition.

Te... Continue »

Teed off as a foursome at Woodley Thursday 11/5 at 6:30am. Breezed through the course. Never waited on a shot. Took 3 hours to finish the round. Overall, the course is in average muni condition.

Tee boxes are fair; decent coverage, with bare spots and some hardpan. The fairways are a mixed bag of bare, thin and hard, and somewhat decent lies. Overall, I rate the fairways 4.5/10. The rough is mostly just a little longer than the fairway grass, and is clumpy and spotty coverage. The areas around the greens are spotty, thin and a challenge to chip from. You have to clip the ball just right or you will chunk it. Some areas around the green have thicker rough and it grows against the direction of your swing. So, it's easy to have your club get stuck and leave your chip short (I did that several times today). I wasn't in any bunkers but they looked like they had decent sand in them. The greens were nice today. They rolled smoothly, held their line nicely, were medium to medium/fast speed, and soft. This is the best part of the course. For the $18 senior walking rate, it was decent.

Went out Friday with a 1:50 start joined by a buddy and another twosome. The range was active, with mats, and no chipping or putting. Tees were generally flat, generous and had good coverage — no prob... Continue »

Went out Friday with a 1:50 start joined by a buddy and another twosome. The range was active, with mats, and no chipping or putting. Tees were generally flat, generous and had good coverage — no problems there at all. Fairways were classic muni in that they are nothing special to look at, but had predominantly good or functional turf on the tight side with a good bit of rollout. There were areas of rough that could impact your play, but most of it really didn't cost you a shot. I was in one bunker where I settled in a smooth stretch. The sand was a little on the firm side with my ball perched on top, but decent to play out of. The green-side areas were generally grown in and well mowed with putter frequently an option from off the green. The greens were lush and soft, leaving big pitch marks (I plugged my approach on 18) and running a sticky medium to medium slow. The feel of the course is flat and expansive. Large teeing grounds, generally wide fairways with non-punitive rough to make them wider, trees only occasionally a factor strategically or otherwise, and large greens, usually with some elevation on them. If you want to whale away with driver, or any other club for that matter, you can do it here — usually with fewer consequences other than being short. That said, I still didn't score very well, mostly by not having the short game dialed in. The pace was good at about 3.75 hrs and it was a nice time of day to finish up with a gorgeous moon rising over the driving range in the target position. Based on my score tracker, I hadn't been here in about eight years. There is a visual and strategic monotony to this course that keeps it low on my playing list relative to all my other choices. Still, when I haven't played a course in a long time, I get curious to revisit it and, being that this course is more available than others in the city system currently, I just felt it was time to get back and check it out. Getting on as a senior for $12 walking doesn't hurt. Feeling the need to improve on a poor score on a gettable course would be my main motivation to come back here — pride basically. As described, the conditions good to OK all around, and I recommend playing it at least once to form your own opinion about it. It's golf, and I had good time, but it will continue to reside deep on my list as a playing choice.

650am Tee time for Woodley Lakes Range was closed. So, I started chipping balls by the front and one of the maintenance guys rolls up on me and in the most condescending way yells, "can't you read"!... Continue »

650am Tee time for Woodley Lakes Range was closed. So, I started chipping balls by the front and one of the maintenance guys rolls up on me and in the most condescending way yells, "can't you read"!? To which, I replied," yes" but the range is closed. He got mouthy, I was mouthy back then the range opened shortly after our chat. Playing golf and not being able to warm up when you"re old and crusty is a real bummer. Way too many ranges are closed in the am, yes I know theres maintenance however there was none being done today as the range was packed when I left. Moving forward. Tee Boxes, tee boxes were typical county some good some not as good but nothing so egregious that it would be noted. Fairways, fairways were decent for the most part and looked like they were trimmed and tidy. Lots of geese. Theres always lots of geese, today looked like a Nat Geo special on cranky fowl there were so many of them. Sand Traps, I was only in 1 and it was ok the sand wasn't too crusty this morning so I'd say they looked better than most like a 7/10. Rough. Heres where things get different at Woodley. While its wide and flat and you can basically try to break a rib hitting driver on every hole there are consequences for missing here. The course is in decent condition but the rough and patchy areas around trees, bushes and other areas can be real penal. So missing is cool but just be careful. Greens, greens were slow but in good shape. Lots of water on them but not too soggy. Big pitch marks today because of the water so you could get a little greedy. Holes 12 and 16 had some patchyness too them but nothing too major. POP, was pretty quick today 4 hours. Woodley is a fun course to live free and die hard on. The condition was good and for 28 bucks totally worth it for a pre round of work, and remember, don't hit balls in the front unless you want an English quiz.

Not a bad little track, but why to much watering. Puddles in the fairway in many places, and the a lot of the tee boxes were very wet. Greens rolled smooth, but way to wet, spongy and slow.... cour... Continue »

Not a bad little track, but why to much watering. Puddles in the fairway in many places, and the a lot of the tee boxes were very wet. Greens rolled smooth, but way to wet, spongy and slow.... course need to use less water, I know they have to use up the reclaimed water, but I've played in the rain and not had it this wet. LOL

Hit up Woodley yesterday.

840 Tee time for pending death march into the valley sun.

It was hot out, not as bad in the am but by 1250 when we finished, yes, it was hot.

Fairways were usual ... Continue »

Hit up Woodley yesterday.

840 Tee time for pending death march into the valley sun.

It was hot out, not as bad in the am but by 1250 when we finished, yes, it was hot.

Fairways were usual Woodley, dry spotty but playable.

Sand Traps were whatever, some were raked some were not.

Tee Boxes were typical muni course nothing to note.

Greens were slow, lots of top water. They are keeping greens wet across most of the muni courses because of the earlier noted death heat.

We played a modest pace and Woodley was its usual predictable Woodley self.

Tee-ed off walking around 4:10pm this past Sunday and we were barely able to finish all 18 with our last putts almost in the dark.
We were making great POP up until hole 8, when things started to b... Continue »

Tee-ed off walking around 4:10pm this past Sunday and we were barely able to finish all 18 with our last putts almost in the dark.
We were making great POP up until hole 8, when things started to back up. From hole 8 on, we had to wait a few minutes every hole.

We liked that there were some doglegs and a few shots that made you think a little bit. Other than that the course is straight away and longer than the standard LA muni.
The fairways are narrow but the rough is not very penalizing.
Greens ran well aside from the unfixed divots (of which there are many).