Since the late 80s, I have had a long history with Mulholland Hills CC, formally Braemar CC having experienced all its transformations. I can undoubtably say, the name change from Braemar CC to Mulhol... Continue »

Since the late 80s, I have had a long history with Mulholland Hills CC, formally Braemar CC having experienced all its transformations. I can undoubtably say, the name change from Braemar CC to Mulholland Hills CC is perfectly fitting because it certainly is a new, incredibly fun, beautiful private club. Lanny Watkins and his team did an exceptional job redesigning the former 27 holes to produce what I believe will be the hottest new club in LA County.

On Monday 2-2, Mulholland Hills CC hosted our 100+ players event on the Canyon + Vista combo. Teed it up with rgm2525, mark_6m and itslikeimsayin. The Vista course opened literally 3 days prior to our round. Both the Canyon and especially the Vista course were in excellent condition providing stunning views and a captivating round of golf. I’m going to let the photos of the courses speak for themselves.

If you’re a golf event organizer like me, or someone interested in a private club membership, I suggest you give them a call. Our group loved it.

I’ve already booked another event, on the same Canyon-Vista combo for 4/20 that will go on sale in March. In April, Mulholland Hills CC will have new carts and it won’t be cart path on the Vista Course for an even better experience.

Highly Recommended!

Played in group 1B of Monday’s GK/GolfMoose/Vivid Golf event with Johnny, Ron, and Mark M. What a treat to get access to this newly-redesigned and rebranded course, especially the Vista nine just a co... Continue »

Played in group 1B of Monday’s GK/GolfMoose/Vivid Golf event with Johnny, Ron, and Mark M. What a treat to get access to this newly-redesigned and rebranded course, especially the Vista nine just a couple days after it reopened! We played the Vista/Canyon combo. Pace was quite slow at about 5:15, although we got a gorgeous day with temps that almost felt like summer. Huge thanks to Johnny for setting up such an amazing outing!

Conditions are very nice and vary slightly from the Vista nine to the Canyon nine. Because Vista just reopened, the greens are nearly pristine. They are very smooth, quite firm, and running medium-slow speed. The tricky part is that they were cut short and looked like they’d be quite fast, so we all struggled getting the ball to the hole throughout our front nine. The greens on Canyon were a little faster, but still slower than they looked like they’d be. I’m sure they’ll gain speed as they mature. Fairways were mostly great, maybe a tad long in a few areas. The fairway-adjacent rough is 2- to 3-inch deep bermuda and the ball often settled down, putting a premium on hitting the fairways. The rough around the greens and bunkers was a different grass – dark green, deep, gnarly rough that was beautiful to look at but you definitely want to avoid. Tee boxes are now labeled I, II, III, and IV. We played I and they were good. Many were very hard and sometimes it took some effort to get a tee in the ground. Bunkers were all full of new sand and very nice, although tough to get a feel for. On more than one occasion, I failed to escape in one shot.

Having played Braemar once prior to the redesign by Lanny Wadkins, I feel the new Mulholland Hills achieves a more open, natural feel as opposed to the extremely tight corridors I recall from Braemar. Most of the redesign maintained the existing routing, although a handful of holes play in a new order and some have seen significant changes in length and/or par. Other noteworthy changes include the addition of really interesting contours on the all-new greens and trendy bunkering featuring raggedy edges. The greens were really fun to putt and will be even more fun when they’re running a little faster. Oh, and I almost didn’t mention the aesthetic addition of exposed rock walls on several holes, including behind the green on Vista 1, Vista 3, Vista 4, Canyon 1, and along the fairway of Canyon hole 3. It’s a very cool look!

Hopefully Mulholland Hills joins a few other clubs with recurring Golf Moose events, because it’s a really fun and difficult course. I just ran through every hole in my head and can honestly say there’s not one boring hole on the course (Vista/Canyon, anyway).

Amenities-wise, I never made it into the pro shop, but the beverage cart came around several times and there are multiple on-course restrooms with ice/water stations at most of them. All employees encountered were very friendly, welcoming, and helpful.

I played in the GK/GolfMoose event this past Monday. What a gem of a course. The course itself is high up in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking the San Fernando Valley and has many holes running d... Continue »

I played in the GK/GolfMoose event this past Monday. What a gem of a course. The course itself is high up in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking the San Fernando Valley and has many holes running deep into some canyons throughout the property. I got there kind of late so I did not get to use the practice areas.

Greens were fast with plenty of undulations, mostly tilted towards the front. If you were putting downhill, look out! I saw a few roll off of some greens. They rolled so fast and true. I love putting on this type of green; however, this was not really my day for aiming or judging the pace. It took me a while to dial it in and I never made a long putt.

Fairways and rough were plenty green. I mean deep, dark green. The rough was not too penal in most places; more often than not, my ball sat up nicely. I actually had more problem hitting from the fairways as it was tight and very wet in the low areas. It was cart path only, so we expected it. On the bright side, you never had to walk too far as the fairways were pretty narrow. Bottles of sand/seed mixture were on the carts or available on the course.

Bunkers had really good, soft sand. It was fine and light colored and easy to hit from. Plenty of rakes to use as well.

Overall impression is this would be a great track if you played it regularly. It is very challenging because of the narrow fairways and elevation changes throughout the course. I am happy that I was able to take advantage of this opportunity to play here. I would do it again.

Joined the GK’ers at Braemar for a rematch with the course after it kicked my tail a couple of years ago and to join in on the BC battle for the new year. Well, due to being heavily under the weathe... Continue »

Joined the GK’ers at Braemar for a rematch with the course after it kicked my tail a couple of years ago and to join in on the BC battle for the new year. Well, due to being heavily under the weather, I neither got revenge on the course nor ever threatened the Birdie Chain.
However, I did have a great time teeing it up with JohnnyGK and RGM2525. I thoroughly enjoyed playing Braemar with the constant elevation changes and variety of holes.

Layout is generally tight off the tee and places accuracy over length but there is plenty of room to grip it and rip as long as you know where the “good miss” is.

Greens were in excellent condition. Medium sized with moderate undulations. Greens rolled at a nice medium pace. They probably were rolling a tad slower than normal but acceptable for sure.

Fairways were decent. With all the recent rain, the fairways were pretty soggy. But give it a couple more days and they will be great. Good coverage throughout with very few thin spots. Being so wet, it was cart path only.

Tee boxes were fine. Some were a little shaggy as I imagine they aren’t mowing as often as usual due to the rain. Again, give it a few days to dry out and it will be fine.

Even though I had a horrible score and lost more golf balls here than I did in all of December, I still enjoyed the course. Hopefully, third time is a charm…

Played out here on a Beautiful Guru day. We played the Western and Masters 9's. I thoroughly enjoyed the course even though I did not play well. Practice range is also closed on Mondays. Putting g... Continue »

Played out here on a Beautiful Guru day. We played the Western and Masters 9's. I thoroughly enjoyed the course even though I did not play well. Practice range is also closed on Mondays. Putting green was quick and beautiful like the greens on the course. The Masters played more like a standard LA muni. Pretty straight, not a lot of obstacles, trees down the sides and tight greens. Unfortunately for us, the grounds crew was in the process of raking the leaves so many balls were lost. The Western 9 reminded me more of newer courses in planned communities. You follow the canyon underneath houses with the incredible views of the valley. This 9 felt tighter. Combined with the grass being soaked still there was not a lot of roll out.

Can't fairly rate the course due to the recent rains. They were working hard to get it back into top shape. Grounds crew was out on the course cleaning it up for what I imagine is an immaculate look.

Greens played quick yet fair. They were fast but the ball was never rolling 30 feet past the hole and off the green.

Alll in all an enjoyable morning and afternoon on the course. Would head back here again without question.

Played 1-3-22 with fellow GK Gurus on the Master/Western rotation teeing of mid morning and finishing in a little over 4 hours. This is a fun course to play with a lot of elevation changes and semi ti... Continue »

Played 1-3-22 with fellow GK Gurus on the Master/Western rotation teeing of mid morning and finishing in a little over 4 hours. This is a fun course to play with a lot of elevation changes and semi tight tree lined fairways. Most of the greens are on the small side with a few having a small pond near them. Tee placement is very important, getting of line can leave you a lot of blind shots to some small greens. Staff and members were all very friendly. I didn't give the course a rating because with all the rain we had the course (even though it drained pretty good) still had some areas that were still pretty wet and you could till that maintenance could not do there normal job of getting the course in good shape like I've seen in the past. If you get a chance to play here jump on it.

Teed it up with GK Gurus yesterday! What a treat to finally return to Braemar CC which I played many times in late 80’s and early 90’s. So much has changed since then as many already know the club is ... Continue »

Teed it up with GK Gurus yesterday! What a treat to finally return to Braemar CC which I played many times in late 80’s and early 90’s. So much has changed since then as many already know the club is now a 27 holes facility instead of a 36 holes facility. Many holes removed and redesigned to accommodate the new 27 holes configuration. It still has a lot of its past charm but now the golf course much more difficult. The layout is longer and even narrower due to those once small trees being large now. If I could sum up Braemar CC’s layout I would say it’s addictively difficult with a lot of unique hilly holes. We played the Masters (East) 9 to the Western (West) 9 from the tips which will be my last time I play from back there as it measures 6512 yards as a par 70. Black Tees Masters 9 to Black Tees Western 9 is only Par 70 configuration at Braemar CC because hole #6 on the Western 9 plays as Par 4 from the black tees instead of Par 5 from all other tees.

This was a GK Guru/GM-GC Preview round that was supposed to be on the same 9’s as the Golf Moose/Greenskeeper.org Private Course outing I’m running there next week 1/10/2022 but the Open 9 was being used for filming so the Western 9 took its place for our round. Filming will be completed by the outing next week. The golf course was very saturated from the heavy rain a few days prior so it was cart path only. Fortunately it’s a narrow layout so the walks from the path to your ball were normally not long. The golf carts do not have GPS and the golf course is only marked from the cart paths so you’ll want to have your own yardage device. You’ll also want to be very accurate off the tee and approach to the small undulating greens. Your pitch shot from around the greens will become your best friend once the round is complete – LOL.

The current playing conditions were abnormal as the course is still heavy saturated in many fairways and of course nothing groomed yet until the turf dries out more. Most of the maintenance crew was either turning the wet sand due to rain erosion in the bunkers or clearing tree debris such as leaves and branches. Once its drier, cut and groomed to it typical self the conditions will be fantastic as there were hardly any thin areas in the fairways/rough. The greens still ran mostly smooth, fast and firm. A lot of fun to play on. The tee boxes, given how small they had divot damage on all holes where iron off the tee is the smart play.

Check out the photos I just posted. I’m hoping to get back out there this spring to play the Open 9. If I could pick between the Western 9 and the Masters 9, I’d pick the Western 9. Highly Recommended if you get a chance to play.

1/3 guru outing playing with Marvin and Andrew, very enjoyable company, on a nice warmish SC winter day. Due to lingering effects from the recent storm playing conditions were extra tough. CPO which... Continue »

1/3 guru outing playing with Marvin and Andrew, very enjoyable company, on a nice warmish SC winter day. Due to lingering effects from the recent storm playing conditions were extra tough. CPO which led to much walking of the hilly terrain and more so as it seemed that most of my shots missed to the opposite side away from the path. Lot of wet areas and due to the winds lot of leaves on the perimeters. This is a challenging layout with fairly narrow tree lined fairways and hills galore. The greens are on the smaller side with plenty of slope as many seemed to have been carverd into a hillside. Greens were in good condition mostly firm and fast rolling well but tough to read. I played the Masters 9 and then surrendered as I was very much out of sync and worn down by the CPO and resulting multiple safaris. Hard decision to make but discretion was the better part of valor. Definetly would recommend the course but as some one commented previously==bring your A game.

Played this morning with GK Guru group with Guru’s Gary and Andrew. Weather was a little cold but warmed up nicely. Driving range was closed but was able to use the practice area by the tennis court... Continue »

Played this morning with GK Guru group with Guru’s Gary and Andrew. Weather was a little cold but warmed up nicely. Driving range was closed but was able to use the practice area by the tennis courts so that was nice. Check in was very easy and once we got our carts we had to wait a few minutes but off we went. Our group teed off first and Johnny’s group followed us. We played the Masters 9 for the front side and Western 9 for the back. As a private club I thought the carts would have GPS but no such luck, however it did have a phone charger. Basic carts but also had an ice chest. Because of all the recent rains the course was very wet in many areas and that’s why it was cart path only. The course was narrow in some place and if you strayed it was difficult to find your ball. The fairways were very nice but if you missed them the first cut was a little thick but very playable but it would be sitting down. We noticed lots of leaves and a whole lot of trees, a very old school traditional layout with many doglegs and it reminds me a lot of Bear Creek in Temecula. Some of the bunkers were “washed out” due to the weather and some were playable and the one’s I could play out of were very good to play from. The greens in my opinion were very quick and hard and didn’t seem to hold my shots very well, others may have a different opinion. A few times I chipped and they definitely ran out and it was a very good test of one’s putting ability. I think the Western 9 was a bit more difficult than the masters 9 because some of holes were a tad more narrower but just an observation it played the same for everyone. All in all I had a great time and would like to play it again to get another shot at it. It was pleasure meeting Andrew and I always enjoy playing with Gary. Thanks again to Johnny, Ron, Alex and my playing partners who made the day very enjoyable. Highly recommended…