First time at Braemar CC. Played the Masters and Western Course on 3/1. 27 holes at the course in total. I didn't play the US Open 9.

Practice areas at Braemar CC are in good shape and not too crow... Continue »

First time at Braemar CC. Played the Masters and Western Course on 3/1. 27 holes at the course in total. I didn't play the US Open 9.

Practice areas at Braemar CC are in good shape and not too crowded. Good multi leveled range. Good short game area. Good putting greens. Plethora of places to practice. I don't think I saw all of them as they span up and down the hillside.

Started on the Masters courses. Tight, but good layout. If you are wild off the tee, it is going to be a long day and your bag will certainly be lighter from the amount of balls one can lose. That can be said about the whole place. I personally had no feel for the driver on the first nine... After 3 holes I knew it was time for 3 Wood... took me another 5 holes to actually commit on the decision. Played Masters 9 in 1:40.

The course was in great shape. People take care of the course here. Very few unpatched fairway divots, very few ball marks on the greens. Cart Path only on an handful of holes through the 27. Which can be annoying for some.

Very hilly. Though my understanding is some people will walk it. With 5 or so cart path only holes, you're basically walking a ton anyway. If I were to carry a full round here, like I typically do, I am sure my legs and feet would be tired. Not impossible but was much more enjoyable in a cart.

Western 9 is supposed to be the tougher one. Again very tight. Elevated tees with some smaller windows to place the ball. The whole place was beautiful but there isn't a signature hole that stands out over the others. This 9 took a little longer as there was a slower group in front of us.

My biggest takeaway is that there are a lot of approach shots uphill and downhill to greens.

I didn't have much contact with staff besides the proshop and didn't go in the clubhouse or locker room. Have a buddy who just joined, so I hope to be back soon.

Played here Saturday, 2/29 with a 12:04 start time. Checked in around 11:20 and they asked if I was ready. When I said yes, they promptly sent me off to catch a twosome who had just headed out. Caught... Continue »

Played here Saturday, 2/29 with a 12:04 start time. Checked in around 11:20 and they asked if I was ready. When I said yes, they promptly sent me off to catch a twosome who had just headed out. Caught them before they left the first tee and played with them most of round. The single behind us eventually joined us as well. We played the Western nine followed by the U.S. Open nine, finishing in just about 4 hours flat on a busy course. All the pro shop workers and outside attendants were very friendly and welcoming. After finishing 18, I asked to continue on the Masters nine and was granted permission. I played behind a twosome and just took my time, snapping a lot of pictures in the beautiful afternoon shadows and sunlight. I still finished in about 1:45.

Conditions are excellent. Greens are medium-fast to fast, very smooth and quite firm. Only high shots from short irons stopped quickly. The members I played with said the greens are often even faster, which would really be an adventure. I had a very hard time reading these greens. Fairways are outstanding; lush, deep green and mowed with aesthetically pleasing patterns, sometimes in stripes and sometimes in diagonal crosshatch. The rough is also very lush, and semi-thick in many places. Balls would often stick in it rather than bounce out of it (on hillsides bordering fairways) back to the fairway. The bunkers I was in were good. Green tee boxes were very nice with maybe a couple having very minimal lumpiness, if I want to get really nitpicky.

The longest combination of two nines plays just over 6500 yards here, but I played a tee forward from that, and these courses are difficult! I hit the ball poorly all day and really struggled. It's a very tight course with many holes routed through canyons. It's also very hilly, which is a lot of fun. Barrancas and water hazards come into play on many holes. As one member mentioned to me, "It's a beautiful course but it's a son of a b$tch ." Couldn't agree more and definitely want another shot at it. The golden sunlight during my last nine might've partially influenced me, but even without it I think the Masters nine is the best of the three. Western is probably the most demanding. (The nines are named after significant professional victories of the club's longtime head pro, Ralph Guldahl, not any correlation to those tournament venues.)

Highly recommended (but bring your 'A' game).

Played with Matt and Mike on Saturday. I don't have much to add to Matt's review as it was spot on. The place is a sneaky good track, kept in really nice condition (mower stripes!), with 3 very diff... Continue »

Played with Matt and Mike on Saturday. I don't have much to add to Matt's review as it was spot on. The place is a sneaky good track, kept in really nice condition (mower stripes!), with 3 very different 9's that make for an extremely enjoyable day. Highly recommend if you can get on.

2/8/20 Joined Blake and Mike for all 27 holes out at Braemar. Originally had an 11am tee time but there was a 45 min frost delay so we were pushed to a 1148 tee time. After all of that we ended up tee... Continue »

2/8/20 Joined Blake and Mike for all 27 holes out at Braemar. Originally had an 11am tee time but there was a 45 min frost delay so we were pushed to a 1148 tee time. After all of that we ended up teeing off at 1130 so no big deal there. Staff was super friendly whenever we encountered them which made the experience better as they were not stuck up.

Not a lot to add to Wendy and Alex's reviews from the last week or two. I found the course to be in real nice shape. Good tee's, fantastic fairways, decent rough, and the greens were firm and fast. Strangly enough I could not get any check on my approaches which as of late the firmer the green the more I can spin. This made for a tough day on the greens. As stated before you DO NOT want to be above the hole. Sand was decent in most traps I did encounter a thin one and Blake had a few thin ones too.

If you have a chance to play here do not miss it. The Us Open is my favorite 9 with some doglegs and good elevation changes. Western by far is the toughest in my opinion with very tight fairways and a few blind shots. On the course the par threes are all around 175-210 from the blacks which makes up for the 3000 yard total length. The masters course is a little wider but only one par 5 makes me sad. I cant wait to play again.

Played Braemar CC mid-morning on a great Southern California day. Weather was low-mid 60’s with little wind. This is my first time playing Braemar which has three 9 hole courses. We played the US ... Continue »

Played Braemar CC mid-morning on a great Southern California day. Weather was low-mid 60’s with little wind. This is my first time playing Braemar which has three 9 hole courses. We played the US Open and Western nines. Both were similar in style with a lot of elevation changes throughout the track and narrow tree lined fairways. Even though I didn’t play very well today, I enjoyed the course. It’s definitely an accuracy over length type of place.

Condition wise, the entire course was in nice shape. Greens were firm and fast. Downhill putts were lightning fast! There were a number of small “dents” in the greens from other golfer’s approach shots. The greens were firm enough that approach shots didn’t leave huge pitch marks but were soft enough that the ball compressed the green and left big enough dents to affect putts. Not sure why so many went unrepaired.

Fairways were top notch. Very lush and a joy to hit from (or at least that’s what I was told). No real issues with the tee boxes. Sand traps were also, nice. I was in 3-4 greenside bunkers and all were easy to escape out of and predictable.

POP was average. We zipped along for the first 6-7 holes then waited on every shot for the group in front of us. Staff at check in was friendly and an attendant meets you in the parking lot to load your clubs up for you. Locker room has full showers and like many country clubs, they want you to use the locker room facility and not change your shoes in the parking lot.

I definitely wouldn’t mind playing this course again

I played using an $85 Underpar. The deal is good for Mondays only, so today was perfect with traffic being light due to the holiday. Check in was easy but I had to email to them my Underpar voucher s... Continue »

I played using an $85 Underpar. The deal is good for Mondays only, so today was perfect with traffic being light due to the holiday. Check in was easy but I had to email to them my Underpar voucher so that they could print it, as they required a hard copy rather than just seeing it on my phone. The practice area had complimentary balls on the range and there was a good sized chipping area and putting green. I’m really glad I spent some time there because it gave me a good idea of the challenge I was in for. The cart was comfy and had an ice chest. There was no GPS, though, which was unfortunate as yardage markers were hard to find in the fairways. I started on time at 9:40 a.m., paired with a friendly twosome. Another single caught up and joined us at the second tee. We played the Masters 9 first, followed by the U.S. Open 9. The Masters is fairly narrow, but not nearly as much so as the U.S. Open. Funny, though, I seemed to do better the narrower the fairway...more concentration, maybe. There are a lot of big elevation changes, dog legs and blind shots – all the things I like in a course. The conditions were excellent. Tee boxes were large and level with almost no divots or broken tees littering the area. The fairways were completely lush. Many, not all, had those great mower stripes – love that! Holes 1,3 & 9 on the Masters were CPO as were 1 & 8 on the U.S Open. I didn’t see any brown, bare or wet areas. I was in 4 or 5 bunkers. The sand was clean, soft and heavy- really easy to hit out of. The rough was beautifully consistent on the entire course, about 2-3 inches and dense enough that the balls didn’t sink in. The greens were the killer for me. (I kept thinking of The Saticoy Club.) They were firm, crazy fast and didn’t hold shots very well. It was so hard to read the breaks. Balls rolled U-turns on several greens. It worked in my favor a couple of times though I can’t say it was intentional. There was one downhill putt that I barely tapped. The ball slowed to what looked like a complete stop a couple feet above the pin, then suddenly took off again, right off the green. We all chased balls on and off the greens. Honestly, it was just a bit ridiculous after a while. Some nice touches around the course were water stations every 2 or 3 holes. The on-course bathrooms were clean and looked new. Most of the holes had all four tees grouped closely together. On the few where the forward tees were farther away, there was a ball cleaner there too. The routing was a little confusing on a couple of holes and we took some wrong turns but not a problem. POP was great at 4:15. I would like very much to play here again and hopefully get a score I’d be willing to say out loud, unlike today’s ! Highly recommended.

Played today, but had to suffer our first frost delay of the year. Was invited by an old friend who is now back in CA for the winter and is the member here. Nice to play it again, after many years. On... Continue »

Played today, but had to suffer our first frost delay of the year. Was invited by an old friend who is now back in CA for the winter and is the member here. Nice to play it again, after many years. One of my favorite private courses in S CA. Still and enjoyable layout, even with it being 27 holes now. I really love the practice area and it really came in handy today, waiting for the OK to play. Having read the previous review, was glad that I had good knowledge of the greens, as it is needed. We found no issues regarding the conditions of the tees, fairways, traps, greens. Truly a great course to play, especially in the early AM (even with cool temps) watching the sunrise over the valley. Recommended if you have the opportunity to play here.

Played Braemar CC for the first time on Friday at twilight after an invite from Tim (nodoubles22 - thanks buddy!) and enjoyed a very lush, very unique course with its fair share of quirkiness and trou... Continue »

Played Braemar CC for the first time on Friday at twilight after an invite from Tim (nodoubles22 - thanks buddy!) and enjoyed a very lush, very unique course with its fair share of quirkiness and trouble, but also a lot of character and all placed in a beautiful setting in the hills above Encino.

We played from the black tees (probably a bad idea) as the course is not 'long' by traditional standards, but it plays much longer due to the severe angles, blind shots and elevations. Braemar has three nines (used to be a 36-hole facility but they converted one of the nines into a number of practice areas years ago) and we ended up playing the US Open and Western nines. The US Open nine was a little more open and inviting, while the Western nine is utterly narrow and completely intimidating for a double-digit handicap like myself.

Conditions were quite excellent as one would expect at a high-end private club in LA. Fairways were in great shape, mowed with those beautiful criss-cross lines that always personify a quality track. The rough was quite thick and lush but definitely playable. Bunkers appeared to be in good shape but a little off the 'great' mark, while the tee boxes had very nice coverage but a few were a bit mounded and required some moving around to seek out a flat spot. But overall, everything was tip-top.

Greens were good and fast, but also just coming out of aeration a few weeks back, so not quite in their optimal shape as they will be in a few weeks. I should state they were in this shape on the first nine (US Open), but more grown in on the Western nine. Very fair greens in every sense, but the speed can easily see you roll ten feet past the pin if you get a little over-anxious at any point. They did hold shots well.

I think this course would be a lot more fun if I was a single-digit handicap! But I will definitely go back should the opportunity come up again as a little course knowledge to know some of the angles and where the greens are hidden would go a long way towards a better feeling when looking at the scorecard post-round.

Played in the SCGA outing here today and just so happened to get paired with fellow GK'er kassper7 and his brother-in-law, so that made the day more enjoyable even if we all played crappy. 10:00 shotg... Continue »

Played in the SCGA outing here today and just so happened to get paired with fellow GK'er kassper7 and his brother-in-law, so that made the day more enjoyable even if we all played crappy. 10:00 shotgun start, and we began on the 8th hole of the Masters nine. Then, US Open was the other in the preferred rotation for this outing. Decent pace of around 4.5 hours. I was really happy that they then allowed me to complete the circuit by playing the Western nine afterward. Thanks to the very nice guy in the pro shop. I zipped around that nine by myself, playing through one threesome along the way.

The course was in good overall condition. Greened up because of all the rain, but also a bit soft/muddy in many of the low areas throughout. In fact, it was cart-path-only for us today. Tee boxes were nice. Fairways in general were very good and will get better once the excess water recedes. I will say the fairways were noticeably weaker on the Western nine, though still pretty good. The rough was very nice and lush throughout. Balls tended to settle in and definitely made you work just enough for a good recovery. I was in two bunkers and they both had nice soft (beachy) sand. The greens were the highlight, receptive and rolling very quick. Downhill putts were very tough to stop anywhere near the hole, and there are really no level putts on this entire course. Stay below the hole!

I enjoyed this course more than I expected to, though I can easily understand why many won't like it. It definitely fits my target golf preference and the setting is very pretty in the hills. From everything I've ever heard about Braemar, it wasn't quite as funky as I expected. That said, it is a challenging layout relative to the short overall length. And, it does have some quirks that may add or subtract from its character (depending on your personal preferences), but that's true of many of the older LA area clubs. There were too many uphill approach shots that are semi-blind (or sometimes completely blind) and tough to judge. A bit of a guessing game at times for a first-time player. Western nine is definitely the funkiest of the bunch and it is well detached from the clubhouse geographically, so it feels like its own world that's a bit more of an adventure. I enjoyed it and the price was very good for a private club outing, but it is not a course everyone will enjoy.