When checking a few days ago, I was surprised to find a fair amount of short-notice availability for Saturday 12/31 in the LA City systems and booked Encino. Then I checked the weather report and unde... Continue »

When checking a few days ago, I was surprised to find a fair amount of short-notice availability for Saturday 12/31 in the LA City systems and booked Encino. Then I checked the weather report and understood why I was able to do that. I don't typically play in the rain but, having the appropriate gear, decided to "go Irish" and take the challenge for a change. As it turned out, the conditions were wet from the previous night's rains but surprising little precipitation for most of my round. The course is playable but in mid-winter form. Probably because of the wet, on most tees the black, blue and white were set together around the white monuments. The teeing grounds themselves were consistently level with coverage and provided a good start. Fairways were a chaotic patchwork of mixed grasses on the tighter side, occasionally thin/bare and with sticky/muddy patches distributed around. More than once I moved a ball in the fairway to get some grass under it, but mostly it played OK. Runout was reasonable for the conditions but clubbing up was the rule of the day. Rough was a little longer than the fairway but not much of a factor. I was in one bunker and rather than firm and soggy, it was damp but surprisingly fluffy. Short game from the fairway in front of the greens was tricky as the lies were tight and sticky, but surrounding the green usually gave you a better lie for chipping. The greens were the highlight — pretty clean, running true at a fairly quick medium pace. No apparent slowing from the dampness. There were golfers out but it was understandably spare, and it seemed like most of them started earlier. I was on my own and in my vicinity there was only a two-some in front of me and a single a few holes back. Pace was just about four hours. There were a few times over the course of the round it started to lightly mist and I donned my rain jacket, but it would end within a half hole and the jacket would come off. It really only started to rain to any real effect at the start of the 18th through finish, so I lucked out as to my timing and exceeded any expectations I had as to avoiding the wet. Would I recommend it? Probably not, even as I wouldn't steer anyone away from it. As long as you know before you go. Did I enjoy it as the golf slut that I am closing out 2022? Heck yeah.