First review now that TopGolf took over. Too far away for me to usually play, but I had to take my daughter to a book convention in Santa Monica, so I had a few hours and tried out the new Lakes at El... Continue »

First review now that TopGolf took over. Too far away for me to usually play, but I had to take my daughter to a book convention in Santa Monica, so I had a few hours and tried out the new Lakes at El Segundo, adjacent to the new TopGolf. TopGolf owns it, and the entire complex has been redone to match TopGolf.

I will say, it far exceeded my expectations. It is a small Par 3 course with 10 holes. The longest hole plays 150, and most are in the 80-110 range.

I expected that due to the location, the course would get tons of play, and also lots of beginners. True and true. It was packed, and probably half of the players I saw had not likely been to a course more than a couple of times.

What I didn't expect was a course in great condition. Greens were great. Rolled very smooth, a hair on the slow side. And shockingly, they were not covered in ballmarks. Even though all these 100 yard holes probably get pounded daily, I would only find 3 or 4 marks to fix on each green.

Not much to say about fairways and rough for a Par 3 course, but everything else was fine. Bunkers looked nice, but I didn't get in any.

Although we were 20 minutes late starting, the marshall quickly saw a slow group on #2 and talked them into playing a scramble to move it along. And that worked, things moved great after that, and we were done in 1:20.

TopGolf itself looks fun - not really my thing though. TLAES though is a fun way to practice your wedge game and putting. Really nice putting green and chipping area as well.

I thought I'd give a quick update. The Lakes at El Segundo has closed. It closed on 2/14. It will be reopening in 2022 as the 1st TopGolf location in California.

I thought I'd give a quick update. The Lakes at El Segundo has closed. It closed on 2/14. It will be reopening in 2022 as the 1st TopGolf location in California.

Played today Saturday June 20 with a 7:30 am tee time. POP was around 1 1/2 hours to play 9. Walking only for this course. As we finished, it looked like the golf course was very busy today. You r... Continue »

Played today Saturday June 20 with a 7:30 am tee time. POP was around 1 1/2 hours to play 9. Walking only for this course. As we finished, it looked like the golf course was very busy today. You really need to get your tee time ahead of time. We had prepaid our green fees. It's not cheap to play here for an executive course ($26).

Course is not in good shape today. It was rather beat up. I've seen better days and it looks like it's getting neglected. There's still talk about this golf course becoming a future Topgolf location. I saw online that the Topgolf project is currently on hold due to the current economic and Covid-19 situation.

The driving range was open with social distancing in effect. It looked like about half of the spots on the driving range have been removed. If the driving range is full, you have to wait outside the driving range until a spot opens up. There's a 1 hour time limit for the driving range. The balls from the machine were looking a little old. The practice putting green and the bunker practice areas were closed today.

The tee box area was all beat up with a lot of divots. The fairways looked really terrible. There were a lot of bare spots and thin lies on the fairways. You can still play. There were decent coverage on other parts of the fairways. But the greens were in awful shape. There were so many unrepaired ball marks on the greens. Can't comment on the bunkers but when I looked at the sand it was hard packed and wet. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, there were no rakes in the bunkers, no ball washers near the tee boxes, and there were no benches on the course. You cannot remove any of the pins on the greens. There's a filler in the cup so you don't need to reach into the hole to retrieve your ball.

One of the reasons we play here is to practice your short game. There's a couple of par 4s on this course. So you can use all the clubs in your bag. There's water on a few holes on this course. The club house and restaurant was not open today. The golf shop was not open. You check into the golf shop from an outside window. There's no pull rental carts available. I think this will be our last time playing here.

Decided to leave the SFV and play a round here. Had a tee time before 8 am on Saturday 8/3 on a rather humid day. POP was 1 hour 45 minutes to play 9.

Course is in decent shape. They had two tee... Continue »

Decided to leave the SFV and play a round here. Had a tee time before 8 am on Saturday 8/3 on a rather humid day. POP was 1 hour 45 minutes to play 9.

Course is in decent shape. They had two tee areas - white (back) and red (forward). It didn't help that the scorecard had the same yardage for the forward and back tees for most of the holes. Tee boxes had good coverage but it was looking a little beat up from tee shot divots. Course is walking only and there's one big hill you need to walk up on hole #4. Fairways were very lush with very good coverage. Fairways felt a little wet on a lot of holes.
Landed in only one bunker and it was very hard packed and wet. Greens were in average shape. There were a lot of repaired and un-repaired marks on the greens. But you can still putt on the greens.

There is a driving range here along with a restaurant and golf shop. It's a nice course to work on your short game. Talk came up while playing today about the driving range becoming a future Top Golf site. Just have to wait and see what happens.

Played Monday. Greens in decent shape. They held their line and received shots well. Green complexes are lush. Bunkers are a mix of fluffy sand and even fluffier sand with some burrowing animals t... Continue »

Played Monday. Greens in decent shape. They held their line and received shots well. Green complexes are lush. Bunkers are a mix of fluffy sand and even fluffier sand with some burrowing animals thrown in for good measure (hole 9 comes to mind). They fixed the bunkers around the green on Hole 6. Tee boxes are crowned but playable.

Overall best kept greens I have seen as of late. Pace of play was decently quick. Also groups have presence of mind to allow fast groups to play through - at least in my experience.

I enjoy this course. It's fun, it's fast. And the conditions are consistent.

Greens rolling with medium speed. They hold their puts OK. Fairways are lush. Tee boxes for the most part need th... Continue »

I enjoy this course. It's fun, it's fast. And the conditions are consistent.

Greens rolling with medium speed. They hold their puts OK. Fairways are lush. Tee boxes for the most part need the most work... many are bowed. It's playable just takes a bit more effort to find a flat spot. Bunkers are decently stocked with sand.

Out of work early so met a buddy for a simple pitch and putt twilight at the Lakes.

Must say that no twilight discount blows. Can play Harbor Park for $8.50, but this much less appealing short trac... Continue »

Out of work early so met a buddy for a simple pitch and putt twilight at the Lakes.

Must say that no twilight discount blows. Can play Harbor Park for $8.50, but this much less appealing short track costs $15 no matter what time. And it was crowded as hell. On top of that, the wind was blowing hard so it wasn't ideal.

Tee boxes are chewed up pretty good and often uneven. Fairways (only matter on 4 and 9) were thin but playable in most sections. Greens were littered with ball marks but surprisingly very fast. Deceptive. Sand was not great, but what you'd expect.

I really hope they turn this place into the proposed TopGolf sooner rather than later.

Played Thursday. The pace of play was quick. Finished 9 holes in 1 1/2 hours.

Greens are the best feature here. They are soft and quick. Aggressive high shots are rewarded so know your distan... Continue »

Played Thursday. The pace of play was quick. Finished 9 holes in 1 1/2 hours.

Greens are the best feature here. They are soft and quick. Aggressive high shots are rewarded so know your distance. Fairways have decent coverage except landing area on 4 which is pretty bare for some reason (par 4 uphill). Bunkers are OK. Rough is very thick and sticky. Tee boxes if you're lucky are completely uneven. You really have to move the ball further and further back to get a flat spot to hit from.

Finished off the LAX double-dip with 9 holes here after finishing at Westchester. Got out there a little after 1:00 and was able to head to the first tee right away to join a single. The pace was a li... Continue »

Finished off the LAX double-dip with 9 holes here after finishing at Westchester. Got out there a little after 1:00 and was able to head to the first tee right away to join a single. The pace was a little slow being behind other groups, but not too bad. Price was $18, which also seems steep.

The course was in pretty good overall condition, highlighted by the greens. They were very nice and rolling at medium/quick speeds. There were plenty of unrepaired marks, but not nearly as much as I expected at a short course like this. Tee boxes good. Fairways on the two par-4s were fine enough. Rough a mixed bag, but mostly decent. I wasn't in a bunker, so no comments there.

I found this to be a fun little course with just the two short par-4s (and on the 9th they discourage people from hitting driver and/or going for the green because the clubhouse area is very much in play if you pull it left). Relatively big and interesting greens and, as the name would imply, a few water hazards in play.