Played today 8 sept 2018. Course is never in great shape but the greens today were horrible. I’m not playing here again until the greens are corrected- which I expect to take 4 weeks or so. $55 wit... Continue »

Played today 8 sept 2018. Course is never in great shape but the greens today were horrible. I’m not playing here again until the greens are corrected- which I expect to take 4 weeks or so. $55 with cart is way to much to play a course in such bad shape.

This place is a disaster!
Greens are atrocious. They are bumpy, bare spots, irregularly cut holes and of all things silver paint on the greens. They were terrible! I have seen similar situations... Continue »

This place is a disaster!
Greens are atrocious. They are bumpy, bare spots, irregularly cut holes and of all things silver paint on the greens. They were terrible! I have seen similar situations at other local courses but this by far appears to be the worse. While these other courses are dealing with the situation, these greens for lack of a better word appear worse for the wear.
Fairways are thin. Sand in bunkers is a hit or miss from sand to hard packed dirt. Tee boxes for the most part are flatish.
Pace of play obviously was brisk. No one playing. Easy to get on currently but you will only frustrate yourself while you watch your ball roll up to the hole only to be knocked off line because the greens are bumpy.

Walked on yesterday (July 11th) shortly before 6:30 AM, and to my surprise there was nobody on the 1st Tee. The starter let me out right away as a single, and informed me that a twosome went out a li... Continue »

Walked on yesterday (July 11th) shortly before 6:30 AM, and to my surprise there was nobody on the 1st Tee. The starter let me out right away as a single, and informed me that a twosome went out a little while ago. As it turned out, all day I had at least a two hole opening both in front and in back of me, and that allowed me to play two, sometimes three balls on occasions to get my practice in - terrific! Even with that it was a little under four hour round walking, finishing just as the temperature was getting hot. The overall condition of the course was fair, with the greens and bunkers much improved from my previous experience. They would stay that way and be more enjoyable if people only fixed their ball marks and raked their foot prints, but we've all learned to not get too worked up over that, haven't we? I read RDDenn's review from last week, and all I can say is you must've hit every fairway down the middle - kudos to you! Although the fairways were thin in most part, the rough in many, many areas were thick and long, I dare say well over a foot or more. I pulled my approach to the left side of the #2 green, and I literally had to step on my ball before I found it because of the thick and long rough. Thank goodness that there was no one behind me as it took me more than a few minutes looking for my ball. One thing about walking a course is that you get to observe quite a bit of the layout, and from what I saw they must not have cut the rough in some time. Too bad that they can't grow the fairway grass in the same fashion and time. This is still a decent layout unless you're a low handicapper looking for a tough challenge. As is true with all L.A. County courses, the senior walking rate is one of the best deals around, and for a mid handicapper like me, plenty enjoyable.

Office closed early on July 3 so I made my first 2018 appearance at Alondra. Teeing off about 3:15, amazingly, the POP was good for the holiday-eve afternoon, trending to 4 hours (I left after 16).
... Continue »

Office closed early on July 3 so I made my first 2018 appearance at Alondra. Teeing off about 3:15, amazingly, the POP was good for the holiday-eve afternoon, trending to 4 hours (I left after 16).

The course was in standard summer condition. Meaning, many of the fairways were rock hard with quite a few bare areas. Big run out on drives on holes 1 and 3. The greens were soft and medium speed at best. The tees were good. The rough was non-existent except in certain areas around the greens, such as to the right of #11 and left of #13. The sand was okay if one ignored the many, many footprints.

Nice day, good company, mistreated stepchild of a County course. At $19 walking, I got what I paid for.

You know what you’re in for – the past reviews have forewarned you. About half of those are from GKer Ringworld – he must live just across the street, or he has a high threshold for pain! But I played... Continue »

You know what you’re in for – the past reviews have forewarned you. About half of those are from GKer Ringworld – he must live just across the street, or he has a high threshold for pain! But I played here anyway, with my monthly club, on Saturday, 6/2/18 at 10am.

The word must have gotten around – even though it was sunny and 72* with almost no wind, the course was very uncrowded. Paid $57 and $15 for half a cart – definitely overpriced for what you get.

Driving range on good mats – no grass available. Putting green was firm and in good shape, but then on-course greens were spongy, although the were fairly quick. Runups to most of the greens were overwatered and sloppy wet – no running the ball onto the green! Fairway lies were thin. Rough could be very thin/dry/hard or lush and bushy. Sand was uniformly poor – hard base with a thin layer of sand/dirt on top – after a couple disasters, I started chipping from the bunkers.

For whatever reason, the course doesn’t provide divot repair mix in carts or on-course, so all divots go unfilled. All greens had scattered old and recent ballmarks. Adequate water available; no cart girl, but a snack bar at the turn.

I’m going to have to throttle our tourney director if he keeps picking these dog tracks. Not recommended.

Played Saturday, twilight. Afternoon sun affects greens; making them splotchy and bumpy. Putts can hold their line with a firm putt but expect your ball to bounce around on it's way to the hole. ... Continue »

Played Saturday, twilight. Afternoon sun affects greens; making them splotchy and bumpy. Putts can hold their line with a firm putt but expect your ball to bounce around on it's way to the hole. More than once my ball hit one of these patches to be thrown off course. Bunkers have this wonderful thin layer of sand. Knowing this prior to digging yourself out of the bunker will change the way you approach the issue of finding yourself on the beach. I basically treated it like a thin lie and it worked for me. Fairways of mix of thin and thinner lies. I tried to aim for the patches of what I thought was grass and hoped for the best. Rough cut to the same height as fairways with mix of really thick penal grass and just plain dirt. What you see is what you get. Pace of play on a Saturday afternoon was brisk. 18 holes in under 4 hours; playing just prior to twilight. Could have been faster. It's my default course. It's close, relatively cheap and manages to not only boost my confidence since it is a relatively easy course despite the horrid greens. If you desire better greens I always say Long Beach has by and large the more consistent of the greens in the area with Westchester for a quick round a close third/fourth. Recommended with reservations. My advice to the grounds staff -- sharpen your blades. Make sure your blades are working and even to the cutting surface. And hit the thin spots in the fairway with some sort of soil amending to make it less clay-like and promote growth.

Twilight round at Alondra today to work on the swing changes on a relatively forgiving course that only really challenges you with its length. Played the blue tees walking with a push cart for $27 - t... Continue »

Twilight round at Alondra today to work on the swing changes on a relatively forgiving course that only really challenges you with its length. Played the blue tees walking with a push cart for $27 - totally reasonable. Would not pay more though with current conditions.

Ringworld's recent review pretty much covers it. Fairways are very thin in most areas, with the occasional 'scorched earth' areas that remind me of a Pangolin's armor, only in dirt form. Occasionally your ball will land on actual green grass. Dilly dilly! Rough? Not sure what that means out here - everything is pretty much the same in terms of coverage.

Greens are as slow as the first two hours of Dunkirk. Can't remember leaving so many putts short in a long time, even on the down slope. Sure, they held shots well - they're a sponge. Really thick and shaggy, probably haven't been rolled in quite a while. But luckily they're bumpy as well, so there's that. Not ideal.

Bunkers thin like Manut Bol after a juice cleanse. Tee boxes were okay for the most part - not great coverage but you could always find a flat place to tee off from. Pretty sad when tee boxes are the best part of a course.

And yet, like Vic, I'll always come back. POP was definitely good - just under four hours. No cart service but a well-run, speedy snack shop en route from the 9th green to the 10th tee box. All good there.

Alondra fits the bill when you need to work on some mechanics and anticipate spraying the ball around a bit. It's not exactly Woodley Lakes, but you get the idea. But currently, break glass only in case of emergency.

Home of the thin lies. It won't disappoint.

Greens have recovered. Still very bumpy in the afternoon sun. Tricky to hold the line on putts. You definitely have to strike the putt solid to get t... Continue »

Home of the thin lies. It won't disappoint.

Greens have recovered. Still very bumpy in the afternoon sun. Tricky to hold the line on putts. You definitely have to strike the putt solid to get through the bounciness. Greens rolled to slow/medium speed. Fairways for the most part a mix of thin lies, thinner lies and some decent lies. I honestly aim for the green spots and hope for the best. Bunkers are thin as well. Tee boxes are flatish. Just have to hunt around the tee markers to find a flat spot.

Pace of Play was a quick 3.5 hours. Not bad but the conditions are at best mediocre. I often wonder why I play here and then I finish a round that quick and I am reminded why I play here.

Needed a bit of a reboot round so figured that a pretty straight forward course like Alondra would do the trick to get me out of my funk. I was wrong. I always seem to forget that playing a course tha... Continue »

Needed a bit of a reboot round so figured that a pretty straight forward course like Alondra would do the trick to get me out of my funk. I was wrong. I always seem to forget that playing a course that's in relatively poor condition makes golf harder, not easier.

Lies are thinner. Tee boxes are junkier. Putts are funkier.

Right now, Alondra is just slightly below average in all aspects. The fairways are actually a little better than I expected them after the rains, but it's still quite easy to find yourself in some thin grass or dirt altogether. The rough is the same. The greens are bumpy and slow but also not as bad as I've seen them before.

The bunkers are very thin and it's tough to decide whether to simply try and chip out of them or take (non-existent) sand. I opted for the latter and probably added 4-5 strokes throughout the day because of it. Tee boxes are in their general poor shape.

I also had the distinct displeasure of playing with three young dudes and simply no f*!@#s were given. They talked incessantly during putts (using colorful language at all times), drove their carts right to the green aprons and onto the tee boxes, did power slides off the fairways and one of them even hit a horrible tee shot onto the opposite fairway, drove his cart out there paying ZERO attention to the group ahead of us trying to tee off, ate some food, then proceeded to hit his shot 20 yards and do it all over again.

Yeah, it was that kind of a day. I always have a soft spot for Alondra and I'm sure your experience with the clientele would likely be different, but it certainly feeds into the 'you get what you pay for' moniker. By the way, that was $32 to walk. You tell me if it was worth it.