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This course is seeing plenty of good reviews lately - I'll add another. While I do love that most of the time, when I play there, its wide open (weekdays or Sunday afternoons are best), I'll give away that this has to be the best value course in LA (ok, this is Ventura, but I'll explain).

Since moving back to the Westside from Long Beach, courses here are limited - Rancho's pace of play is awful, I haven't been to Woodley or another Valley course in a while, and I was never a fan anyway. I've heard decent things about Griffith (Wilson/Harding), but frankly, its worth the drive (less than 90 minutes now with covid-traffic) to goto Ojai.

Tee fees are low ($44 to walk, add $12 or so to ride), the course keeps getting in better and better shape. It was taken over a couple years ago, and they've been working steadily to improve every aspect. They care about their golfers - an example, they don't charge people to just ride along with the players. I've seen guys out there with their kids (they often won't charge for the little ones, or wifes to caddy them around while they walk (single rider policy in place cause of covid). Soule park wants you to enjoy your day.

This is a course that doesn't ride up against any buildings, condos, homes. There's a dog pound that you can hear on hole 8, and a donkey that loves to honk on hole 12, otherwise its a super peaceful and gorgeous place. (I don't get why some people have to play with music here, the place is so tranquil).

Where else you gonna play? Drive down to Skylinks and hear the helicopters all day? Spend 6 hours playing at Rancho? Go east is d%mn far to play Pacific Palms - only to find that the Babe is all tore up and the Ike is slow as sh*t.

Only thing better is going out to the desert, which is way hot, and 30 more minutes further for me now. So Soule Park it is!
12 Likes.
Played last Saturday. My first time playing here, and wow! the place is great! I loved everything about it! Now I was lucky enough to have an inside hookup that got me out for $125, I'm not sure how I'd feel if I paid the regular rate, but when I was thinking about it later, I felt that this may be in the top 3 courses I've played in the LA/Desert area. Pelican was better than the Riveria, primarily in layout, they compared with course conditions. LACC was better in both layout and conditions. Yeah, I'd say Pelican may be the 2nd best place to play in LA/Desert area. The south course is lower and cuts closer to the beach. One hold has you right up over the shoreline in fact. The layout was quite varied I thought, with a meandering path throughout the resort, with few holes lined up together. The service was outstanding, I even had my car washed. I ate lunch too, that was also great, and a bunch of my friends loved the pool. I'd love to play golf here again, if I can get a deal, or feel like splurging.
11 Likes.
Meh.. Grad school has kept me off the links for about 18 months. My game isn't up to par, but was better than I thought it would be. A few more hours at the range and some more playing time, and I'll be back in the single digits again. But anyway, this place still has my heart - its close to my house and the twilight rates are cheap. Its just meh.. though. I like the layout, but there's lots of patches of hard dirt, mostly off the fairway. I wouldn't even call it rough, because its the opposite - its as if they maintain the fairways and ignore the rough, so there's little grass and when there is, its not lengthy. The fairways here have always been dry and hard, so the ball rolls quite a bit. But its not bad to hit off of. Bunkers are usually pretty good here. If I'm jonesing to play, need to get out quick, and want a twilight discount, this place works fine. If I'm able to plan ahead, I'd look elsewhere for something a bit "more". Just don't play here on the weekends unless your phone is fully charged so you can watch tv while you wait, and wait, and wait.
6 Likes.
Played Sat. April 6. If they punched the greens, its recovered now, as the greens we near perfect. Very nice and quick. As for the rest of the course, this was my first time playing, and I hadn't even heard of it before. I grew up in So Cal, but I had never been to Rancho Santa Margarita before and wow -- its a very nice place. Great scenery and very quiet. The golf was very nice as well. I checked out their membership rates, and they're a bit cheaper than places I know of in Seal Beach, San Gabriel, etc.. I thought the clubhouse was outstanding. The views from it, as well as from many of the holes were amazing. Lots of variety in the course as well. The course was challenging like a Private club should be. The rough wasn't too thick, and there were lots of trees. I had some outstanding tee shots that ended up in bad positions because of them. The bunkers were nice and soft. Greens had elevation changes and were real quick. All the tee boxes were nice as well. If I loved closer I'd definitely think of joining the place. I highly recommend!
7 Likes.
1:40 to play the first 4 holes. I quit.. I've had enough, Long Beach golf has gone way downhill. The course gets worse and worse each time I come. They seem to always be doing some sort of maintenance they don't tell you about. The guys in the pro shop, while adequate in that they can do the job, have zero personality and don't do anything to better the experience. They lie too about pace of play or when you'll get out. I showed up .. we can put you out at 11:15, I'm actually teeing off at 11:50. First hole, not bad, second tee? Group just tee'd off, another group waiting, and then us. No marshal in sight .. It rained days ago yet most bunkers are flooded. All this for $50+. For just a few bucks more you can play Black Gold, or Industry Hills. You can even make it to Riverside, have a leisurely round, and make it back in the time it takes to play here now. This used to be my go to place in Long Beach, but no longer. This place sucks now.
14 Likes.
I haven't played here in over a year. They went through some rehab, and some reviews on GK at the time made it seem like it wasn't in good shape. Also, its been a while since I've seen a rate less than $150. I got out for $105 during the holiday's, and had a great round. The place is as I remembered it, well maintained and I really like the layout. It had rained recently so some of the sand traps were GUR, which did help my score a little. Though hitting out of a hard packed, wet sandtrap isn't much different than hitting off of many muni fairways (or off of a range mat), so that too helped. I'm mostly stoked for this place because it does offer opportunities, to score well if you're game is a bit off, as there's opportunities to either make it up on another hole, or ways to salvage a hole you're on. I think this place offers the right amount of tight fairways to ones that are open that give you some forgiveness. This is my favorite course right now in LA (ok, Irvine, but whatever).
9 Likes.
Yep, another positive review for Black Gold. I guess by now the only complaint I'd make about the place is that if you aren't grooving on your swing, you may lose a lot of balls. It may get tiring for some, to have a good round spoiled cause you lost your ball on a narrow fairway. Plus the layout may get tiresome as its always seems to be a narrow valley to hit through. There's no trees to get in the way either. Great views though, you can see Catalina from several tee boxes. The course is real well kept. Very little GUR areas, or places where you wouldn't want to hit your ball from. I think it plays harder than the scorecard says, as this is the kinda of place where you can hit a nice shot, but only to realize you landed your ball 5 ft too far on the green and it rolls down into a gully or sand trap. If you play here with an experienced player, make sure they give you at least 4 extra strokes as experience here can be the difference between an 81 or a 91. I think this place is the bear minimum to play in the LA area. I don't venture too far east from here so I can't comment about a couple Riverside courses I've heard about, but in my opinion, there's only 5 courses worth playing: Black Gold, Industry Hills Ike and Babe, Oak Creek, and if you're in the mood for slumming it, Skylinks. PM me if you want to send me somewhere else, but from I've observed, these are the only ones worth playing.
9 Likes.
Played here twice during the winter break. Once was a day right after it rained, and another was mid-week between Christmas and New Years, but still cart path only. Place is pretty crappy if you ask me. I think I'm over my attempts to play muni's as they're only a cut above playing a miniature golf course. Place of play sucks, quality of players suck, and the course is treated as such. What I do like about this course is that its a park atmosphere, so there's lots of trees, and a decent layout. But it does have that cheap muni feel to it. Golf isn't always about pace of play, and sure I choose a day where it was going to be slow, but when you hit the 3rd tee (the first par 3 of the course), and there's a group just leaving to goto the green and another waiting, and then you come up ... well... I just quit. I want to golf, not wait. And perhaps I've spoiled myself on playing higher end courses, but those courses you can hold to a higher standard. Muni, well, I guess I deserve it. So yeah, the first round I played, we where held up by a foursome that was 2 holes behind. The marshall kept trying to push them, but they didn't care. I quit at 13 on that day as I had a holiday party to get to. The second day was when I quit on 3 and ran over to my country club (which had a tournament but told me if I got there quick I could go right out). I had to leave that round at 11 because golf had already taken too much of my day. All that stuff isn't part of a specific review of this place, just my general frustration with rounds that last 5 hours. So yeah, I'm over muni golf. If you need to play in Long Beach, goto Skylinks and pick a day/time where you can finish in at least 4 1/2 hours. Skip the rest (Rec Park, El Dorado, Lakewood), as they're like too poor to bother.
4 Likes.
Played a birthday round this week, and the conditions here are the best I've played anywhere all year. Its been almost a year since the new management took over, and they've improved the conditions, which were always very good anyway, to a much higher level. The groundskeeping is excellent, and the conditions are near perfect. They did punch some of the fairways within the last month, but on almost all the holes they've recovered, and those that still how the signs of the arreation, the lie was not affected. I really love this course for its peacefulness (its not often that the airbase next door is active), and for its location. There's a wide open stretch from here to the beach, so while you do get afternoon wind (or even morning wind), its keeps the place much cooler than elsewhere further inland. I'm very happy to be a member here, and I love that they appreciate the uniqueness of their landscape, and work to keep it up. Its not a "grass+nice trees" kind of place, but a true arboretum and bird sanctuary. One note, a previous reviewer was disappointed they couldn't eat in the restaurant, I wanted to point out they played on a Monday, which is the course's day off. Many Monday's they host an outside tournament, though other times they open somewhere between 10 or noon for the regular members, however, the restaurant and staff have the day off. Otherwise, I recomment the food and bar they have here (though you need to be a guest of a member to enjoy it). Its a fairly casual and young membership base here, and is quite accomadating to families. I look forward to this summer here.
11 Likes.
Meh... I've gotten used to better, but this is still the best muni-course on the westside (west side as in west of the 605..). Its a real good track, maintained as well as can be expected, and depending on the day can have either a great pace, or a "relax and enjoy your day" one. Really, its a great place to play, the worst part may be the grumpy old men that pay only $13 to play and gotta b$tch about just about everything. I like walking here, keeps me from having to spend time chatting with them from the carts. For the price, there's really nothing better for its location. If you're close to Long Beach, or live on the Westside, this should be your go-to course. Call ahead, you never know when they're shutting down for a charity shotgun, or a high school tournament. Frankly, I only come here when my golf decision is spur of the moment, and I don't want to drive far (Skylinks is only 4 miles down Wardlow for me). Its not real golf like Industry Hills, Black Gold, or Oak Creek, but its not psuedo-golf like Rec Park or El Dorado.
9 Likes.
Played Mon, May 2nd. It was pretty open that day, I played as a single till 7th, and joined with the single in front. We followed a 3-some, but they were quick, so we mostly didn't wait. It was a perfect pace. Conditions have been the same the last few times I've been here - very good. This is an excellent place to golf, and well worth the money. If you can hit it straight, more than hitting it far, you'll score well here. I really like this course, they serve you well, always a cart girl, even when its quiet, always a good pace. This course is an under appreciated gem. If you haven't played, then you should give it a try -- again, assuming you're more straight than long.. ;)
10 Likes.
[Edit: Sorry for the 4.7, I thought I rated it around a 6.1 or so. This place is better than 4.7. I didn't think it deserved >7 "great" though.] Decent place, I probably should play here more and skip Skylinks. I think its a bit overrated based on the scores others have posted. I'd only preface those ratings as saying "based on comparable priced muni courses". I was a bit surprised how green it was. The El Dorado Park area has plenty of reclaimed water, and its being put to good use not just here, but the surrounding park area. Its rather nice - lots of trees, decent grass. Greens are very muni like though. As for the course itself, its seems pretty pedestrian to me. But its a great value, and the pro shop staff is nice.
4 Likes.
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