Teed off at 7:45 am Memorial Day. The course was in good condition overall. For a muni course in the Sepulveda Dam complex, the fairways aren't going to be perfect. For the most part, I was pleased wi... Continue »

Teed off at 7:45 am Memorial Day. The course was in good condition overall. For a muni course in the Sepulveda Dam complex, the fairways aren't going to be perfect. For the most part, I was pleased with the turn around of the course. The tee boxes have definitely been moved up and the "blues" are now playing where the "whites" used to be. The "whites" are pushed up and at times were by the "red" stone markers (though the reds were further up as well). No complaints as it made the course different for me. The greens have healed from prior maintenance and rolled true at a medium pace. I found a few fairway bunkers and can say the traps were in good shape. Pace was excellent for a Holiday. Weather was perfect...and I played well. On top of it all, the two singles who joined us were excellent playing partners. No need to shy away from Balboa right now.

The older of the two courses at the Sepulveda complex, a part of the LA City system.
In recent years they extended holes 3 and and 12 to make them into longer holes and Par 5s, to make it more even ... Continue »

The older of the two courses at the Sepulveda complex, a part of the LA City system.
In recent years they extended holes 3 and and 12 to make them into longer holes and Par 5s, to make it more even with the other one, to get more play on this side.
I think it's the better and more interesting layout of the two courses, with a bit more curve to some of the hole layouts and a bit more elevation changes.
Huge trees all around some of the holes are tight, so you have to drive it well.
The greens are almost always better on Balboa than Encino.
It's a nice place to walk and play a casual round for practice.

Course is in good shape....lots of unrepaired ball marks, but that goes for all la city courses. played sunday afternoon twilight...started at 2:20 and finished in 4 hours! That was unexpected. The o... Continue »

Course is in good shape....lots of unrepaired ball marks, but that goes for all la city courses. played sunday afternoon twilight...started at 2:20 and finished in 4 hours! That was unexpected. The only thing ruined the round was when we returned our carts and ran into the angry cart washer guy. Our partners apparently didn't park their cart in the right spot and was yelled at by the cart guy. Excuse me, "yelled" is an understatement...i believe he was screaming at the guys and threatening them, saying "do i have to club you over the head?". This really caught us all off guard. I mean, who expects that kind of reaction from a guy that works at the course. Completely inappropriate. That guy needs to be fired.

Balboa Golf Course Review
Los Angeles California Golf Course Reviews

Played on 6/11/12 with Metswin21 and 2 others. Course was in good shape. The tee-boxes were decent. Fairways were in good shape, as was the rough. The greens were surprisingly faster than they loo... Continue »

Played on 6/11/12 with Metswin21 and 2 others. Course was in good shape. The tee-boxes were decent. Fairways were in good shape, as was the rough. The greens were surprisingly faster than they looked, which was great for me, as I like faster greens. Unfortunately, I can tell you that the bunkers were full of fluffy sand, which was something that I was not used to. Overall, a decent time out there if we could've been a little faster. A much better time than the last time I played there.

Balboa Golf Course Review
Los Angeles California Golf Course Reviews

Played today on 5/14/12. Figured Monday would not be that busy but I was wrong. Teed off at 10:20am and was finished around 3pm. The weather was perfect. Nice breeze and around 85 degrees. Not a cloud... Continue »

Played today on 5/14/12. Figured Monday would not be that busy but I was wrong. Teed off at 10:20am and was finished around 3pm. The weather was perfect. Nice breeze and around 85 degrees. Not a cloud in sight. Maintenance over watered the course. I should have worn my water proof shoes as there was wet spots and mud traps on hole 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 15. They were especially bad on hole 8. The front of the greens were completely soaked. Overall the greens healed nicely from the spring punching. Yet some of the greens were very wet and spongy. Green # 5 and 16 were fuzzy. Fairways were nicely mowed. There were many areas of dirt and sand on the fairways. As my friend would say, "the rough was rough". Most of the rough was about three to four inches long. I would recommend this course as of this moment. Course is in as good of shape I have seen it in a while.

Side note: Driving range is a mess. Balls are so old and damaged that it is not worth practicing there to gauge shots or distances as balls land on dirty in the driving range. The driving range shop is so out dated and it was closed today. Bring cash or buy tokens from the proshop. The starters are quite nice and friendly. The group in front of us were so slow and had no idea how to play the course. When I asked them if they played this course before they stated they did but they teed off the wrong way on the second hole and hit their drives into the 18th green. Called the starter and they came right out and asked these yahoos to speed up or let us play through. These guys played up to the 9th hole and left. Well, I thought they left but as I was on the 17th green I saw them on the back nine 14th whole. Complete idiots.

Balboa Golf Course Review
Los Angeles California Golf Course Reviews

Played Sunday 4/29 at noon. The good: Greens are recovering well from recent aeration. The sand in the bunkers was clean and soft. Tee boxes were in decent shape and fairly level. The bad: The fairway... Continue »

Played Sunday 4/29 at noon. The good: Greens are recovering well from recent aeration. The sand in the bunkers was clean and soft. Tee boxes were in decent shape and fairly level. The bad: The fairways are in poor shape. Different types of grass (weeds) growing and bare areas can leave you with a clumpy or a tight lie, so don't expect to be too rewarded for driving down the middle. For a muni, it's passable.

Black tees have been added which pushes the blue & white tees forward. The whites measure out to ~6,100 yards. On some holes the difference is quite noticeable, on others there is little change from before, e.g. the 17th hole is still a 200 yard par 3 from the whites. I didn't mind the more forward position; they actually made some fairway bunkers reachable for me which created a more interesting challenge.

Balboa Golf Course Review
Los Angeles California Golf Course Reviews

Played Monday April 2nd.

The course has improved over the past few weeks from my last review. I went to play Encino today, but the line up was about 6 groups deep, and Balboa was open. So the c... Continue »

Played Monday April 2nd.

The course has improved over the past few weeks from my last review. I went to play Encino today, but the line up was about 6 groups deep, and Balboa was open. So the choice was easy, the course has "greened" up in the past few weeks with the rain that we have had. The rough is coming in very nicely and was quite lush on most holes. The fairways have also filled in rather well.

The greens seem to be stagnant though, they have not improved, and were actually quite bumpy, with uneven speeds from green to green. Some were quick, others quite slow.

The pace of play was excellent, I assume because everyone was on Encino. But the pacing should be good on a Monday afternoon. I enjoy these two courses, and they provide a nice confidence boost.

They have also added a new set of tees. So the Scorecard that is on the website is now out of date, sort of. They have changed the old back blues into the Black Tees (6619yds). The blues are now (6370yds). The whites are (6115yds), and the new yellow tees are the shortest at (5679yds.)

Balboa Golf Course Review
Los Angeles California Golf Course Reviews

Played Balboa again on Friday Mar 16. The pace of play was pretty good for an afternoon twilight session. Was in the car at just under 4 hours.

The course was in decent shape, the tee boxes wer... Continue »

Played Balboa again on Friday Mar 16. The pace of play was pretty good for an afternoon twilight session. Was in the car at just under 4 hours.

The course was in decent shape, the tee boxes were a bit more scuffed up than I last remember them, including still being mostly uneven. This part really bothers me, not so much the divots or thinness because I get to tee up, but the unevenness is an issue. I did notice that the plateaus with the red markers were a lot less beat up than the back blues where I was playing.

The fairways of the course continue to be very thin, and brown. Still mostly in hibernation, the approach areas are especially thin on several of the holes. The rough was really a mixed bag, some holes the rough would be decent and lush, and even green some times! (my playing partner once remarked "what is green grass doing on a course like this?") Other holes it was thin and spotty. You really never knew what you were going to get.

The greens were improved over the past several weeks. I thought they ran very true and smooth. Hardly saw any un-repaired ball marks. They must be putting their water budget into the greens, which is not a bad place to put it.

Overall it was an enjoyable round, I went on as a single, but slowly gathered partners until we were a foursome. Had a very good time, and have no complaints about any of the staff.

Balboa Golf Course Review
Encino California Golf Course Reviews

Played Balboa for the very first time on 2-24-12. I enjoyed the course, even though it is fairly simple. The usual Friday crowds ensured that we could not complete the whole course since we teed off... Continue »

Played Balboa for the very first time on 2-24-12. I enjoyed the course, even though it is fairly simple. The usual Friday crowds ensured that we could not complete the whole course since we teed off at 245 (played 16). But that is probably expected on a muni course when the weather is perfect.

I thought that the tee boxes were fairly well maintained, with my only gripe being that the markers for the day were set on uneven portions of the box. The fairways were probably the shabbiest part of the course. There were many dried out and thin spots, especially on the approach on several holes. This made chipping up to the green very difficult. I thought that the rough was pretty even and solid on most holes. Having only visited 1 sand trap, but being close to several others they looked well maintained and fluffy.

I thought the greens ran rather well and smooth, not too quick but challenging nonetheless. When ever I fixed my divot, there were always 2+ more to fix as well. I guess people don't consider a divot tool a basic piece of equipment anymore. :(

Overall I had a good experience at the course, the starter was quick, and saw the drink cart twice, once on each nine. I hope to return and play again, hopefully a little earlier so that I can play the last 2 holes.

Balboa Golf Course Review
Encino California Golf Course Reviews