If you're like me you've come here looking for someone to convince you not to play De Bell on a Saturday after your buddies suggested it. Failing to find any passionate reviews to do the trick, I made... Continue »

If you're like me you've come here looking for someone to convince you not to play De Bell on a Saturday after your buddies suggested it. Failing to find any passionate reviews to do the trick, I made the mistake. What follows is my attempt to prevent you from doing the same. When we checked in at 9:50 for a 10:16 tee time we were told they were running a HALF HOUR behind schedule. I've never been told that in my life. When we teed off, the starter said pace on the front was running about 2 hours, which was a lie and we made fun of him the rest of the round. We waited on every shot all day, and our front 9 was over 2.5 hours. I streamed an entire Yankees game from our original start time at 10:16 am and it ended as we walked off the 9th green. The hacks come out on the weekends here, and it's not an easy course for beginners. At one point I caught two noobs in bathing suits and boat shoes sharing a single set of clubs about to drive their cart onto a green. I yelled at them not to, and one of them actually got out of his cart, bent over, and told me to lick his ass. That's the clientele here. This place is a mess. I don't know why a challenging, shot-maker's course with small, slopey greens attracts every hack in the Valley, but this is where they flock and god help you if you happen to be paired with them. De Bell is also apparently the only place where it didn't rain this winter in all of Southern California. The fairways are every bit as inconsistent as the last time I played last fall: good in places, dry and brown in others. The rough is the same. It just looks like very little effort has been put into conditioning the course, while everywhere else in the region shows improvement. On at least two holes there were sprinkler hoses bundled up and tossed to the side of the fairway, because they're apparently too lazy to store them properly. In fairness, some highlights: best breakfast burrito of any course I've played in the area. Bar and restaurant on the whole are pretty good. Solid pro shop as well with good selection and prices. Cart girl passed us 5 times during the round which would be outstanding IF she accepted credit cards, but she doesn't. And we REALLY needed the drinks to stave off the boredom. I don't know, apparently in 2017 the technology to accept mobile CC payments still doesn't exist. Or the course just likes leaving hundreds of dollars a day in revenue on the course because they can't be bothered. Ridiculous. At the end of what ended up being a 6 hour round (including the initial delay) I went to the pro shop to purchase some socks I've had my eye on for some time, which were $3 less than Roger Dunn. I complained to the guy at the counter who'd checked us in and he said "yeah, we're just really busy today." Yes, I know. That's exactly what I'm complaining about. And it's not like this is a rarity for De Bell, it's the norm every time I've played on a weekend afternoon. Stop booking so many tee times, and tell the hacks to play from the whites. Or from the reds. Or from the frisbee golf course down the street. We used to come here from Santa Monica because there was a great Philly cheese steak place nearby that we'd hit after the round. That closed a few years ago, and now there's absolutely no reason to play this place unless it's 7am on a Tuesday and you can avoid the crowds, and you live down the block, and you lost a bet. Never again.