Played the $30 special - golf, cart and lunch. They have updated and put new sand in all the sand traps now they need to put money into the rest of the course. Greens were bumpy but fairly quick. F... Continue »

Played the $30 special - golf, cart and lunch. They have updated and put new sand in all the sand traps now they need to put money into the rest of the course. Greens were bumpy but fairly quick. Fairways were wet and a little torn up from unfilled divots to poor mowing job. It would benefit the course and pace of play if they would not allow fivesomes and educate our Asian friends on golf etiquette.

Due to proximity to my house, Knollwood is the course I play most often. I genuinely like the course and think it has the best layout and hole variation of any public course in the LA and Ventura.
... Continue »

Due to proximity to my house, Knollwood is the course I play most often. I genuinely like the course and think it has the best layout and hole variation of any public course in the LA and Ventura.

If you weren't aware they are updating the bunkers throughout the course. As of 1/19 they are still finishing off some of the bunkers on the back 9. I would assume they would be all done within a month. It will probably take until late spring for everything to heal up. They've removed some traps added new ones and replaced the sand in all the traps. The new sand is nice and soft and fluffy and really makes the course looks so much better.

They are also attempting to introduce a pace of play mandate of 4.5 hours. I've played here two times in the last few weeks and it's hit or miss. A few weeks ago people genuinely seemed intent on meeting that and we finished in about 4.25 hours. This last Sunday was a different story. A group of 4 foursomes had tee times from 8-9am and they really killed the pace. They were all pretty bad, which is fine, but they were slow. We were a few groups behind them and this led to a 5.5 hour round.

As for the rest of the course conditions, well the course has seen better days. The fairways are pretty much the same as the last year - hard, spotty. But the greens seem worse than I remember last summer. Bouncy, lots of ball marks, really tough day on the greens.

Knollwood still has the best rates - max $50 with cart. Go play but get there early.

Played Monday 12/1. Pace was ok but slow for a Monday at about 4 1/2 hrs. They are in the process of doing some renovations. Look like some of the bunkers were getting new sand and some fairways new t... Continue »

Played Monday 12/1. Pace was ok but slow for a Monday at about 4 1/2 hrs. They are in the process of doing some renovations. Look like some of the bunkers were getting new sand and some fairways new turf. Greens were bumpy and a little inconsistent but not bad overall. No temporary greens on this day. Overall I enjoyed the day at Knollwood and it was great to be back after a long hiatus due to slow play and there being so many better options around with regard to pace, price and condition. Very forgiving course with wide fairways with some interesting holes and challenging shots such as the approach on 9 and the tee shot on 10.

Our weekly Saturday morning group has been informed that refurbishment program that started last week (10/14 )of both front and back nines will take 8 weeks to complete. There will be temporary green... Continue »

Our weekly Saturday morning group has been informed that refurbishment program that started last week (10/14 )of both front and back nines will take 8 weeks to complete. There will be temporary greens and lots of GUR. Don't waste your time or money here until they have things back in shape. Let's hope that they will also address the irrigation system during this project.

It has been a while, but I made it back to this local dog track. I hate to use that term for this super-popular muni that is conveniently located between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys. Th... Continue »

It has been a while, but I made it back to this local dog track. I hate to use that term for this super-popular muni that is conveniently located between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys. The price is right; that is one reason it is so popular: $27 to walk on a Friday morning. Going out a 7:30 a.m. helps, but it was over five hours to finish. The course is in mediocre condition right now and, as winter comes in, it will get worse as the kikuyu grass goes somewhat dormant. As a previous reviewer noted there were many tees that needed leveling. Fairways and rough were somewhat thin with pockets of lush grass. Some areas had sprinklers that constantly oozed water, making mud holes with pockets of deep grass; however, they were mostly out of play. The greens were just okay; soft with a lot of ball marks. You could see the most recently aerated half, and a very thin top dressing of sand in those areas. They rolled okay, though, and the greens should be fully healed soon. This was about what I expected, but I was hoping for better. At the price point, if you can get off early enough, it's okay. Later in the morning and afternoon, the pace of play is horrible.

I haven't played here for over a year, so I decided to give Knollwood another try. It was a huge mistake. Pace of play was horrendous, it took close to three hours to play the front 9. Overall it t... Continue »

I haven't played here for over a year, so I decided to give Knollwood another try. It was a huge mistake. Pace of play was horrendous, it took close to three hours to play the front 9. Overall it took over 5 and half hour to finish. Like the pace of play here, the fairways, the green, and the tee box doesn't change much. The fairways are half decent with a few bare spots through out. The green are full of divots, and slow. As for the tee box, good luck of finding even ground. Overall, I would not recommend playing here unless they pay me. I doubt I will ever going to play here again in my lifetime. Yes, it is HORRIBLE to play here.

Got out this morning. Some surprising things are happening at Knollwood.

Pace of Play - 7/10- Started off as you would expect for Knollwood - slow. Got to the course at 6:30 for a 7:00 tee time, ... Continue »

Got out this morning. Some surprising things are happening at Knollwood.

Pace of Play - 7/10- Started off as you would expect for Knollwood - slow. Got to the course at 6:30 for a 7:00 tee time, parking lot was empty so I had the foolish thought that we'd be good to go and maybe get around in 3.5 hrs. Walked to the clubhouse and there were about 40 people on the first tee standing around waiting. After checking in, spent some time BS'ing with the starter....he told us that the Pro Shop packs these groups in and then allows people without tee times to go out in between the groups that do have tee times. Once we got going, it wasn't too bad. Only had to wait a handful of times. Got around the course in just over 4 hrs total.

Tees -8/10- Generally all were pretty flat. Looked like we were the first group playing from the blues today so they were in pretty good shape. Most of them were forward though, so it definitely made the holes play a little differently.

Fairways -7/10- Apparently, Knollwood just hired a new Groundskeeper a few months back and they're doing some great things here. Fairways were a little thin in a few areas but overall better than I've seen at this course in a LONG time. Not quite Robinson Ranch, but certainly not Lost Canyons.

Rough -7/10- Same as the fairways. Few patchy spots, but generally in good shape. A lot of the brush/garbage areas have been cleaned out so you can play right out of them.

Bunkers -5/10- Really the only negative on the course. Looked like a soft layer on top and then were hard as a rock underneath. Definitely skulled a few shots out of the bunkers by being fooled in sand quality.

Greens -7/10- Best part of the course today. Greens were great. Before we teed off we noticed a Gator cart with a sprayer contraption hooked up to it driving across the greens spraying water and fertilizer. Would have rated the greens an 8 but the maintenance guy driving the cart water logged the greens and left puddles of the water/fertilizer mix on the fringes. Could have earned another point, but there were a lot of ball marks. Can't fault the course for that, but I think they could probably make the etiquette part of the game more prominent.

Overall it was a great course today and it seems like it's only getting better. As long as they can keep the pace of play under control (which they won't because they allow 5 somes and are proud of it) I would definitely recommend this course.

Off Sat 3rd group. What a blast walking 18 in the rain- raingear, towels, umbrella's, etc. Rest of group quit after 9 so back was wide open pace. Excellent layout- no side by side holes. P4's are all... Continue »

Off Sat 3rd group. What a blast walking 18 in the rain- raingear, towels, umbrella's, etc. Rest of group quit after 9 so back was wide open pace. Excellent layout- no side by side holes. P4's are all unique in shot requirements. Wish they would open up old elevated tee on 15. P3's all managable & fun to play ( missed ace on 17 by 6"-nerts!). Greens very tough to read- subtle breaks thruout. Very very fast till rain slowed them down. Fairways good, no rough. Sand in bunkers ok. Pro shop staff accomodating. It is very hard to get off waiting list even if 1st on normal weekend days. Top 10 course.

I was itching to get out today despite the weather and figured it was a good excuse to finally go play Knollwood figuring it wouldn't be as crowded as normal. The gamble paid off. Teed off around 11:0... Continue »

I was itching to get out today despite the weather and figured it was a good excuse to finally go play Knollwood figuring it wouldn't be as crowded as normal. The gamble paid off. Teed off around 11:00 by myself ($49.50 with cart, so had to pay regular weekend rate as a walk-on). They were nice enough to let me go off the back nine first after a few groups went off the front ahead of me. I did play through a few groups along the way, but otherwise an awesome pace on a gloomy, drizzly day. I feel like a 2.5-hour round at Knollwood is definitely an achievement. The conditions at Knollwood were just so-so. I’d say about average for a muni-level course this time of year. Despite the rain, the fairways were very firm and very fast with a lot of tight lies. This turned out to be a big disadvantage here. With the short, but hilly and tight layout, the extra roll-out usually proved more harmful than helpful. I was in one bunker and it was very wet, hard-packed sand, so hard to get a fair judgment. The greens were in very nice shape, surprising given the amount of play this course gets. Even though it wasn’t busy today, I would have expected to see more old ball marks and beat up areas, but they were very green and smooth. And even with the dampness caused by the rain, they were rolling a very quick speeds. There were some low spots where water would puddle up, but the pins were kept away from those areas and that’s excusable after such a quick, but heavy rainstorm. Overall, I found Knollwood to be a fairly enjoyable course that is probably even more fun the more you get to know the different holes and shots required to play it well. Obviously the slow play is a deterrent for many coming here, so I was lucky to avoid that. The price, crowds and location would deter me from making it a regular stop in my rotation.