Played today at 7:30 a.m., which is about the right time of day to play here if you want to finish in a decent amount of time. However, it is almost always regulars who call ahead and get the earlier ... Continue »

Played today at 7:30 a.m., which is about the right time of day to play here if you want to finish in a decent amount of time. However, it is almost always regulars who call ahead and get the earlier tee times. My buddy is one of these regulars and we walked it for $27. A slower group in front of us kept our round at about 4.5 hours. The front nine fairways and tees were recently aerated and the tees were top dressed with manure. Sweet! White and blue tees were usually bunched together, some forward, others back. Fairways were thick with plugs and our shoes and push carts got dirty quick. Some of the first few greens had a lot of this debris tracked onto them, but folks got the idea and stopped tracking debris after a few holes. They were medium fast and somewhat smooth. The back nine fairways and tees were not aerated, but you could tell half of those greens were recovering from aeration. It was not bad and the course will be in great shape in a couple of weeks. For $27, I may come back at 7:30 a.m.

Played here today (8/11/13). Booked through golfnow for $38/person @ 1:32pm.

Teed off a bit late as we had to wait for a cart, maybe 10-15 minutes late.

First few holes were slowwwwww, but aft... Continue »

Played here today (8/11/13). Booked through golfnow for $38/person @ 1:32pm.

Teed off a bit late as we had to wait for a cart, maybe 10-15 minutes late.

First few holes were slowwwwww, but after getting through them, I could see why. First 2 holes are straight uphill... pretty tough.

Tee boxes were pretty decent. Some were pretty chewed up, most were ok.

Fairways were good. Some muddy areas though and for the first few holes, my ball seemed to either be in mud or on a super tight lie (like hitting off concrete).

Only went in 1 bunker on par 3 6th and there was a puddle... I moved it into the sand but took 2 shots to get out. BOO!!!

Greens were mehhh... Typical of LA muni's noone fixes their divots. Also, although they were pretty much healed up, I could tell the greens were punched recently and it was pretty bumpy on some.

Pace of play was just over 5 hours... pretty typical for this course on a weekend i think.

Played today (06/21) as part of the match play event for the GK Cup #5.

As always, Knollwood starts off a little slow. Huge group waiting to tee off on #1 and people just walk up to the box as if ... Continue »

Played today (06/21) as part of the match play event for the GK Cup #5.

As always, Knollwood starts off a little slow. Huge group waiting to tee off on #1 and people just walk up to the box as if it's automatically their turn. Starter did a pretty decent job of keeping the groups in numbered order though.

Tees - For the most part were average or above average. Always a decent place to hit from, was able to find some flat ground on the majority of them. Little surprised with the tee box placement, but it looked like they were trying to let some areas heal and that's completely understandable. Would rate them a 7/10.

Fairways - Few areas were water logged, and a few areas were patchy but for the most part they were pretty good by Knollwood's standards. Few of the holes had quite a bit of marked off areas but no ropes, just spray paint circles. Rating: 6/10.

Greens - Aeration was almost healed, in fact I didn't even notice it until number 15. As with any standard muni, there were a lot of divots to repair. I think our group probably fixed 10-15 on the majority of holes. Speed was different on each and every hole, tough to get a real gauge on em. Rating 7/10.

Rough - definitely not US Open rough that's for sure. Very playable. Most of the trouble areas have been cleared out pretty well so balls will find their way back into the fairway or just off most of the time. Think one guy we played with hit 3/4 into the "crap" on the first hole and ended up playable on all of them. Rating 8/10.

Sand - fortunately only found 2 bunkers on the day. First one was more mud-like than sand so balls were playing a little heavy. Looked like they over watered the sand since even a couple hours later there was standing water in one of the bunkers and they all looked mud-like. Rating 5/10.

Pace of Play - believe it or not, after getting a late start, we only had to wait a couple times. I would say that I think it's an anomaly for Knollwood, but multiple times I saw Voltaire (GM) riding around in a cart checking up on groups. Starter told us at the beginning that their goal was 4:20 round, and i'd say we were pretty close to that, maybe just a little over. Rating 8/10.

Played on Friday 5/3/2013 at 11:00 am. Round took about 4.5 hours. Not too bad for Knollwood which can be notoriously slow. The course was in pretty good condition. The greens were being aerated, but ... Continue »

Played on Friday 5/3/2013 at 11:00 am. Round took about 4.5 hours. Not too bad for Knollwood which can be notoriously slow. The course was in pretty good condition. The greens were being aerated, but only on 1/2 of the green. The greens were slow, even on down slopes. Tees were fairly good, some divot marks. Fairways were average and the rough was a little bare in spots. I never score very well at Knollwood, but nonetheless, I always enjoy playing the course. If you drive in the fairways you will be rewarded. Drive out of the fairway and you will usually pay for it with at least one stroke, maybe two. The staff was very friendly as usual.

Played today 3-14 afternoon twilight. Not a course I really like, but conditions were pretty good. Greens were good with decent speed to them, Fairways are nicely mowed and pace of play today was unde... Continue »

Played today 3-14 afternoon twilight. Not a course I really like, but conditions were pretty good. Greens were good with decent speed to them, Fairways are nicely mowed and pace of play today was under 4 hours. Tee boxes are sometimes chew up but that's understandable for a muni.

played 3-11 in the afternoon. found a good price on golf now for $20 including cart. not worth it. over 5 1/2 hour round. tee boxes are ok mostly level but on the dry side and not very lush. fairways ... Continue »

played 3-11 in the afternoon. found a good price on golf now for $20 including cart. not worth it. over 5 1/2 hour round. tee boxes are ok mostly level but on the dry side and not very lush. fairways are a little dried out with a lot of divots. rough is about the same as the fairways. was in one sand trap that had a lot of rocks in it. greens a very hard with lots of unrepaired pitch marks. it seems to me that managment and fellow golfers do not care how long it takes to play or what kind of shape the course is in. as long as american golf is running these course i will not be back.

Knollwood. Another great, classic course made famous from the Rat Pack days of Sinatra and the boys. A great course for being a public course. Kikuyu fairways and PoaAnnua greens. A typical William F... Continue »

Knollwood. Another great, classic course made famous from the Rat Pack days of Sinatra and the boys. A great course for being a public course. Kikuyu fairways and PoaAnnua greens. A typical William F Bell design, he did a bunch of these canyon courses all over California with the same kind of design, the same grasses. You have got to play it during the week in the mornings to get in before 5 hour round. That's the only way, unfortunately, as the course lets out 5somes. The greens are almost, always, very very good, if not excellent. On the hilly slopes they can be extremely fast, sometimes too sloped to make them fair as you watch the ball go rolling off the green. Add to that the Poa grass, it's a real test of your patience. For a public course, you can't beat this place, for its price and its tremendous layout. A lot of players find it hard to play here as, on a lot of the holes, you MUST curve the ball off the tee to give yourself a better chance of getting at the greens. Some of the tee shots are really tight, due to the massive trees lining up all the fairways on pretty much every hole. But the holes are well designed into the hills, curving and going up and down with the contours of the slopes. It's a real fun place to play. Worth the money and time if you can get out at the right day or time of the week.

Played today with my cousin. Had a 1:08 tee time. Arrived there about an hour early, talked to the pro shop rep who said that they were on time. As we were standing there waiting, we saw probably 1... Continue »

Played today with my cousin. Had a 1:08 tee time. Arrived there about an hour early, talked to the pro shop rep who said that they were on time. As we were standing there waiting, we saw probably 10 groups show up and tee off. We knew it was going to be a long day from that point forward since Knollwood PROUDLY allows 5-somes. Having played this course MANY times before, I knew that it would be a stretch, but no way should it take 5+ hours to play only 12 holes - which is exactly what happened. We teed off around 1:20 and were waiting. We finished the first hole, only to arrive at the second hole and wait. We teed off and proceeded to wait. You should hopefully be starting to get the picture by now. Marshal drove by and didn't say a word to anyone - he likes to stay in the bushes for some reason. I could sit here and write for hours about how slow it was or how I won't be back but I won't. Tee Boxes: Decent - flat with some grass to hit from on every hole. Fairways: Mediocre at best. VERY dry and patchy, but can't really expect a whole lot more. Greens: Mediocre - very fast but full of divots/sand - truly representative of a muni course with a lot of players. Rough - what rough? Overall - I will definitely have a difficult time going back there. I am kicking myself for not spending the extra $6 bucks to play Tierra Rejada an hour later. Update on 02/24: I like to be a pretty fair guy and give people/places the benefit of the doubt, and here is the exact reason why. After posting this review last night, I emailed it to Voltaire - the GM at Knollwood. By 7am this morning, I had an email from Voltaire apologizing for the extremely slow pace of play and he told me that he is going to send my two certificates to play there "on the house". A free round at Knollwood is certainly not going to change the overall opinion of the course as he also mentioned that they will not be changing the 5-some policy anytime soon, BUT it is an extreme step in the right direction and at very least shows that the course management is somewhat concerned about what people think.

Played on 11/16/12 @ 11:56 am. Teed off on time and starter sent us out as a twosome since the singles on the waiting list never checked in. Greens were in decent shape. Medium-fast and a little bu... Continue »

Played on 11/16/12 @ 11:56 am. Teed off on time and starter sent us out as a twosome since the singles on the waiting list never checked in. Greens were in decent shape. Medium-fast and a little bumpy. Some areas had a unrepaired ball marks. Greens on holes 4 and 6 were in terrible shape with bare areas and discoloration. All greens were pretty firm but held shots ok. Fairways and rough were in good shape. Very lush for this time of year. Fairways gave a nice soft cushion to hit off of with some firmer areas the closer you got to the green. Rough was lush and penalizing around some greens and just sort of there on other holes. A few bare areas. Fairway and rough on #7 was in pretty rough shape with areas roped off. Tees were in pretty good shape. Good coverage and pretty level. Some areas had pretty significant divot damage that had not been filled in. POP was terrible. Our twosome was able to play through some people, but others seemed ignorant and annoyed when we asked to play though. The biggest problem is not the 5-somes but people playing from the wrong set of tees. Guys were hitting 2 balls a hole from the back tees. When will people figure out that it doesn't make you any less of a man or a golfer to play from the proper set of tees. Why make golf harder? Customer service was hit or miss. Employees in the grill and bar were great as always. The young, tall african american starter was really nice. He let us know when we would be able to check in and promptly dealt with the ball machine problem on the range. The guy who actually checked us in, Evan, was very rude. He expected us to just know where we were in line to tee off and seemed irritated at us that the singles never showed up to check in. Then when I went to go double check and see if people would be joining us, he looked at his watch and said, "Why are you still here, just go!" Sorry for inconveniencing you by playing your golf course! Cart girl was around often and very nice, always checking with us before she drove off. $48 to ride on the weekend. There are usually deals to be had through American Golf or the various golf tee time websites.