Looking for a weekend tee time late in the week I grabbed a single spot at Woodley for 3:50 on Saturday the 14th. Just wanted to get out and accepted that 18 might not be in that time frame but, somew... Continue »

Looking for a weekend tee time late in the week I grabbed a single spot at Woodley for 3:50 on Saturday the 14th. Just wanted to get out and accepted that 18 might not be in that time frame but, somewhat surprisingly, our foursome did 18 in just about four hours. Conditions were actually pretty good all around. Playing from the whites, teeing grounds were level and coverage was fine. The fairways were on the firm side, also with pretty good coverage and fair rollout. I don't recall being in the fairway at any point and having a lie issue. Rough was pretty consistently playable so between the wide fairways and forgiving rough, the opportunity to have a good round was expanded. I don't think anyone in our group visited a bunker, so no intel there. The greens were good, clean, minimally marked and looking like they should run medium but were a bit quicker than that. Green-adjacent was pretty good for chipping and pitching. I was the only one dumb enough to walk and it was over 90º when we started but it was subsiding at that time of day as we progressed to sunset. The pace on the front nine was pretty much unimpeded. The Back nine was relatively more congested but not by much, and the 4-hour final time was a pleasant surprise for all of us. I don't go out of my way to play here — much less than once a year typically — but I was in the mood to play someplace with legitimate length that would allow more margin for error to build up some confidence. Oh, and there was tee time available — duh. Woodley didn't disappoint. Shot my best score in at least couple of years. The guys I played with were pleasant company and pretty good players as a group. As the sun and temps went down, the full moon came up to complement an orange sunset so it was a really nice finish to a good round. Open, predominantly flat and good for walking, the expansiveness may not have the more classic visual interest of a contoured course, but there is an interesting, more spare aesthetic to it that I enjoyed as a change of pace. Recommended.

I played Woodley today with Kassper7 and two of his friends. I’d only played here once before, several years ago. I remembered nothing of the course so it was really like playing it for the first time... Continue »

I played Woodley today with Kassper7 and two of his friends. I’d only played here once before, several years ago. I remembered nothing of the course so it was really like playing it for the first time. We got out right at our 11:00 tee time.
The course is completely flat so is perfect for walking. It’s a bit long for me at 5689 yds from the yellows but at par 76 and with the help of my new driver, it was very do-able. It’s pretty basic with wide fairways, very few bunkers and just enough trees to keep it interesting. There was, however, an overabundance of goose poop everywhere!
The fairways are a mixture of grasses with some thin-to-bare areas but overall had good coverage. The rough was short. I would have enjoyed having the grass a little longer around the greens to make for easier chipping as I’m not so good with the bump and run shots. The greens were in good condition with only an occasional ball mark.
I enjoyed playing here. It’s a nice no-pressure course. Good fun. Recommended.

Short review for today's round at Woodley Lakes. First off, make sure to eat and bring drinks because the cafe is completely shut down and there is no cart service to be found. You're on your own! Whe... Continue »

Short review for today's round at Woodley Lakes. First off, make sure to eat and bring drinks because the cafe is completely shut down and there is no cart service to be found. You're on your own! When the round finished, there was a food truck near the starter's office so that was good, but it was not there for the 8am tee time.

Course conditions are about what you would expect at Woodley this time of year, but the greens were actually running a little nicer than I expected. They were slow in the morning with all the dew, but got much quicker as the day warmed up nicely. They are in quite good shape and rolling true, but of course there's not much to worry about on Woodley greens as they're about as basic and flat for the most part as you'll find anywhere.

Fairways are in decent to good shape depending on the hole, but you're definitely going to find some thin lies out there. The rough is not penal and in fact can be better for chipping than the thin areas around the greens. I avoided every single bunker today so I can't be too sure of their quality but did not hear any complaints from my friends. Tee boxes beat up as one would expect but flat and level.

Not many layouts more basic and up-front than Woodley Lakes so it's a great place to really try some new things out or just work on getting some aspects of your game back. You're never going to WOW anyone by bringing them here, but it's a solid course that has enough length (we played the blue tees) to keep you honest.

I walked Woodley Lakes on Monday, October 18, 2021. This golf course is in POOR condition. Tee boxes are beat up and hard. The fairways are mostly dirt and extremely thin grass, with the occasional so... Continue »

I walked Woodley Lakes on Monday, October 18, 2021. This golf course is in POOR condition. Tee boxes are beat up and hard. The fairways are mostly dirt and extremely thin grass, with the occasional somewhat decent lie in the fairway. Many of the holes on the back 9 have had the fairways punched and cut up. If you were in any of those many areas, you would need to place your ball somewhere else. The rough is like the fairway, only sometimes it was in better condition! I was in one greenside bunker. It had very firm and heavy, damp sand. The greens were painfully slow. You had to hit your putts with significant force to get them to the hole. This removes most of the break from every putt. The greens were very soft. Approach shots landed, causes a huge ball mark, and stuck. The greens were also somewhat bumpy. I had at least two putts that were tracking into the cup only to bounce one way or the other and just miss the hole. I will not be going back to Woodley any time soon. I do not recommend playing here.

Played Woodley today as a single with another threesome. I Walked the white tees. There is nothing remarkable about this course. It is a straight ahead muni with typical so-so conditions. Tees were fi... Continue »

Played Woodley today as a single with another threesome. I Walked the white tees. There is nothing remarkable about this course. It is a straight ahead muni with typical so-so conditions. Tees were fine. The fairways have a mix of grasses. About 1/3 of the fairway lies are pretty lush, 1/3 are somewhat thin but OK coverage, and 1/3 bare dirt areas. Fortunately, I found a lot of good lies in the fairways today. The bunkers I was in (2) were in poor shape; wet, crusty and poorly, if at all, raked. The greens today were medium slow and bumpy. It was difficult to make a lot of putts due to this. Uphill putts had to be "hammered" to get to the hole. Not a fan of the greens today. You can still see the holes on the greens where they were punched a while ago. For the $20 senior walking rate it was decent. But I probably won't be back anytime soon. I played Balboa golf course last week, and it was in much better condition than Woodley.

Played at Woodley Lakes on Friday with kviser so little to add after his solid write-up about course conditions. I found the course to be 'fine' in just about every way. Nothing horrible, nothing spec... Continue »

Played at Woodley Lakes on Friday with kviser so little to add after his solid write-up about course conditions. I found the course to be 'fine' in just about every way. Nothing horrible, nothing spectacular.

The greens were a bit slow and spongy for my tastes, but they held shots well and rolled true enough - just needed to adjust to the speed. Found some good spots in the fairways, but also some thin and some very thin/hardpan. Rough a mixed bag, tee boxes were fine and the one or two bunkers I was in were a bit thin and hard but not the worst I've ever played.

Old carts at Woodley but they do have a decent GPS system on them now, although that feels pretty wasted at a straight-ahead course like Woodley Lakes, but I'm sure it will help anyone new to the course.

Woodley is a great place to get in a confidence round as it's about as flat as any course you're going to play in SoCal and there's really not too much trouble to get into on most holes. Weather was perfect so it was still a very enjoyable afternoon.

Played yesterday afternoon, match play with roarksown1, teeing off at 1:50 p.m. I have not played here for at least a few years, but I do believe that course conditions here have not changed considera... Continue »

Played yesterday afternoon, match play with roarksown1, teeing off at 1:50 p.m. I have not played here for at least a few years, but I do believe that course conditions here have not changed considerably. Lots of roll on thin fairways, not too deep rough, and relatively slow greens. POP was about 4.5 hours. This is one of the flattest courses around and is conducive to walking, although we rode in a shared cart. I picked up a Senior Players Card for $25 and the riding rate was $33. The carts do have a decent GPS showing a color map where you can touch to see yardages; the green/approach view only gives you front, middle, back. No ice chest (there was a hook for one) and no sand bottles. Tees: We played the blue tees, 6564 yards, but who's counting? All tees here are fairly generous and flat. No issues and finding a decent spot to tee from is easy. Fairways and rough: There is a slight difference in the height of the cuts, but not too much. If you hit a fairway, count on some decent rollout. The rough will slow the roll a bit but it's not very penal unless you get unlucky. Your ball will be sitting up much of the time. There are a number of large trees that could block a second or third shot on most holes. Mostly, it is not a problem. Bunkers: No rakes, but it appears that the bunkers had been groomed. The sand looked fairly hard and crusty. A couple were wet at the low ends. Greens: They were mostly slow. Uphill putts really needed some effort and leaving a downhill putt short was a good possibility, too. I think Hole 9 was noticeably faster and looked better that the other greens. Robert said he thinks it's because it is near to and within visual range of the clubhouse. I tend to agree with that. There were only a couple of ball marks that needed fixing here and there but they looked fresh and were easy to repair. Overall, it was nice. The pace was a little slow for my liking, but that's what you get late in the day at a LA City muni. No rakes, no sand bottles, or divot mix on the par 3 tees, no ball washers. The grass is mostly kikuyu and Bermuda, except for the bentgrass greens. Get used to a dull green to brownish color everywhere. A few spots are bare ground, but there's not too much of that. It is hard to lose a ball here and we both played the course using one ball each. LA City has multiple choices and this course is likely to be my number 5 or 6 choice. If you need to get your game back on track, this is the number one place to do it.

Hit Woodley with another single starting at 3:20 on Friday. Overall conditions were OK. Tee boxes were level with good coverage. The fairways are really unsightly to look at — a patchwork of colors an... Continue »

Hit Woodley with another single starting at 3:20 on Friday. Overall conditions were OK. Tee boxes were level with good coverage. The fairways are really unsightly to look at — a patchwork of colors and grasses — but the recent rains gave the grass a little boost and made the turf a bit softer than the hardpan it could have been and the lies were mostly pretty decent as winter lies go. I was surprised at the significant amount of rollout I was getting. There were areas of fairways and rough that had been aerated with big plugs laying about, but they generally didn't impact anything other than clearing some aside on a couple of occasions in the rough. Rough was fairly consistent and only a little more grown in than the fairway — very playable. Missed the bunkers entirely but they looked fairy clean and firm. Areas surrounding the greens were on the tight side, pretty consistent and encouraged putting from just off. Greens were pretty clean and running at a medium pace that felt slower only because the greens here are huge and the putts were frequently from another area code. The course is level with generous fairways and is good for pulling out driver often. I drove it well and struck my irons well enough to break 80 if I hadn't had one of my worst putting days in a long time. Too many looong first putts leaving too much second putt added up to seven three-putts. The size of the greens is a factor unto itself but i failed to adjust. The pace was very good and we got in 18 with a couple of holes worth of light to spare — a cautiously hoped for bonus. Not the most visually interesting course, but as a Hail Mary tee time, it fit the bill and I enjoyed it.

Teed off as a foursome at Woodley Thursday 11/5 at 6:30am. Breezed through the course. Never waited on a shot. Took 3 hours to finish the round. Overall, the course is in average muni condition.

Te... Continue »

Teed off as a foursome at Woodley Thursday 11/5 at 6:30am. Breezed through the course. Never waited on a shot. Took 3 hours to finish the round. Overall, the course is in average muni condition.

Tee boxes are fair; decent coverage, with bare spots and some hardpan. The fairways are a mixed bag of bare, thin and hard, and somewhat decent lies. Overall, I rate the fairways 4.5/10. The rough is mostly just a little longer than the fairway grass, and is clumpy and spotty coverage. The areas around the greens are spotty, thin and a challenge to chip from. You have to clip the ball just right or you will chunk it. Some areas around the green have thicker rough and it grows against the direction of your swing. So, it's easy to have your club get stuck and leave your chip short (I did that several times today). I wasn't in any bunkers but they looked like they had decent sand in them. The greens were nice today. They rolled smoothly, held their line nicely, were medium to medium/fast speed, and soft. This is the best part of the course. For the $18 senior walking rate, it was decent.