IN DEFENSE OF WOODLEY LAKES People generally decry Woodley as a "dog track". But that's just wrong. A dog track as to any golf course should refer just to its grass and its routing. And both of these ... Continue »

IN DEFENSE OF WOODLEY LAKES People generally decry Woodley as a "dog track". But that's just wrong. A dog track as to any golf course should refer just to its grass and its routing. And both of these factors are fine with this course. It is flat. It is open. But that doesn't make it a mutt. Now Woodley does have a grass range that is a bit sandy and nothing like the course. Sometimes it can be so iffy I will hit all my warmup shots off a tee. And the putting green is sloping and hilly, fun to practice but again nothing like the greens in the course. They do have a grass chipping area with a practice bunker. People bash Woodley because it's wide open with flat big greens. What's wrong with that? If you hit an errant tee shot here the odds are very good you will have a playable lie unblocked by any of the relatively young, intermittent trees that line every fairway. The fairways are a patchwork of differ kinds of grasses and lies, from hard pan to Palm Springs fluff. The grass overall is better than almost all City courses. You can take a divot without breaking your wrist in the fairway and you can find your ball in the rough usually without the help of your playing partners. The greens are large and flat. You will have some very long putts. When I played last Thursday they are rolling true at about 8-9. The routing of Woodley is fun, especially since they removed the interior out of bounds. The par fives are reachable for good players but demand placement of the tee shot on a proper side of the fairway to get there. Three of the par threes are long. From the blacks you have over 200 on two and the other is a carry over water and reeds to a totally blind green about a buck 75 out. There a holes that require right to left tee shots and holes that call for a cut tee shot. And when you're talking back to back tough, there is no more difficult combination of a two hole stretch in the City rota than numbers nine and 10 at Woodley. Many a golfer has come to nine at even or better and then stepped on the 11th tee three or four shots worse for wear. Par par on those two is the hardest test there is of any City or County course. Now Woodely is not Wilson or Rancho. It's a challenge for sure, especially if the wind is blowing. Woodley is where you go to build confidence and try things out on the course for the first time after a lesson. It's a confidence builder and it's fun, very fun. I play there at least six times a year and love it. It's right by Ban Nuys airport so if your into 100 million dollar private jets taking off and landing that's an extra bonus of the course. The new restaurant is trying to be high end. The food is good but expensive relative to other courses. The halfway hose in the course doesn't have ice which seems impossible, especially because Woodley temps routinely top 100 in the summers. No other course attracts birds like Woodely, so be prepared to decontaminate your shoes and pushcart of the Canadian Goose crap. Another good thing about Woodley is you can always get on. Not many tournaments (any?) and never a wait. Average stroll during the week is about 4.5 hrs. Look at the yardage and look at the slope and rating. Woodley is very very fun course that deserves to be played.

Played the Woodley today. Had a Saturday Morning 9 AM Tee Time. We almost started on time, teed off at 9:06 AM. Pace of play was reasonable for a Saturday morning round, 4 hours and 35 minutes. Sl... Continue »

Played the Woodley today. Had a Saturday Morning 9 AM Tee Time. We almost started on time, teed off at 9:06 AM. Pace of play was reasonable for a Saturday morning round, 4 hours and 35 minutes. Slow down in play was because of the group of ahead of us. They were brutally slow and not exactly great ball strikers.

As it just rained this week, the course was wet as expected. Course was in good shape for an LA Muni. Tee boxes were green and level, fairways were green and full for the most part, rough was defined but patchy at times, greens were rolling well with minimal bumps that are expected at an LA Muni track, and the bunkers were fine though I fortunately did not visit one all round. Overall, I really enjoyed the course and the player friendly layout.

***Please note, they have re-opened the restaurant. It has been totally remodeled and modernized. The food was amazing! I had one of the best Tri Tip sandwiches I have tried in years. It tasted freshly smoked off the grill. I was advised that Woodley has a new chef who really takes pride in his craft and it showed in the flavor of the food. We were fortunate enough to later meet the chef and provide our compliments. Members of the my group had a gourmet burger, cabaret sandwich, and a Greek Salad. Totally top notch! If you take anything from my review, please try the new restaurant. It was a foodies delight.***

Needed to get out of the house today so Woodley is always a good bet. Got out right away. I love to play this course when all you want to do is hit the ball without thinking to much! Not a super chall... Continue »

Needed to get out of the house today so Woodley is always a good bet. Got out right away. I love to play this course when all you want to do is hit the ball without thinking to much! Not a super challenging course but good to air out a new Driver, or practice your approaches, as the greens are very large. POP was dismal but hey, it's Saturday. Greens are getting really good here as usual. Practice greens in the back of the starter office were perfect. Greens on the course were getting there. Most were smooth and fairly fast. Fairways were pretty dry and had some good roll out. :) Tee boxes are in decent shape and so was the rough. Some leaves on the sides of some of the fairways and a little dry but over all playable. I like the wide open feeling here and if you don't mind the POP it is very relaxing. Not bad! ;)

Finally got back to Woodley Lakes to redeem myself after my New Year's Day debacle. Course was in much better condition than back then, but of course the drought shows here like anywhere else in SoCal... Continue »

Finally got back to Woodley Lakes to redeem myself after my New Year's Day debacle. Course was in much better condition than back then, but of course the drought shows here like anywhere else in SoCal.

Overall though it's very playable and, while far from pristine, it's a good day out to work out the kinks. The greens were not fast, but actually in good condition. Rest of the conditions? If you've read any LA Muni review of late, you know the drill - dried out areas on fairways, a few chewed up tee boxes, decent sand and rough.

Actually finished in just over 4 hours on a Sat afternoon, so that was nice. But now that I shaved off 18 strokes from my last visit, think it'll be a while before I come back. Just too many other options in So Cal.

Played Labor Day at 8:00 am to beat the heat, but paid the holiday rack rate. Not worth the $40 to walk or $55 to ride. The LA munis always seem to be their best just before maintenance...but I've see... Continue »

Played Labor Day at 8:00 am to beat the heat, but paid the holiday rack rate. Not worth the $40 to walk or $55 to ride. The LA munis always seem to be their best just before maintenance...but I've seen Woodley nicer. The greens were in good shape, but ran quite slow. Tee boxes were mostly level and also in good condition. Fairways could be a challenge with some having mixed grasses and clumps here & there. The rough, like all the courses in the Sepulveda Dam rec area, was thick and punishing. Traps were ok, though somewhat shallow. I'd go back for twilight rates, but not for the full weekend green fees.

I played here last Sunday, June 29th with my friend who was free for the "evening" and reached out to me asking if I wanted to play a round. He was busy until around 5:10 and so we got to Woodley at 5... Continue »

I played here last Sunday, June 29th with my friend who was free for the "evening" and reached out to me asking if I wanted to play a round. He was busy until around 5:10 and so we got to Woodley at 5:35 and got on at 5:50. We, by some miracle and knowing the course quite well, still got 18 holes. There was a twosome on one when we pulled up so we passed them and started on two. We then caught up to a foursome when we hit 8's green and passed them on 9 going straight to 10. Then, after 12 we went back to 9 as the 12th green and 9th tee are adjacent; and then played 1. From there, we went back to 13 and resumed the rest of our round. We finished at 8:40, for a 2:50 round.

I was surprised by how good of condition the fairways were in, and the rough here was penalizing as I remember it to be at Woodley. I've always thought the rough here is more penal because it is so wide open, whereas at the other two courses within the triplex (as we call it) are more tree-lined.

I also noticed they made four tees here, with the whites and blues moving up and there being blacks at the tips. The red was also replaced with yellow, and moved up in some instances as well.

I don't think I was in sand at all so I can't comment on that, but I will say that the greens were overall in above average condition. Speed-wise, they were fast for LA muni standards and were still on the fast side for what I would have expected. I had a couple putts with a little bounce, but overall it was in good shape. And for 39 bucks for two people to ride and get 18 in in under three hours on a Sunday afternoon/evening, what more could we ask for?

Oh, and the sunset was out of this world 360 degrees everywhere we looked for a good 20 minutes.

Teed off at 8:15 am on Saturday 6/14. Figured it would be a long day for Father's Day weekend, but although the tee sheet was full, there was very little waiting and we got around in just over 4 hours... Continue »

Teed off at 8:15 am on Saturday 6/14. Figured it would be a long day for Father's Day weekend, but although the tee sheet was full, there was very little waiting and we got around in just over 4 hours. This is a very walkable course with wide fairways. One of the three 18 hole courses set in the Sepulveda Dam recreation area, I find Woodley Lakes more interesting than Balboa and easier to play than Encino. The greens were in great shape and rolled true if not particularly speedy. As is usual for the muni courses, the fairways were hit and miss. For the most part, the fairways were clean and very playable. You do tend to get a mixtures of grasses and clumps once in while. Traps had good sand and were a little crispy. Tee boxes were very good. The rough appeared to have been recently mowed and was very playable. It was a little warm, but no refreshment cart came around. Always bring some water to the muni courses. I was very pleased at how the course looked/played and almost didn't feel bad about spending $40 to walk. Almost. But I enjoy this course and will play it again.

Fairways are running a lot and anything over 150 yards and out you should play it a tad short. Lot of run on the greens and I play to a 5. I liked it and our group had fun that is all that matters. Bu... Continue »

Fairways are running a lot and anything over 150 yards and out you should play it a tad short. Lot of run on the greens and I play to a 5. I liked it and our group had fun that is all that matters. But the course does need some more water

Played 1/16 in AM. Prices have increased to $42 (with cart). Winter conditions, but greens are great. You know the deal with this place - wide open and flat. Staff is nice. 4.5 hour round, course was ... Continue »

Played 1/16 in AM. Prices have increased to $42 (with cart). Winter conditions, but greens are great. You know the deal with this place - wide open and flat. Staff is nice. 4.5 hour round, course was busy. Hot, breezy day. NO MORE BAR! No beer available, just water, soda and chips. It's no LACC North (which I was lucky enough to play last week as a guest) but it's pushing 80 degrees in January and I'm not shoveling snow ... so life is good.