Friendly Hills Country Club: Private: Member Reviews

8500 South Villaverde Drive
Whittier, CA 90631 • (562) 698-0331

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La Habra, CA (90631)

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Sunset: 7:06 pm
green Sunrise: 6:48 am

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Friendly Hills Country Club

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1. joekaha

Posted: 03/19/24 1:21p
Member Since: Oct 19, 2023
From: corona

Since it's a private club it's a very nice course. The problem is it is a very difficult and not so friendly layout. All along the edges of the fairways are very thick shrubbery meaning that you nee... Continue »

All Reviews by joekaha

8 Likes.

Rated
8.9 Conditions

2. joekaha

Posted: 10/19/23 3:17p
Member Since: Oct 19, 2023
From: corona

It's a private course and it's very nice. But it is tough. Narrow fairways, long rough and big trees.

All Reviews by joekaha

7 Likes.

Not Rated
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3. kassper7

Posted: 11/05/19 4:44p
Member Since: Jan 30, 2015
From: Westchester

Played in an SCGA outing and even though it was shotgun - got to start from the first tee. This course reminded me very much of the majority of outings I've been on. Course is relatively tight where... Continue »

All Reviews by kassper7

10 Likes.

Rated
7.2 Conditions

4. larryq2001

Posted: 08/22/18 8:02p
Member Since: Apr 19, 2003
From: Brea

Played Friendly Hills on Monday 8/20 as part of a tournament and was really looking forward to it. I have played it a few times before but was a bit disappointed with the conditions on this day. For... Continue »

All Reviews by larryq2001

7 Likes.

Rated
6.3 Conditions

5. t8fish

Posted: 11/11/17 4:57p
Member Since: Jan 31, 2006
From: Altadena

A friend of a friend won a round for a foursome for Friendly Hills, and when someone couldn't make it on Friday, 11/9, I was available as a last minute replacement. I had never seen the course before and I can only remember ever playing private courses on three other occasions in the 40+ years I've been in Cali. Generally, I was impressed with the facility and course. Landscaping was attractive and well kept. The edge of the driving range had a built-in strip of artificial hitting surface for when the grass was out of service, as it was that day. There is a nice, separate chipping area and a large practice putting green on the back side of the clubhouse and at least one other in the front. I used the large green to warm up and it was quick and smooth. Everything on the course was in very good shape. Level tees with good coverage, nice fairways also with good coverage, well maintained rough, and clean, medium-soft bunkers. Greens were running about 10 on the stimp, which is a good speed in most cases. Add the amount of wave and slope on many of the greens, and they were an enjoyable challenge. The course is hilly and visually interesting. Frequently tight for driving, if a serviceable tee shot can't be managed, there will be some kind of penalty. But if you are in reasonable control of your ball, there is nothing particularly unfair or overly quirky about the layout. The consistent challenge is probably the altitude changes. A player will definitely be hitting a number of uphill and downhill lies. While I think those are reasonable shots to have in one's bag, I didn't find myself with too many sidehill lies (vs. up or downhill). The ones I did were not overly severe and I was happy about that. I find sidehill shots in general more problematic and when I've played a course with a lot of them, I find it exhausting and frustrating. There are definitely a few holes where local knowledge is helpful, but it's a good target golf course in that if you can hit the target areas, you won't be unduly stressed. Of course, conversely, any course is going to stress you out if you're having trouble controlling your shots. We didn't tee off until well after 1:00pm, were slow as a group, and so didn't get the full 18 in. More like 15 holes and then skipping forward to finish on #18 before dark. Given the opportunity to play here again, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

All Reviews by t8fish

8 Likes.

Rated
7.8 Conditions

6. hammer74

Posted: 08/12/17 2:07p
Member Since: Sep 9, 2007
From: Los Angeles

Went to play un-'Friendly Hills' last week. :) Overall condition of the course is really good. Tee to green is lush and great. Greens were slow as the course is protecting it from the heat and the... Continue »

All Reviews by hammer74

6 Likes.

Rated
8.4 Conditions

7. GDR23

Posted: 06/26/17 3:10p
Member Since: Mar 21, 2006
From: Thousand Oaks

Played late this morning 6/26/2017 as a part of the Gardena Police Department Fundraiser shotgun scramble teeing off at 11am with temps around 97-100 degrees with a brutal POP of around 5 hrs 25 minutes. Read all 3 reviews prior to playing here this morning and they did a great job of illustrating this private course up in the hills of Whittier. I was joined by my brother in law, Brandon and Andrew.

The highlight of the day was winning the long drive contest--but that was probably the only highlight--our group probably lost 20 balls today--I did my fair share losing 4 balls on my own. The best way to describe the layout is super hilly, elevated tees shots, blind tee shots, tight tree-lined fairways and the main issue I had was the kikuyu grass--not a big fan of it chipping around the greens(never had been--never will!). This is a target golf course that does give you however the chance to grip and rip but only on a couple of holes. My one friend said it best years ago--any time you have a 130 or more slope from the white tees alone you know its going to be a great test of golf.

The conditions I thought were fantastic for the beginning of summer and knowing probably how hot it can get out here.

The fairways I thought were the highlight of the course. Super tight, lush mowed super green kikuyu grass. In perfect shape--I am rating them a 8.5/10.

The tees were mostly all level and lush kikuyu tees. Most of the par 3's were filled in nicely. Rated 8/10.

Wasn't in any bunkers but they looked to be raked and on the firmer side.

The rough was very sticky kikuyu grass surrounding the fairways and greens. In very good shape. Rated 8/10.

The greens including the practice green looked thick but rolled nicely with minimal bounces--would say medium speed and held approach shots like darts. Rated 7/10

Don't know if I will get a chance to play this private again but would like another shot at it now that I know what to expect.

Recommended for a change of pace if you get a chance.

All Reviews by GDR23

13 Likes.

Rated
7.5 Conditions

8. roarksown1

Posted: 03/20/17 9:35p
Member Since: Jan 6, 2013
From: Playa del Rey

Had the chance to knock another private LA course off the bucket list today with a visit to Friendly Hills in Whittier. It was a shotgun tournament of the scramble variety unfortunately, but had a fun group and a great time on this most interesting and challenging course.

Friendly Hills is true to its name with a number of uphill and downhill holes - very few are flat at all, except perhaps on a section of the back nine. The course's main defense, besides the elevations, are sloping fairways, tight tee shots and small greens with some severe slopes to them in places. The course has a good amount of bunker coverage but not overwhelming. There are also a few water features that come into play on the back nine that are very difficult to see from the tee box in many cases. Nice finishing hole, too.

A little bit of a bummer that there are only two par 5s on the course, and one of them is the very first hole, which is uphill and long all the way, so better be ready from the range. It's a par 70 with a glut of long par 4s and some very tricky and long par 3s as well.

Conditions were pretty good overall, however the greens had been recently punched (although it didn't affect roll too much as it seemed lighter than the usual Muni punch), and there was a section chalked out around every green where the apron was rather chewed up and perhaps being redone altogether? I'm just not sure why this was the case on a few of the greens.

But the fairways were in great shape and quite lush. The rough was not too penal at all and of course the tee boxes were in great shape across the board. It's always hard to really judge certain aspects of a course when playing in one of these types of events, like POP for example, but the overall feeling was definitely of a place I would love to come back to with the opportunity to shoot my own score.

There were no photos of Friendly Hills up either from the last reviews so I took a good number of them from hole to hole and will post them later.

All Reviews by roarksown1

11 Likes.

Rated
7.5 Conditions

9. dconnally

Posted: 11/06/16 10:44p
Member Since: Oct 6, 2003
From: Mission Viejo, CA

Played on Monday morning, 10/31/2016, in an SCGA Member Outing. First time here and I knew nothing about the course other than GKer sixpez’s review from a similar outing a year ago. Found out that, in fact, there ARE hills in Whittier and some are NOT so friendly. The day was clear and cool, without too much wind until well into the afternoon. The course was obviously watering greens when we arrived, and the shotgun start at 10am resulted in the first few holes being very wet, especially in the rough.

Most of the holes at FHCC play downhill or level, but the half-dozen that play uphill play STEEPLY uphill and can really kick your butt. I thought I was fortunate to be paired with a threesome of friends starting on Hole 1A, so I got to play the course as designed. However, holes #1-3 play all uphill from the clubhouse and are a brutal start to a round for the uninitiated. If you play here from hole #1 you need to be ready to hit your tee shots high, long and straight right away. Other uphill holes that can get you are #s 7, 14, and 15 (the latter a par-5 with the second shot downhill, but with many hidden hazards and a bizarre green).

It had been 4 weeks since the course’s aeration, and after that length of time I expected to see less effect on putting – the process used large punched holes ~4 inches apart, and sand-filled – the punched holes were still very evident, and there was also a light dusting of sand on the greens; during the play of those early holes that light layer was wet and all over the ball, clubs, shoes, etc. While greens were medium-fast, they were also noticeably bumpy, and there were several noticeable instances when those sand-filled holes altered the line of putts.

Greens were very slopy, especially downhill. They were very slow uphill, but quick downhill (increasing as day heated up and greens dried out). Greens broker more than was initially evident. Rough was about 1-2 inches deep and playable, but was initially wet, grabbing the ball. Traps had good sand, although it was damp and heavy ~1-inch down. Tees were level and in good shape.

This course plays longer than the card as fairways don’t roll out much. With the shotgun start and this mix of players, we finished the round in just under 5 hours.

This is an interesting play if you get an opportunity.

All Reviews by dconnally

12 Likes.

Rated
7.0 Conditions

10. sixpez

Posted: 11/23/15 4:46p
Member Since: Oct 16, 2003
From: Irvine

Played here today in an SCGA outing and learned why the course has a nickname of "Unfriendly Hills." That is not a comment on the staff. They were very nice. It speaks to the challenge and quirkiness of the course. It was a shotgun start at 10:00 and my group started on hole #7. We were one of the slowest groups (not my fault--believe me, it was agonizing!), taking a little over 5 hours to finish. I think most groups finished closer to 4:30. The course is in decent shape, but definitely not presenting anywhere near its best with the drought in full effect. In fact, they are just finishing up their turf reduction around the course, with mulch areas that are played as mandatory free drops at this point. The tee boxes were dry, but were level and there were always good places to tee it up. The fairways were thin and inconsistent kikuyu, maybe just a step above "average" muni condition. The ground underneath tended to be very soft, so you really had to strike the ball cleanly to avoid the dreaded fat shot. We had many of those today. The rough was actually much better to hit from as it was cut low and the ball sat up nicely in most places. The bunkers were very good. The greens were very inconsistent. Some were soft and slow/bumpy showing some signs of recent aerations. Others were thin and sandy. Downhill putts were still often hard to stop and uphill putts were hard to get to the hole, but that was due more to the extreme slopes here than the speeds of the turf I think. There were aspects I liked about the layout and it kind of grew on me at times, but it also really wore me out because I didn't play well and couldn't get into a rhythm with my group's slow pace. Bad shots are very much punished here and even some good shots can end up in undesirable places thanks to severely slanted fairways on many holes. It is definitely a target golf course and extremely hilly. There are a number of blind shots and it's a course you certainly would have to play many times to really figure out. The mediocre conditions didn't help the overall appeal as a "private" club experience that costs more than your average round, but there are some very memorable holes and nice views, too. We could see Catalina from the 4th tee today, which is a view you don't expect in Whittier. Only two par-5s on the course and both are sneaky tough in different ways. Fun and challenging, but certainly not for everybody.

All Reviews by sixpez

18 Likes.

Rated
5.5 Conditions

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Playing Conditions
8.90
Great

Course Statistics
76 of 2,337 Overall Rank
Value
Layout
Service

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PRACTICE FACILITIES

- Driving Range: YES
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