Played a Friday round at Hansen Dam with two friends and walked from the blue tees with a push cart. Started off at the range adjacent to the pro shop which is conveniently located near that and betwe... Continue »

Played a Friday round at Hansen Dam with two friends and walked from the blue tees with a push cart. Started off at the range adjacent to the pro shop which is conveniently located near that and between both nines.

A day after the heavy rains and with threatening skies and weather often times throughout the day, I thought the greens would be much more docile, but they were in fact the opposite. There were still some waterlogged sections in the fairways, but the greens were dried up nicely and running quite quickly. Good coverage and true lines.

Fairways were in pretty good shape overall and the rough is very playable. Hard to give a proper rating for the bunkers with many of them still with puddles inside of them, but the rest of the sand was clumpy and beach-like, so typical sand shots just weren't happening. Tee boxes were mostly in good shape but a few (like 10) were basically just mud and in need of being moved.

Solid layout at Hansen Dam with a tiny bit of elevations on a few holes but for the most part flat and park-like in the layout department. Two holes are pretty 'meh' (10 and 11), but all the rest are good tests of golf with varying levels of difficulty. And the green on 18 is still kind of ridiculous depending on where the pin is placed.

Still, it was a fun day out there and the weather mostly held so that made it a great day.

Got a 10/20 Sunday morning tee time a bit after 10:00 AM, grouped with a father/son twosome and a lady single to make up a foursome. First time using the new pro shop to check in and it's certainly ni... Continue »

Got a 10/20 Sunday morning tee time a bit after 10:00 AM, grouped with a father/son twosome and a lady single to make up a foursome. First time using the new pro shop to check in and it's certainly nice enough. Driving out from Altadena where it was very calm this morning (and still is this evening), I was quite surprised to see how windy is was out in the north valley, and it made for a pretty tough scoring day. Wind conditions and my poor play not withstanding, the course conditions overall were pretty nice. With some minor exceptions the teeing grounds were generally flat enough with good coverage. The blues and blacks were put together and the whites were often moved forward. Fairways had good, green coverage on the tight side, so decent rollout but good lies. Rough could be mixed, but was more often grassed and not particularly punishing. I was in way too many bunkers, which were on the firm side with a light sand topcoat, and mostly devoid of significant footprints. I had good results playing out of them. The greens were in good shape, minimum ball marks and, with all the dry wind, running about as quick as I've seen them here, which would be the brisk side of medium fast — increasing as the day progressed. Where there was any crowning or slope, the putting could get tricky. The small punch holes mentioned in the prior review of almost a month ago, are long gone. The wind probably impacted the pace which was sluggish but steady at around five hours. Front nine was slower overall than the back nine, which seemed to pick up after the 11th. It's a muni in good shape and I'd definitely recommend it.

Played today, POP 3:54.
Santa Ana winds made for a dificult day.
Greens have been recently aerated with small holes, and no sand (maybe yesterday?).

Course is in good condition, but between the g... Continue »

Played today, POP 3:54.
Santa Ana winds made for a dificult day.
Greens have been recently aerated with small holes, and no sand (maybe yesterday?).

Course is in good condition, but between the greens and Santa Anas (estimated at about 20 mph) made for a difficult day for scoring.

Sunday round at Hansen Dam with Kassper7 and another friend with a 9:44 tee time, riding from the blue tees. Was already impressed with how green the course looked driving up the main driveway, but wh... Continue »

Sunday round at Hansen Dam with Kassper7 and another friend with a 9:44 tee time, riding from the blue tees. Was already impressed with how green the course looked driving up the main driveway, but while the coverage was good, there were still a good amount of thin lie areas to deal with and the rough was just slightly more lush. Not bad though overall.

I forgot to ask about the aeration dates at the new 'front desk' at Hansen (it's no longer adjacent to the first tee box), but they have not been currently punched and were in fact in pretty decent shape throughout the course. Medium to medium-fast speeds and consistent lines were the order of the day, but a few ball marks out there and maintenance was working to fix a few of them as well. Not bad though overall.

Tee boxes ranged from good, to fine to what the #!@*? Mostly all flat and level though. And the bunkers were generally pretty thin but playable. I was in the greenside bunker on 14 and it was only recently dried out so had to hit it like a pitch shot.

We had a very slow group of players in front of us so POP was not ideal, and the cart service was non-existent which is a shame on such a very hot day. Had to wait until the turn to get a drink and a bite so that's not ideal on that kind of a day.

But again, overall it's definitely not a bad place to play right now. I have definitely found Hansen in more ragged condition than this weekend, but there is room for improvement. I would also assume that they'll be punching soon so don't forget to inquire in advance.

Played here last Sat. Tee time just before 8am, finished in 4:20. Should be quicker that early, but the City won't pay for Marshall's... Now the course, really good overall shape, especially for end o... Continue »

Played here last Sat. Tee time just before 8am, finished in 4:20. Should be quicker that early, but the City won't pay for Marshall's... Now the course, really good overall shape, especially for end of summer. The tee boxes are fine. The fairways were great for a Muni course, good coverage mostly lush. The rough was mixed, some bare some overgrown, but mostly tough kikuya. The greens were medium speed, and rolled very well, except like seemingly all courses of late, ball marks were present. Hansen Dam is a great course to have some fun & smack it around. Some nice challenges (#9 is a great hole!) Easier to get on, due to the East Val location & usually better condition than the Encino/Balboa/Woodley courses. Play it & have some fun.

Visited this track on 8/20/19 which was a Tuesday morning around 9:30 AM. Pretty typical LA track with wide open fairways with sizable greens. Only gimmicky hole is #10 (formerly #1) which plays str... Continue »

Visited this track on 8/20/19 which was a Tuesday morning around 9:30 AM. Pretty typical LA track with wide open fairways with sizable greens. Only gimmicky hole is #10 (formerly #1) which plays straight up hill.

Pros: New pro shop is well stocked.

Cons: The starters / pro shop staff aren't friendly towards the golfers and are simply not very helpful. Pace of play was abysmal.

Would not recommend this course unless your local track is aerating greens and you have nowhere else to go.

Played Hansen Dam on Monday, June 3 in the early morning. Not too much to add since the review from 6/1. Fairways are in great shape. The two greenside bunkers I was in had enough firm sand. Good to h... Continue »

Played Hansen Dam on Monday, June 3 in the early morning. Not too much to add since the review from 6/1. Fairways are in great shape. The two greenside bunkers I was in had enough firm sand. Good to hit from. My experience of the greens is that they are fairly bumpy and medium speed. Some greens were very bumpy (had several puts go offline) and others were OK. The greens are just OK at this point. The other noteworthy point is that the tee boxes are awful. Every single one had MANY bare areas, with clumpy grass spots. Often the best tee area was dirt. Not sure why this is so, but it was noticeable. If you're using a tee, then it was not a big problem. But it was very noticeable. Overall, the course is decent, with very good fairways.

Brief update since little change from the previous report. Played Saturday, 6/1, around 1:00 pm with two other singles — one in a cart, me and the other guy walking. Overall good conditions but the gr... Continue »

Brief update since little change from the previous report. Played Saturday, 6/1, around 1:00 pm with two other singles — one in a cart, me and the other guy walking. Overall good conditions but the greens were a bit bumpy at times, especially on the front nine. The greens were also well on the slow side of medium, but they did seem to gain some pace into the back nine. Ya gotta adjust and putt what they are on the day and they were still enjoyable. If you are not a stickler for quick greens, I'd recommend the course overall right now. If you are a stickler, then keep an eye out for a report indicating an improvement. Got around at a decent pace of something under 4.5 hours and enjoyed the other two guys as company. With an LA County Senior card, paid $23 to walk which I thought a great bargain.

Played Saturday, 5-25, 8:16 tee time. Our 4some teed off on time, and POP was a leisurely 4.5 hours. Greens were pretty smooth and moderate speed, especially on the back 9. No issues with the green... Continue »

Played Saturday, 5-25, 8:16 tee time. Our 4some teed off on time, and POP was a leisurely 4.5 hours. Greens were pretty smooth and moderate speed, especially on the back 9. No issues with the greens. I wasn't in any bunkers but they looked OK. Fairways were overall fine; not super lush but plenty of good lies especially if you hit good drives. Rough is not penal, and tee boxes were overall fine as well. A good time was had with perfect weather.