Played on Saturday, 4/22. 6:30 tee time. Off on time and finished in less than 4 hours. Tee boxes have all recently been punched. Greens are recovering nicely from their punching and putted nicely... Continue »

Played on Saturday, 4/22. 6:30 tee time. Off on time and finished in less than 4 hours. Tee boxes have all recently been punched. Greens are recovering nicely from their punching and putted nicely considering. Rough is up like everywhere else. Fairways in good shape but not cut down too much. Less rollout than usual. I would not shy away from playing here if you have an opportunity.

Probably my favorite of the Long Beach courses. Certainly not the most difficult or challenging, but just a fun course to walk and enjoy. I must admot that I found the course to be in worse condition ... Continue »

Probably my favorite of the Long Beach courses. Certainly not the most difficult or challenging, but just a fun course to walk and enjoy. I must admot that I found the course to be in worse condition than I have come to expect from Rec Park. The greens did not roll as smoothly as normal and were slower than usual. Numerous bare spots in the fairways and many of the tee boxes were chewed up. For the amount of $$ they charge to play here, you would think conditions would be better.

Played this morning. The course is in ok shape right now. Amazing what a little rain does. The greens are slightly on firm side but held shots well, medium speed pretty smooth. Whole lotta unrepaired ... Continue »

Played this morning. The course is in ok shape right now. Amazing what a little rain does. The greens are slightly on firm side but held shots well, medium speed pretty smooth. Whole lotta unrepaired ball marks tho. Around the fringe and fairways are typical muni, nice mostly with some bare spots. Rough is longer version of the fairway with slightly more bare spots. Tee boxes were heavily used. Lots of dirt patches. Bunkers were ok. Good amount of sand in most of them but no one rakes their footprints.

Played 9/16/22 0830 tee time. Tee boxes were nice and level for the most part with the par 3s a little chewed up. Fairways had some nice coverage with occasional brown spots here and there. Sand tr... Continue »

Played 9/16/22 0830 tee time. Tee boxes were nice and level for the most part with the par 3s a little chewed up. Fairways had some nice coverage with occasional brown spots here and there. Sand traps were a crap shoot- some were nice and had sand in them, some were just dirt with all kinds of rocks! The greens were something else... I have never seen them this bad before! The greens are hard as a rock and didn't hold approach shots at all. You almost have to play links style and roll everything up to the green. I tried to fix a couple of other ball marks and the grass was sticking to my divot tool because it was so dry and brittle. I spoke to the marshal and they said because of the drought they had water restrictions so they can't water them everyday. I asked him how can you have a water restriction for reclaimed water?! It didn't make any sense to me! Then he came back with- they're going to punch them in two weeks anyway. I hope they can do something because this is one of my favorite local tracks and I would hate to see them lose their greens.

Always enjoy playing Big Rec. Teed off about 7:20 Wednesday finishing in 4:15. The greens were rolling medium speed, mostly smooth, and played a little firm but still held shots decently. The fairways... Continue »

Always enjoy playing Big Rec. Teed off about 7:20 Wednesday finishing in 4:15. The greens were rolling medium speed, mostly smooth, and played a little firm but still held shots decently. The fairways had mostly good coverage with some thin spots. The length of the fairway cut was a little long minimizing roll out on tee shots. The rough had mostly good coverage with some thin/bare spots. With the summer heat and heavy watering some low spots in the rough tend to collect water creating some mucky areas. The bunkers were fair to good and a bit wet and compacted. The bunker short right of the 8th green is full of water. The tee boxes are a mixed bag. Mostly level but coverage is fair to good. The par 3 boxes are pretty worked.

The driving range isn't the largest but there are two sizeable putting greens, a chipping green with bunker, and an area that you can practice pitching the ball. As the previous review pointed out the snack shack on the course wasn't open but you can call food orders in for quick pick up at the turn. The staff was friendly.

Played with my monthly golf group this past Saturday at Rec Park. We had a noon tee time and our group traditionally plays from the white tees - the first time I'd ever played this set of tees at this... Continue »

Played with my monthly golf group this past Saturday at Rec Park. We had a noon tee time and our group traditionally plays from the white tees - the first time I'd ever played this set of tees at this course, and frankly it didn't take much wind out of the bigger holes like #6 and #7.

Course is in pretty decent shape right now with some very thick rough around the edges of the fairways though. I was surprised to see it so deep in so many spots, but the premium on the fairways becomes a bit more amplified. Those fairways are mostly in good shape with some thin areas to contend with of course, but more times than not good lies.

Greens are running a tad bit on the slow side, but rolled pretty true and held shots quite well. Conditions on the greens varied a lot from hole to hole, but it certainly wasn't terrible at any time, just not pristine. Definitely some ball marks out there to deal with as well, but again, nothing terrible.

I only found one bunker all afternoon (greenside on #14) and it was thin but very playable. The tee boxes were also mostly in good shape with a few exceptions, but all level and decent enough to hit from each time. Some of the par 3 tee boxes (as usual) needed more TLC.

Cart service came around once or twice which was nice and there's a nice little cafe just near the starter's office, but not exactly convenient to run to at the turn. They still don't have any of the nice old amenities open like the snack shop at the 8th tee box or the food stand at the 10th tee box. It would be great to see those back in action.

Overall though a pretty fun day out at Big Rec and you shouldn't be too disappointed if you manage to find yourself out there anytime soon.

Teed off Tuesday morning at 7:30 finishing in 4:05. The greens were in very good condition. Greens rolled smooth with medium speed and held shots. The greens looked faster than they played. The fairwa... Continue »

Teed off Tuesday morning at 7:30 finishing in 4:05. The greens were in very good condition. Greens rolled smooth with medium speed and held shots. The greens looked faster than they played. The fairways had mostly good coverage and a little long in length so rollout was a little below average. There are some thin/bare spots about but nothing major. The rough around the greens is good and long enough to affect shots. Rough along the fairways is mostly good and long enough to affect shots but not too penal. The bunkers were groomed but some were pretty wet and thin of sand but playable. The tee boxes had decent coverage. I enjoy the layout of Rec 18. Not the longest of courses (6400 tips) but it has nice variety and the undulating terrain ads to the challenge. The staff was friendly.

While not the best or most difficult of the Long Beach courses, Rec Park has always been my favorite. Used to play here a lot when I lived in Westchester, but not so much since moving to OC. I thought... Continue »

While not the best or most difficult of the Long Beach courses, Rec Park has always been my favorite. Used to play here a lot when I lived in Westchester, but not so much since moving to OC. I thought the course was in as nice condition as I'd seen it. Greens had good pace and rolled well. Fairways had good coverage, better than most of the courses I've been playing. A few spots on the tee boxes, but no big deal.

Not used to playing 4+ hour rounds, so it felt like I was out there all day, but I love the course and the weather was wonderful, so I just resigned myself to enjoy the "walk in the park". What I had the most difficultly was the cost. I know its 2022 and everything cost a zillion dollars now, but tough to spend $45 to walk a course I used to pay $3-$4 to play. Just tough to swallow. But it's still way cheaper than almost every course in South Orange County, so I guess I shouldn't complain about it.

Played 5/17/22 at 1pm on a really busy Tuesday, the course was packed to the gill! The "ambassadors" kept everything going smoothly though. I thought it was gonna be another one of the 5 1/2 hour LBC ... Continue »

Played 5/17/22 at 1pm on a really busy Tuesday, the course was packed to the gill! The "ambassadors" kept everything going smoothly though. I thought it was gonna be another one of the 5 1/2 hour LBC rounds (El Do, Skylinks, Lakewood)... It was a great surprise when we finished at just over 4 hours. Course was in great shape tee to green right now. Tee boxes level with the par 3s a little chewed up, fairways were great! No bare spots anywhere. Sand traps were playing nicely (at least the two that I was in). Greens were really nice and were rolling great! The one that stood out was hole 5 par 3 (it was playing uphill that day). That green was brand new! The grass looked so good that I thought it was fake. Had an awesome day on one of my favorite courses.