I came here because the SCGA MAGAZINE rated this as one of the best public courses around. During my fourth round, I finally decided it would be my last. They book five somes pretty close together and... Continue »

I came here because the SCGA MAGAZINE rated this as one of the best public courses around. During my fourth round, I finally decided it would be my last. They book five somes pretty close together and I just can't abide that. There are two par 3s back to back and it's just aggravating to sit for so long waiting. 5-6 hour rounds on the weekends are all I've experienced at rio hondo. The managers think they're making more money by overbooking. Guess what? You lose customers that way too. I'm sitting on number 10, waiting on TWO five somes already here and write this unfavorable review because I have the time. So, in a way, you created the opportunity for me to throw shade on you, rio hondo. You get what you deserve

I was finally able to meet Johnny and I have to say it was a pleasure. The round for the GK match play was a lot of fun, even if I wasn't able to put the hammer down. As with most rounds I will say gr... Continue »

I was finally able to meet Johnny and I have to say it was a pleasure. The round for the GK match play was a lot of fun, even if I wasn't able to put the hammer down. As with most rounds I will say great company makes any course better.

Rio Hindo is one of those course that is n my infrequent rotation and every time I play it I wonder why Indont play here more.

Because of traffic we were a bit late starting but the starter was very accommodating and assured me that even though it was a bit busy after he would get us out no problem. We went out as an2-some and played without delay until the 10th where we finally slowed down a little,Megillah we finished in about 4:30 and it never felt slow.

The layout of the course is great, a wonderful combination of left to right and right to left holes that favor a shot but never force it. The first 3 holes are tight and tree lined with the rest of the course opening up. The tees were lush and level except for 10 which had some divot damage. The fairways were full and with the bemuse/kakuya combination the ball sat up nicely. The rough was a bit deeper and the ball could sit up or nestle down. Some areas had deep rye and could swallow your ball. The combination of mounding, rough and trees forced me to punch out more than once but wasn't overly penal. I found one bunker which was nicely filled and decently maintained although people could use a lesson on how to rake a bunker.
The greens were nice and had recovered from maintenance well. The Pao was thick and full. The firmness of the greens varied from soft to hard. Several shots landed on the front of the green and rolled though.

The beverage cart came though 3 times and the lady in cart told us that she had worked here for 15 years and loved it. That is a big thing to me and says a lot about the course. Finally some little things. There are yardage stakes in the fairways at 200, 150 and 100 which give great visual help. Also the course takes he time to mark areas as ground under repair. This is great as it lets the course heal and doesn't penalize e player for a dry patch.

The only thing I did not like is the restricted flight range balls but with a great range that includes multiple target greens and various stakes to hit, this is a minor thing to play but should be considered for practice. They do however, have a very nice pitching area with both rough and fairway conditions and a bunker to work on your short game.

Great facility, fun layout, excellent service and friendly staff, well stocked pro-shop and a good snack bar. Absolutely worth the $$

First time playing Rio Hondo CC yesterday and also a GK Cup 8 match with Criley_4way. I probably never would have taken on the 42 mile drive in traffic, middle of the day in fact, that resulted in 1 h... Continue »

First time playing Rio Hondo CC yesterday and also a GK Cup 8 match with Criley_4way. I probably never would have taken on the 42 mile drive in traffic, middle of the day in fact, that resulted in 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there from Westlake Village…turns out I would have been sorry I did not because I really enjoyed this golf course. Fun parkland style track in great condition that presents a challenging layout from the blue tees. Although in the middle of the city Downey, with its big trees and well spread out course it was easy to lose myself in the course. Fair track that rewards your good shots and will likely hurt you with bad ones. Many mature trees as well as OB and water to contend with. Greens challenging yet fair. Many huge and in particular deep so knowing the pin place is very important for your club selection. From the blue tees, it’s a big difference in that if played from the whites I could see myself hitting my irons to negotiate some tight landing area but from the blues, no choice given many par 4s just over 400 yards. I love the risk/reward par 5s and actually dig the long par 3s. As far as conditions, I was pretty impressed at how nice they were. Greens were running at a medium speed yet smooth and mostly firm. I did have to fix my share of ball marks but being how healthy the Poa greens were, it was easy to repair them. Fairways, very lush with the ball sitting up all day. Rough, cut low but lush but note they are a blend of Bermuda/Kikuyu grass so once summer temps arrive I expect the rough to get nasty tough to escape from if they don’t keep it trimmed. Bunkers were in good shape with quality sand. Tee boxes were level and in good shape with exception to hole #10 par 3. What also impressed me was the golf course's attention to details and service. Saw the friendly cart girl 3 times on Wednesday afternoon with affordable refreshments. Noticed in the few areas that had a couple small bare spots, they were all defined as ground under repair. The course is very well groomed…just something I did not expect for track in the middle of Downey. If I lived close to this course I’d play it constantly. Given how tough it is to access via traffic from outside the local area I’ll likely revisit the course for an early morning round.

Played yesterday for my gk cup round with cobra1788 and for my fist time playing here i think its a fun course. Conditions were decent and what I expected from the last reviews. Fairway has good cover... Continue »

Played yesterday for my gk cup round with cobra1788 and for my fist time playing here i think its a fun course. Conditions were decent and what I expected from the last reviews. Fairway has good coverage and decent lye's, green soft and easy to create magic on. Only issue's i had with the course are The par 3's. they are too long for casual golfers one was 235 two others were 205+ thats no fun I like par three's that are in the 130-170 range. Green are also marked up because people did not know how to fix their divots including the two guys we played with i probably fixed 6 of their divots. In all I would play here again if i was in the area other than that a fun day.

Played yesterday with Cobra1788 for our GK match. We got out about 10 minutes early as the course was not busy at all. POP was 3:30 and could have been faster but we played at a casual pace. Never ha... Continue »

Played yesterday with Cobra1788 for our GK match. We got out about 10 minutes early as the course was not busy at all. POP was 3:30 and could have been faster but we played at a casual pace. Never had anybody behind us. It had a country club feel. Conditions were good with the greens being the highlight. They have come out of aeration very nicely with only hole 17 having slight bumpiness. Med fast and true. Sand was well stocked and fluffy. The tees were a lititle chewed up, but not bad at all. The fairways are coming out our their dormant state and are greening up. They are a little thin and firm with lots of roll. Rough here is not penalizing mainly because of the tree lined fairways. This course plays tight and good course management will pay off on your scorecard. Customer service was great by everybody. I will return.

Solid course overall but greens were troublesome. Greens did not roll true. Ran slower than I am accustomed to this course and very bumpy. More than one put to save par or make birdie was thwarte... Continue »

Solid course overall but greens were troublesome. Greens did not roll true. Ran slower than I am accustomed to this course and very bumpy. More than one put to save par or make birdie was thwarted with bumpy greens where the ball would literally hop, skip and jump to the hole. That was frustrating to say the least. Overall though that was my only complaint and with aeration happening lately it is understandable that the greens would not roll as true as I am accustomed. Fairways were lush. Rough was thick and punishing. Wind does play factor but more so Friday when I played. Bunkers all well stocked with sand. Pace of play OK but we were paired with another twosome that was a bit slower but kept up with us to some degree. They should have asked for a handicap banner to allow them to roll closer to the greens as one of the players had difficulty walking. I am hopeful the greens will improve. Will play here again in about a month with results.

Played this morning at 8AM in an SCGA qualifier. Weather was clear and warm with no wind - course was just lying there ready to be taken. Previous reviews still hold - course is overall very firm but ... Continue »

Played this morning at 8AM in an SCGA qualifier. Weather was clear and warm with no wind - course was just lying there ready to be taken. Previous reviews still hold - course is overall very firm but in very good condition - greens roll pretty quick and smooth, but hold good shots. Par 3 tees are torn up and traps have good coverage but pretty thin playing layer.

Played out GK Cup match at Rio Hondo on Sunday, paying $49 walking rate with Tim playing from the blues and myself from the whites. Kudos to the pro shop guys for accommodating our time change at the ... Continue »

Played out GK Cup match at Rio Hondo on Sunday, paying $49 walking rate with Tim playing from the blues and myself from the whites. Kudos to the pro shop guys for accommodating our time change at the last minute - thank you. Course conditions are pretty much about what you expect from Rio Hondo - always pretty darn good and very playable. The fairways have a few patches that need some work, but overall there is not much trouble to get into when it comes to that. The rough is very nice, thick and prominent. Tee boxes and bunkers were both in good shape. The greens were very nice but I didn't feel they were holding shots very well. However, once on them, they rolled well at around a 9 or so. Tricky slopes and a few tough pin placements made putting an adventure for both of us today. But nice coverage and not too many ball marks and less bird reminders than usual. POP was not fast behind a slow-moving fivesome, so we paired up with two South African gents at the turn to help them out and also give us a bit more separation from the guys ahead of us. Worked pretty well as we didn't wait as much on the back 9, but round still took over 5 hours. Course isn't spectacularly long but remains well guarded by narrow fairways, lots of trees lining said fairways and a few water features to keep you honest on a good number of holes. It's a very cool design for a small amount of space in my humble opinion. Cart girl was seen numerous times and again, props to the starters for helping us out when they probably didn't have to. A quality experience as always at Rio Hondo.

Played here on Sat. 1/16. Our fivesome teed off at 8:20 and finished at 12:50, 4:30 mins, which was great POP. The fairways were winter dormant of course but there were also a lot of hardpan and pat... Continue »

Played here on Sat. 1/16. Our fivesome teed off at 8:20 and finished at 12:50, 4:30 mins, which was great POP. The fairways were winter dormant of course but there were also a lot of hardpan and patchy grass areas. Normally Rio Hondo is in very good condition but on this day the course was in need on some TLC. I hope it's just a winter thing. I play here often and always enjoy the course. Tee boxes were fine, bunkers were in good shape and the greens were in very good shape. I really like playing here so I hope they improve the conditions in the coming weeks and months.