Out early in the cold on one of my favorite courses to walk. With the clear skies and the mountains, it's just so beautiful walking along on a winter-like morning, playing my favorite game.

Not as... Continue »

Out early in the cold on one of my favorite courses to walk. With the clear skies and the mountains, it's just so beautiful walking along on a winter-like morning, playing my favorite game.

Not as busy as expected, so pace was great, plus no issues with "back nine play". As the last review indicates, greens rolled well, not very quick however. I found lots of sand today, so was happy that it was very playable and well maintained, fairways decent, brown at times, but no issues. It's just hard to find much to complain about, particularly for $16.50. However even at a higher fees, this is just a fun solid course to play, not super tough, but enough of a challenge for this senior. (Holes 6, 11, 12, 16 & 18 are all I can handle, even on my best days)

Played here 12-16 on cool morning using the L.A. county senior card. Riding for $28.75. I walked on and was on the tee box in less than 10 minutes.
Was paired up with two other seniors who live in th... Continue »

Played here 12-16 on cool morning using the L.A. county senior card. Riding for $28.75. I walked on and was on the tee box in less than 10 minutes.
Was paired up with two other seniors who live in the Arcadia area.
Tee boxes were level but had some sparse coverage in areas.
Fairways were very well covered and green with very few bare/brown spots.
Rough was about 2" deep but not too dense so getting out was not too tough.
I was not in any traps but my playing partners found several and both commented that the sand was nice and fluffy.
The greens were running at medium speed and had a few too many ball marks but they still putted fairly true.
This track has a lot of mounding in the fairways and it makes for some blind shots if you end up in the bottoms.
Pace of play was not an issue. We only waited a couple of times on some of the par 3's.The par 3's here are long even from the white tees.A couple are close to 200 yards.
Only complaint would be the noise from sirens going to the hospital on the west side.
Overall a fairly challenging track in good condition for mid December.

Played a Sunday round at Santa Anita with kassper7 on Sunday with an 11:02 tee time that was then somehow an 11:10 tee time at the starter's desk, and then we tee'd off closer to 11:30. But for just $... Continue »

Played a Sunday round at Santa Anita with kassper7 on Sunday with an 11:02 tee time that was then somehow an 11:10 tee time at the starter's desk, and then we tee'd off closer to 11:30. But for just $40 to walk from the blue tees, not the biggest deal.

POP was a bit of an issue as we waited on almost every hole. There was an earlier tournament in the day so that's likely the reason for the slow play, but it was sometimes a bit frustrating to always have to wait. What are you going to do?

Course conditions are okay right now at Santa Anita, but there are some areas that could definitely use improvement. The highly-trafficked greens are a bit slow currently and quite bumpy and unpredictable. Not a great day on the greens for me but that wasn't all down to the conditions.

Fairways were a mixed bag of pretty nice, pretty lousy and somewhere in between. A few too many dirt areas just off the fairways or in the channels between some of the heavily-mounded fairways as well. The rough was often a better place to be in some cases. Bunkers were mostly okay overall, but the tee boxes were a bit rough and uneven in places.

Santa Anita remains a fun layout though so that still makes it worth the trip a few times a year at least. I would love to see this place just one time in really excellent shape as I think that would make it a super experience. But until then, lower expectations just a bit and enjoy it for what it is.

Played 10-14-19 early morning walking as a single for $30 and finishing in a little over 2 1/2 hours with some waiting on the back side. Tee boxes were just okay, mostly level with thin coverage and s... Continue »

Played 10-14-19 early morning walking as a single for $30 and finishing in a little over 2 1/2 hours with some waiting on the back side. Tee boxes were just okay, mostly level with thin coverage and some bare spots. Fairways were decent with mostly good coverage and good lies with some thin spots here and there and some bare areas down in the swells. Rough was cut fairly short so not much of a factor with some bare and thin areas mixed in. Was in one greenside bunker that was well groomed but had a thin layer of sand over firm ground. Greens were okay but very slow and had some bumps, they were a little inconsistent from soft to firm. Overall just average conditions which is what I would expect from a muni course. Fun easy course to walk that has a lot of character.

Out early trying beat the heat. Santa Anita is one of my favorite LA County courses, just love the setting and the mix of holes. Because almost all the greens are slightly elevated, and fairly well... Continue »

Out early trying beat the heat. Santa Anita is one of my favorite LA County courses, just love the setting and the mix of holes. Because almost all the greens are slightly elevated, and fairly well guarded by bunkers, makes this course reasonably challenging.

Condition was not all that great, worse then when I played here a few moths ago. Greens were slower, and not as smooth. Fairways still mostly good, but the rough was very inconsistent, from bare to thick. Bunkers were improved from the last time, more sand now than previously.

Difficult to be too critical considering the $16.50 cost to play, but money aside, while the course is great fun to play, and provides a wonderful old style feel, right now conditions are not the best. I've been playing here off and on for a long time, and this seems to be the norm, with periods of mediocre conditions prevailing, then suddenly everything improves???
Hoping next time times will be better ?

Out at Santa Anita this morning at 9:30. Customer service was pleasant.
Greens were average shape running inconsistently between 7 and 8. Fairways had decent coverage but rough was a mix of hard pan ... Continue »

Out at Santa Anita this morning at 9:30. Customer service was pleasant.
Greens were average shape running inconsistently between 7 and 8. Fairways had decent coverage but rough was a mix of hard pan and weeds. Tee boxes were not level and craters everywhere. POP was 4.5 hrs. Sand traps were actually decent and they were adding sand to some of them. Location makes this course convenient to play, but look elsewhere if you like average to good lies.

Played Saturday 7/13 with tee time around 8 am. POP was around 4 3/4 hours to play 18 on a rather hot day.

With it being summer now, course conditions were rather decent. Tee boxes had good grass... Continue »

Played Saturday 7/13 with tee time around 8 am. POP was around 4 3/4 hours to play 18 on a rather hot day.

With it being summer now, course conditions were rather decent. Tee boxes had good grass coverage. Fairways were looking very good with yellow spots on the grass here and there but you can still hit off the grass. Was in one bunker today and the sand was pretty thin and hard packed. Greens were looking very good. Though the greens seem to be rolling a little slow. Some of the pin placements were rather hard on a slope or toward the back of the greens. It's always a challenge to play here as some of the fairways are not flat with side-hill, downhill and uphill lies.

070719
07:17am tee time

The day had an overcast of clouds and made the day nice and cool- almost no breeze though we had a little at the end of the round.

Greens were slow but on the smooth si... Continue »

070719
07:17am tee time

The day had an overcast of clouds and made the day nice and cool- almost no breeze though we had a little at the end of the round.

Greens were slow but on the smooth side. Bunkers were iffy- some had enough sand the others could use sand. Not everyone rakes (ugh...). The fairways were okay, and the teeing grounds were okay, too.

I guess it’s pretty typical conditioning on this course as I’m told- it doesn’t vary much from the current conditions, but it is playable and this course is fun.

I got out Friday, 5/10 as part of a threesome with single joining us. I hadn't been out to SA since last June according to my score tracker. I think this was mainly because it had gotten bit dried out... Continue »

I got out Friday, 5/10 as part of a threesome with single joining us. I hadn't been out to SA since last June according to my score tracker. I think this was mainly because it had gotten bit dried out last summer and then seemed to be suffering a bit through the winter — at least according to reviews. In fact, the latest review from a little less than a month ago was pretty negative. For whatever reason, I had stayed away more than usual, so I was curious and game to take a look after all the course-improving weather we've had. Basically, I was not disappointed and pleasantly surprised. If I was to focus on the weak point first, I would say there are some scattered thin / scruffy patches to be found on many fairways. I mention it but it factored little into my round. They are scattered and not a dominant feature. The great majority of fairway is filled in with green and good lies to be had. I missed the bunkers but they looked OK. Otherwise, good stuff. Playing from the whites, tees here are pretty level with good coverage and I don't recall any distracing issues about any aspect of teeing it up. Of particular note were the greens, which have been slagged in reviews for their condition and speed. I found them as good as I've seen them in a while — clean with a medium quick speed that was very nice and probably about as speedy as they get there. There were a lot of pin locations conspicuously near the edges of the greens and I don't know why. That did not particularly bother me but I found it interesting. You have to put them somewhere, and sometimes that made it more challenging, but other times not so much. As someone who comes here regularly if not overly frequently, I thought it was about as good as can be expected and really enjoyed getting back to it. One of our threesome had never played SA and came a away enthusiastic to return to it again soon. On top of everything, I got out walking (1:50-ish tee time) for $22 which was excellent value for this course right now. Recommended.