Southern California Golfing Scene?

Prepare yourself for bad tee times because the good ones are hard to get.......high prices, and bad course conditions.  There are some really nice courses, but it'll really cost ya.  LA is probably the last place you want to be...........with regard to golf unless money is no object.

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeNut 

Prepare yourself for bad tee times because the good ones are hard to get.......high prices, and bad course conditions.  There are some really nice courses, but it'll really cost ya.  LA is probably the last place you want to be...........with regard to golf unless money is no object.

says the guy living in a hill-billy, flyover state

Moving to LA to save money is defeating the whole purpose of, you know, saving money.

I lived in Long Beach and still visit there once every couple of month.  I also play golf every time I am out there.

As for muni courses, some are better than the others.  Once further from the downtown LA area tend to be in better shape.  Once closer to downtown tends to be more run-down as they get played a lot and the maintenance guys cant' or won't keep up the course condition.  For example, Chester Washington muni course is ok but not in a good shape, whereas ones in the Long Beach area are in better shape--relatively speaking of course.

Also, you'll need to get use to playing 5-somes and 5-1/2 hour to 6 hour rounds.  On the weekends, unless you have early tee time, the pace of play is slow as flow of molasses.

As for the price, you can get cheap rates--again relatively speaking--if you are a resident of the city where the course is located.

For a good course, be prepared to drive (that means being stuck in traffic, after all it is LA, you know) and pay quite a bit more for your green fees.  Sometimes you can get some good deals through the internet.

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Originally Posted by phan52 

Moving to LA to save money is defeating the whole purpose of, you know, saving money.

I believe he meant not that he was moving to LA to save money, but that he was moving in with a friend to save money because, you know, its LA.

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Originally Posted by Yukari 

I lived in Long Beach and still visit there once every couple of month.  I also play golf every time I am out there.

 

As for muni courses, some are better than the others.  Once further from the downtown LA area tend to be in better shape.  Once closer to downtown tends to be more run-down as they get played a lot and the maintenance guys cant' or won't keep up the course condition.  For example, Chester Washington muni course is ok but not in a good shape, whereas ones in the Long Beach area are in better shape--relatively speaking of course.

 

Also, you'll need to get use to playing 5-somes and 5-1/2 hour to 6 hour rounds.  On the weekends, unless you have early tee time, the pace of play is slow as flow of molasses.

 

As for the price, you can get cheap rates--again relatively speaking--if you are a resident of the city where the course is located.

 

For a good course, be prepared to drive (that means being stuck in traffic, after all it is LA, you know) and pay quite a bit more for your green fees.  Sometimes you can get some good deals through the internet.

You get very used to the driving after spending a little time here.  And the trade off for slower rounds and busier courses is that you have A LOT of choices nearby.  (Nearby is a relative term, obviously, assuming like I mentioned, that you get used to the driving after awhile)

its not all 5 1/2-6 hour rounds.  I have played 3 1/2 hour rounds just as much this year, and even in socal there are less people playing in the winter months.

Yeah you have to get to know the local courses and the weekly and seasonal patterns, but you can consistently play sub-5 hour rounds on weekends, and a lot of the cities, including LA proper and Long Beach, have solid city munis that are affordable.  As the others who actually live here have said, getting to further away courses, especially on weekdays, can be a b***h with traffic, and you have to be willing to drive a bit to get to some of the pockets of solid courses, but compared to other year round golf options in the US I don't think any compare in the whole.  I mean, maybe there are more affordable, slightly better courses, but do you want to actually live in Scottsdale/Phoenix?  Anywhere on the gulf coast?  And all those other places have seasons where the weather is God awful hot or muggy or both, whereas from anywhere in the LA area you have courses with excellent weather within maybe a 45 minute drive.  California wins hands down as far as I'm concerned, and you could do worse than the LA area.

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Originally Posted by Travis Robinson 

 

Luckily, I'll have the freedom to play on weekdays almost whenever so I don't have to always get stuck in those long weekend rounds.

 

Don't think that playing weekdays will make you immune to long rounds in LA.    Having lived there for about 25 years, I found that sometimes the slowest rounds were during the week, including once at Rancho Park that took almost 3:45.....for just the front 9!    Because of the large entertainment industry presence there are an awful lot of people who don't work 9-5 weekdays.   

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Originally Posted by Clambake 

 

Don't think that playing weekdays will make you immune to long rounds in LA.    Having lived there for about 25 years, I found that sometimes the slowest rounds were during the week, including once at Rancho Park that took almost 3:45.....for just the front 9!    Because of the large entertainment industry presence there are an awful lot of people who don't work 9-5 weekdays.   

i think its the old farts more than the 'entertainment industry' people that cause the backlog.   i play rancho often, and i see more geriatric folks and asians than entertainment people.   you ever see a korean take 60 seconds to line up a 3 ft putt?  or lag to within 18" to only remark it to let someone else putt?  i have at rancho often.