Love the course. It's challenging and fun at the same time. Pretty flat and open. Long par 4s and a couple of par 5s. I love playing here

If your looking for a nice day out on the range, this one will do just that. Plenty of parking on either side. There's a pretty good size driving range as well as a putting green. Decent size course which is good for people as it could be a nice day out depending on how you golf. Also along side of the main clubhouse/check in, there's a bar restaurant that serves a good amount of meals. If you need a quick stop to pick up food or a cold drink for the rounds, this place does have what you need. Plenty of seating both inside at the bar, patio and a banquet room. Pretty chill place to grab a drink and count your scores after a the day. Overall, nice neighborhood course that's not overly priced. Good holes that's nice for a day out. read more

Balboa Golf Course - Golf Near Me - Encino, California

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I love playing this course. It's easy, price is right, and generally speaking I meet great people.

This past year I joined a golf club that holds tournaments every month. November the club held a tourney at Balboa which is a course I had never played before. Not being an LA resident, the tee times are just too challenging to secure. So I was excited to finally play Balboa. If there's one thing to define the Balboa course is it's flat. From tee to green, everything is flat. They do make is somewhat challenging for the dog leg tee shots but ultimately if you drive the ball straight, you'll score well. One benefit to the flatness of the course, it's really easy to walk. With how slow the course typically plays, walking is a decent way to pass the time between shots. I did enjoy the small bar area and the large putting green before the round. The course itself was is relatively decent condition too. Overall not a bad course to play but probably not my first choice considering the options in Ventura county. read more

My husband and stepdadlovesd this course! They said it was beautiful! They also felt the rate was excellent!!

If you plan on playing this course, just don't This course is terrible. It is not well put together and just a trash course. This course is a long, straight course, but dirt and mud is everywhere and bathrooms are terrible. Mosquitos, flies and even a roach was in the bathroom, eww! Hate this course with all my heart and I will NEVER play this course ever again. read more

This course has been great; I've really enjoyed each match that I've played here. The course is well-maintained and has a great layout; I personally appreciate having pretty much consistently straight fairways. The grass is well curated and clean. Even with so many geese wandering around, there's minimal mess. The price is right, the waits are generally minimal (when keeping to morning and twilight rounds), and the carts are affordable. I've never eaten at the clubhouse but it seems like a fine basic atmosphere to decompress in. This has become my preferred location in the immediate LA area. Definitely recommend. read more

I give it a four star because it's not intended to be a mind blowing golf course. It's a great course for people who are starting to get better with their game and need an 18 hole to practice on. Plays well and easy. Nothing special about the greens or fairways but they are very playable and flat. Some deep par 3s which is nice. Flat putting greens And large range off of mats. Range is open late for people to want to hit a bucket at night. Huge plus. (9pm last call for bucket summer hours) New golf carts too another huge plus. Not a lot of courses have great carts. read more

Sold out of rubber tees. Most of the range is shaded. Didn't have to wait. An extra $3 for large bucket ($15) here other places are $12 -- however they use an automated machine so feel more comfortable knowing I'm getting what I'm paying for. Other places just eye ball the amount of balls they put in the bucket. Ample parking. The greens are beautiful. Good option! read more

Balboa Golf Course - Grounds - Golf Near Me - Encino, California

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Live close by to the course but never been here before..played woodley before..went on a Sunday morning 7:20 tee time only the back 9..great price 21$ walking rate..course had a bunch of par 4 to test your distant..fairways are decent make sure you hit straight..trees on both sides of each hole to avoid..greens were nice can be aggressive no slopes on them...I really enjoyed the course..wasn't too challenging read more

Balboa Golf Course - Great course to improve your distance. - Golf Near Me - Encino, California

I've been playing golf for over 30+ years and was a junior golfer in LA. LA city courses were always our home courses and I always enjoyed Balboa/Encino...back then! Fast forward to COVID days. The Balboa/Encino starters are now like the gestapo of golf starters of LA City courses! I've recently had 2 negative incidents with the starters. Once again, you guys are just starters, I'm not a new golfer, I am not a new COVID golfer. I understand the rules of golf and the rules of COVID golf. First incident was in July on a Sunday. I forgot to cancel the 4th for our group and with the stricter COVID rules LA City reservation card holders are charged like $10 as a penalty. My mistake, but we still had a group of 3 out there and the city didn't lose any money. Under the strict COVID rules, it was my fault for not cancelling as tee times are at a premium now. They still stuck a walk-on single golfer out with us anyways, so the course didn't lose money for sure. The starter gave me a hard time and proceeded to charge me a full green fee for the 4th that never showed. I understood that there's a $10 penalty for not cancelling the spot, but charging me a full green fee is unacceptable. Adding a walk-on single to join us wasn't acceptable either! I spoke to Lance, the head starter and he was only able to give me a free walking weekday green fee because it would have taken 3-4 months to refund the green fee and reverse the transaction, BS. I work Monday-Friday and can't play weekdays so that plan is shot anyways for a free weekday green fee. The city and course can just shove it! Fast forward to yesterday, Sunday, October 4th, we had another 400pm tee time. The Covid note on the window stated no carts for after 400pm tee times. Once again, the starter again (Indian dude), gave us a hard time that they didn't have golf carts for us, I proceeded to ask him that the sign says after 400pm tee times. I was checking in at 345pm and there were about 10 golf carts parked. He said you are not guaranteed a cart after a certain time and blah blah blah. I looked behind me and with 15 mins until my tee time and 10 golf carts unused, I called BS. Mind you, I had my 11 year old son, my buddy (who was walking the course), and myself for this 400pm 3-some tee time. I don't mind walking but my son and I weren't prepped up to walk in the 93'F heat. The starter gave me a hard time and proceeded to tell us that they have push carts available. As I didn't want to get penalized for not using the tee time, I rented a push cart for my 11 year old son and put all the extra water bottles and snacks in the broke down rental push cart. I ended up carrying my bag (circling back to my HS days back in 1994 when we carried our own bags). My poor son. If we knew we'd be walking, we would have prepped up for walking and we would have brought out our push carts and lighten our golf bags! Our twilight rate should have been for 14-15 holes, we ended up stopping after the turn at 9 as I felt bad for my son who was pooped. I would have walked a few more holes, and it was only like 6pm with plenty of sunshine left. I just didn't want to subject my son to more walking in the heat. The gestapo starters at Balboa/Encino need to chill out. We all know you're all under that COVID pressure to push tee times out there, ease up on that microphone as well and stop yelling at people at the driving range! That microphone is loud, stop barking orders and yelling at your patrons!!! JERKS!!! read more

They need to start doing a better job with the PGA Pros that teach. There are three really good ones out there and they work hard. But the city of Los Angeles Park district treats them like shit. They charge them so much money more than any other place to teach there they teach kids and adults. And some of the pros donate their money to kids who cannot afford to come to lessons. City of Los Angeles Golf needs to do a better job. read more

This is a great place to run around a golf course if you've ever wanted to do that. My brother used to live in this area and would run here regularly for his cardio. He took us here to get some miles in yesterday and what's nice about this place is that there's a trail that encircles the golf course. It's a little over 3 miles for one loop, there are some great trees for shade, and I didn't get hit by any stray golf balls. read more

Balboa Golf Course - Trail around the course - Golf Near Me - Encino, California

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This is a pretty good value golf course if you get the residence card. Played both the 18 hole course and the 9 hole course. I wouldn't recommend practicing on the driving range here because the balls are beat up and yardage is questionable because you're hitting against a hill. I do like that they offer a $4 warmup bucket option though. Conditions are decent, but there are bumps on the greens and several mud patches throughout the fairways. The 9-hole course is a great course for novice golfers (par 3s and 4s, fairway is wide open with no blind shots). The 18-hole course is really challenging though. Narrow fairways and unforgiving course (taking an iron off the tee isn't a bad idea if your drives are erratic). Overall, this is a great value course with the residence card. Expect a challenging course that has mediocre/moderate conditions (decently beat-up greens and fairways; roughed up parking lot). read more

I've been coming to Balboa-Encino Golf Course since I moved to CA in 2004. It's better now than it's ever been, thanks to COVID courses now have enough people playing that the city can justify spending money keeping them in better shape from the scumbag half-assed golfers who never replace fairway & green divots. That being said, I see a LOT of negative reviews about the "service". All I have to say is that I've never had a negative customer service experience. EVER. So perhaps the old mantra stands, "When you're the only one at the party who says he/she isn't an asshole, then you're the one who's truly the asshole." Now, insofar as people's ridiculous expectations: This is a city course. And for a city course, it's pretty damn good. Driving range, multiple chipping greens, multiple putting greens, and it's just a decent damn place for a quick 18 holes. I don't expect it to be run like a $200.00 per round golf course like when I play TPC courses and the like, BECAUSE IT'S NOT! IT'S A CITY COURSE. So people's expectations need to be a bit more fkn realistic here. My god, most of these people remind me of the clowns on Amazon who spend $5 for a knock-off product then whine & down vote companies that it doesn't perform like the $100.00 better product that the knock-off is mimicking. For real, there are some serious dolts reviewing places these days. Seriously, if you're not a knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, troglodyte and your expectations in life are REALISTIC, this isa good place to play a round of golf, hit the range, greens, etc... If you're a whining moron, PLEASE STAY AWAY and let the rest of us have fun. THANKS! read more

I have a disability and can't (for now) walk the course. "Sucks for you," was essentially the response I got from the Neanderthal who doubles as the starter when I asked him if I could ride the back 9 instead of walking. Apparently, there's a rule against that. Fine. But dude wouldn't make an exception - not even for a disabled guy just trying to get 9 holes in - and didn't lift a finger to see if anyone could authorize my one-time request. What great empathy and customer service! They made an exception like this for me last week at Rancho. Stay away from Balboa. What a shame people like him go through life that grumpy. I'll find another golf course, I hope he finds some happiness. read more

Nice forgiving course but attracts some really unsavory characters (probably because it's in a bad neighborhood). I've had balls stolen at least once per round and have gotten into many arguments and verbal altercations with other golfers. Also, fairways are really dried out with a lot of empty patches. Good for a confidence boost in your game, but not the most pleasant experience. read more

Balboa and Encino golf courses are located in the same area. Balboa is located on the left side and Encino is located on the right side. Both courses are very similar. They are both flat and easy to walk with a push cart. read more

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The way the course is being run now is absolute trash! Don't bother calling Encino/Balboa now one answers the phone and the "call center" is non existent either. All your get is some lame hold music. After maybe 30+ calls, if someone picks up, they act as if you are bothering them. If you hate your life or job that much don't sign up for customer service. It's the same treatment once you get to the window. Don't even try to kill em with kindness! The miserable old men running the show here don't care and need to go for the sake of the golf experience! read more

Teed off on sunday at 530. First ones out. There was already a line forming at 510. Tee boxes, fairways & greens were avg. expect muni level quality. Very easy course. Flat, straight & open. Tied my PR here w/o trying. Will return. But only early. It can get very crowded. read more

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Absolute garbage professionalism at the check in. The lady was very nice but the guy next to her was a complete asshole. Rude, angry and should just be at home if you have a terrible outlook on life... we are at the golf course to relax and have fun and not deal with piles of crap like that guy... I wish I knew his name... read more

As a golfer, you know that playing in crappy weather comes with the game ( when it happens) but when it has been raining, off and on, for the last few days, the course starter should know the conditions of the course. Called on Friday ( at 5pm)for the conditions and if carts will be allowed on course and was told to call back next morning to find out. REALLY? How hard is it to stick your head out of golf shop to find out. For someone who can't walk the course ( disability) this is just crappy service. read more

Beautiful 2 18 hole course plus driving range, putting/chipping areas. However, the workers in the club house are rude and not very helpful. I was admittedly 1 minute late to a tee time and the worker inside almost didn't let me check in a gave me a hard time about being late. Another time, I went in to pay for my round and my card declined 3 times in a row. I kindly told the lady there is no way my card should be declining and politely asked her to try again. The lady inside responded, "are you sure this isn't too much for your card?" Implying my card is maxed out. Funny enough, the owner comes out and says that their "system is down" and we would have to pay cash. They do not have an ATM on site and refused to work out something insisting I leave and come back with cash even though my tee time was in 10 minutes and I would miss it. In conclusion, beautiful courts, golf carts with GPS are fantastic, etc. however, staff are not friendly or helpful. Book at your own risk. read more

I use the driving range - so this review is specific to the driving range. It's "ok". I guess because it is close by and stays open late with lights... but really it's kinda dingy and dirty and the greens are a tad ragged. The staff is nice, and the balls are average priced. The crowd is extremely safe - never felt scared here even late at night. I wish they would clean it up a bit, but for functionality this place works. read more

Nice course for the price but had strange experience. I played alone and caught up slow two some. They were walking and hitting balls everywhere. Also, their driving distance was shorter than 200 (It didn't even fly 150 many times) but they teed off black and blue tees. So I was gonna pass them thru, but they didn't let me do so complaining two groups already had passed them thru. (Well, if two some had to let others pass through, it tells you how slow they were.) So now I got stuck behind them, and they still took as much time as they wanted. Pretty inconsiderate. I gave up and left after playing 12 holes. read more

As with Encino and Woodley Lakes - they are charging too much for these courses. Granted it was in quite good condition but the hole layout and lake of variation is what holds these places back. The fairways were green and soft, tee boxes are mowed tight, and the greens were in good shape. Even some of the sand I got into was reasonably soft. I started at 530pm and was able to get 17 holes in by 8pm. I was playing by myself, quickly. I had to skip one hole as a 4 some didn't offer me to play through. That said, the hole here are all the same. I think there is about 2 dog legs with every other hole being dead straight. Really bores you. For that reason they should be charging less then they do. I can play $25 twilight w/cart at about a dozen good courses within an hours drive, I have no reason to choose this place. For those of you trying to pick between Balboa and Encino I would pick Encino. Everything is the same except Encino has slightly better hole variation. 1. Encino, 2. Balboa, 3. Woodley Lakes. read more

Went to the range at night during the week. Was a little busy but plenty of space. The green is well kept and everything is pretty well laid out. Not too expensive and plenty of parking. read more

The course is fine for a public course. However, the customer service in the pro shop is awful and unprofessional. If you have to go here, avoid Tuesday afternoons from 3-6:30 (the hours this employee works). You will come across the worst service and an extremely rude employee in the golf shop. He is known for overcharging some of the students for a medium bucket of balls. Some students he charges $2 and others he charges $10. There's no reasoning with him. He doesn't make sense or understand the procedure or how to charge for the range balls or rounds. If you want a horrible end to your day, definitely come on Tuesday afternoons 3-6. He will be in the pro shop with a bad attitude. Perhaps he should play some golf to take some edge off. read more

The City of Los Angeles, the last time I checked, was flush with cash, which I believe is not being spent at this particular golf course. The unacceptably bad: 1. condition of the fairways is a joke to the extent that weeds pretty much rule the turf. The times when there is some grass, it's soggy and wet smelly recycled water which makes you to dump your traditional iron/wedge strategy. 2. the roads are absolutely terrible. actually you can't even tell if there are roads because they are all covered in dirt and mud from years of neglect and city "funding." 3. The first cut rough and second cut rough - pretty much same thing, have so much debris on them that once your ball goes in there you can't find it. 4. The course in general is just dirty. I've seen cleaner pastures in Bangalore that smells less. 5. There is a general BO every where. 6. Carts are terrible with no suspension left. Every foot traveled is a derby ride where it bring new meaning to bump-and-run. 6. Prices are still the same as other city course (read: better managed city courses like Brookside). 7. Signage is terrible or doesn't exist. It's hard to tell where the next hole is especially since the roads are covered up in dirt and mud. Bad but fixable: two range ball dispensers. One of them is out of service and the other only accepts cash. Acceptable: Practice chipping, sand and putting area. No complaints here except that you have to call this practice chipping from the rough area as there are no fairway chipping as the grass is no longer grass..... they are just weeds. The Valley residents, probably living a life at least a decade behind modern civilization, still play and utilize this abomination of recycled water sewer trash course. it's unfortunate but there are no other nearby City courses. They should fire their Parks and Recs commissioner. read more

Played here and the cart died on me today. I went to the starter and told him that the battery light keeps on flashing. He told me that if it didn't sputter it's ok. Well it wasn't ok read more

This is NOT for the course. Balboa, Woodley and Encino are all good courses! But the range....OMG!!! I had taken off a couple years for a shoulder injury. I went to try and hit some balls. Just wanted a medium bucket. First...the guy at the counter was surely and pissed off. Mostly, he was pissed I didn't understand his Korean accent. Now mind you...I talk to Asian people all the time. But this guy had both a thick accent AND an attitude. What really blew me away were the prices! Range balls almost doubled in price! Way too expensive for me to hit a bucket or two every night...like I used to do! Just phoned Woodley...where the range allows you to hit from the grass! Their prices are still about 75%. (Seems that the city sold the concessions at each course. So they can set their own prices.) No wonder the range at Balboa was mostly empty the other night after work! read more

Unfortunately this place has fallen apart. The staff is miserable and unhelpful, and the people in the cafe are lazy, to say the least. I'm out to enjoy my day for a few hours, and this is not the place for me. Too many other options out there. I also rented a pull cart for my bag - it was broken (although they still rented it to me) and was my bag was falling off the entire round. I mentioned it to the staff when I returned it, and all they said was, "sorry - they are all falling apart." No refund!! I guess they need those few dollars more than I do. Adios Balboa... read more

This review relates to their driving range, because holy lord, it is not good. Their club house/service location for the place is run down and scary dirty. The guy running it was rude and hard to talk to. He seemed like that grumpy old man that used to scream at you as you walked by his house as a kid. I just showed up and didn't have my clubs, so tried to rent or use whatever they had. Their selection looked like something from the 12th century, including bent and mangled drivers. I finally managed to get an iron that looked straight, went out to use it after surrendering my driver's license to them and after about 20 swings, the head flew off mid swing - just snap, broken. I brought it back to try to get another and the scary old man gave me the hairy eyeball until I convinced him to let me use another. The range itself is not well maintained. There is only cover for some of the stalls, so don't go on a hot day. There are no frills, not misting or anything like that I have found at other courses in the Valley. Not recommended. read more

Lame. It's the 21st century. Get a coin operated ball machine. It's ridiculous that I have to purchase a ticket at the starter window a 100 yards away from the range. Here's a novel idea, you've got someone sitting there handing out the golf balls, give him the square so people can pay with a debit or credit card or even cash. read more

Course is okay. Greens get pretty tore up at times. Little crater like indentations that cause your ball to take weird turns when putting. I suppose it creates an added challenge if you're looking for that .. "which way will the ball break, no one knows..". Course itself is okay. A lot of trees and a lot of bunkers which isn't bad. No water hazards. I like me a water hazard here and there.. I just do. As for the staff and the regulars... pretentious as all heck. I would normally choose a different word than "heck" but you know what I mean. Everyone there treats it like it's a country club. Probably due to its proximity to Encino, Tarzana, etc. Speical note to some of you regulars here... (and staff)... If you want to be a pretentious donkey hole... please just join or get a job at a real country club. Oh... what's that.. you can't? OK then... fine, then you can come back here to this PUBLIC COURSE. Yes.. it's city owned PUBLIC COURSE you annoying donkey holes. That means you are just about the same as everyone else there. You are not special. No one loves you. No silver spoon for you. ahhh that felt good. read more

If you're going for the driving range, don't waste your time here when the Van Nuys Golf Course range is right next door. The driving range is dingy and both times I've gone the driving range attendant has been very rude. (THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE DRIVING RANGE ONLY. We spoke to someone at the actual golf course who was very helpful - he's the reason this gets 3 stars instead of one.) read more

Worst ran golf course in Southern California. I arrived 10 minutes late to my groups tee time. Sorry I was driving from Santa Clarita and there was unexpected traffic. They sent my group out with a random person and told my group it was fine to add me in when I get there. I get there and they of course they wouldn't let me join my group and they weren't even past the first hole. To top it off the guys running the desk are some rude grumpy old men with zero customer service. Just got mocked for being late and told I couldn't join my group. Never given an alternative option. They just turned me away. The game of golf should be ashamed to have such a poorly ran golf course be it's ambassador to the sport. read more

I'm quite surprised with the other reviews. I played Balboa last week and did not have a problem with it. The fairways and greens were well-maintained. For a regular-but-not-awesome golfer like me, I thought it was challenging enough. The greens were smooth (surprisingly fast that day) and the bunkers were soft. The carts were also clean and in good condition. The only negative for me was that I did not see a marshal. On the day I went, there was a group of novice guys in front of us-- they hit a lot of balls out of bounds and drove the cart just under the green. Although we gently reminded them golf etiquette, their pace of play was extremely slow that it held back a couple of groups. They eventually let us pass them (at 14!!!) but two walkers got stuck behind them. For a course that was usually crowded, I expected to see a marshal at some point. But, alas, we were mostly stuck behind our beer-drinking buddies. What could have been a 3.5 hour round became 4.5 hours. read more

I come here just to run on the exterior dirt trail. They have added gym equipment on the trail for those who want to exercise for free basically using your own body weight. Usually not very crowded but I have seen it get really annoying on the cemented bike path. I have also been here before using there driving range and I had fun but I have never played golf here or anywhere for that matter. read more

I don't consider myself a course snob. In fact, I love cheap golf. But I was a bit disappointed by the condition of this course last weekend. $40 to walk. Tees and greens are okay, but oftentimes the ground was pretty bare and hard about 50 yds from the green and in. The starter was friendly enough but definitely was more concerned with his conversation and enjoying his cigar than checking people in at sunrise. I'm giving an extra star because my cousin and I had a 6:12 tee time (3rd group of day) but the other twosome let us go off first and there was nobody ahead of us. This works both ways though as you might think you'll be first off at 6am only to find some people arrived early or walked on and were allowed to tee off before you. read more