I played here yesterday, and I just had to come back here to Yelp to set the record straight,…read morebecause the current 2.5 star rating just doesn't feel like a fair representation of what this course truly has to offer.
I've never played here before, but GolfNow was offering a nice discount, so I decided to take a chance on it despite the poor reviews and low star rating, and I was pleasantly surprised by how far it exceeded my very low expectations.
Here's what you can expect if you decide to play here:
Pre-Round:
- Quality warm-up/practice areas. At the range you're hitting decent quality balls, off real grass (not mats) out into a lush grassy range with nicely visible yardage targets.
- Putting practice is on a tight, fast green that's well maintained. Only critique here was there weren't many holes to aim to... I counted maybe 4-5 total, which is not much.
- Clubhouse was a lovely Spanish style building, with clean bathrooms, nice pro shop with friendly staff, and a cafe/food window set next to a nice outdoor patio eating area.
The Golf:
- Walking is not permitted (for pacing reasons, I assume) but the electric golf carts are HIGH-QUALITY, not beat up, cheap public course shame trains. They each have full color screens with GPS enabled course maps, providing you with hole layouts and yardages. They are stocked with complimentary bottled water, towels, and tees. Before you even swing a club, this feels like a premium experience.
- The course conditions were beautiful. They're not perfect... you're not playing Augusta National here, but it was well above average for a public course. Tee boxes were level, green, weed free and well maintained. If you're used to playing public courses where you have to dance a two-step around the tee box for 2 minutes trying to find a level spot to hit from, you'll feel spoiled by the beautiful tee boxes.
-Fairways are tight, a bit hard (you're in desert terrain) and very green. Didn't see a lot of dead grass out there, but then again it did rain recently.
-The first cut rough is pretty well maintained, with some weeds around the edges, but for the most part very playable.
-Bunkers has a few large rocks in them here and there, but were pretty fluffy and soft for the most part. One bunker I landed in was so soft, my ball plugged into the sand a good inch or two.
-The course design is really interesting and unique, and WILL BE A CHALLENGE for most weekend golfers. You need to be accurate off the tees and have a decent approach game. If not, bring a lot of balls because the desert OB areas are cruel and will mercilessly collect your entire last order of golf balls off Amazon.
- The pace of play was actually great. We never felt rushed and never felt like we waited more than a few minutes for the group ahead to finish. We played on Sunday, teeing off just before noon, so you'd expect it to be busy, but it was pleasantly un-crowded.
-I appreciated the little details that this course has paid attention to, like areas around the tee boxes and beside cart paths that often have beautiful hard-scape features, like rocks or pavers, which is a classy touch.
Other on-course amenities:
- Ball washers were regularly placed throughout the course
- At least one set of bathrooms was out on the course (thank you very much).
- Beverage carts came around at least twice to check on us and offer us food during the round... another premium that you don't get on cheap public courses.
One STRANGE experience:
We finished our round around 4:30PM and when we rolled in toward the clubhouse, the place was an absolute ghost town. Not a soul was in sight. Pro shops was dark, locked up and closed. Food service window was closed, security cage pulled over the window. There were no human beings anywhere when I pulled my cart up to the cart return--- just felt odd that nobody was around.
Other than that, Angeles National served up a great day of quality golf with premium amenities. It's not cheap, but it's also not as expensive as you might expect for a high quality course. With our GolfNow "HotDeal" it was around $120 and I consider it a steal at that price. If that price tag is a stretch, then reward yourself with a round here once in a while and enjoy the incredible mountain views, picturesque desert, and course conditions that far exceed expectations of a public course.