Lakewood Country Club

Lakewood Country Club is the combined collaboration of William Bell (architect ) and Casey O'Callaghan  (course designer ). It is rich in heritage and history. Its first golf pro was Jimmy Thomson, a Long Drive Champion. When the course opened in 1933, Bobby Jones hit the opening drive and his ball was signed and displayed in the trophy case. Lakewood is also the home course for LPGA player Brianna Do. Lakewood has hosted several tournaments such as the prestigious Long Beach Open Championship, and the Southern California Public Links Championship.
     Lakewood Country Club has a beautiful layout which includes several large ponds, mature trees, sloping greens and an abundance of deep sand traps that rival those found in Ireland and Scotland. The greens are moderately fast. The course features Bermuda grass on the tees and fairways, while the greens are made with Poa grass. The course is relatively flat and easy to walk. The par 3's are the courses signature holes. All are long except for one, with intimidating features which adds some drama to club selection or skill set. The Clubhouse is a charming Spanish ranch style design, that has a well stocked pro shop, and elegant banquet facilities.
     The day I played Lakewood it was sunny, with a mild breeze and the temperature was in the mid 60's.  I played the white tees which has a slope rating of 70/120 and measures 6416 yards.  There are 5 sets of tee boxes and the Championship tees are 7033 yards with a slope rating of 73/128. 
     This remarkable facility seems to have all the elements to provide a wonderful golfing experience, yet this day failed on several accounts. First, the tee times were delayed a half hour due to over booking. There were two groups of fivesomes in front of me playing from the wrong tee box (dreamers or delusionists?) which led to slow play and a 5 1/2 hour round. Our group waited on every hole to tee off or hit approach shots to the green. Next, the greens were in very bad condition, likely due to budget cuts at Long Beach Parks and Recreation and drought conditions in CA.  There were too many bare spots of varying sizes, and divot holes. Finally, the rangers and starter either did not understand their job responsibilities, or were lazy about minding the pace of play.
     There are a few other public golf courses near Lakewood that are better managed and the course condition is in better shape. As a visitor to California and the Long Beach area, I would only consider  golfing at Lakewood Golf Course under present conditions if green fees are reduced to low to mid 30 range or the greens are greatly improved.

Course Review
H Bell (Golf Enthusiast)

Okay, I have played here since I was a kid (that means many years). But, 6 holes in 2-1/2 hours? Really? When I called the clubhouse and asked them how many holes they expected I would have played based on my start time and group number they thought I was on the back nine in 2-1/2 hours. I told them I have just finish the 5th hole. I asked if they had a Marshal? They replied "uhh, I think he left early". They also offered me a refund if I came right now! I took them up on this (as they know the pace of play is poor and the golfers ahead do not know basic golf rules or their skill level. Also note, the course is under repair, punched fringes (which they don't tell you) and un-raked bunkers, un-repaired ball marks and so on. I really used to like this local course and have an affinity for it. But, they don't seem to care anymore! Tough to say yes to this course when asked to play there again.

Played on Vets Day for half price. Totally overbooked. 5 and 6 people in groups. Pace extremely slow. Tee time @12:30pm, only got through 13 by 5:30pm. Spoke with pro shop, stated it was due to holiday but we play here at least once a month and it always like that, minus the 6's. 5'S seem to be common. Drought definitely causes problems on couse, some areas are muddy and others are bone dry.

Walked the Blues (71.5/121/6729) as a 5some with Stickboy, RGM2525 and 2 others we were matched up with on 9/17 dawn patrol for $36. Amazingly, the POP was 4H, 10M. We were the 5th group out @ 6:17 am, barely light enough to see your ball. Separate discussion, but I hate American Golf's polices both on tee times in the dark and especially on booking 5some after 5some.

I played this course often in the 1980's when I lived closeby, but had not played here in at least 25 years. I always thought the course layout and condition was worthy of a regular spot in my local rotation back in the day. I remembered most of the holes, it was fun visiting an old friend.

The tees were decent overall, good coverage, level, few areas of severe divot damage.

The fairways had good coverage and were good overall.

The rough was lusher closer to the fairway, thinner away from the fairway. The kikuyu around the greens could be nasty to chip out of.

The sand was moist and thick. I was in my share of bunkers and all were well maintained.

The greens looked to be nicely maintained by the course. They could have been nice to putt on except they had WAY too many ball marks, which made them bumpy on long, short or medium putts. There were greens I could have fixed 50 pitch marks and not have made a significant dent in the total amount on the green.

Thanks to Vince for setting up the tee time, enjoyable to get to play with you again! Other than the 5some issue, the customer service was good. Quality layout in decent, but not great condition. I would play here often if I still lived in the area.

I booked an early tee time and they neglect to tell you that you will be playing the first couple holes in the dark, and no discount on glow balls....

very nice condition of fairway but green need 2-3 week to be better from airlation

Very nice course but a lot of the players need to look in at their ball markings on the greens and noticed they don't care about fixing their ball marks... it hurts all the rest of us that respect the course, a real shame because the staff on the course is very good and the overall condition even with the drought is excellent.

Very slow play at mid morning Friday. If you have the time it is worth the wait.

Greens are inconsistent, some very good, firm, rolled nice, and others were soft, pock-marked and need some work. Overall the course has good coverage, the rough is a couple inches or so, not too penalizing and so defines the fairways well. Bunkers are hit and miss, some of them have different sand to others, some the typical cheap mud sand and others the new white beach stuff. So watch which ones you go into, they'll play differently. Can you say.... 5somes? Yeah, it's LA County, they send out 5somes, so I hope you don't get stuck behind too many. Lakewood is one of the flatter of the classic LA County Billy Bell layouts, but it has some water that don't really come into play except on one hole and forced carries on only a couple short holes, but nothing too penalizing as far its widths, you could miss your drive fairway wide, and you'll just be under some trees and shrubs instead of being OB or lateral. Greens are varied in sizes, and some have more undulation due to the larger size than the smaller ones which are more sloped instead. A good, very playable course, it's once again unfortunate that they have to send out 5somes. Good course to walk.

Players don't do a good job of repairing ball marks. So some greens are a little beat up. Bunkers well sanded and maintained as is remainder of course. Par 3s and Par 5s are challenging but fair no getting home in 2 unless you are a monstrous hitting youngster Been playing the cours for 18 years

I played at Lakewood last Sunday, 08/09/2015. To my surprise I was in a five-some! We were not asked if a fifth person could join us a single was just added. We didn't know the golfer. We weren't the only group with five players. there were many more groups with 5 than 4. I am not happy. I left after 9 holes and went to the pro shop and complained. They said it was American Golf who determined the rules. I want my money back.

I can't complain about the course conditions, most course are falling victim to the draught, but I can complain about a slow golf that was closer to 3 hours for 9 holes than 2 hours.

John D. Brown

The course itself was average. Our tee time for two people was at 1:24pm and we left the course at 6:52pm after only finishing 15 holes. So, in 5 1/2 hours, we only played 15 holes.

The course was sending out five-somes. Of every group that I saw, they were ALL five-somes. We waited on EVERY hole.

It was by far the longest round I've ever played. That was my first and last time I played Lakewood CC.

Good quality for price. Pace is rediculous! Every par 3 is a wave up...5 1/4 hour round!

it took almost 6 hrs to finish 18. snail's pace, hard to get into groove, frustrating.

In LA area one of good GC in summer, because of cool wind from seaside.

Took my wife to her first full course and had a great time. Our tee time was right on time. The fairway has a great amount to work with. The greens are better than most course and pace was good. Looking forward to playing this course again.

I want to commend the course superintendent the courses in phenomenal shape excellent play great days I love going there to play

Course is in excellent condition and staff was very nice.

This is a nice course, its just so slow. I teed off at around 11:00 am and completed the round way after 5:00 pm. way to many 5 somes on the course.

Slow play. Every par 3 was backed up three groups.