Encino at Sepulveda Golf Complex

So, after having come back from the Coronavirus break, the course opened for play about a week ago. The City had been maintaining the course on its regularly scheduled programme of punching holes etc. So the course is in decent shape, the greens are lush but slow.

I don’t mind any of those things - except! The PACE was terrible today. And here is the problem with that: they stretched the tee times to 12 minute intervals for social distancing. Yet we waited on every shot, on every hole, after having teed off at 12pm ish. This is a INEXCUSABLE, golfers!!! And, the course needs to tell people that there is NO EXCUSE to play slowly, or be caught up by the group behind you when you have almost half as many groups in an hour than usual!!!!!!!!! We waited on every shot on every hole, and we played in just under 5 hours!!!! This is so embarrassing. I would understand it if it was the usual 8 minute tees times on a Sunday. It used to be 6 minute tee times couple years ago until we pointed out the fact that the pace was being killed by mismanagement and misunderstanding by the City of how golf is supposed to be played.

There needs to be a sign, and also a vocal reminder by the City and all the courses across the whole state, the whole country, in these times of social distancing the times, when they are allowing you to take a cart by your individual self, there is absolutely no excuse that the group behind you catches up and has to wait on every shot. There just is no excuse for that.

No bells and whistles at Encino, but it’s a good layout. Pace of play is pretty quick, course is long, and can be challenging. Highly recommend it.

So, so shocked and annoyed.

The city bought a slew on new carts for the courses, and that’s fine. The new carts have GPS.

So the city raised prices of the cart rentals to pay for that, but also raised the prices of the range balls!!!! Why???!?!?!???!!! These “Top Range” balls are a joke. They don’t compress and they don’t fly straight. They are rock hard and low spin that if you tend to come over the top and hook the ball with no spin at all it literally won’t fly. You have to hit the range balls with a lot of spin with a fade type shot, otherwise it won’t get up in the air and flies all over the place. For those of us who like to hit compressing draws the ball just won’t fly properly. It gives you false information.

I understand how the city must have got a real cheap deal with these balls but to raise the prices on them when all the City course ranges are now connected with the key card, it’s really taking the mickey that each range is totally different in conditions from one to the next.

I don’t get why Woodley Lakes, which is the only grass range available has different turf now than what the Encino range landing area has. Why not put the same mud and grass that Encino has, on to Woodley’s hitting area. Then I might understand why you would have to charge a little more. Why does Encino need all that grass in the landing area? It never really needed it before. Everything is backwards with the city. Totally dyslexic. Woodley now has no grass with a woeful sand base.

Anyways. Encino’s greens are fantastic right now, though it feels like the back nine is always a bit moist and softer than the front nine.

The rest of the course is about what you would expect from a city course. Decent sand in the bunkers. Enough turf in the fairways. Absolutely no rough to speak of.

Course was very busy but the staff are great about making sure to keep everyone moving. Overall course condition was good. Watch out for the squirrels on the back 9.

we had a 1224 tee time, and the starter pushed us back to 1:10 - he took walk on golfers and regulars ahead of us. The course had no Marshall and the tee boxes had two lined up & waiting most of the day. First time we had a bad experience and this starter was very Rude...

We should have been given a refund for the Twilight time

The golf course is challenging but fun to play. Beautiful setting and worth the drive.

Why the Number 1 hole is in the worst shape compared to all the rest of the holes, I have no idea. The whole left side is dry and dirt-sandy. Patches of dead dried mud areas all over the fairway. The rest of the holes are actually OK, you will still find some dead areas with caked mud, but that's always been the case here most of the time. The greens are very good right now though, grown back nicely from the punching a month ago - except for the 1st hole! So weird. The tee boxes are 8 out of 10. Not much rough as it was in the early summer. For a place using reclaimed water, I guess the city told them to cut back here too.

Greens were nice and fast but the fairways had a TON of dead bald dirt spots everywhere. Center golf course snack stand was closed for some reason which was a total bummer.

Played on Columbus Day, expecting crowded conditions at 1:00pm. NOBODY on the course! Paired up with two very cool guys and we played the front nine in just over an hour. Finally caught another twosome at 12, and finished in about 3:15 minutes.

Greens need another two weeks to fully recover from aeration. Bunkers were firm, but consistent. I hate that I know that, but I was in a few of them.

It was hot, but not overly sunny. I bring my own hydration, so I can't comment on Food and Beverages. GREAT price on GolfNow.

Keep in mind this is a muni course, so the facilities are a little dated and the condition of the course isn't going to be anywhere near a private course. It's a great course for beginners due to the wide fairways and not too many hazards.

I usually play the back nine on weekend mornings for $14. Saturdays aren't as crowded as Sundays, but it can get pretty busy here. If you play 18 holes during a non-twilight tee time, it can get pretty expensive for a muni course (around $45 + cart).

Greens are pretty slow, but are generally pretty large and don't have too many breaks.

Fairways are wide open and not too many doglegs. This course is a little longer than the Balboa one here and also a tiny bit more difficult.

The food is not bad at all. I usually pick up breakfast to go after my 9-hole round.

Also the staff is friendly.

This course is expansive. It has several large putting greens and a wide driving range. It was not overly crowded. I thought the fairways were in good shape and the greens were okay. However, other amenities are in need of support. It is a little dated, the restrooms need updating and they have three range ball machines; one for each size of bucket. There are beverage locations through out the course but they've all been closed down. I never saw a beverage cart. The 19th Hole, however, was pleasant. The Starter Cage personell was surly.

Played the course as the Greens got good reviews, they were not wrong, Greens rolled fair and true with some pace.

Balboa/Encino are two course on the same grounds and I assume under the same ownership. The greens on both courses are in pretty good shape. The occasional odd bounce will frustrate you but they mostly roll well. The biggest difference between the two courses is the upkeep. For whatever reason Balboa seems to be in MUCH better shape both in and out of the fairways. On encino there was probably a 1/4 chance even a fairway lie would be thin or in group that needs repair. If you're out of the fairway it would move up to 3/4. Nice, long course with some challenging holes but in very poor condition. If you're going to head to these courses I'd stick with Balboa for quality but maybe Encino for challenging play.