The Famed 18-Hole Golf Courses of Los Angeles

The Famed 18-Hole Golf Courses of Los Angeles

Want to swing your club in any of the famed 18-hole golf parks in Los Angeles where you can try your best shot against the rich and famous? Well, refresh your golf skills and pack up your clubs and off you go for an exciting afternoon game of golf in any of these renowned golf courses.

Opened to the public in 1954 as the Sepulveda North Course, the Balboa Municipal Golf Course has remained a favorite among mid to high handicap golfers. The challenge is in the short-length course blanketed with narrow tree-lined fairways. It is presently one of the three golf courses that comprise the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area.

Compared to Balboa, Encino Municipal Golf Course is a much longer golf course and with wider tree-lined fairways. They both share the 36-hole Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area complex, however. The challenge in Encino is in its very demanding 3 pars, making it a testing ground for long hitters. Encino has a unique and varied landscape that will surely get the best out of average golf players.

Picked by Golf Digest in 2008 as one of the Best Places to Play, Hansen Dam Municipal Golf Course offers two very unique 9-hole sections. The uniqueness lies in the changes in elevation and the number of trees on the front nine. Hansen is located on the face of the Hansen Dam and is magnificently landscaped to offer particularly challenging shots, especially those approaching small greens.

Harding Municipal Golf Course is located on one of the country's largest urban parks, the Griffith Park. The course is beautifully landscaped, with narrow fairways that give challenging approaches to guarded greens and requires accurate shot placement. Built in 1924, Harding Golf Course is well known for long plays which is a challenge for both low and high handicappers.

Rancho Park Golf Course is a 6,688 yard championship course and host to the Los Angeles Open, the PGA Seniors Open, and the LPGA Tournament. Like the Harding, Rancho Park Golf Course offers a very demanding rolling golf course that will require a great deal of golf skill. Majority of these challenges occur in the approach shots to small, often guarded greens.

Wilson Municipal Golf Course is a lengthy course with wide tree-lined forested and mildly sloping fairways. A 1923 project beside the Riverside, the original LA Municipal Golf Course, the Wilson was also known as the Number Two golf course.

Woodley Lakes Municipal Golf Course is a 1975 design and is the third golf course in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area. It has wide fairways, nine hectares of water hazards, and large greens amidst a habitat for wildlife species.

All of these 18-hole golf courses also offer golf lessons to those who are only beginning to learn how to play golf. There are also lighted driving ranges and practice putting and chipping greens for those who want to test their skills first before going out into the green. These courses also offer cart and club rentals, dining in bars or restaurants, banquet rooms, and lounges for all its clients.