Santa Anita Golf Course — Attraction in Arcadia

Been playing here since the 1970s. The course itself is wonderful with many old school design elements (crowned greens, Redan style holes) and has stood the test of time since opening in 1938. The course itself has seen many changes over the years. It was built on a WW1 era US Army balloon field and the site of the original turn of the century Santa Anita Race track. It was a sandy, links like course when built, but over time trees were planted and it evolved into a parkland style layout. The course is a Par 71, 6200+ yard track with no water hazards. The challenge comes from uneven lies and tricky second shots to the aforementioned crowned greens. The course condition varies throughout the season. The course gets heavy play and it shows it, especially in the summer with the grass gets knobby and there are many burned out lies. In the winter/spring it's usually very green and lush.

The course has new management as of 2016, replacing the company that had run the course for over thirty years. They've made some positive changes (adding cart paths to ease wear to the turf) but have eliminated the starter (you must now enter and pay in the pro shop). They have now added on line reservations through their website which is a welcome convenience.

All in all you'll likely enjoy your round there, play can be slow on weekends, but that can be said for just about any public course in LA. I would rank the place a solid second behind the Brookside complex in in Pasadena as the best public golf in the San...

The COO Warren Leary as well as the officer John at the checking out desk are very rude. They are racist. They debited me twice and refused to refund until I called 911. My dad has played golf course here for almost 10 years. Last Wednesday, he came here checking in, the officer John asked him to pay a wrong price because John didn’t checked his senior card carefully. When my dad corrected him, he asked him to pay once again. No decline receipt or cash refund at that time. My dad supposed the decline would be done. When the bank statement cams out several days later, we were debited twice which we confirmed with bank through call. Since my dad had to travel for several months, he left his senior card as well as credit card to me to fix it. The man named John worked in this golf course asked my dad to come to speak even if I explained everything to him. He was so rude to say if my dad could not stand here he could do nothing with a gloating face. He even didn’t think he made the mistake. Then I had to call 911. After that John went to get his manager Warren Leary here. Warren was ruder than John. He asked me to leave. And he said he had the right to ask me to do everything. When he talked to me later, he stop my talk twice and asked me just listen to him. Can you imagine such a rude insolence and racist person could be a COO here?!...

On October 4, 2021, I was denied the ability to play 18 holes golf at this course because I did not have my identification to confirm that I am the rightful owner of the Senior Card. This happened after the Starter acknowledged that he had seen me at the golf course. He had in fact observed my identification. I have been playing at this course for over 20 years. All of my proprietary information is in their data base including my home address, Senior Card number, and cell number. At times when I did not have my card, I was asked my card number and was allowed to play. I observed other senior players engage with the Starter and Manager prior to my conversation with the Starter. One player paid for himself and one other player and never showed any identification to anybody. The Starter asked him for his card number. I could not hear the conversation involving the Manager. To compound matters, a couple years back and prior to the Pandemic, the present Manager asked me to write a review about the golf course. The course had lost most of it’s regular players because of the course condition. In exchange he authorized a COMP cart fee the next time I played the golf course. I took advantage of the deal. This golf course has no management consistency. I have worked at golf courses within the...